In this installment, we head home from Canada and have further adventures in Wisconsin and Illinois. I recently discovered some boxes of slides that would surely produce better photos than I have. I’ll have to add a slide scanner to my photo gear! NOTE: I have included minor edits (punctuation, mainly), but the text mostly remains as it appears in Mom’s original. The boldfaced subheadings/intros are mine.
Wisconsin and Beyond
The next morning, it was raining as we reluctantly bid Canada farewell and headed south. Customs again. The questions we were asked were painless enough: Where are you from? How long were you in Canada? Are you United States citizens? Are you carrying any fruit? Did you buy anything? Meekly, we answered, “A rock.”
The scenic drive back along the Lake Superior shoreline was anything but, with intermittent heavy fog. One moment of panic when a deer bounded across the highway, but no accident, thankfully. As this part of Minnesota is famous for the iron ore found there, we were interested to see the mining companies and the big piles of tailings. We made a brief stop in Two Harbors to look at the old locomotives that had been used to haul the ore. The first wood-burning locomotive to haul ore from the Mesabi range is on exhibit, as is a 469-ton behemoth. That’s the weight of both tender and engine! We did not take time to visit the museum there. By the time we were as far south as Duluth, the sun was shining. Duluth is a major grain shipping port, and the elevators and ships very obviously reminded us of this.
We went back to Chequamegon National Forest and the campground we’d enjoyed so much. The “bridal suite” was taken, but we found a cozy place and unwound. Actually, we dropped pieces of gear off in about three before we found one we decided to keep. The going-home leg of the trip is always lazier, and we poke around getting our camp set up. Other than a long hike, we were all content to just relax. The long hike didn’t start out that way—we were aimlessly rambling along one of the forest service roads.
We found little toads, birds we couldn’t identify, and loggers cutting pulpwood. We also saw lots of deer tracks, decided to follow some, and promptly got very mixed up and decidedly lost. We knew all the safety things to do: Find a stream and go downstream toward civilization, light a fire, stop and rest, blaze a trail, and do not panic. The last one is the hard one, especially with two six-year-olds becoming hotter, more tired, and crankier by the minute. We did go around in circles a bit but eventually found the road and the way back to camp. We did not see a deer. We did enjoy a renewed acquaintance with the forest ranger and persuaded him to have coffee with us while we were packing up. The trip home was notable only for the bee that stung Gail and the decision to keep the first aid kit in a handy place.
Labor Day found us back in Door County with our friends. School had already started, and we knew if we waited until the end of the day we would have no site as the state parks did not accept reservations, so we women loaded up one car and leisurely drove up in the morning. We set up one tent, got the second site started, and went off to explore all the delightful shops, unencumbered by children and husbands. We treated ourselves to a relaxed lunch and bought a blue glass ashtray that still delights me. Our husbands and children and the rest of the gear came up at the end of the day. It was a good way to make the trip.
The first frostless days mean it’s time to get the gear ready, and spring was rapidly coming. My special Mother’s Day treat was a camping trip. These mini-trips act as a shakedown to see if we still have our skills and remember all the necessaries. However, early May is really not camping weather in Wisconsin!
We had replaced our sleeping bags the previous summer for very good quality bags that zip together. It does not pay to compromise on the quality of sleeping bags. Mike and Gail have an April birthday, so we decided to get them new bags, too. Four big bags also meant a lack of space in the tent, and we bought stacking cots for the children so we could walk in the tent.
We’d gone to a big camping supply store and got carried away. They are fascinating places, and the tent section alone is awesome. There are tiny, one-man backpack tents, cabin tents, umbrella tents, tents with screened porches, wall tents, and any other kind you’d care to choose. I’m glad we weren’t confronted with quite that array when we chose ours. There are sleeping bags in all sizes, weights, colors, and styles for varying temperature ranges and other specialized uses.
Besides the wide variety of basic gear like tents, sleeping bags, stoves, lanterns, and coolers, there is aisle after aisle of accessories and gadgets for camping convenience, comfort, and safety. There are tent stakes, skillets, rain ponchos, egg carriers, axes, saws, salt and pepper shakers, and convenience foods such as we’d seen in Ely. The other new piece of gear we added was a fly for the tent. Basically, a fly is a giant piece of canvas or nylon, like a tarp with grommets along the edge. Flies serve several purposes, from dining shelter to shading a tent when sunny and keeping the water off when it rains.
Memorial Day weekend, we went to Southern Illinois for the dual purpose of camping and to see Al’s grandmother. I was pregnant and had instructions to stop frequently. We hit every rest area in southern Wisconsin and the entire length of Illinois. Wisconsin is better equipped. We camped in Shawnee National Forest in weather that was unbearably hot. I was only too glad to be excused from my camp-pitching duties and sit and watch everyone else. Not only was it hot, but the cicadas were in full force, and the noise was almost deafening. Actually, it was the cessation of the noise that was shocking! The second night out, my girth and I decided to appropriate one of the cots, and the children have never gotten them back! It was one trip where we didn’t even do any hiking. We were glad to strike our tent and head for the cooler north.
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