The McKenzie's Official world tour site
# Tuesday, 06 January 2009
FROZEN IN THE NORTH..............

Following our dock-side re-union, we stayed in Nessie and drove through day and night.....it amused us when our GPS System told us to continue on the Interstate 80 Westbound for 628 miles!!

We think we surprised Phil’s brother, Steve, as he saw us drive right past his house the next lunch time! We had arrived in Stevensville, Michigan, just as Steve was home for his lunch break and he had really thought that he was seeing things- when we drove by -a whole day earlier than he had expected!

We received a huge welcome from Steve and Penny –Phil & Steve being the brothers who had not seen each other for 4 years! Once again it was great to have a base and be able to unpack Nessie’s boxes and sort her out! Not sure if we really re-charged our batteries here, as the nights seemed too short and the partying endless- but we did have a fantastic time!! It was great to be able to catch up and to witness Steve and Phil ‘doing’ an ACDC Angus – was something else!! Just don’t ask me too many questions about drinking “Jager bombs” – it is a dodgy subject!

It was also lovely for the children to be able to catch up with their long lost cousins – Alex (& Renee) and their newly -wed cousin- Anita (& Jack). The children loved having a few sleepovers at Anita and Jack’s house (very brave of them!)They had four dogs and a cat to help entertain and –THE SNOW- FOR SLEDGING AND BUILDING SNOWMEN!!

“Oh yes” – the SNOW – Since Nessie has left the heat of Portugal she has been in for the shock of her little life! Her tanks were frozen up even before we arrived at Steve’s, with temperatures falling to minus 5 at that point. As we were kindly offered to sleep in the house, we had to defrost Nessie and then leave her a heater on- all of the time! At worst we left her sat in 8 inches of snow!

From our experience, Stevensville has a very close knit community and we enjoyed time at Steve and Penny’s local – “The Stevensville Station”. The folks at the Station were generous enough to throw a party for us all. In their very own words – a Hill Billy Party, with scrumptious food included. As we arrived we even saw them grilling meat outside in the snow – how dedicated is that?! We even had Mull of Kintyre playing on the juke box! Our special thanks extend to Dee, Art, Kelly, Terry, Al, Steve, Penny, and all at the Station.

“The Brits were in town” and we will be back next year too – for an important date! During the party in the pub, Steve proposed to Penny in front of everyone and (after the shock!) –thankfully she accepted, so we shall be back for a wedding somewhere around next fall-time!!

While we were in Stevensville, Penny took us along to a printer’s and we were able to get lots of business sized cards printed up with our website details and Devon Air Ambulance details too. These have already proved to be invaluable and we have handed out many to interested people along our travels. We would like to thank Independent Copier Supplies, in Stevensville, for being able to deal with our request so promptly and efficiently.

We said our very emotional farewells to Steve, Penny, Anita, Jack, Alex & Renee a couple of weeks before Christmas (remember – we will be back!) We had a plan to head south –We thank- you all for the fantastic visit we have had.......... nothing personal -but we will see you all again next year -when the weather has warmed up a tad!!

We travelled out of Michigan and into Illinois and we found a Jelly Stone Camp Resort (Yogi Bear Camp) at Millbrook, near Chicago. We received a warm welcome here (MUCH warmer than the weather and staff seemed concerned for our welfare being ‘out’ in these conditions.) The conditions were – even more snow and temperatures that shot down to as low as minus 18 degrees C!! With a wind chill factor of minus 30 degrees C!! A bit of a shock if you come from Devon! Yogi Bear is in hibernation for the winter and we were not surprised by this!

We did get stranded for a few days and then took a very nerve racking journey to the nearest shopping mall to get some supplies in, when driving conditions were very challenging (on our wedding anniversary too!) It was even difficult for the children to play outside, as nostril hair was freezing, and we had to wait a few more days before it was bearable for us all to have a winter walk in the snow! This was fine for us- as we did not have to be anywhere, but ‘full-timers’ next door  still had to be up and out for work at 6.30am.

Nessie’s heaters were working overtime to keep us cosy and Phil had to go and buy a 110 volt battery charger and heaters because everything inside Nessie is 240 volts. He also had to keep an eye on the tanks, after shovelling a path through the snow! (Many thanks to our neighbour, Jim, for being a great help in setting us up on site and for many words of wisdom!)

We have never experienced such extreme weather conditions, and there is a point when watching the ice forming on the inside of Nessie’s double glazed windows becomes a little concerning. We had two electric fan heaters and the gas heater running full blast, as we huddled together, four in our bed! And the little one said........

