zero Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 We just spent a few days travelling the eastern upper peninsula of Michigan. Came across two other Toyota mini-micros. One used as an office in the middle of a black bear refuge in Newberry. The other a Winnebago at Saulte Sainte Marie on the Canadian border. Damn near got stuck a few times on loose "sugar sand" roads that are half-a-foot deep with loose sand when at their best. We put the Toyota on a ferry to Sugar Island to look over some wetlands we may want to buy. A huge dually truck with an 11 foot camper pulled up next to us on the ferry and made our rig look tiny. Yet - the ferry toll for the huge truck was $14 and the ferry guy was going to charge us $24 for our little Toyota. Why? We had a "motorhome" while the big truck was just a "truck and a camper." I argued a bit and the ferry guy finally decided to call out little Toyota a "truck and camper" also. We saws some neat stuff. Got sort of "attacked" by a pair of wild turkeys after I yelled at them to get the heck out of the road. We hiked a long ways into a 160 acre parcel of wetlands to look at a very sensitive bog. Had a lot o neat plant life including meat-eating plants like Pitcher plants and Sundew. My wife and I are thinking about buying the place. Just not sure yet. The Feds likely would never let us build any sort of driveway into it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted July 15, 2015 Author Share Posted July 15, 2015 Here are few more photos. In an old camper I saw something moving. The camper stuck something awful too. Then I heard something hissing at me. Ends up it was two baby vultures. Also saw a baby bald eagle who was bigger the his mom (or maybe dad?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted July 15, 2015 Author Share Posted July 15, 2015 A few more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob C Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 I am headed up to that area next month. I called that same ferry company about the tolls and they said $24 no matter what size RV. I was going to give up but now I will try arguing with them. They also own the ferry to De Tour Island east of St Ignac, near Machinac Island. I am going to try getting to both islands if possible. I like going to out of the way places & my wife quit arguing with me about it a long time ago. We did have to back up almost 2 milles once due to a VERY NARROW road and downed trees. She somehow can't seem to forget that & keeps reminding me of it when the roads start to look questionable. We plan on a 10 day wandering trip throughout the entire UP (Upper Penninsula of Michigan for non-Midwesterners.) I have 3 cans of bug juice and can always buy more if need be. Do you think the RV weighs enough so that the black flies and mosquitoes can't carry it away? I can always throw in a couple hundred punds of rock for ballast if I have to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shibs Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 I am headed up to that area next month. I called that same ferry company about the tolls and they said $24 no matter what size RV. I was going to give up but now I will try arguing with them. They also own the ferry to De Tour Island east of St Ignac, near Machinac Island. I am going to try getting to both islands if possible. I like going to out of the way places & my wife quit arguing with me about it a long time ago. We did have to back up almost 2 milles once due to a VERY NARROW road and downed trees. She somehow can't seem to forget that & keeps reminding me of it when the roads start to look questionable. We plan on a 10 day wandering trip throughout the entire UP (Upper Penninsula of Michigan for non-Midwesterners.) I have 3 cans of bug juice and can always buy more if need be. Do you think the RV weighs enough so that the black flies and mosquitoes can't carry it away? I can always throw in a couple hundred punds of rock for ballast if I have to. I would take more bug juice, the wallys in Ludington is nearly always out of bug spray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shibs Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 JDE, good report, I am thinking of heading that way when it is a bit cooler. so gas was 315/375 and diesel was 295? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted July 17, 2015 Author Share Posted July 17, 2015 I am headed up to that area next month. I called that same ferry company about the tolls and they said $24 no matter what size RV. I was going to give up but now I will try arguing with them. They also own the ferry to De Tour Island east of St Ignac, near Machinac Island. I am going to try getting to both islands if possible. I like going to out of the way places & my wife quit arguing with me about it a long time ago. We did have to back up almost 2 milles once due to a VERY NARROW road and downed trees. She somehow can't seem to forget that & keeps reminding me of it when the roads start to look questionable. We plan on a 10 day wandering trip throughout the entire UP (Upper Penninsula of Michigan for non-Midwesterners.) I have 3 cans of bug juice and can always buy more if need be. Do you think the RV weighs enough so that the black flies and mosquitoes can't carry it away? I can always throw in a couple hundred punds of rock for ballast if I have to. I am headed up to that area next month. I called that same ferry company about the tolls and they said $24 no matter what size RV. I was going to give up but now I will try arguing with them. They also own the ferry to De Tour Island east of St Ignac, near Machinac Island. I am going to try getting to both islands if possible. I was just in Detour and didn't even know there was a Detour Island. But - there are islands all over the place. Drummond is a pretty big one and seems like near the entire island is for sale. Land was bringing over $1000 an acre (non lake-front) when the Detroit auto industry was doing well and was USA owned. Now, not-so-good. So many properties are for sale and some cheap. That's why we went to Sugar Island. Many 40-80 acre parcels for sale for $500 an acre or less. We just made an offer on a 80 acre woods with three beaver ponds on it and some nice hardwoods. Asking price was $39K and we offered 28K. We'll see what happens. My wife used to work on Mackinac Island and loves the place. Not bringing any RVs there though. More of a bicycle or horse place. Here's my toll ticket stub from Sugar Island with the "truck and camper for $14" punched out. I'm bringing it with me next time One added note. The toll to Sugar Island is only one-way. Unlike the Mackinac Bridge that gets you both ways - Sugar Island only charges you to get TO the island. Coming back is free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted July 17, 2015 Author Share Posted July 17, 2015 JDE, good report, I am thinking of heading that way when it is a bit cooler. so gas was 315/375 and diesel was 295? Yes, it's nice to see diesel cheaper then reg. gas again. That $3.15 a gallon price was in Paradise which seems to have the most expensive gas in the eastern UP. Paradise is fairly remote. Gas was 20-30 cents a gallon cheaper in places like Naubinway, Pickford, Newberrry, St. Ignace, Sault Sainte Marie, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob C Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 jemaris-you are correct about the name of the island. It is Drummond, I had looked at the map a couple of months ago and got it wrong this time. I thought it looked like a good place to wander around for a couple of hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted July 18, 2015 Author Share Posted July 18, 2015 I haven't been on Drummond Island yet. Sugar Island is smaller and has wolves, beaver, and moose on it that got me kind of intrigued. Probably Drummond does too but I think Drummond has had more development pressure then Sugar Island has. The latter feels like an island when you're on it. Also kind of neat (and depressing in a way) to be so close to the Canadian border. I mean so close you could nearly hit Canada with a slingshot. The Michigan side by Sugar Island is beautiful. But the Canada side is pretty ugly with a lot of factories , smokestacks, quarries, etc. It looks like they put all their trashiest places on the border facing Michigan. Mackinac Island is my wife's favorite but probably because there are no auto and she used to work there. No ferry for our RVs to that place but I guess you could drive one across the ice when winter comes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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