On the subject of food….. I am delighted to have found a source for healthful dehydrated food. Truth be told, however, it does not look nearly as appetizing as it tastes….
(We’re not always at our best either, coiffure-wise.)
Be warned that my new resources (Outdoor Herbivore and Food for the Sole) provide mostly plant-based foods that have a shelf life of only a year or two, so probably not so good for any of you carnivorous preppers out there who are anticipating an extended siege.
We do have a refrigerator and hot plate, so also carry fresh fruit, snacks, yogurt, cheese, and of course beer and wine to sustain us on the road.
Many eating establishments in the rural areas have already closed for the winter season…. those that are open have extremely limited selections…. The usual hamburgers with the occasional fried walleye from the lake.
I personally was very excited to find an indoor restaurant near Wawa, Ontario that had a lovely menu, and cloth napkins…..not just cloth, but damask! (With a tablecloth and metal eating utensils, too!)
In Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, an Indian restaurant had a very special dish on the menu…….. okra! Nicely prepared in a masala sauce with fresh garlic naan…..
Would any trip to Canada be complete without sampling the national dish? Poutine, a nasty mess of french fries, brown gravy and cheese curds. What the heck – may as well go ”whole hog”, as they say – with the addition of smoked meat, bacon and a fried mac-and-cheese ball!
Even the most daring gourmand has to admit defeat from time to time, to the benefit of our canine friend.
(As you might notice – getting caught up after a few days without internet…… more later!)
From our entry to Canada, we followed along the Superior north shore, through Thunder Bay, a ghost town called Jackfish, Nipigon, Wawa, Lake Superior Provincial Park and finally to Sault Ste Marie. When the weather was rainy and cold, we stayed in small motels along the way, like this one in Nipigon:
No frills, no food, but clean with fairly good phone and internet service.
Camping at places like this one near the railroad tracks…
Picking rocks at every opportunity and in every gravel pit or pullout on the lake….
No decent agate specimens, but many, many stones have been gathered…… hundreds of pounds, in fact. The salvaged collecting bucket, alas, didn’t quite make it…..
We finally got to Sault Ste. Marie at the eastern-most end of the lake….
….. looked over into Michigan….
…. and decided we just weren’t ready to return to the USA just yet. So we turned east, leaving the lake behind for now.
A turn to some pretty weather brought us to this campground near the Spanish River….
Our first night there was so cold, Raider was called into service as a heating source…..
But things soon warmed up for some 4-wheeling….
A last night and early morning in camp before moving on…..
We are now in Sudbury, Ontario, waiting out still more rain and contemplating the next move. Do we press on to New Hampshire for possible powered parachute activity? Turn back and cover the Lake Superior south shore? Or strike out toward the American southwest and find some more hospitable weather?
With more bad weather pending and many facilities closed for the winter season, we decided to return to the USA and the south shore of Superior. The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is a distinctive region with a lot of local pride. The folks here are known as Yoopers (Upper Peninsula = UP = Yoop, for those of you who, like me, needed the connection).
The Keweenaw Peninsula is the big finger of land that sticks up from the south shore into the Lake. Notable historic landmarks here include….
Deepest snowfall ever recorded east of the Rockies – 390.4 inches in the 1978-79 season!
Hard for us folks from the southland to imagine.
Also hard to believe that Michigan had its own space program, launching a rocket from this site at the farthest point of the peninsula in 1971!
The rustic log inn where we stayed was a Depression-era project of the WPA in the 1930s, providing employment to folks who lost their jobs in the local mining industry…..
Lots of hiking trails will soon become snowmobile heaven……
The hunt for the elusive agate continues….. in the gravel pits, on the beaches, in the streambeds, hills and parking lots, and on the face of this sandy cliff face in a biting wind.
Raider never loses faith in the endeavor, always alert for a discovery….
To be fair, agates are hard to come by… some people are convinced that the locals collect the most and best rocks in spring and early summer for resale to visitors. Many of the stores are out of stock as well….. one of them resorted to simply showcasing an artist’s rendering of the elusive material.
