We have not had great internet service recently, so I have not had a chance to report! Lots to catch up!
We had a great time at the Indy 500! We were with a group from Camping World and were located in a lot just across from the Speedway with lots of mega motor homes. (No amenities, electricity or water but location was everything.) It was a fun 3 days that included a dinner. We met people from all over. There was lots of celebrating! . The stadium was incredible - you could see grandstands full of people a mile away. The place is not fancy - even the best seats are all hard aluminum benches. They really pack in the 250,000 people. It rained ard in the morning, but stopped in time to dry the track before the start of the race. We sat between the 1st and 2nd turns and there was a lot of action there. It was really interesting to see the safety crews tend to the driver, car, and track after the 5 minor accidents that happened right near us. The noise is awesome -everyone wears ear protection! It rained again after 112 laps and we were able to escape easily to the motor home. Many did go home as there was no cover and it rained hard. Two hours later the race resumed and we walked across the street and saw about 50 more laps before the final rainstorm ended the day. It was to great to be located right there and not to fight the traffic and rainstorms.
Indianapolis is a nice city with some huge monuments and nice parks.
We went north into Michigan for 2 days to recover, do laundry, shop and plan for the next few weeks which will be touring in Michigan and the Great Lakes.
The roads have been very bad lately. It is obvious that hard winters and hot summers have caused numerous chuck holes and heat bumps. Some are very serious and there is no warning. We actually saw a cres on a mojor freeway with no warning signs at all. They had a truck on the shoulder and two guys were throwing shovelfuls of asphalt in the holes between cars going by at full speed.
There are lots of things that we would not see in our area: no helmets for motorcycles or bikes, pickup trucks full of people, unrestrained kids in cars, swimming pools that are not fenced, and workers without safety glasses.
We moved east to the Detroit area. Visited Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan - a huge campus. Detroit is a city in big trouble. There are some positives in the downtown area but it appears that there is not enough prosperity to solve the problems in the surrounding areas. There are nice new condos 2 blocks from the new downtown baseball park that start at $140,000 and don't seem to be selling. The areas surrounding downtown are just bad. There is no attempt at tourism - no tours or anything. Also the local CBS station does not even have news at 11:00. We have not seen a town anywhere that did not have all 3 network news at 11:00!
Drove around the Saginaw Bay area - they call it the "Thumb" and if you look at the map you can understand why. It is largely farmland. The coast has some interesting small towns, but it is really not too well developed for tourists. Each town has several beautiful old buildings, ornate churches and a street of wonderful old houses. We went wading in Lake Huron. It is about 58 degrees and smells and looks like the ocean.
We drove up the Lake Huron coast to Alpena. There are houses and small tourist cottages along the way and modest tourist facilities. All of the houses have signs with cutesy names (Nick's Nook") and lots of yard art and vignettes. We have seen a great deal of yard art in the midwest states - deer, madonnas, cowboy silhouettes, scarecrows and everything else that you can imagine. It must be a kind of "keeping up with the Jones" type of thing here on this coast!
We had a great time at the Indy 500! We were with a group from Camping World and were located in a lot just across from the Speedway with lots of mega motor homes. (No amenities, electricity or water but location was everything.) It was a fun 3 days that included a dinner. We met people from all over. There was lots of celebrating! . The stadium was incredible - you could see grandstands full of people a mile away. The place is not fancy - even the best seats are all hard aluminum benches. They really pack in the 250,000 people. It rained ard in the morning, but stopped in time to dry the track before the start of the race. We sat between the 1st and 2nd turns and there was a lot of action there. It was really interesting to see the safety crews tend to the driver, car, and track after the 5 minor accidents that happened right near us. The noise is awesome -everyone wears ear protection! It rained again after 112 laps and we were able to escape easily to the motor home. Many did go home as there was no cover and it rained hard. Two hours later the race resumed and we walked across the street and saw about 50 more laps before the final rainstorm ended the day. It was to great to be located right there and not to fight the traffic and rainstorms.
Indianapolis is a nice city with some huge monuments and nice parks.
We went north into Michigan for 2 days to recover, do laundry, shop and plan for the next few weeks which will be touring in Michigan and the Great Lakes.
The roads have been very bad lately. It is obvious that hard winters and hot summers have caused numerous chuck holes and heat bumps. Some are very serious and there is no warning. We actually saw a cres on a mojor freeway with no warning signs at all. They had a truck on the shoulder and two guys were throwing shovelfuls of asphalt in the holes between cars going by at full speed.
There are lots of things that we would not see in our area: no helmets for motorcycles or bikes, pickup trucks full of people, unrestrained kids in cars, swimming pools that are not fenced, and workers without safety glasses.
We moved east to the Detroit area. Visited Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan - a huge campus. Detroit is a city in big trouble. There are some positives in the downtown area but it appears that there is not enough prosperity to solve the problems in the surrounding areas. There are nice new condos 2 blocks from the new downtown baseball park that start at $140,000 and don't seem to be selling. The areas surrounding downtown are just bad. There is no attempt at tourism - no tours or anything. Also the local CBS station does not even have news at 11:00. We have not seen a town anywhere that did not have all 3 network news at 11:00!
Drove around the Saginaw Bay area - they call it the "Thumb" and if you look at the map you can understand why. It is largely farmland. The coast has some interesting small towns, but it is really not too well developed for tourists. Each town has several beautiful old buildings, ornate churches and a street of wonderful old houses. We went wading in Lake Huron. It is about 58 degrees and smells and looks like the ocean.
We drove up the Lake Huron coast to Alpena. There are houses and small tourist cottages along the way and modest tourist facilities. All of the houses have signs with cutesy names (Nick's Nook") and lots of yard art and vignettes. We have seen a great deal of yard art in the midwest states - deer, madonnas, cowboy silhouettes, scarecrows and everything else that you can imagine. It must be a kind of "keeping up with the Jones" type of thing here on this coast!
posted by Bob and Linda at
5:15 PM
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