Moving Day (Brimley, MI to Alpena, MI) (mostly pictures)

Location: Alpena County Fair Campgrounds; Alpena, Michigan 

Route thru stop #10

I got an early start with a short tow ahead of me. That isn't always a good thing but the weather was a nippy 59 degrees with a cool breeze blowing in from the lake. A few degrees cooler and I would have been wearing long pants; it felt great. The weather front that passed through yesterday cleaned the air and left behind the nice breeze. That breeze got stronger during the day but nothing that Freedom and Liberty couldn't handle.

Good morning Campground on moving day. It's been a great campground but time to move on.

Pretty good view from the dump station uh? The view gave me the feeling of hitting the Freedom road into the unknown. 

I crossed the Mackinac Bridge, aka "Mighty Mac". I crossed it back in the fall of 2014. Use the archive on the right and the dates should be 8/15/14 thru 8/18/14. They include a trip to Mackinac Island. 

This was taken from a "Bridge Viewing Site". 

I started not to post this one, but the bird in the upper right corner made me.

Approaching the bridge in the distance. Very little traffic going south but there is a long line of northbounders waiting to pay their toll. 

If you're a little hesitant about crossing bridges, then you better not cross the Mighty Mac unless you're knocked out. The Bridge Authority recognizes the problems some people have with the bridge and provide a "drivers assistance program" which provides drivers to drive your vehicle across the bridge for you. I didn't see any statistics on how many people use this service, but it is nice, free service. 

I've taken pictures through my windshield in all kinds of conditions, terrains and traffic but each time I've crossed the Mighty Mac I always feel funny doing it. I also don't like the open grate bridge deck. I don't like it on any bridges. I know it is used to reduce the weight of the bridge, yeah, yeah, but I still don't like them. And wouldn't you know it, they were welding on the grates as I was crossing. The bridge is a sight to see. By the way, the toll for Freedom and Liberty was $8.00 ($2.00 per axle). Not a bad price at all. 

Approaching the main span. That's Lake Michigan on the right and Lake Huron on the left.

The suspension part of the bridge. It worked out nice the the two center towers aligned. I could have said I planned it that way, but didn't, darn.

Open grate bridge deck with lane closure coming up. I put the cell phone camera down after this shot because I was tried of taking picture. Putting it down had nothing to do with the open grate deck, nope, nothing.

The rest of the tow was along the Lake Huron coast road. Lake Huron is my favorite of the five Great Lakes. It always seem bluer than I expect. There were a few turn-outs with views of the lake but not as many as I anticipated. I was happy and surprised that only about 10 miles of the 100 mile coast road was rough and needed work. 

Blue Lake Huron from one of the turn-outs. That freighter is headed south. 

I'm guessing that weather front created the brown color, but that's OK. 

This campground is on the Alpena County Fairgrounds. I've stayed in places like this before and they are always a good bargain and usually located right where I want to be. In this case, it is on the edge of town which is opposite of the place I've been staying during the last week. It is electric only at the campsite so you have to fill up with fresh water before setting up camp. That's not a problem with me and I actually prefer campsites like these because it discourages people from camping for extended periods of time. Alpena is not only a Walmart sized town, it is also a Taco Bell sized town. That is called a double bingo. One of the things I've come here to do is to take a tour on a glass bottomed boat to look at some shipwrecks. Other than that, I need to visit the visitor's information office for other suggestions. I also heard there is a pretty good bakery here so I may look that up. I'll be here for a week so there is plenty of time. 

I got the only 50 amp campsite on this side. It's not going to be hot enough this week for two A/C units, but 50 is always better than 30 if available at no extra charge. 

There are two other campers on the end of this row and the caretakers says it will be close to being full this weekend. 

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.