Michigan in the rearview, hanging in Wisconsin, next stop Standing Rock

So it seems a month has passed since my last post.  The first two weeks of November we were in Michigan.  We spent about a week in the Manistee national forest.  Went on long walks most days, almost every outing we spent a little time along the beach at lake michigan.  I loved getting my feet in the sand and water, even with how cold it was.

We walked along the Nordhouse dunes trail, got a little lost, found Nordhouse lake which was fairly barren, saw a bunch of footprints in the muck and got excited trying to figure out what animals they were.

 Most days were beautiful and fairly warm.  One of my favorite times was exploring the unforested dunes.  We wandered around, I noticed a few plants I’d just learned in Missouri and again we found some fun new animal tracks in the sand.

One of the last days we walked to Big Sable point lighthouse.  It was closed but we were able to walk around it and enjoy the view.

Our second week was in Huron National forest, about 3 hours drive to the east.  We traveled there on Matthews birthday.  He doesn’t make much fuss over his birthday.  On the way to the new campsite we stopped to grocery shop, I took him out to lunch, and then we found him a much needed new pair of pants.  We also enjoyed a better than expected strawberry rhubarb pie from the grocery store. We found a nice spot near a dirt road that doesn’t see too much traffic.  On the second night the temperature before we went to bed around 9pm was 22 degrees... so it got pretty cold that evening.  We stayed warm with our new sleeping pads and down sleeping bags.  I am extremely grateful for my new sleeping pad, I just got it before leaving Missouri and it makes a HUGE difference for my warmth and comfort.

We spent the majority of that week at our campsite, with the exception of a walk and running.  We worked on various little projects, I did some baking over the fire.  I made cookies for the first time over the fire, what took me so long?!  I also made bread pudding which was really good.  One bonus about it getting cold is that we can have foods we weren’t able to before, ie milk.  Matthew did a blog post about us baking.

http://www.blog.smalladventures.net/2016/11/dutch-oven-baking-tricks.html

 There were places to hike, but we stayed at camp for safety reasons.  It was not just hunting season but gun hunting had just started, we heard 20+ gunshots nearby on the first day.

For the second half of November we have been in Wisconsin visiting one of Matthews best friends, Ivan.  Ivan is married to a lovely woman, Lyndsey, and they have a beautiful one month old, Josiah.  We have had a great time, tried to be as helpful as possible as they are still adjusting to life with Josiah.  I have continued to bake, we have taken turns cooking dinner for them and I get snuggles with Josiah whenever I can.

We were here for Thanksgiving and I made my first Turkey!  The exciting part is that it came out perfectly, major thanks to my parents for the recipe!

After thanksgiving we did the traditional thing and picked up a Christmas tree.  They have a very high ceiling so they picked out a 10' tree.  That evening some friends came to visit, we baked cookies and had Feuerganzenbowle!  It was wonderfully delicious.

We went rock climbing on what was going to be one of the warmest days here.. it made it to 46 degrees.  Thankfully the rock was facing the sun.  It was a blast but short.  We had to drive 1.5 hours to get there, only had a few hours before the sun was setting.  We don't have much sunlight time.

I missed talking about Tony!  Tony is a hitchhiker we picked up while traveling from Michigan to Wisconsin.  He is a tall, large, 57 y/o, black man and did not think anyone would pick him up, which would have been a shame since it was cold and snowing.  He was an orphan and has spent most of his life hitchhiking around the country.  He claimed he has been in jail in every state, mostly from being black and a hitchhiker... but from talking to him we learned he is quite the talker and likes to drink so that may have caused some of the issues as well.  He was absolutely hilarious, he projected someone that has had a lot of bad moments in life and tries to stay positive and make the best with what he's got.  It was an interesting experience to say the least.

It has taken a lot of discussion, contemplation and research to decide we are heading to Standing Rock to support the Water Protectors in prayer and ceremony.  We support the nonviolent protest of the DAPL.  Matthew has written a post about this with great links to get the facts about what is going on, which seems to be difficult to get these days.  If you, like us, have had trouble sifting through to figure out what's going on, I highly recommend checking out the links and doing some research for yourself.

http://www.blog.smalladventures.net/2016_12_01_archive.html

Beautiful Missouri, off to Michigan

After our canoe trip we headed to a campsite that would be home base for a few day trips.  We explored Elephant rocks, climbing around a bunch of huge boulders.  It was a little scary for me, as we didn't use any protection, but the rock had good grip and we didn't get hurt.

We spent a different day at Johnson shut-ins (also known as a gorge).  It’s a beautiful area with shut-ins due to the Rhyolite rocks not breaking down as easily as the sedimentary rock.  It was a really fun place to play in the water and climb around the rocks.  We took advantage of the 80 degree weather, went swimming in a big swimming hole, and did a short hike about 2.5 miles.

We went on several hikes and did a 3 day backpacking trip.  The backpacking trip was the Taum Sauk section of the Ozark trail.  It was a total of 35 miles.  It was not a loop, but due to the friendliness we encountered in Missouri we figured a hitch wouldn't be too hard.  We waited about 30 min and a very nice guy with his dog bobo picked us up.  He said if he hadn't we would have waited a very  long time as the area we were in was very conservative, but he being a fellow traveler and hitchhiker felt a duty to pick us up.  He did more than that, we actually went out of his way to take us all the way back to our car.  We were extremely grateful and will continue to pick up hitchhikers and keep the good karma flowing.  I don't have much from the hikes and backpacking, Matthew took a bunch so I'm in a lot of them.

 on top of Taum Sauk Mt

 Mina Sauk falls 

 Along Belle Mountain day hike

 One of the stops on our backpacking trip

 amazing scour, what this picture doesn't allow you to appreciate is how BIG that reservoir is. 

