Long Road Home

Sept 8 thru 13, 2001

With approximately 2,000 miles to cover, we begin each morning at dawn, and travel about 350 miles. That’s about 7-8 hours a day on the road, including short breaks for meals, shopping, gas fill ups. We rode through Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Last of all, we’ll travel though Ontario and back across the Peace Bridge to Home…Buffalo, NY!

By Sunday, we needed to get out of the RV to stretch our legs and take some photos. Having decided to take the northern route rather than return through Chicago, we thought Duluth, Minnesota would be an interesting city to visit. Connected to Buffalo as another Great Lakes Shipping Port, we wanted to find out more about its maritime history. And were we surprised!

Duluth has a lively lakeside park system, where families can enjoy beach, bikes and boats.

Restaurants and shops line Canal Park. 

The Corps of Engineers presents a wonderful free Museum, celebrating Duluth’s shipping heritage.

Here we learned about the shipping connection to Buffalo. Grain and ore from the mid-west and western states arrived in Duluth by train, were loaded onto freighters and delivered to Buffalo’s flour-milling and steel making facilities. Those same raw materials are still shipped out of Duluth, but most now bypass Buffalo by way of the Welland Canal and St. Lawrence Seaway.

   But Duluth also has a vibrant downtown, which includes a Casino!

Monday we travelled through the Upper Peninsula and mainland of Michigan, catching glimpses of Lake Michigan. 

As we travelled through the forests of cedar, birch, pine and maple, we were stunned to see the vivid colors of autumn appearing so soon after our fabulous summer!

 But it was clear we’re not the only ones headed home after a perfect journey.