COMMENTS: This post was created purely to capture blog comments since Pixxibook doesn't offer this function.

 

Tom T - August 10, 2025 at 5:43 AM

You made it through customs more easily than me. I guess I must have looked shady. :)

FredJ - August 12, 2025 at 3:55 AM

I was sure they were going to bring the Dog in the RV, they must have been looking for something specific?

Tom T - August 10, 2025 at 5:40 AM

Some of the ore pits are several hundred feet deep. They are great scuba sites.

    FredJ - August 12, 2025 at 3:56 AM

    I can see why they are good for scuba, the water is crystal clear.

JuneBug - August 7, 2025 at 7:33 PM

It was good to be with family again and there is something about being on the water that is so relaxing.

Tom T - August 9, 2025 at 5:44 AM

Did you ask them where Outing was?

Tom T - August 7, 2025 at 3:55 AM

A fancy duck call?

    FredJ - August 8, 2025 at 3:28 AM

    Tom, nice try, but not a duck call. :-)

JuneBugAugust 7, 2025 at 7:36 PM

Leaving Sturgis is bittersweet; I don’t want it to end but home is calling. Steve and Helen haven’t changed much, they looked happy.

JuneBug - August 7, 2025 at 7:37 PM

It was a long day but good riding, the Wind Caves were a bonus.

Tom T - August 5, 2025 at 9:09 AM

Wow, you guys really packed in the activities. Awesome.

JuneBug - August 7, 2025 at 7:38 PM

It didn’t rain but we had a busy day going back to the “old haunts”. The new Full Throttle site was interesting.

Tom T - August 5, 2025 at 9:05 AM

Amazing that traffic would be light with that many bikes in the area. Beautiful scenery.

JuneBug - August 7, 2025 at 7:41 PM

My favorite rides out here, Needles and Iron Mtn. I love seeing Mt. Rushmore too, especially thru a tunnel.

Duane - August 2, 2025 at 8:29 AM

Thanks to Fred I am caught up and enjoyed your trip and writings. Want to hear more about your electric bike and wishing you a continued good trip.

Glad you did it and made the trip safely. Followed your route that was similar to what we did in 1970 camping for the most part. We are in Maine with Wendy and Joe for the weekend but will be back in Potash Bay Monday. Happy to check anything if you want. Caught a nice 28” stripped bass yesterday in Casco Bay.

Only been cross country once but Badlands and Wall Drug all memorable.

Glad all is going well and continue to enjoy.

    FredJ - August 2, 2025 at 8:53 PM

    Duane, nice catch! We will see you in Potash Bay around the 10th or 11th.

JuneBug - August 2, 2025 at 4:03 PM

“Looks like we made it!” It’s fun to be back, some things never change, like Hog Heaven, DaBus and John Keaty. Seeing your names in a brick to be read by others forever, priceless. The hail was unexpected but not surprising since we were nailed with it ten years ago… Tomorrow we will ride!

Tom T - August 1, 2025 at 4:18 PM

I’m with June (on the “boring” stuff), but you were crossing Iowa and so I suppose your trailer brakes might have been a high point?! Did you cross Mississippi at Quad Cities?

    JuneBug - August 2, 2025 at 4:04 PM

    Yes we did, but did not stop….

    Liz and John - August 3, 2025 at 4:32 AM

    I , too, would’ve liked to have seen you ask that guy about the generator noise being bothersome. That might’ve cut short your trip to Sturgis. 😉

Liz and John - July 31, 2025 at 5:43 AM

Quite an adventure! Next time you need to take a diversion, maybe call the dealership first and see if they have the part 🤪. If it makes you feel any better, it is super hot and humid in Southwest Florida. Our next-door neighbors, from Canada, who you have met, sold their house and left in a 24 foot U-Haul towing their van behind, this morning. Can’t imagine how comfortable that is.

    FredJ - July 31, 2025 at 7:51 PM

    Yada...real men don't call ahead! We wish Sal and Susan the best.