Henry finally negotiated a deal with the crusty character who owns Prospector’s Paradise, a large rock shop…
In exchange for some franklinite, a mineral that Henry brought along for trade, he got to pick about 50 pounds of agate material from their stock…..
Not as good as discovering them in the wild oneself, but it was fun going through the pile…. and Henry will have lots of raw material to slice and polish!
Weather over the lake changes frequently and quickly, with beautiful long vistas that show what is coming.
The weather finally gave us a generous snow storm, which we chose to ride out at a charming B&B in Ironwood…..
The proprietor of the property, as luck would have it, has a bakery business called Yooper Delights, and she was generous in providing us with decadent goodies, like these warm almond scones.
What else do you feed a Yooper? Well, their culinary claim to fame is the pasty (rhymes with nasty, but that is not a fair descriptor of the taste.) It’s basically pie crust stuffed with potatoes, a little carrot, onion and often some meat… but mostly potatoes. They are fun to eat, but pretty bland….. a little chili sauce helps.
Back on the home front, Henry’s son Clay was alarmed/horrified/galvanized when he saw the following photo on the wildlife camera on Henry’s property that they use to keep an eye on things….. Fire!
A storm knocked over a tree that fell on a power line…. sparks ignited some of the dry pine needles and low brush. Fortunately, the fire did not reach any of the structures on the property, so the house, barn and wood shed are all untouched; however, several acres were burned, and metal animal sculptures and Corvairs were scorched. We’re very lucky that Clay was on the lookout and damage was limited!
Wisconsin presented the final stretch of lakeshore for our Lake Superior circuit; we covered it fairly quickly. The only sight of note was this wonderful mural on the side of a grocery story in Ashland, Wisconsin.
…… So our circuit of Gitche Gumee has come to an end. Headed south with close to a half ton of rocks loading down every niche and crevice of the truck and trailer, we will nonetheless travel fairly quickly through the midwest toward Texas.
Our next planned undertaking will begin in February….. traversing South America, then across the Atlantic for a long sojourn in southern Africa.
Our fervent hope is that the world will continue to battle the coronavirus with all the weapons at its disposal, with nations cooperating and sharing generously to end this devastating pandemic.
We wish you a healthy and happy holiday season. Let’s take care of the planet and each other, and rest well at the end of the day.
We have been luckier than most during the past year’s shutdown – lots of remote outdoor space in which to do things. Henry has been busier than the proverbial one-armed paperhanger with projects around the property….. Robbie has struggled to find productive things to do.
Our new partner in isolation is Raider the dog, who was kindly loaned to us by Henry’s son Cliff, wife Laura and family. He has been a fantastic companion……
This post will highlight some of the other creatures that have been a part of our lives during the pandemic.
Birds….. lots of them, lured by the copious amounts of seed set out in feeders and perhaps some of the protection provided by structures near the house. Here a nest of baby wrens hatched in a nook in the carport.
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A little owl considered building a nest in the porch rafters, but was later scared off by Henry’s energetic power-washing…..
Bluebirds came early in the spring to take a quick bath…..
From the reptile group, this chicken snake threatened the baby wrens; fashionable farmer Henry rescued them…
A coral snake curled up on a boulder in the woods….
Baby copperhead hibernating…..
And what a showdown between two little lizards!
What could all that be about? Oooooooh, here’s the prize……
Mammals, too, have passed through our neck of the woods. Encounters include a couple of skunks, with unfortunate outcomes all around.
A lonely little opossum was lucky enough to be simply relocated.
Not so lucky….. the armadillo that Raider dispatched.
And a curse on the feral hogs! Henry put up an electrified fence around the main part of the property, but this little marauder and a few of his friends wandered into the meadow in full daylight. He will root no more.
Hope you all were able to hold it together with some happiness and hope through the last year. Signs are pointing to better times soon, with the rollout of the vaccine and a ramping down of violent political discord.
Future posts will look back at some of our other activities over the past year……
Meant to include a few more animal photos in the last post…. including this lovely butterfly that took a ride on Henry’s jeans.
