June 28

We stayed in St. Ignace, MI for several days. The main event was the Classic Car Show. On Thursday there was supposed to be a parade from the Kewadin Casino through town. Unfortunately, just as they got to the edge of town where we were waiting, it started to rain!

During the day on Friday, cars drove up and down Main Street, drivers showing off their vehicles. This was similar to what happens on Colorado Blvd, each New Year's Eve day. Vendors were set up, the sun was out, and the crowds were enjoying the day. Friday night was supposed to be a parade called, "Down Memory Lane." Again, just as the parade got to the edge of town, it started to rain! Mother Nature sure has a sense of humor!

Saturday, St. Ignace closed down Main Street to exhibit the cars, a "Big Foot" truck show was at the Casino, and a "Mud Run" planned for later in the afternoon. A 'mud run' is when pick-up trucks race through a very muddy track. NO RAIN. Cars lined the main drag for at least a mile--the key business center of St. Ignace. All the side streets were closed from intersections at least a block away. People parked everywhere, including streets that were at least a quarter mile away and walked to the show. The cars and owners were interesting and varied. Some old coupes with high gloss paint. Some older with original, dull, scratched paint.

St. Ignace is located on Lake Huron and every Friday night, there are Fish Fries--everywhere. We ate at the VFW, where they had a special dinner for the car show. There are also signs out advertising "Pasties" (pronounced with a short a) We bought some from the VFW which bakes and freezes them every week. James thought the "Pasty" was like a turnover that you might have for dessert, but they are really a crust filled with meat, potatoes, and vegetables. They are pretty big, and made two meals for us. We thought they were a little dry, and added a little gravy.

The St. Ignace board walk runs the length of town--and then some. There is a sprinkler for the children which is really nice--and the kids themselves can turn it on! Along the boardwalk are informative plaques telling about the former extensive fishing industry and ship wrecks on/in the lake. The fishing industry is a big part of the economy of Native Americans in the area. There are docks of expensive looking boats and tours of the lake that run to Pictured Rocks National Seashore and glass bottom boats that explore the shipwrecks.

After our visit of St. Ignace, we left and traveled along Lake Huron and up the Keweenaw Peninsula to Hancock. Hancock is on Copper Island which is the northern most part of the Peninsula. Most of the people living in this area are of Finnish decent. The Finlandia University is located there. They have to like snow and cold because they get over 200" of snow each winter---and one winter (1978-1979) they got 390" of snow.

James called the local American Legion Post Commander, and got permission to park in their parking lot for our stay. They even provided us with electricity. We met the Commander's son who welcomed us and gave us a tour of the post--which is a good building with a large kitchen and hall, but is hardly used.

We rode the scooter around the area and discovered that in the town of South Range there would be a dance that night at the VFW. We were told the music was by someone they called the 'Polka Man' and since we like to polka it sounded perfect. The music was almost ALL polka and/or very fast waltzes. One after the other! We lasted about two hours and left. All the music sounded the same--the musician was a very good accordionist, but only had one beat-FAST! The local folks just danced along, dance after dance, with almost no breaks or variations.

Our plan was to attend a few July 4th parades in the area. After looking in the newspaper for parades, we decided to go to Lake Linden, Dollar Bay, and South Range. (South Range is located to the north of where we were, but thought we could still able to get there for the parade.) As it turned out, we went to Lake Linden at 9:00, Tamarack City at 10:30, Dollar Bay at 12:00 noon and then went to South Range for 2:00. The reason we were able to watch all these parades is they are in small towns located one after the other along Route 26 only a few miles apart. Also, most of the parade participants went from one parade to the next--just traveling down the road and lining up in the next town. The same Sheriff led each of the parades! The same military units and trucks, the same businesses in each parade. There were a few variations, but not many. We, the American Vagabonds thought it to be a bit bizarre that the biggest cities in the area had no public events to celebrate our Nation's birthday. Concomitantly some of the smallest communities extend themselves to celebrate July 4th-Bizarre! Or,maybe they put their efforts into Memorial Day!

On the road again, we headed for Bruce Crossing. We had been there before. It is a small community at a crossroads and has a nice campground that costs only $10.00 a night and has water, electricity, and a dump station. The campground has about 12 sites at the back of an unused ballpark, and is very well maintained.

After settling in, we met the groundskeeper, a young man named Wade. Wade told us about some events and places to visit in the surrounding area, so instead of staying one night and moving on, we decided to stay three nights!

The next morning we set out for the small community of Greenland on the scooter. The town that was planning a late July 4th parade and celebration. After that, we headed to Ontonagon, a city on the shore of Lake Superior. Ontonagon has a great sandy beach along the lake, which is open to the public, and a campground.

The parade at Bruce Crossing included antique tractors and cars, which lined up in the ball field after the parade. The best part of the parade was Marty's Goldenaires, the drum corps we had seen in Musining. They marched in the parade and then performed in the pavilion. One of the members told us that they were on the way to Watersmeet to march in another parade. So, off we went as soon as the parade traffic cleared, south to Watersmeet to watch the Goldenaires perform again. We got a picnic lunch there and then headed back to Bruce Crossing for the rest to their celebration which included musical entertainment and fireworks.

We were a little skeptical about the quality of fireworks such a small community could afford, but were pleasantly surprised with the display. What we did find unusual was the absence of safety precautions as compared to Connecticut's stringent laws.

In all, we attended seven parades and celebrations for the Fourth of July!

In the morning, we said goodbye to Wade, and journeyed on to the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest and the Two Lakes Campground.