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Spartan, Lansing, Lake Michigan Shoreline, Sault Ste. Marie
Spartan We love our new Dutch Star but we had a few concerns about the Spartan chassis. Since Spartan is located in Charlotte, Michigan, along the route we were traveling, we made an appointment for a Tuesday morning. Why a Tuesday? Spartan has a free camping area with 50-amp electric and we wanted to tour the area over the weekend so we arrived on Friday afternoon. Monday we talked to service managers Chris and Paul, two of the nicest people we have met. For twenty minutes they listened to our concerns and answered our questions. Tuesday, Spartan technicians spent 5.5 hours making our new home perfect. Our concerns were a slightly rough ride, uneven weight distribution, air brake hoses that were rubbing the wheel wells and an ignition key that was hard to turn. Spartan balanced the front tire and adjusted the ride height, then weighed each wheel position and found our weights from side to side were now within forty pounds of each other. That is amazing for a loaded motorhome that weighs over 31,000 pounds. They replaced the air brake hoses and the ignition switch. When they finished the repairs I took a test drive with Chris and I must admit, they made our new home perfect. It now has a smooth ride and handles better than 99% of the motorhomes on the road. All work was done under warranty and they sent us off with a handshake and a Spartan logo cap. Spartan builds a great chassis and they back it up with good service. Lansing We love to tour state capitols and learn the histories of states. The Michigan State Capitol in Lansing is one of the most beautiful and interesting capitols we have visited. A very informative guide took us on a forty-five minute tour and answered all our questions. The present building is the third Michigan capitol and construction was begun in 1872 with dedication in 1879. A three year restoration was completed in 1992 restoring the magnificent building to its former glory. Nearby is the Michigan Historical Center and Michigan State Archives and Library that was constructed in 1989. We only visited the Historical Center, a large three story building plus two mezzanines. The history of Michigan is explained through displays and exhibits from prehistoric times to the late twentieth century. We learned about the various industries of the state including copper and iron mining, lumbering, fishing, farming and manufacturing. We highly recommend a two or three hour tour of the Historical Center. Darrell and Judy Patterson live north of Lansing and are
internet friends we had never met. They are planning to retire and hit
the road fulltime. We met them at DeLuca's restaurant in Lansing where
we ate delicious pizza and talked about the RV fulltiming lifestyle. It
was nice to finally meet them and we hope to see them on the road soon.
Lake Michigan Shoreline Our next stop was in Manistee where we planned to relax, catch up the laundry and tour the Michigan shoreline. We took a pleasant drive to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and were disappointed to find the visitors center closed on a week day. We carry a National Parks System passport book and get an official stamp at national parks and sites. So far we have collected about a hundred, but the Dunes was closed so Linda wrote it in our book. The parking lot was full of school buses and SUV's and there were so many elementary school children and parents in the park we had trouble walking. A walk to the top of the dunes was impossible because of so many children climbing up and sliding down. Driving north in the motorhome we kept an eye on the fuel gauge because we had never put fuel in it and we didn't know if the gauge was accurate. When it reached mid-way between 1/4 tank and empty we stopped at a truck stop and filled up with diesel. OUCH, the Dutch Star was thirsty and took 125.06 gallons (150 gallon tank) at $2.299 a gallon for a total of $300.01. We're glad we're not planning a cross country trip this year. (This was the first diesel we had bought since last September, nine months ago. Being stuck in Louisville all winter we didn't use any diesel and we drained the fuel tank during our March - May travels and traded in the motorhome with an empty tank. Our new Dutch Star was delivered with a full fuel tank.) Driving a motorhome across the Mackinac Bridge is always
interesting and this time it was not windy (thank goodness), but construction
had the middle portion reduced to two narrow lanes. We drove slowly which
is required by law and paid $8 for the motorhome and CR-V. In 2001 we were
charged $3 to cross and today they list the charges as motorhomes ($4)
and cars ($2.50), but if connected together there is an addition charge
of $1.50 - doesn't make sense. The bridge was opened in 1957 and is five
miles long. It connects the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with the lower
part of the state and is the dividing line between Lake Huron and Lake
Michigan. The Kewadin Casino in St. Ignace, the third oldest city in North
America, provided us with free camping (boondocking) in a remote paved
parking lot for three nights. We had already visited Mackinaw City and
Mackinac Island in 2001 so we skipped those interesting places this trip.
We did make some pictures of Mackinac Bridge by driving along the shore
were others may fear to tread.
Sault Ste. Marie We drove in rain from St. Ignace to Sault Ste. Marie, set up the motorhome in rain then sat inside and watched more rain. The last two and a half years this has been our routine and we were hoping for a nice warm and sunny summer. There is a lot of history in Sault Ste. Marie and we had laid out plans for five full days but most will have to wait another year because it was cold, windy and rainy with dark skies the first four days. We did venture out to eat a few times and found Antlers, Great Wall of China and Riverfront Cafe. Any species of animal that ever roamed this country has been shot, stuffed and graces the walls and rafters of Antlers so don't look over your shoulder or you'll see gnarling teeth. Great Wall of China had a delicious buffet and Riverfront Cafe had fresh whitefish fixed many ways. We parked our Dutch Star in the front row facing the water at Soo Locks Campground and had a great view of lake freighters plying the water of St. Mary's River. The river is 61 miles long and connects the lower Great Lakes through Lake Huron with Lake Superior, the largest of the lakes. Lake Superior is 21 feet higher than the river and in the early days St. Mary's Rapids prevented boat traffic between the bodies of water. One hundred and fifty years ago the first lock was built at Sault Ste. Marie and boats could navigate the waters saving weeks of time portaging around the rapids. Today there are four locks on the United States side (one is no longer used) and one on the Canadian side. Also, in the area of the locks are the Information and Visitors Center, a hydroelectric power plant, an international bridge for vehicles, an international bridge for trains, the Edison Electric Co. Canal, the second largest steel mill in Canada, and of course Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan on one side and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada on the other side. It sure is a busy place. The Visitors Center gives an overview and history of the Locks and the Army Corps of Engineers' role in the development of the Great Lakes region. Included are many exhibits, informative signs and displays and a small theater with videos on the Locks and Great Lakes. More than 11,000 vessels pass through Soo Locks each year with the largest being 1,000 foot freighters carrying up to 72,000 tons of iron ore, coal, grain or stone. The largest freighters carry the same load as 720 rail cars or 2,770 semi-trucks. Observation platforms located beside
the Locks give a great close-up view of freighters and the operation of
the Locks. Visitors are so close they often have conversations with the
crew. We watched a 720 foot long freighter go through and found the crew
to be busy and hard at work, but pleasant enough to answer everybody's
questions.
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