A striking catalpa worm and his friends made short work of the leaves on the catalpa tree.
And moles are burrowing away under the yard. Henry has been pursuing them, almost like Bill Murray in Caddyshack…. short of blowing up the meadow. They are intriguing little critters, albeit destructive.
Of course, one of the reasons the mole is not welcome is that it interferes with landscaping/agricultural activities. Like so many, the enforced isolation led us to plant a fairly ambitious garden, a portion of which is shown here.
Beans, purple hull peas, tomatoes, squash, watermelon, cantaloupe, peppers, eggplant, radishes, pears and okra…… some of it in great abundance.
At its peak, the summer squash yielded as much as 11 pounds…… IN ONE SINGLE DAY!
In this household, wasting food is a sacrilege. The challenge, therefore, is how to use all of this fresh produce. Pickled squash, grilled squash, fried squash, squash fritters, squash soup, steamed squash, squash casserole (several recipes), dried squash, squash chips, roasted squash, squash bread, anyone?
Food was prepared and consumed with a sense of urgency while the next batch ripened. Of course, we gave quite a lot of it away…… once friends and family had had enough, other beneficiaries included Henry’s hired helpers, the local food bank, the UPS driver, and our postmistress, Sharon.
Here’s an action shot of the pea-shelling operation, which Henry precariously but effectively rigged…
We even grew sprouts and mushrooms on the kitchen counter….
The prize for best use of home-grown produce, however, goes to this very effective incorporation of pickled okra……. into a Bloody Mary!
A large landscape operation began in the fall with clearing the meadow in order to sow some new seed. The house overlooks the area, which is about 5 to 6 acres, slightly rolling and lightly wooded. Henry spent the better part of two weeks on the back of a tractor, tilling and reworking the turf….. even repetitively rolling a huge log across it to redistribute and smooth the soil. (Photo courtesy of the motion-activated game camera.)
Here is the result…… neat as a pin…. (this is a panorama shot with the house visible to the left.)
We spent a lot of time selecting what we wanted to grow. One area was sown with a mix of wild grasses and flowers native to this area; another strip near the house, wildflowers and micro clover; and across the rest, oats to feed the deer during the winter, with crimson and white clovers and a mix of about 20 different low-growing wildflowers.
The weather was dry and uncooperative at first; eventually, however, Mother Nature gave things a boost and we are off to a nice, albeit patchy, start.
Two arctic blasts passed through in January and February, with unprecedented cold and thick blanketings of snow!
Perspectives are a bit off from one photo to the next, but you get the idea.
Speaking of arctic blasts, just a couple of bits from that experience. Here is the electrical wire along the driveway to our house, inoperative due to heavy ice (and downed lines elsewhere in the area)….
Henry’s nearby son and his family were stuck without power or generator. We picked up and conveyed a generator through the night along remote roads to the rescue! A beautiful and spooky experience. Had to stop several times for Henry to cut down obstructive fallen branches with a chainsaw.
The birds were voracious…. and ate about 110 pounds of seed in just over a week. Here they are feeding. One tries to fly through the door to the warmth of the house!
Ice formed on every surface, including this baby pine tree that bent over in defeat…
Our wildlife camera yielded lots of photos of deer, coyotes…. and hogs. The former will hop over the new electric fence, but maybe the gal in the photo below will be fearful.
Hopeful that this spring will bring delight and color……. just a few of the flowers that have peeked out so far.
As a builder and forester, Henry has found time during the pandemic year to take on many projects around the property……
Here he is with his sidekick Isadoro pouring concrete for the floor of the wood shed.
Looks like fun, but this process took many hours of planning, preparation and execution.
Cutting down dead or dying trees is exciting, but also requires judgment and experience to insure that the tree falls in the right direction, rather than crushing a bystander or the pump house….. (This one accidentally took out the zip line.)
The woods surrounding the house ideally get burned once a year, to cut down on the undergrowth and promote a nicer environment for the deer and human inhabitants. This usually takes place near dusk, as the wind drops and falling temperatures and rising humidity keep the well-planned flames under control. Quite a beautiful sight.