    Liz and John - August 1, 2025 at 3:08 AM

    🤪 fine! Be that way. Safe travels. 🏍️

JuneBug - August 1, 2025 at 10:16 AM

The first day was long but uneventful, the second day was full of construction and slow downs….we are still glad to be on the road. :)

Liz and John - July 29, 2025 at 7:14 AM

Wow! Sweet. Last minute trips are the best! Enjoy. Looking forward to following along. Liz

JuneBug - July 29, 2025 at 10:20 AM

Yup, all of the reasons why we shouldn't go seemed to get settled or were just not as important as an 85th celebration. Sturgis or bust!

Roger - July 31, 2025 at 3:09 AM

Sounds like another great trip. Have a great time.

The Numbers

When we travel we try to keep good records. June typically takes the data whenever we stop for fuel or for the night. She will record our location, the weather, and our odometer reading. At fuel stops she records the gallons used and the price. When we get home I crunch the data. 

We traveled I90/I80 west but took a more northern route home that is less highway. I used the RV Life Trip Wizard for planning and initially used it to navigate. However, it lacks a few essential tools for navigation, like the speed limits and being able to quickly search along your way. I gave up on it and went back to google maps. I still do like it for planning since it allows unlimited stops (google maps only allows 10). RV Life Trip Wizard also does a good job at predicting fuel usage and expenses if you feed it the parameters. For example, it predicted my fuel usage within 10 gallons of what I actually consumed, I planned for 13 mpg and an average diesel cost of $3.60 per gallon. The actual was 13.4mpg and the average diesel price was $3.66 per gallon. Interestingly, with the exchange rate of the CAD at 0.73 USD, fuel was not really that much more expensive in CA, $3.82 per gallon. 

Addison, VT - Sturgis, SD

We traveled 3794 miles round trip, it was only 100 miles farther going through Minnesota and Canada on the way home. However it took 5 more hours of driving, this is primarily due to the speed limits in Canada, which are typically 90kph or about 61mph, and the fact that the Trans-Canadian highway goes through many towns and small cities. 

States/Prov

We passed through 11 states and 2 Canadian provinces. 

I generally traveled at 65mph when I could, towing... that was fast enough. My cargo trailer weights around 1200#, the Harley 900#, Honda Genny 50#, June's ebike 65#, trailer spare tire 50#, Serenity spare tire 75# and other crap 100#.  All together, I was hauling about 2500#. The Serenity Falcon weighs a bit over 11000#.  Without a load it gets around 16.5 mpg. On this trip it averaged, 13.4 mpg, hauling all that stuff cost about 3 mpg.  We used 283 gallons of fuel for a total expense of $1037.60. 

Milage Log

We were on the road for 12 nights and only paid for camping 5 nights, 4 nights in Sturgis was $528, but this included the bus pass downtown, which we did use every night and one night in a MN state campground on the way home for $25.

We ate most of our meals in the RV when on the move (one stop at Tim Hortons) but ate out in Sturgis, which was not terribly expensive, similar prices to home. Overall it was a relatively inexpensive vacation. 

Of course there is more data if anyone wants it. 

Day 13, 10Aug2025 - Home

Sunday we got up, took showers and had breakfast in the Cabela's parking lot, it was a nice quiet night. 

We left Ottawa around 08:30 and headed for the Ogdensburg, NY border crossing. The crossing was easy, but they did sniff every auto with a dog, by the end of the day, that dog must be tired. 

SUNY at Canton, AKA Canton ATC

We stopped in Canton and drove through Suny at Canton. June and I both attended what was then Canton ATC (Agriculture and Technical College) on that campus graduating in 1979.  It was a two year technical college then, now it is a SUNY location offering four year degrees. We even drove Pine Street where we had our first apartment together, but to be honest, I could not be sure which house it was. 

We then stopped at our friends house in Potsdam, John and Kathy Ames.  They are doing well, both retired; I am still 'working' on that. We had a nice visit with them catching up on all the kids.  Their granddaughter Lauren was there too, she is a college girl and seems to have her act together, great kid that loves her grandparents. 

