Family Pix from the Cape

All the grandkids

Conan and Emma Grace

Devin

Devin and Kate

Emma, Riley and Madison

Emma

Grammy, Kate and all the kids

Jackson

Jackson

Kris and Samuel

Madison

Riley

Samuel

More Cape Cod Images

Near Chatham

Dawn at Chatham Harbor

Near Chatham

Chatham Light

Another shot of Sunrise at Chatham Harbor

Dawn Colors on the Beach

Dennisport Full Moon

Bass River

Bass River

Cape Roses

Sandy Point Dunes

Sandy Point Dunes and Marsh

Sandy Point Beach

Monomoy Wildlife Refuge

North and South Monomoy Islands are small barrier islands located off the "elbow" of Cape Cod.

My son and I took a water taxi to visit the refuge. During our walk along the beach and through the marshes, we saw thousands of nesting gulls, terns and shore birds. There were shells of horseshoe crabs everywhere, and the beach was covered with shells. The water was incredibly warm, and the time we spent there was over way too quickly. I can't wait to go back.

Gulls at Monomoy Wildlife Refuge

North Monomoy Island

Monomoy Wildlife Refuge

Some critters from Morris Island and Monomoy Refuge area

On Cape Code - July 2011

I finally had a chance to visit Cape Cod, a place I have always wanted to go.
Spent a week in Dennisport with my son, daughter and their families.

Morris Island, Chatham

Sandy Neck Beach, Barnstable
My son and I walked several miles through the dunes and along the beach.

August 19-21 - Day 45-46 - Journey's End

Well - probably most of you know that we are home! Today is Monday, August 23. We arrived home at 1:20 a.m. on the 21st. Took a couple of days to decompress, and here is our final post.

We left Iron Mountain, Michigan at about 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 19. We went to the parts store and picked up the air bag and headed east. When we found a level, paved rest area, we parked and changed the bag, which took about 1.5 hours. After completing the repair, we continued.

Since we got a late start, we didn't make too many miles on Thursday. We wanted to avoid the traffic of the U.S route, which would have taken us through Chicago, Cleveland, etc., so we chose to return to New Hampshire through Ontario. We crossed the Canadian border at Sault Ste. Marie at about 7:30 p.m. and found a campground a couple of hours later near Sudbury. Not a very restful night -- heavy truck traffic on one side of the campground, and freight trains on the other!

We left pretty early on Friday morning, not sure how far we would get. We thought we might have a chance to make it home, but we knew it would be a very long day. The day was nice - quite sunny and warm. Traffic wasn't too bad. We avoided going through Ottawa by taking an alternate route to the NY border. We crossed into the US at Orgdensburg, New York - our final border crossing - at about 5:30 p.m. We paused to eat at Rouse's Point, NY, and crossed into Vermont at Alburg just above Lake Champlain. By that time, we figured we might as well keep going, since we were only a few hours from home.

We went south to Barre, then crossed into NH at Woodsville, and came home through Warren and Plymouth. We drove into our driveway at 1:20 a.m. on Sat. morning.

The odometer on the camper read 43,140 when we left on July 6. When we got home, it read 57,141 -- 14,001 miles!

We were both very tired and happy to be home. It seems good to sleep in our own beds, and to cook on a real stove in a real kitchen. It will take a long time to process all that we saw and experienced on this "trip of a lifetime." We met lots of interesting people, saw some incredible sights, and had a truly wonderful time.

My personal favorite experience was visiting Chicken Alaska. Donny loved being able to see the legendary Snow Trains in Fairbanks.

Don and Cheryl

August 18 - Day 44 - Iron Mt., Michigan

Hello Everyone,

Yesterday Donny called the manufacturer of the airbag we need for our camper and ordered one to be shipped to a parts store in Iron Mountain, MI, since we knew we would be passing through there today. We arrived at the store this afternoon, only to find that the part had been placed on the wrong truck, and had mistakenly been delivered to Ohio!

Since we had to stay here for an extra day, we visited the Cornish Pump and Mining Museum, home of the largest pumping engine in the United States.

Here is some information from the website:

Edwin Reynolds, chief engineer for the E.P. Allis Company (now the Allis-Chalmers Co.) of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, designed the steeple compound condensing steam engine in 1890.

The engine's high pressure has a 50 inch bore, and the low pressure cylinder is 100 inches in diameter. The flywheel alone is 40 feet in diameter, weighs 160 tons, and had an average speed of only ten revolutions per minute. The engine itself rises 54 feet above the floor of the room. The designers estimate the weight to be 725 tons over all. The engine's boiler required 11,000 tons of coal annually to operate. 


The pumping equipment utilized a reciprocating motion to a line of steel rods extending 1,500 feet down into the mine, with eight pumps attached at intervals of 170 to 192 feet along the rods. Each of the pumps forced the water to the next higher pump and finally out to the surface of the mine. Over 3,000 gallons of water poured out through a 28 inch the pipe every minute. A total of 5,000,000 gallons of water could be removed from the mine each day. 


The engine began operation on January 4th, 1893. The Cornish Pumping Engine and equipment were highly efficient until, in 1914, the Oliver Mining Company put into operation the largest electrically driven centrifugal pumps in mine service at that time in America. Unable to adapt to the new electric motors, the magnificent Cornish Pumping Engine, world famous as one of the mechanical wonders of the steam age, stood idle and was kept only for emergency use.

I also had some extra time to put together two more pages of wildflowers and one of butterflies.

We hope out part will be in tomorrow, so Donny can install it and we will be on our way.

Donny and Cheryl

August 17 - Day 43 - Wisconsin to Michigan

Hello

Today we spent the day driving across Wisconsin. It was a pretty day, lots of sun and blue sky. When we left the campground in Turtle Lake, we first encountered lots of corn fields and dairy farms. As the day progressed, the terrain changed to forests of oak, maple, ash and beech, as well as large softwoods. Good to see real trees again!

We stopped at the Logging Museum in Wabeno, but it had just closed. We considered staying there overnight, but since Donny had seen the museum last time he was here, we decided to continue.

He called the airbag manufacturer today and arranged for a kit to be shipped to a parts store in Iron Mountain, MI tomorrow, so we drove through to the border, arriving at about 7:00.

The day wasn't too eventful. We did see a young whitetail fawn at a rest area -- it watched us curiously as we slowly drove by.

Donny and Cheryl