And I helped!
(My contribution to the effort included monitoring the progress of the conflagration and clearing straggling fingers of flame – called catch-outs – in addition to having a beer when all was said and done.)
Henry fulfilled a long-held dream of renting a cherry-picker so that he could prune surrounding trees himself. This scheme went temporarily awry when he got stuck about 60 feet up in the air – with night falling, cold encroaching and me unable to figure out how to operate the mechanism that would bring him back to earth.
(Son Clay came to the rescue…. eventually.)
Many of you know that Henry is a rock hound, and typically brings many pounds of rock, sand, dirt, and other geological specimens home from our trips. Significant investments were made in rock-polishing equipment to enhance some of these treasures. Henry added a sound-proofed room on to the barn to muffle the constant roar!
I engaged in a few homely pursuits in addition to the challenge of processing and preparing bushels of home-grown bounty. A couple of knitting projects (the second one stalled a bit, but still under way)….
An obsession with Japanese ramen led to some experiments, and a modest on-line spree to find the right kind of bowls…..
Leisure time included flights in the powered parachute when our schedules and the weather cooperated. The video shows birds on nearby Lake Nacogdoches.
The homestead from the air….. and a sunset over the lake (from ground level).
Time for relaxation …..
(Henry is enjoying the massage chair we had to have after experiencing them on our trip to Japan. Delighted that we got it – almost every night we each get a treat. If you have room in your house, it is well worth the investment, especially for creaky old people!)
Granddaughter Lily helped with some personal grooming…..
Tragedy struck one night after dark on a July evening. I was rounding the house briskly after a 4-wheeler outing and tripped over a garden gnome that Henry had positioned in the yard to cover up a piece of pipe that he feared someone would trip over. Yow!
(Trust me – this evil ogre is invisible at twilight. Dog added for scale.)
My wrist was surgically repaired with a plate and pins that I will carry forever more. All better now!
Like everyone, we had a chance to do a few Zoom meetings.
We are still working on our Zoom skills…..
Alarmed over speculation that there might be attempts to interfere with the voting process in the US presidential election in November, we volunteered with the nonpartisan Election Protection program. Our role included monitoring several polling stations in Nacogdoches and providing information to voters about the process and eligibility.
Raider helped too. We saw not a scintilla of evidence of fraud!
….. And that’s it! Our pandemic year in 4 blog installments.
We are now fully vaccinated against the virus. Still want to know what that will mean in the near and medium term, anxious to get out in the world again. We are resigned to the wait, and will be embarking on more agricultural efforts this summer. The next blog post will look at those preparations. Stay well and positive!
“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” – Jane Goodall
Since we decided to make this trip, there has been some guilt over the carbon footprint of the air travel involved. A recent editorial argued that the travel industry – especially in areas on the edge of poverty – injects not only needed cash, but also a sense of stewardship for the resources that are worth traveling to see. Case in point – Africa.
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If travelers did not go there to view incredible wildlife and awe-inspiring landscapes…. what would happen? More than likely – endangered animal populations would be allowed to vanish, and their habitats would be converted to cattle farms and/or sold to indifferent foreign powers, exacerbating the very conditions that have contributed to the climate crisis and socio-economic imbalances. And too many people would still live and die in conditions of starvation and disease, in ignorance and hopelessness.
So what kind of difference do we want to make?
What is accomplished by staying at home? Realistically…. not much.
Or we can go – invest our assets in organizations and for adventures that provide employment for proud citizens who are passionate about the history, flora and fauna of their environment, resources to help them nurture these things, and education for those who wish to make a difference……. and then try in our own way to show our care for these places and societies through the stories we tell.
(Okay – and it’s a lot more fun than staying at home…..)
Hats off to Greta Thunberg – her position is admirable and she displays astonishing courage in relentlessly getting her message out. Agreed, too, that mankind needs to seek out ways to make travel more sustainable… but the answer is not necessarily to just stay put.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” – Mark Twain
We will continue to visit places near and far, by land, sea and air, promoting those who make change for the better in their regions, and spreading our appreciation and understanding of the connectedness we have with other countries and other peoples – all a part of this precious planet we share.