We needed to find lunch, so I called sister Mary Ann and said "What is for lunch"? We stopped at her place in Saranac Lake and had pizza.  Thanks Sis!

We did a drive through the marina when we passed through Port Henry just to let them know that I am reporting to work on Monday...ugh. 

We arrived home around 16:00, Matt, Erica and the kids were at our house...but gone in our boat.  

Boating with the kids

We called them and they came to the dock to pick us up...the fun was not quite over. 

Darlin

Kevin Haynes, a friend and Marina customer, was out on his boat; we invited him to stop in Potash Bay for dinner. 

Kevin and Erica

We grilled on the patio and neighbor Tom also came to dinner, it was such a nice evening it could not be wasted unpacking.

Sunset on Potash Bay

The sun did finally set, and we called our little vacation over. Monday is back to work at the marina while June does the bulk of the work of unpacking...as usual. 

We had a great time in Sturgis and getting to visit our relatives in South Dakota and Minnesota was a bonus. I am not sure we will get to Sturgis again, but we are not ruling it out, it never disappoints. 

I will do one final post with the Data...I know everyone loves data as much as me...NOT!

Day 12, 09 August 2025 - O Canada

Saturday morning we got up early and hit the road, we hoped to do about 600 miles, crossing into Canada at Sault Ste Marie and make our way to Ottawa via the Trans-Canadian Highway. 

Sunrise at End of the Road Winery

As we departed the End of the Road Winery at about 06:30 we were treated to a beautiful Sunrise.

Sault Ste Marie Bridge to Canada

It cost us $10.35 to cross the Sault Ste Marie bridge to Canada and the wait at customs on the Canadian side was about 10 mins, not bad. 

We got on Rte 17B, then 17 headed east, this is called the Trans-Canadian Highway but in reality it is 90% a two-way road that is limited to 90kmh (61.5mph). Most of it is OK, but there are definitely rough patches. 

We drove just short of 600 miles, arriving at our destination of Cabela's outside Ottawa about 19:00. It was not a hard drive and we did take two breaks to just take a quick nap and of course lunch.  

Cabela's Ottawa

The Cabela's has plenty of space, we initially parked in the RV section and walked to Tim Hortons for sammiches, they make good chicken wraps. We brought our sammiches back to the Serenity to eat but the guy next to us was running a noisy generator...some people...so we just moved to an open lot.  

Sunday we plan to cross back into the USA in Ogdensburg, NY and stop in Potsdam to visit our friends John and Kathy. We should be home by evening. 

Day 11, 08August2025 - Sprinting Home

We need to be back home on Monday at the latest to get back to the Marina. Gabe will be gone for a week starting on the 12th, so we need to be back to help brother Don at Bridgeview Harbour. In addition, Emily and Travis are buying a farm, closing is on the 12th, we don't need to be there but would like to be. 

Steiner to Jaquish

So, with about 1300 miles to get there we are doing three long driving days to get home. Since we were already in northern MN, we decided to take the northern route through Canada; it avoids I90/I80 and the Chicago area which always seems to be a problem. The only major city we need to skirt is Ottawa.  

Friday morning we said our goodbyes and pulled out of Kris and Mike's lake house about 08:30, it was pouring with lots of thunder and lightning. By the time we reached Duluth the rain had pretty much subsided. As we passed through Wisconsin the weather continued to improve, and as we entered Michigan, we had very nice views of Lake Superior. We passed through Ashland, Marquette and many small Michigan towns and stopped for the night at a Harvest Host. It is easy to see why people from Michigan that we meet at home often say Vermont and Northern NY remind them of home.  Rural Michigan has similar landscape, sans the mountains, it is a very scenic countryside. 

We stayed at the "End of the Road Winery". Unfortunately, we arrived around 19:00 and they closed at 17:30, so we could not patronize their business.  We did message them around mid day and they graciously said, come and stay anyway; there are nice people in this world. 

