Day 17 - Mackinac Island and the Upper Pennisula of Michigan (aka the UP)

Because we hadn't planned out our return trip, Uncle Tom gave us some great ideas of places to visit in the UP. We decided since we were already in Wolverine, close to Mackinac Island and the Mackinac Bridge, we would come home via the UP and then across the upper part of the US.

Mackinac Island is where the movie "Somewhere in Time" was filmed, with Christopher Reeves. There are no cars allowed. Only horses with buggies, bicycles and pedistrians. We parked in Mackinac City and took the Ferry across to the island.

We took the bluff stairs to the upper part of the island where there are many large, beautiful homes.

This home belonged to a Doctor! 

 The Mackinac Bridge is very long and sometimes in strong winds, people have to be escorted at 20 miles an hour. We were told that one time a Yugo car was lifted up off the bridge and fell into the water! It has a grate for the road! We did okay because we waited until 8 pm to drive across, when the winds are not as strong.

After crossing the Mackinac Bridge, we headed along Lake Michigan toward the Paulding Lights near Watersmeet and Paulding. My Uncle explained to me that this light is a mystery to everyone and the story behind it is that a switchman for the trains, got drunk and died while trying to stop the trains from colliding. It is believed that the ghost walks the Robbins Pond Road with his lantern ever since. There have been many researchers and TV reality shows trying to explain the lights, but noone has been able to.

On our way, we relied on two navigators to get us the Robbins Pond Road. At about 3 a.m. both navigators told us to take a turn in 500 ft. We took a left turn on the road, which lead us on a dirt road in a forest. We didn't think anything of it at first because there are many roads in Michigan that are dirt roads which connect to a paved road and we had the navigators set for "fastest route". After about 2 miles and the woods getting more condensed and no civilization in site, we decided to try to turn around which was not an easy task because the dirt road was very narrow. Sam finally decided to try to turn near a small clearing but it was very dark (no moon!). We began to get very nervous thinking it would not be good if we couldn't turn around. As Sam was pulling forward and reversing to try to straighten out the trailer of quads and dirt bike, the motorhome just died and we smelled a strange smell like something burned. He tried to start the generator and that died too. Hmmmm.... very scary! It was pitch black. Sam got his gun and loaded it. He got out to try to figure out what was wrong with the rig and I watched his back from bears and wolves... or anything else scary out there!!!! The kids were freaked out and thought we were done for! Sam thought it might be a fuse, but couldn't find a fuse box. We had no choice but to bunker down for the night and try again in the morning. Thank goodness I did have a cell phone signal! I put a message on facebook letting people know our general location if something happened to us and also left messages with my Uncles in Michigan.

After sleeping 3 hours, until dawn, Sam once again crawled under the rig as I watched wondering if AAA would come and tow in the middle of nowhere! After much effort, Sam gave in and asked me to call AAA. I explained our location being about 2 miles off the main road and that we had 6 people and a 32 foot rig with a 10 foot trailer with bikes. While I was on the phone with AAA, a big snowplow type of truck came down the dirt road!!! I ran out to him and he said that noone comes down here and the road leads to nowhere. It is a dead end and we would not have been able to turn around had we gone back further. He explained that the road leads to private property and does not meet up with another road. He told me the name of a Chevy Dealer about 20 miles down the road that might be able to work on our rig if we had it towed there. When I called the dealer, they said they couldn't help us. Just then, the tow truck driver called and said they found a a place that would work on our rig and that he was brining two trucks so all 6 of us can fit and to tow our quad/dirtbike trailer too. The tow truck was so beefed up that it pulled our rig sideways with no problem because the auto park would not unlock.

This is the truck that pulled our trailer of bikes.

The tow truck guy was so nice and friendly. He owned the tow truck company and after learning of our adventure, he offered to let us use one of his personal vehicles while our rig was fixed so we could tour the area. He told us about the Paulding Lights and his experiences with it. He convinced us to still go and said that there are many strange things that happen when you get near the Paulding Lights area! The crazy thing was that BOTH navigators told us to turn where we did and the next nearest road (the road we should have taken) was about 4 miles away!!! He just smiled! Our navigators had been accurate until that turn! We were towed to a small town called L'Anse, Michigan right on Lake Superior.

The repair guy came out and after talking to Sam about what Sam had tried, he found the problem was the fusible link and repaired it in about 5 mintues! He gave Sam so extras just in case! So... off to kill time until later in the day so we can see the Paulding Light. We found Bond Falls State Park and hung there for the day walking along the falls and catching up on our sleep because you can see the Paulding Light best later at night. When we got the the barrier on Robbins Pond Road and decided to walk down the road beyond the barrier to see if there was any homes, campgrounds, someting to make the light. We couldn't see anything that would explain the light.

 After walking down the road, we found that there was a beaver dam that split the road where no car could drive by.

So, back to the motorhome we went. By the time we got back to the barrier, people were already beginning to gather.

Sam, Paige and I sat ontop of the motorhome to get a better view.

Even at 3 AM, people were still coming to the barrier on Robbins Pond Road to see the Paulding Light. We stayed the night right there in our motorhome!