We left Marquette and drove east along Lake Superior on route 28. What a great drive. It is right on the shoreline and mostly a two lane blacktop road with very little traffic.
This was the view at one of the pull offs along the road. The Canadian Geese were grazing along the shore. Hundreds off ducks were a little further to the left and the sea gulls were going crazy near the motorhome because someone had thrown out a couple of slices of bread. I took a picture of the gulls but all I got was a blur of feathers.
This was our campground in Sault Sainte Marie. It was right along the St. Mary River which is the entrance to the Soo Locks. It was a nice campground but didn't have sewer connections. It did have a dump station.
Here is a picture of a boat going by the campground on it's way to the Locks.
This ship is just getting ready to enter one of the Locks. They have a viewing platform which is raised about 20 feet above the locks so you get a good view. The platform is right on main street and there is a visitor center there with information about the boats coming to the lock. It tells the name of the boat and the expected arrival time. It also has a TV monitor which shows the boats down stream coming to the lock. They also show four movies about the locks.
Here is one of the boats just entering a lock. There are four locks on the American side and two older locks on the Canadian side. Notice you can just barely see the top of the middle part of the boat and since my camera doesn't have a very wide angle lens you can't see the back part of the boat.
This pleasure boat has just entered the lock on it's way down stream and is tying up.
This is the same boat after they have lowered it to the level of the down stream river.
Now it is on it's way out after having been lowered 21 feet.
Here is the ore boat going out after being raised 21 feet. Note that now you can see the side of the boat. This boat was only about 700 feet long. The large boats are as much as 1000 feet long.
This is a view of the bridge to Canada from the observation platform. We only spent one night in Sault Sainte Marie. The next day we headed for Mackinaw City, Mackinaw Island and Mackinaw Bridge. I guess I'm just a cheapskate because I hate paying tolls. I think with all the gas taxes we pay the roads should be free. I always avoid toll roads when I can. However, I couldn't avoid the toll on the Mackinaw Bridge and it was $8.00. The bridge is 5 miles long. Sometimes the wind gets up to the point where they have to stop traffic from going across. The speed limit on the bridge is 45 miles/hour for cars and 20 miles/hour for loaded trucks. The passing lane on the bridge is a steel mesh and it throws you back-and-fourth. Naturally when we crossed there were two trucks in front of us. They must keep in the right lane and of course at 45 miles/hour I had to pass them. The lanes are barely wide enough and I was a nervous wreck passing two of them. I sure was glad to get off that bridge.
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