Day 12 - 7/27/2004 - The Rock

The day started out simple, but got complex rather quickly.  We packed up from Van Riper State park after a good nights sleep, and hit the road to Mt. Arvon - about 1 hour away.  As soon as we turned onto the first gravel road, I heard a hissing sound from the rear end of the car.  We stopped, and sure enough, a rock had penetrated the tire.  This was a virtually new tire (about 5,000 miles on it).  We limped into L'Anse on our space saver, and found a guy who was able to fix it.  He did a patch WITH a plug, and said he would travel the country on the tire.  We are hoping he is right...

While the flat slowed us down, we were back on the road in 1.5 hours and on our way back to Mt. Arvon.  What I though would be a quick run up the dirt roads, ended up being a 10 mph rock ride.  We were behind six jeeps that were going slower than we were.  After about 45 minutes, we made it to "the farthest point for passenger cars" and parked the van.  From there, it was about a 10 minute walk to the summit.  Once we got to the top, we saw the six jeeps that made it up the "rut road".  They were some great folks, and we saw more partying here than just about anywhere in MI.  We shot some pics, took some readings and headed down.  Another 45 minutes and we were back on the highway - and NO flat!  

By this time it was getting close to 4pm (ooopppssss - 3pm - we moved into Central Time), so we headed off toward Timm's hill, the highest point in WI.  By 5pm CDT, we were in Eagle River WI, and Hunter and I were looking to eat, swim, and wash clothes.  And I needed an Internet fix.

Tomorrow is going to be WI, and then we will head off for Hawkeye Point in IA.  The plan is to make it to Eagle Mountain MN by Friday night to hook up with some friends for a night in the woods.

For Mt. Arvon trip details, click here