End of the Road Winery

It was at the end of a dirt road, but a very nice place. 

Parking at the End of the Road Winery

They had 4 RV spots that had nice gravel parking; there were two other RVs on the property but we each had our own space. 

We were sitting outside enjoying the breeze when our friends we met in Germany, Lisa and Nate, called because they saw on FB we were in Michigan.  They have a condo on Lake Huron and happened to be there for the weekend, unfortunately we have to get home, so could not swing by...maybe next time. 

The Winery is quiet and peaceful, but we turned in early because our longest driving day is tomorrow, roughly 600 miles and we are unsure how the roads will be in Canada. 10 years ago when we did this, they were not great. We will pass into Canada at Sault Ste Marie and we did not bring our passports, Doh!  I checked online and it says an enhanced drivers license is good enough, we will see.  

Day 10, 07August2025 - Chillaxing at the lake

Thursday, we hung at the lake.  It was foggy in the morning, but it quickly lifted. 

Uncle Earle had appointments in the morning, so we decided to go for a bike ride. We loaded the bikes and took a short drive up to the Cuyuna recreation area, Sagamore unit. Lucky for me, Mike had an extra bike, since we only brought June's ebike on this trip. 

The Cuyuna Recreation area is a good example of how an old industrial area can be repurposed. Iron ore was mined in this area from the early 1900s through the 1960s. Twenty to thirty mines operated in the area during the mining boom of World Wars I and II. Like the mines at home, they shut down in the 70s, the mining pits filled with water and are now pristine lakes. Through the efforts of the state of Minnesota and local volunteer groups, the area has become an outdoor recreation attraction and officially became a Minnesota State Recreation Area in 1993.

Cuyuna, Sagamore Unit

This lake was once a mining pit. 

Cuyuna Biking

The riding was great, we took some easy trails and logged about 6.5 miles without much effort.  The trails are very well maintained. 

This is our route, lots of twisties. 

After biking we just hung out at the lake, 

Kris and June

Uncle Earle came back to the lake and the girls floated around a bit. 

I flew my drone and took some video of the lakes, when I get home I will try to edit it into something that flows better.  

Black Bear Lake

This is Black Bear Lake from about 1000'. 

Kris, June and Capt. Mike

After dinner we took a relaxing ride on the pontoon boat. 

Moose

Moose knows how to enjoy a boat ride, he doesn't let Mike out of his sight;  where Mike goes, Moose goes. 

It has been great visiting with Uncle Earle, Kris and Mike, but tomorrow, Friday, we have to start the trek back east.  We are planning to take the Canadian route through Wisconsin, Michigan, Canada and enter the USA in northern New York.  The fun part of our trip is done, we hope to be home by Monday at the latest. 

  

Day 9, 06August2025 - Minnesota Family

On Wednesday we left our campground around 9AM. 

Camden State Campground, Lynd, MN

It was a nice campground but pretty much deserted. We never even saw a worker bee. 

The drive to the Steiner's Lake house in Crosby, MN was pretty easy and without the strong winds of the day before. 

Mike and Kris's Lake House

We arrived around 15:00 and were accommodated with a prime parking spot looking at Black Bear Lake; they even have a power post for us...sweet. 

Kris, Uncle Earle and Uncle Earle's youngest cousin, Shelly and her twins, Liam and Elizabeth, were at the Lake house. 

Fred, Uncle Earle, Kris and June

Uncle Earle looks good, it was great to see him in good health. 

Black Bear Lake

Mike was still at work, so we took his pontoon boat for a spin on Black Bear Lake, it was very relaxing. I managed to put it back on the lift without damaging his new boat, phew. 

June, Elizabeth, Shelly, Kris

After Uncle Earle headed home, Mike took everyone out on the Pontoon boat for tubing, the girls had a great time. 

June, Shelly, Elizabeth

We spent the evening around the campfire catching up, it is amazing that even though it has been years, when you get together with family it is like you were together yesterday. 

Thursday we will probably be lazy.