Fine dining on the trail

Noticed this after the backpacking trip, yay time for new shoes!

We spent several days back at Adams farm in Huzzah, we helped pick seeds (blazing star, drop seed, aster, clover are the ones I remember right now), ate amazing food, walked along the river and enjoyed each others company.

 We cooked up some amazing meals on this grate

 Prairie dog concentrating, trying to get crawfish, only getting rocks lol

 Neat walnut roots

 Crawfish a plenty in this river

My mountain man in a tree :-)

That's about all I have to share for now.  We have had some of the best times out here, thanks to our wonderful tour guide, Adam.  Missouri has been added to the list of places we may settle down, was not expecting it but what a gem!  We leave tomorrow morning for a 10 hour drive to Michigan.  We'll spend a few weeks there then over to Wisconsin to visit one of Matthews best friends and then.. Don't know, maybe stick around, maybe head SW to New Mexico.  

Special public service announcement: GO VOTE ON NOVEMBER 8TH!!!!!!!!!

Heading West to Missouri

So much has happened since my last post so here's a summary, we went from northern PA to the middle of the state to visit my friends, Rachael and Andrew.  It was a joy, as always, to see them, we got the opportunity to meet a few friends, one of her sisters and brother in law.  We had an amazing time meeting them all and eating wonderful food.  From there we finally started to move west.  We spent an extremely sketchy night at Timber ridge lake in Southern Ohio, it was a beautiful setting but the evening, I'll have to tell you about in person.

 The next morning we drove to Serpent Mound, it was something Matthew wanted to see, we continued on to Louisville, KY and took time wandering the city.  We spent one night and full day in the national forest in Indiana to rest.  The following day we drove to Huzzah, MO to meet our friend Adam at his father's farm.  Adam as a person gives off a very Zen vibe.  He is not anxious, not easy to upset, loves people, animals and plants alike.  His passion is for ecology and creating a happy ecosystem.  Matthew and I hope to absorb as much knowledge from him as possible.  We met two friends of his that were visiting, Russell and Yev.  They were really nice guys that live in the area.  They were leaving that evening so we didn’t spend much time with them.  In the middle of the night another set of friends showed up, Matt and Jeff.  They are both great guys and we hope to see them again soon.

A few photos from the farm

Adorable!

 Dinner by Matt

 Cutest dog!

 Adam!

 Matt

Jeff

We explored the farm in Huzzah for a few days then went to Adams house in Catawissa for several days.  Adam took some time to show us around one of his billionaire clients property, THAT was an amazing day!   It is 2,400 acres of versatility with the purpose of being a happy animal habitat for hunting.  His client uses this land to play.  We hopped on a fancy ATV and rode all over the land as Adam discussed each area and what he’s done so far and plans to do.  It was one of the best days out here.  Adam had to hit the road and allowed us to use his place while he is gone.  We stayed for 2 more days, one we spent at the City museum in St. Louis and wandering the city, the other we shopped and prepped for a 3 day canoe trip on the Current River.

This was our latest adventure and I skimmed a lot of awesome things to get to it. We got on the water by 930am.  Since we were floating down river we didn’t paddle much.  I wanted to enjoy the views and take it slow.  We mainly paddled to keep straight and not run into things.

It was a clear sunny day with a high of 80.  In the first 5 minutes we saw a few deer crossing the river.  As the day went on we only saw a few other canoes, we were alone most of the time.  I had a desire to go topless on the water and took advantage of the seclusion, it felt great!

We came upon a cave with a spring that we explored, saw bald eagles and more fish than we’ve seen this entire time exploring.

At lunch time we landed on a rock bar across from a cliff with a deep swimming hole.

It was warm enough that we decided to jump in, then we got our feet wet.  The water was way colder than I expected!  I was backing out but Matthew was determined.  He dove in and I knew I had to get in as well.  It was hilarious to watch him jump right out because it was so cold.  I did the same and we both laughed feeling happy and invigorated.

We flowed down the river for about 6-7 hours until we found a nice rock bar to call home for the night.

That evening it rained a little so that by morning it was damp with grey skies.  The weather was supposed to be another beautifully sunny day so I was disappointed but thankfully prepared.  We dressed in raincoats and got back on the water.

It was a little cool with the rain so we paddled to keep our temperature up.  I was still a little chilly, but still had fun on the water.  My favorite part of this day was seeing a river otter, it came right up to our boat and startled me so I yelped, which sadly scared it off.  We saw more bald eagles, king fishers and fish.  The rain never fully ceased so we had to dump out the water from the canoe several times.  We stopped at Round Spring to explore the spring.  It is deep enough to fit the statue of Liberty and still have 5 feet of water!

 We found a nice rock bar to stay the night just as the rain stopped and the sun started to poke through.  We had enough time in the sun to lay out our things and got most of it dry before the rain started again.

  We were grateful to have that hour or so of sun to dry ourselves, things and cook dinner.  The rest of the evening was spent under our tarp in our sleeping bags, sipping hot cocoa and reading to one another.

The next day it was not raining but the temperature had dropped and it was a completely grey sky.  With no end of the cold in sight we layered up and continued down the river.  Again due to the temperature we decided to paddle most of the time to help keep warm.  This meant ending the trip sooner than we’d like but the experience was still fantastic.  We saw three more otters that day, a young deer buck with only two little horns and seeing a bald eagle was becoming normal.  We were told of wild horses roaming around but never saw them.  We got out of the water by late afternoon and headed out to our next campsite.