Retracing Our Past Through Travel - Day Eight

     Today was a travel day. We are heading home now and will make the final drive tomorrow. Today we drove from Mankato, MN to Marinette, WI, a total of 403 miles. We set a new miles per gallon record in my sister's Prius. She hit 66 MPG on the last leg! Do you believe it! The Prius is one of the best designed cars I have seen in a long time. Why pay $32,000 for a Volt that has limited range when you can buy a Prius C for $21,000 and get over 50 mpg and go over 450 miles on a tank?

     At one point I saw a cute little outhouse by a house as we zipped by and made my sister turn around so I could photograph it. The pic's are on my other camera so I will add them later to this blog.
     After arriving in Marinette, we visited the graves of my father's family and the flowers we planted there last weekend are doing very well.

Where My Dad and his Family are Buried

Saying Hello to my Dad

      Next we went to Mickey Lu's BBQ and I ordered four (4) double hamburgers and a malt. The waitress couldn't believe it and said she had to watch me eat them. I did!

4 Double Hamburgers with a Malt

Cooking My Double Hamburgers

First One

Fourth Double!

     And this ends today's update. I hope all of you are happy and healthy as you read this...

Retracing Our Past Through Travel - Day Two

     Today we planned an easy day of travel so we covered around 250 miles from Mackinac City, Michigan to Marinette, Wisconsin. There are several reasons why we always stopped in Marinette on our trips to Minnesota; Food and Relatives.
     But first, let's update you on the clown car. Today I became a believer in the Toyota Prius. Look at this!

Our Mileage!

     As we drove, our mileage just kept going up until we peaked at 62.5 MPG. It only peaked there because we arrived at our destination but I firmly believe it would have gone up higher! Let me tell you two quick stories while at the gas pump. The first time we gassed up was yesterday and we waited and waited while the woman in front of us filled her car. Finally the pump in front of her opened up so I pulled in front of her and filled the Prius. 4.6 Gallons! We got in, drove away but stopped to fill out our car paperwork and when we looked back, she was STILL filling her car! The second story was today. We filled up again and it only took 4.5 gallons. A big Harley pulled in and I asked the guy what kind of mileage he got. He smiled and said 35 MPG. I smiled and said well, we're getting over 60 MPG in that car and then drove away leaving him staring at the car...LOL
     Keeping with tradition, if I see a usable Outhouse, I will stop and take a picture of it and use it. Here is the one we found today. It was actually clean and smelled like fresh wood. It also sported a toilet seat that closed itself slowly when you lowered it. Sweet!

The Self-Closing Toilet Seat

     This Outhouse was next to a waterfall. Here's that picture...

A View of The Waterfall

     Once in Marinette, we went to the city park where we used to camp and then on to the cemetery where our father is buried. His whole family is buried there as well. When we arrived, we noticed the graves had weeds growing in front. We cleaned them out, bought flowers and planted them in front of each family member. Here's my dad's before and after pic's...

 

Before

     Next on the list was food. For years we all went to Mickey Lu's BBQ for the best hamburgers in the world. Chuck Hennessy still owns the place and he still cooks the burgers on an open pit charcoal grill. Wow! They are great. Here's a video of Chuck grilling burgers. I don't think he has any hair left on his arms! 

     You can't get fries there but you can get Brats, Hot Dogs and Burgers. Today I tied my record and had 2 burgers and 3 double burgers! The best! 

     

Me in front of Mickey-Lu's

     Last on the agenda was to go to the park next door to our hotel to take in the first annual Rock Island Music Festival. There were quite a few bands that played and it was very entertaining.

Bridge to the Island

 The 1st Band Playing

 The 2nd Band Playing

     Finally, there are the coolest bronze action statues on the river. They depict a couple of boys having some swimming fun and I could just imagine my dad jumping off that rock to go for a swim. The boy below who is jumping is somehow attached to the rock but when you look at it, you wonder how in the world they attached a heavy bronze boy to the rock. Take a look below.

That could have been my dad years ago

     And so that ends day two of our journey. Tomorrow we will be heading to Stillwater, Minnesota. My gr. gr. grandfather and also my great grandfather ran a local brewery there and we plan to try and find where it was. See you tomorrow...