Week One: The rest of the week

22 juni 2018 - Detroit Lakes, Verenigde Staten

I apologize. You were supposed to get the whole week, not only the first day. I’m still learning. The wifi at the campgrounds is not very stable and that’s how I ended up losing the first week. Here is my second attempt.

June 8, 2018

We made it to Thunder Bay with minor incidents. It was a long day due to road construction and the bottom of our car and the front of our trailer are yellow from road painting. We stopped for lunch at Klotz Lake, where Bijke had a long swim and the loons were calling us.

For the fifth year in a row we stayed at the KOA in Shunia, next to the highway, but conveniently only ten minutes from Sjoerd, Ghislaine and the girls’ home. After supper we had an emotional reunion when the Attemas came to visit. It had been almost a
year since we saw Mia and Allie. We had cheered Femke on during two hockey tournaments in the spring.

Bijke: This morning A freaked out when I pooped. During his inspection, which he does every day, he discovered a tail. Earlier this week I had eaten something that was furry, had four legs and a tail. I don’t know what the commotion was all about. This afternoon, I was happy to swim and bark at the waves in Klotz Lake. I loved sniffing the humans, who came to visit. When the littlest human allowed me to kiss her all over, I was very excited.

Next morning Albert woke up with a swollen hand, we had forgotten about his cut from the wire. We decided to go to Emerge, as we didn’t want to risk having to go to a hospital in the States. Amazingly, we were only there for 50 minutes. After a tetanus shot, the nurse dressed the wound with polisporin. The doctor recommended that he have it checked again on Monday morning.

We spent the rest of the day with our family. While Albert and Sjoerd discussed renovations, I played the board game CLUE with Ghislaine, Femke, Mia and Allie. You need to be very observant and have a good memory when you play this game.

We all went out for dinner to the Marsala Grill, to celebrate everybody’s birthday. Femke had just received her very first pay check from Tim Horton’s. She was happy and wants to save it for her class trip to Europe, next Spring.

Sunday afternoon, the girls came for a swim at the campground. We had a great afternoon and the time with the family went by way too fast.

After a second visit to the hospital, the doctor confirmed that Albert’s hand was not infected. We said goodbye to the Sleeping Giant and went on our way - destination Big Falls, USA. The weather was gorgeous, but the bugs were terrible, so we had all our breaks inside the trailer.

By late afternoon, we approached Fort Frances, and I searched for passports and Bijke’s vaccination documents. I found the passports, but no papers for Bijke. We both remembered that we had left them in the glove compartment when we got back from Ohio. NOW WHAT! Was this a sign that we shouldn't enter Trump Country? After much deliberation we decided to find a campground. It was too late to phone our vet. 

We spent the night at the municipal campground beside the railroad tracks. After one hour ten trains had rumbled past and Bijke wasn’t happy about all that noise. After the rain ended we went for a long walk. Rainy Lake is an enormous lake and the shores are beautiful. 

Early next morning, a sequence of events helped us cross the border. First Albert called our vet for a copy of Bijke’s vaccination records. We packed up drove to the Fort Frances' Sports Complex to get free wifi, so the document could be emailed. Next, Albert forwarded the email to Sjoerd, who knew someone at The Bell office in Fort Frances. Alan would print the papers for us. Finally we were at the border at International Falls with papers and passports in hand. Did you bring any cigarettes, alcohol, dairy, meat fruits and vegetables or FIRE ARMS!!  The friendly border guard asked. He didn’t even look at Bijke, never mind wanting to see his records.

We had noticed that the brakes on the trailer were braking too much, by now we were kind of hopping along every time Albert applied the brakes. We had expected to see waterfalls, but jerking along we came to a sign that read, WATCH FOR THE TRAIN THEN PROCEED ON THE TRACKS. What the... We looked behind us and in front of us and cautiously inched along the tracks. Debilitated buildings, orange fencing and unclear signs guided us through a maze into the States. At the first parking lot Albert  managed to fix the brakes of the trailer. Phew! Now we were on our way. Instead of camping in Big Falls, we decided to drive to Detroit Lakes, Minnesota and have some down time. We took the secondary roads through farmlands and small towns.

In Detroit Lakes we discovered a small Co-op Store where we bought food for the next two days. The campground wasn’t busy, just a few enormous motor homes and us. Watching a new 70 feet unit try and pull into a site, became our entertainment.                   The town, Detroit Lakes is in an area of 42 lakes. It’s name Detroit originated when a French Catholic Priest camped on the shore of the lake with the view of the sun setting across the water. The water was low and revealed a sandbar, creating a narrow strait that glistened in the light of the setting sun. “What a beautiful Detroit!” Exclaimed the Priest, which means ‘strait’. Due to continual postal mix-ups with Detroit, Michigan, the city’s name was changed to Detroit Lakes, in 1927.                                                  
We enjoyed walking the one-and-a-half km long city beach, where Bijke was not allowed to swim of course and because it was quite warm we spent a few hours in a park. We felt rested and ready for adventure when we packed up and left on Friday morning.                                                                                                

Bijke: Why am I not allowed to swim where all the kids are? I’m not pooping in the lake.  I also wanted to go into the Co-op Store to see if they had treats for me, but A held me back. I even knocked on the glass door. But... I went swimming in Sauer Lake, twice. I battled the white caps and barked my lungs out. It was so much fun!

Foto’s

6 Reacties

  1. Marla:
    22 juni 2018
    I learned something new today thanks to your journaling - how Detroit Lakes got its name. Interesting stuff.
    I laughed out loud at the image of A checking Bijke's poop each day & finding a tail this time!! Ew, but funny!!
    Of course the US border guards would ask if you were bringing in firearms - after all Trump is afraid Canada is going to invade the US! ;-)
    So glad A was able to fix that braking problem with the trailer before you got onto the mountain roads!
    Really looking forward to more stories when wifi allows!
    love m2
  2. Hiltsje Jonkman.:
    22 juni 2018
    In hiele ûndernimming Martha. Jim hûntsje moat wol wer mei nei hûs. Moai dat it mei de pepieren sa regele wurde koe. Grappich sa as Bijke it belibbet. Lekker hapke mei in sturtsje. De baaskes hoege ek net alles te witten. Haha. In goede reis fierder. Moai om jim sa te folgjen. Groetnis foar Albert en Bijke.
  3. Trijntsje:
    23 juni 2018
    Nog maar net op weg en nu al heel wat beleefd.
    Fort Frances, hadden wij sneeuw, harde wind en koud.
    En treinen met hun getoeter. Mijn tip is: blijf uit de buurt van het spoor.
  4. Piet en Tjally:
    23 juni 2018
    Heerlijk om jullie te volgen. Ook Bijke’ s verhalen ; zij geven een andere kijk op de trip.
    Leuke foto van A en S. Hij heeft veel van de Hoogterp fam.
    Gelukkig was men wel vriendelijk aan de Amerikaanse grens , hilarisch zijn de vragen . Firearms !
    Geniet en we zijn nu al weer benieuwd naar een vervolg
    Tjally en Piet
  5. Rebecca:
    23 juni 2018
    The travel adventures of M, A & B are riveting! Thank you for the insights and laughs! Looking forward to thd next installments.
  6. Jana Cesarano:
    24 juni 2018
    Thanks for sharing your adventures Martha, I’m enjoying the reading and happy to hear that things are going relatively smoothly now. There’s certain to be more “bumps” along the way, but that’s what makes it interesting ;)
    Safe travels!