Lecture over… convincing no one perhaps of anything, but finding some satisfaction in putting down a few thoughts.
So – there was a gap between 2019’s road trip to the West, Canada and Alaska….. and the planned trip in 2020 down under – to Australia and New Zealand. We decided to try the “National-Geographic-Does-All” trip around the globe in 23 days, touching down in intriguing places that we would be unlikely to ever visit on our own.
The journey starts in Washington, DC, on 9 January. Assuming WiFi connectivity at every location, we hope to post a short blog entry for each stop (there are 12). Our return to DC is scheduled for 31 January….. so don’t blink, folks, or you’ll miss it!
Our preparations are relatively easy – basically making sure we have the clothes needed for each of the environments we will visit….. without overdoing. Also, I went a little crazy making potholders, gifts for the kindnesses I know we will receive from so many along the way…..
Our nation’s capital – Congress is just returning from its holiday break, the President has been impeached, and the country may be on the brink of war.Should be an exciting time to be in Washington!
But the wheels turn slowly – Congress gets a slow start due to the threat of a winter storm; the impeachment process is bogged down in political squabbling, and the hostilities segue into what seems to be name-calling and posturing (thank goodness).
Especially for those of us who infrequently visit, the city has a mystique and appeal that tend to cause a surge of pride in the history and culture of our country, which has truly always been great.
The Hay-Adams Hotel is right across Lafayette Park from the White House, with views that demand recording.
Our elected congresspersons are supposed to represent all of their constituents, be they Republican or Democrat…..
So we decided to drop in on our district’s representative, Louie Gohmert, to see about getting a pass to watch the action in the House.
Henry was excited to see a poster that featured blueberries he and his son Clay grew for the 2005 blueberry festival on the wall of the waiting room!
But after waiting some time for help, we were informed that most government offices were closed due to an imminent snow storm, although we did get passes to the House gallery, as they would be convening shortly.
They convened and immediately adjourned…..probably because the congresspersons also didn’t want to get stranded in the traffic due to bad weather. So we saw an empty House chamber, and took the opportunity to reminisce fondly over some of the historic events that had occurred there…. for about 5 minutes.
The next day was glorious…… a good time for a protest….
Unfortunately, the view of our leader’s residence is obstructed due to renovations – a much higher and impenetrable fence is being built on the southern side of the White House.
We were able to spend a good amount of time with an old friend and colleague of Henry’s and her husband – Margaret and Rob – who live part-time in DC and have the insider’s view of what’s going on.Thanks to them for their kind and generous hospitality!
Our last night we went to National Geographic’s headquarters for an introduction and overview of our trip, and a chance to meet the experts and our fellow travelers.
The next morning, our dedicated jet was waiting, and we took off…. with an appropriate libation of course!
Such beautiful things Henry sees from the windows of planes!
Cusco is located at high elevation – almost 12,000 feet. Here for only three days (our longest stopover on this trip), it’s not quite enough to get over the sluggishness from the altitude. Soldiering on nonetheless.
A welcoming sight at our hotel after our long air journey – hot water bottles warming the bed, dressed up as llamas…
Perfect weather…. here’s an Incan terraced agricultural site:
Then a salt mine…
A stop in a village with carved doorways (behind which live real people)….. evidenced too by the red plastic bag displayed over a doorway, which signifies the bar is open!
A quick stop on the road to buy a tchotchke, and an encounter with a real llama and an alpaca…… and some Peruvian folk. (The little boy is crying because the National Geographic photographer traveling with us just took his picture while using a light reflector that burned his eyes…)
On to Machu Picchu…. via the Hiram Bingham railway (named for the European who first saw the Machu Picchu site in 1912 or so)…
Finally, the real star of the show….
It was impressive, and again – such great fortune to have a sunny day!
Bad fortune was the bug that struck me earlier, which made me want to completely eschew food and seek sleep. Not Henry’s problem, thank goodness.
Although miserable, these maladies usually only last a day or two……
