Day 12; The Great Sibling Trip 2017 Final Post

Final Post: About Us

            We are a brother (Detroit, MI) and sister (Houston, TX) who love to travel together to parts unknown. This year my sister flew into Detroit and we began our journey West. Stops include Davenport, IA, the Amana Colonies in Amana, IA, Marengo, IA, Des Moines, IA, Omaha, NE, Grand Island, NE, Rapid City, SD, Sioux Falls, SD, several cities in MN including Mankato, MN, Wisconsin Dells, WI, Marinette, WI, Mackinaw City, MI and back to Detroit.

            We are also stopping for selfies and pictures along the way at some very interesting and unusual out of the way places that you will see in the blog. Enjoy!

Fun Facts:

• Total Miles Driven on the complete trip: 3,319 
• Average Miles Per Gallon for the entire trip: 56.8 MPG
• Average Miles Per Gallon today: 53.2 MPG
• Car being driven: 2016 Prius 4
• Miles Driven Today: 266 Miles
• Weather: Perfect with temps around 90

     Well, it was a LONG trip; much longer than we anticipated for two siblings. We estimated 2,800 miles before all the side trips so we drove almost 500 miles extra after reaching our destinations.

     Today was a straight drive home after breakfast. We only stopped for quick rest stop breaks. Both of us were more than ready to get home but my sister won't actually fly home to Texas until Thursday. She's ready. 

     We learned that we could travel together for a long time in the car without killing each other and yes there were arguments about trivial things but in the end, we are siblings; family; and in the end we always forgive and forget the things that annoy each other.

     We learned how useful a selfie stick can be when trying to get pictures of each other with something funny in the background and we learned that the selfie stick must be recharged!

     And now Ladies and Gentlemen, enjoy the highlights from our 3,319 mile trip...

Vulcan Hand

Literary Rest Stop

Worlds Largest Wooden Rocking Chair

Freedom Rock

Peter Toth Indian Head

Mt. Rushmore

Courthouse Rock in Nebraska

Dinosaur Park in Rapid City, SD

Near Mt. Rushmore

Mt. Rushmore

Mt. Rushmore

Wall Drug

Wall Drug

Wall Drug

Wall Drug

Wall Drug

Worlds Largest Prairie Dog

Worlds Largest Prairie Dog

Wall Drug

Minuteman Missile Silo

Wall Drug

Mitchell, SD Corn Palace

Mitchell, SD Corn Palace

Wall Drug

Wall Drug

A Town Dear to our Hearts

A Geocache Location

Amphibious Duck Tour in Wisconsin Dells

Mickey-Lu BAR-B-Q (Best hamburgers in the world!)

Mackinaw City, MI

Mackinaw City, MI

Michigan's Mackinaw Bridge 

Day 11: The Great Sibling Trip 2017

About Us

            We are a brother (Detroit, MI) and sister (Houston, TX) who love to travel together to parts unknown. This year my sister flew into Detroit and we began our journey West. Stops include Davenport, IA, the Amana Colonies in Amana, IA, Marengo, IA, Des Moines, IA, Omaha, NE, Grand Island, NE, Rapid City, SD, Sioux Falls, SD, several cities in MN including Mankato, MN, Wisconsin Dells, WI, Marinette, WI, Mackinaw City, MI and back to Detroit.

            We are also stopping for selfies and pictures along the way at some very interesting and unusual out of the way places that you will see in the blog. Enjoy!

Fun Facts:

• Total Miles Driven so far: 3,050 
• Average Miles Per Gallon for the entire trip so far: 56.5 MPG
• Average Miles Per Gallon today: 67.8 MPG
• Car being driven: 2016 Prius 4
• Miles Driven Today: 220 Miles
• Weather: Perfect with temps around 80 

     Today was another busy day filled with checking out the new Navy war ships being built in Marinette, WI, driving to a new location (our last before coming home), geocaching, taking pictures of the Mackinaw Bridge and eating whitefish and pie at a great restaurant.
     Marinette is the home of a factory that builds the Staten Island ferries and for the last several years, they are building the new generation of war ships. They are rumored to go as fast as 50 knots or more.

     There isn't too much to report about the drive other than driving along the Lake Michigan shoreline is beautiful. We had a stiff wind and I have to tell you that when your drive across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, you will experience all kinds of weather and temperatures. In our case today, we had temperatures ranging from a chilly 63 degrees to a high of 88 degrees. Unreal.

