Rice Lake - That's Dairyland...

Greetings from the wilds of Northern Wisconsin - we left just around 9am from Gaylord and have spent the last 11 hours meandering the roads.
As for leaving Gaylord, I suppose what is of note on that is heading North from there, you almost immediately cross the 45th parallel, and are halfway from the equator to the pole. That started the day out right.
What hurt was what followed - not for the faint of heart, my dear vicarians

We stopped to get fuel. We had only been a whopping 248 miles since we picked up the rig (which said on the gauge F for full) and here is my first new piece of information. The pumps cut me off at $75. Just stopped working and cashed me out; sad to say, I had to start it up again to finish.

Here are the numbers:
248 miles
39.84 gallons
$105.15
2.639/gallon
6.22 mpg

Okay, just ignore that and keep singing a happy tune. Thanks to all the faithful thus far, it was really rewarding to open up the blog and find so many comments; now we're feeling the pressure to perform - that's some love to you, Ms. Schinto!!

A couple quick answers to all the posts: we did have a semi-plan, but it's already shot to shit; we do intend to go as far W and S as Zion; Susannah has done all the driving so far; the best song for me on Tuesday was Rasputin, by Boney M; for Marge was Sex Machine, James Brown; the RV handles pretty well, actually, and has some pickup and can pass.

Early on, we crossed the Mackinac Bridge (a sad side note, Mackinac pronounced 'Ma-kin-awe, and most of the areas around there now spell it Mackinaw). I've attached a photo of the bridge, it is pretty spectacular, kinda the Green Gate Bridge. After that, we drove through the Yoop, to the Northside and across; we stopped at Miner's Castle, and found Miner's Beach (near Munising). This is part of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, and quite beautiful. The dogs got to go in Lake Superior, and a picture will follow of the 3 ladies enjoying the lakefront.

As for the rest of today's drive, well, since I'm obviously an equal-opportunity offender, here I risk it with my MI and WI friends... after living up here all this time and not going "North", I have; it's Alabama, but colder. Thanks, glad I did it; checklist accomplished, but call that one over.

2nd Fuel Stop
318 miles
38.33 gallons
$102.68 (pump cut off at $100)
2.679/gallon
8.30 mpg (we called it a mini-victory)

Today's track that worked for me: F***ing in Rhythm and Sorrow, The Sugarcubes. Last night while blogging, the I-pod threw out Innagaddavida (sp?) and I had it on so low that the organ part caught me by surprise; tonight, it was the Chorale of the Gregorian Chants, and about 16 minutes into it, the organ part caught me by surprise, again. That was nice...

Roadkill:
Turtle
Racoon (lots)
Skunk
Porcupine (multiple)
Crow
Deer
Something unidentifiable in the back of a pickup (immature bear maybe?)

I hope I never see another sign for Fudge; I hope someday to stop at the bar called WHISKEY DICKS, somewhere near Rhinelander, WI. I did see, on the side of a shack, intentionally primitively painted: OBEY WIFE OR LIVE HERE - RAYS DG HSE

Enjoy - keep commenting and emailing!! For some reason, photos won't post tonight, so I'll try again tomorrow.
Harve