Yesterday consisted of 666 miles from our hotel in New Paris, Ohio to Columbus, Ohio then up to Dearborn, Michigan and onwards to Sault Ste Marie on the upper peninsula, about 10 miles from Canada.

We drove through the German village in Columbus and it was quite underwhelming. It reminded us of Atlanta when we left the zoo and it was just yard sale after yard sale so we carried on our journey. 

The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn was full of old cars, planes, agricultural vehicles and more! We started with the presidential vehicles. Ronald Reagan’s carJFK’s car. He was assassinated in this car in 1963.Eisenhower’s carFranklin D Roosevelt’s carTheodore Roosevelt’s car

There were even trains in the museum. 

At one point Ford was asked to run for Senate by President Woodrow Wilson but he got defeated. In 1918 he turned the presidency of the company over to his son, Edsel but he remained the overall decision maker and even overturned some of his sons decisions. We walked around all the different types of car on show. Although Ford didn’t invent the car, he invented the car that most Americans could actually afford. The Model T was the car that revoltionalised America and by 1918 over half the cars in America were Model T’s. Black ones as Ford once stated that “anyone can have it in any colour so long as it’s black.” Nathan even drove one….There were all different cars in the museum including stock and NASCAR cars. Ford was one of the first backers of the Indy 500.2011 Ford Fusion 1987 Ford thunderbird 

I liked the old cars like these where you’d ride in style! I’d just need a chauffeur with a hat and driving gloves and I’d be sorted! Beautiful cars they really were!There was another interactive screen called ‘what car are you?’ I came out as a 1955 Chevrolet corvette roadster! 0-60mph in 8.5 seconds. 

His son died an early death from cancer in 1943 so Ford took back the presidency, not that this was favourable with everyone. Ford did some great things in his time such as introducing the $5 wage which meant he had low labour turnover as well as enticing the best skilled workers to come and work for Ford Motor Company. He also introduced a five day working week which consisted of five 8 hour days and he was adamantly against labour unions, that was until his wife said she would leave him if he dissolved the company (which he would rather have done than forge an agreement with a union! Eventually a contract was signed in 1941 with the union auto workers. 

They also had a section on aircraft. Ford went into the aircraft business when war broke out. The most successful aircraft he built was the Ford 4AT Trimotor and it first flew in 1926. It flew 12 passengers (the first aircraft to do so) across the United States. He built 199 of them before they were discontinued during the Great Depression due to lack of sales.

The chair where Lincoln assassinated.

Ford died aged 83 in 1947. After we had exited the museum we began the four hour journey up to Sault Ste Marie on the upper peninsula of Michigan. The weather was wet and it was incredibly windy. I managed to book us into a hotel this time so we headed for Homestead Inn, about ten miles from Canada!

The journey up consisted of only a couple of roads but we got to the bridge and it was rather pretty! We then had to pay $4 to get off it. The signs that lined the road said “don’t pick up hitchhikers, this is prison territory.” Our interpretation of that was we’d be picking up an escaped convict if we let anyone in the car! He satnav wasn’t picking up the address for the hotel, when I typed it in my phone it just said the address whereas normally it tells me the hotel name. I had to check I had booked the correct state!

Luckily I did. We drove along the road twice, pulled into a car park we couldn’t get out of, conducted two illegal u-turns as well as driving towards the highway which we wouldn’t have been able to get off so we swung the car round and drive on the wrong side of the road to get back to where we wanted to be! Good job it was dark, late and quiet because that was an exciting five minutes! Eventually we saw the sign for the hotel. It was a comfort inn redone to homestead inn. No wonder we couldn’t find it. We parked and went to check in. They guys behind the desk we very nice and friendly and even pointed us to the swimming pool open until 11pm and the 24hr fitness centre. I mean either they were trying to tell us something or we clearly just looked like a couple of gym buffs rocking up to a town in the middle of nowhere at half ten at night!

The bed was so comfortable we contemplated staying there and pretending we were travelling stealing photos off google and photo shopping us in. We didn’t though, albeit the weather didn’t help. It had been raining all night and showed no sign of stopping. I managed to lose the room key too. Not bad as it’s only taken me four weeks to lose something. After re tracing my steps I found it in the dirty laundry bag I had taken to the car 😂. After checking out we were good to go….except the warning light for tyre pressure had come on again.

First stop today Tahquamenon Falls. Only an hour away from the hotel. It was a shame it was raining because the views we had seen would have been beautiful with a blue sky backdrop! We parked up at the Upper Falls and started walking to the waterfall. It was cold and it was wet. The waterfall was pretty though. In 1833 they removed 16,000 cubic yards of sandstone from the river bed in order to make it navigational, ready it for long drives and deepen it to drain 30 square miles of swampland owned by the Tahquamenon River Improvement Company. They called it  ‘Taming the Tahquamenon River.’The gift shop was even open which was a surprise as a lot of places seem to be closed until next weekend! Nathan made a new friend…And I went Christmas shopping…It was a very pretty place despite the rain. Our next stop was Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Park, about another hour away. Or so we thought. The actual drive was 42 miles along the beautiful shoreline of Lake Superior. 

We found a beach! The sea looked crystal clear against a dark stormy sky. I wonder if it would have been warmer than the air outside?This was at the dog slide overlook a few miles from Au Sable lighthouse. We continued our journey along the shoreline discussing our route through the rest of America as we’re a few days behind our itinerary. I said to Nathan I think we should head south to Texas so this weather can pass, then work our way back up instead of zigzagging across from west to east. He agreed and it did seem logical, so I turn and say “I think our itinerary has just gone out the window.” His quick witted response as always…”Shall we go back and get it?” 😂😂Itineraries are overrated anyway! Winging it is what I do best. It’s how I have lived the past 27 years and I’ve done alright so why change it haha! Thankfully we then came across Miners castle with a beautiful view down of the layered rocks. The seas was beautifully clear with multicoloured layers of rock and green trees. Stunning little cove!It was my favourite view of the day. I can only imagine how spectacular it would look without the bad weather! Next stop would be Miners Falls. There were plenty of deer crossing the road around us and I was on bear lookout! 🐻 Sadly I didn’t spot any. The falls were about 0.6 miles from the parking lot. Nathan didn’t think it was so set his watch to check the distance. The signs were right he was wrong!! We walked through quite a dense forest to reach the Falls and for some reason I found myself thinking that there could be hundreds of dead bodies buried in these woods. I mean it is in the middle of nowhere, off the beaten track, no cell reception, no one around the hear you scream. Disturbing I know and I have no idea why my brain suddenly went there 😂 but in my opinion a good place to bury a body! (Don’t worry Nathan is safe!)

After our 1.2 mile jaunt we were back on the road again, this time heading to Munising Falls.At one point it looked like you could walk round the back of it but due to erosion and rock falls they have stopped it. The journey along Lake Superior really was beautiful. 

The only downside was no visitor centres were open until next weekend so that meant no stamps for our passport 😢. Our final destination today, Duluth, Minnesota. Another five hour journey. I may have closed my eyes for five minutes and only woke when we came to a stop in a gas station and Nathan telling me he had driven 13 miles with every fuel light flashing at him and the remaining miles being zero! He probably picked the most expensive gas station to stop at too 😂😂. 

We were due to arrive at the hotel at half ten but we go back in time again. Which brings us to now as we’re rocking along to Motown 50 cruising along to our hotel the next state over….

Until later…