     On the way today, we turned over 3,000 miles of driving on our trip! As you can see, our average MPG during the entire 3,000 miles is 56.8 MPG.

Traveled over 3,000 miles on this trip

     We had some fun geocaching  but I managed to obtain in injury today (just a scratch but a bleeder).

Logging a geocache

Inside a geocache container

Logging a geocache

Blood on a napkin from the "scratch"

The scratch

     We then had some fun at a local Starbucks.

Bear wrestling

Sneaking up on a bear

     Ugh! One of the most frustrating things we have encountered is SLOW WIFI. Tonight is really bad. It was great before everyone checked in but now it is terrible.
     Due to the slow Internet, I'll just add a couple of pictures of the Mackinaw bridge.

Mackinaw Bridge

Mackinaw Bridge at night

Good night!

Day 10: The Great Sibling Trip 2017

About Us

            We are a brother (Detroit, MI) and sister (Houston, TX) who love to travel together to parts unknown. This year my sister flew into Detroit and we began our journey West. Stops include Davenport, IA, the Amana Colonies in Amana, IA, Marengo, IA, Des Moines, IA, Omaha, NE, Grand Island, NE, Rapid City, SD, Sioux Falls, SD, several cities in MN including Mankato, MN, Wisconsin Dells, WI, Marinette, WI, Mackinaw City, MI and back to Detroit.

            We are also stopping for selfies and pictures along the way at some very interesting and unusual out of the way places that you will see in the blog. Enjoy!

Fun Facts:

• Total Miles Driven so far: 2,830 
• Average Miles Per Gallon for the entire trip so far: 56.2 MPG
• Average Miles Per Gallon today: 56.9 MPG
• Car being driven: 2016 Prius 4
• Miles Driven Today: 222 Miles
• Weather: Perfect with temps around 80 

     Today was another busy day filled with driving to a new location, driving around to take pictures of houses that our ancestors lived in a long time ago, planting flowers on the graves of our father and his family, searching for geocaches and eating. Also, emotions ran high today between my sister and I. It is tough traveling together for 10 days and not have differences between our opinions of life and our lifestyle at our respective homes. In the end we love each other but when one is far away from home, sometimes you tend to miss home.

Breakfast at the Chat n' Chew in Wisconsin Dells
     Last year we ate breakfast at a place that had really good bacon and we found it again this year. We asked the waitress about the specials and she said they really weren't specials but a la carte items added together. When we got our bill, it looked like she gave us a senior discount!

Me at Myrt and Lucy's Chat n Chew

The booths all have decorations

Now featuring...

Look at that slab bacon!

Non-Specials

Waiting for our food

     

Grave Maintenance

     It is hard to get down on the hard ground and dig up grass and ground that has really gotten a good start. I brought a mini shovel and really had to work at getting the soil loosened so we could plant the magnolias that we bought at the local Menards. After planting, I watered them really well. We are hoping that they get a chance to root and grow with the local rain because there isn't anyone to water them regularly here.

Geocaching

     We did some more geocaching this afternoon. We were 2 for 4 today. Sometimes it is just too hard to look for them. For instance, one took us deep into the woods on a trail and then I had to go off the trail into deep woods for 50 feet. Did I mention that the mosquito's were really thirsty out there? I didn't feel like doing that with shorts so we gave up on it. On another I did go into the woods for a short distance and found the geocache shown below.

In the woods

Sample Geocache

Eating at Mickey - Lu Bar - B - Q

     Ever since I was young, we would stop at Mickey Lu's to get some great burgers. After all these years, it's still in business and still using fresh baked crispy buns, fresh ground beef (ground daily) and the freshest Wisconsin butter, onions, spicy mustard, ketchup and pickles.

     The owner is Chuck Finnessy and he remembers me by name when he sees me. Today was no exception. I first created a web page about them in 1998. Here is the link: http://jldr.com/micklu.html 
     Here are the latest pictures from today. Take a close look at the butter oozing out of the burger. Today I ate 4 burgers for lunch and 3 burgers for supper. I only get these once a year if that so I starve myself the day before so I can eat that many.

Outside Mickey-Lu's

The Menu (Look at those prices in 2017)

The charcoal grill

Yum!

Chuck Finessy (the owner) and me

A funny waitress

Melting slab of butter

Someone wearing a Mickey - Lu's T-Shirt