Leg 4 was nothing short of wonderful, with only a few bumps in the road along the way. But without question, the true highlights were the people we shared it with—time spent with family and dear friends, reconnecting with kids and grandkids, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, in-laws, and others who have been part of our lives for so many years. The places we visited were memorable, but it was those moments together—the conversations, laughter, hugs, and simply being in one another’s company—that made this leg of the journey especially meaningful.
We also traveled through some truly beautiful country, from the rolling hills and sweeping valleys of Wisconsin’s Driftless Area to the lush landscapes of New York’s Southern Tier. Around almost every bend, there seemed to be another view worth remembering. (For a few days in New York, however, the scenery took on a hazy, almost surreal quality as wildfire smoke drifted down from Canada.)
This leg also carried one very sad note. Pete’s colleague, Toni Alleman, whom we had just visited in Madison, died only ten days later. We are grateful that our travels gave us the chance to spend that time with her, and our hearts ache for all she endured during her struggle with cancer.
We are keeping an eye on this new phenomenon appearing on Pete!! He now has four new red/purplish spots on his arms. We have read that they are common at this age and not dangerous😀😀
We read that it is called Senile purpura, or actinic purpura, caused by years of sun exposure and thinning skin, which makes the small blood vessels just under the skin more fragile. Even a minor bump seems to cause blood to leak under the skin, leaving irregular purple patches. Even though we are not carrying heavy luggage, our lighter items might still cause this. To be determined!!!!
Before we left on this trip, we purchased a set of new tires from Costco. By the time we got halfway through Leg 4, we were already past the 5,000-mile mark for them to be rotated! The Madison Costco took care of that for us!
The Joy of WATER!!!
One of the unexpected themes of this trip has been water! We have crossed rivers, ridden ferries, followed shorelines, visited islands, and spent countless hours looking out over water. And now, finishing Leg 4 has helped me to realize that our trip has taken us around all five of the Great Lakes….Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario.
Together, the five lakes form the largest system of fresh surface water on Earth — about one-fifth of the world’s fresh surface water. And after finishing our travels around them, I now realize how different each lake felt.
- Lake Superior : It felt enormous!! It is the largest, deepest, and coldest, and it contains so much water that it could hold the water from all the other Great Lakes combined—with room left over! And we were able to experience it from so many wonderful places—Isle Royale, Pictured Rocks, the Keweenaw Peninsula, Grand Marais, Grand Portage, Duluth, and Bayfield. At times, it seemed less like a lake and more like an inland sea. There were rocky cliffs, lonely shorelines, fog, islands, and water stretching all the way to the horizon.
- Lake Michigan — felt friendlier and more familiar. Perhaps that is partly because of our many years in Wisconsin. Its shores include big cities like Chicago, beaches, harbors, sand dunes, and vacation communities. Unlike the other four Great Lakes, Lake Michigan lies entirely within the United States.
- Lake Huron — Huron has an entirely different feeling, with thousands of islands and long stretches of rugged shoreline. Around Mackinac Island, with ferries moving back and forth and the Mackinac Bridge stretching across the water, we could see that these lakes are really highways.
- Lake Erie —Lake Erie seemed different again. It is the shallowest of the Great Lakes, so it warms more quickly. It is surrounded by cities, agriculture, industry, beaches, and wildlife habitat. We experienced it through places such as Cleveland and the Ohio shoreline, where the lake is very much part of everyday life.
- Lake Ontario — the smallest of the Great Lakes by surface area and the last lake in the system before the water continues into the St. Lawrence River and eventually reaches the Atlantic Ocean. When we visited the Thousand Islands region of New York, we were sitting at the eastern end of Lake Ontario, where the lake narrows into the St. Lawrence River.
There is something fascinating about realizing how all this water is connected. Water flows from Superior and Michigan-Huron, through the Detroit and St. Clair River system into Erie, through the Welland Canal into Ontario, and then through the St. Lawrence River toward the Atlantic… the path that the big ships we saw in Duluth take. Before this trip, I suppose I thought of the Great Lakes as variations on the same theme. Now I know better! They may all be part of the same system, but they certainly don’t all have the same personality. What an astonishing treasure that represents…. They are probably among the most valuable natural resources imaginable in a world where clean freshwater is becoming increasingly precious.
Another joy of this road trip has been having enough time to notice where we are. We didn’t just drive past the Great Lakes on an interstate. We walked their shorelines. We rode boats across them. We stayed on their islands. We watched fog roll across them. We saw freighters traveling through them. We learned about the industries, communities, and history that grew up beside them. And sometimes we simply sat and looked at the water.
At this stage of our lives, we are increasingly aware of what a privilege that is—to have the health, time, and curiosity to keep exploring places we should have known more about all our lives. Travel has a way of taking something you thought you already knew and helping you finally see it!
So Leg 4 gave us a little bit of everything: beauty, adventure, unexpected challenges, wonderful visits, and one poignant reminder of just how precious time with the people we care about really is. Now on to Leg 5…where we will have more water and adventure ahead!!