At three in the morning - (for some strange reason) we were being rudely awakened (and probably the neighbours too!) by our carbon monoxide alarm which is VERY loud! Now we had the great choice of carbon monoxide poisoning inside or hypothermia outside! We were very nervous of going back to sleep (obviously) and resorted in waving the door violently to try and let some ice cold air in. We even logged onto the internet during those early hours to find information about carbon monoxide. We clarified our beliefs that carbon monoxide is not created from electric heaters and so turned off the gas heater, just in case. However, the alarm still kept going for hours afterwards.......

We kept the door waving and took the batteries out......we live to tell the tale and when at last we did fall asleep – we dreamt of being stuck in Sesimbra, in the sun.......!

There were warnings of more Ice Storms that were due to hit many parts of the USA (an Ice Storm can leave a thick covering of ice on every surface) and an inch and a half’s ice was forecast for that night– so we decided to try and run from the storm, instead of storm chasing. The danger with Ice Storms is, among others, the weight of the ice on the power lines, and many parts had been without power for days. We did not want to risk this happening to us and so we took the advice of the locals and made a calculated gamble. We left Illinois while the roads were still good and headed south as quickly as possible!

We began our trek on the famous Route 66 and made it to St. Louis in Missouri. We stopped at the St. Louis RV Park and took a couple of nights here as the park was quite central to Downtown St. Louis.

We were advised that it was best to get the Metro ‘Downtown’ but we were keen for a walk and all enjoyed a refreshing 20 minute stroll! In our experience walking as a means of transport is not a preferred method and we have been amused by the drive through fast-foods, ATM’s, banks, pharmacies, Christmas lights, and have even heard about drive through weddings that are now available! Wonder if Steve will opt for that choice next year?!

We walked across to the Gateway Arch which is the Gateway to the West in St. Louis. We visited the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (opened in 1965) to hear the history of how Jefferson’s dream became real when he was able to purchase more Louisiana Land from France and to open out the States into the West......

Until this purchase in 1803, the borders had been at the Mississippi River. The Gateway Arch is 630 feet tall and 630 feet wide and stands as a monument to the American Indians, pioneers, explorers, trappers, gold seekers, missionaries and soldiers who opened the vast wilderness to the west of the Mississippi River. Inside the Expansion Memorial there was (among other attractions) an extensive museum designed as a time line and showing the different stages and influences that have been in the western parts of the USA.

We even got to take a tram ride (which was more like a time capsule) that climbed a track up and down the inside of the legs of the arch. There were eight of these (five passenger) capsules that completely closed in and would possibly be tricky if you suffered from claustrophobia! The trip to the top took four minutes and the return trip only three minutes! From the top there were observation windows to see the stunning views across the city and along the Mississippi River.

The Old Court House (a couple of blocks away) is also an important part of the Memorial site, as it was here that the first two hearing of the Dred Scott Slavery Case were heard. This case was continued and concluded with the infamous decision at the Supreme Court (in Washington DC) in 1857. The final decision in this case was involved in causing the beginning of the Civil War between the North and the South States.

We left St Louis and motored toward Springfield. We rested along an original part of the Route 66 (after finding a great memorabilia store called the ‘Mule Trading Post’ which has been there since 1957!)We found Paradise in the Woods RV Park. This was the first time in a while that the children had been able to get out on their bikes and so they made the most of that! We had a novelty here, to be able to use the community room. This had a table, chairs, a TV, settees, a microwave and a heater! For a change of seats (and because Phil misses his arm chair!) we took our beef stew in and warmed it in the microwave, before having Phil thrash the rest of us in a game of monopoly!

Out of Missouri and the next stop was Oklahoma! We set up base at the Rockwell RV Park (21st Dec) and stayed for the Christmas week.......We even received chocolates for us and candy for the children! More about this park next time!

We are all very happy to be in The States for Christmas 2008. Throughout our travels so far, we have been made to feel extremely appreciated as we take the time to visit some of the sights that help to make up the US heritage. Nothing seems too much trouble and phrases such as ‘You are very welcome’ and ‘Have a great day/evening’ are plentiful. It has been pleasant driving on these roads as there are always interesting sights to see and bill boards to read! Long distances have been easily covered on these enormous straight roads!!

More about our Christmas in Oklahoma -next time!

FACTOIDS-

·         The Gateway Arch stands at 630 ft and is 75 ft higher than the Washington Monument in DC, and is over twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty in New York.

·         The Gateway Arch is the tallest monument within the National Park System of the USA.

·         The Garrison-type flag in the Old Courthouse is the largest of the regulation US flags. Historically flown from the 100 ft wooden flag staffs at Military posts, it measures 36 ft long and 20 ft wide!

·         The Gateway Arch is the centrepiece of the 90 acre Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.

 

WILDLIFE HITS-

·         Male and Female Cardinals

·         Jays

·         Egrets

·         Lesser Spotted Wood Peckers


Tuesday, 06 January 2009 15:19:57 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [1]  USA