I-75 used to be called the GM Highway. Early in the summer season the
auto makers (General Motors seemed to be most prominent in Michigan)
closed down their factories to retool for the next year's models. There
was a resulting flow of auto workers heading down I-75 to Florida and
other warm points south in their annual effort to recover from
Michigan's winter. There were times when I-75 seemed to be a
bumper-to-bumper flow of cars bearing Michigan license plates (like
I-70, west of Denver, is now every winter). General MacArthur rebuilt
the Japanese auto industry and funded it with contracts to rebuild (what
had been classified as) surplus WW-II Army vehicles scrounged from all
over the South Pacific. We needed them in Korea and it was a big
contributor to our success in Korea. But within a few years our American
plants were competing with these very same Japanese plants.
That, at first, was just a trickle and we did compete,
successfully. Then NAFTA was dropped on us. The corporate big wigs were
in their glory; they could pay slave labor rates and get rid of these
expensive American workers,
—
and did. You can see some of the evidence by observing the southbound
traffic on I-75 at retooling time.
I-75 seems to meander back and forth until it passes Saginaw (which
used to be a GM town). This was intentional; the American Interstate
Highway System was intended by President Eisenhower to be a defense
highway network the value of which was shown in WW-1 via the
transcontinental Lincoln Highway. The American highway system was
already the best in the world but there was one significant problem:
bridge clearances. The Interstate Highways solved that and a host of
other problems by requiring that all Interstates be built according to
federal standards.
I won't apologize for the sermon and I have a lot of company
— especially in
Michigan. Until we allow our industries to be on the same footing as our
foreign competitors we will remain behind the 8-ball.
We
don't know of any RV parks with 40 miles (to the south) and 50 miles (to the
north) of Detroit. Again, this is urban area with expensive real estate
and high taxes. An RV park requires a lot of real estate and it is taxed
the same even if there are no rigs on it. We enter Michigan and, at
exits 11 and 18, have Monroe with at
least three RV parks. And they are very different from each other.
Sterling State Park's 1,300 acres include 1 mile of frontage on Lake
Erie. 256 sites with full hook-ups (50 AM available). The only thing
they don't have is a coin-op laundry. Again, you choose.
I-75 heads right into the mouth of Detroit, passes within
blocks of Cadillac Square (more GM, folks) and then strikes north to
service Warren, Pontiac, and, at last in Holly we have a trio: 1
private park, 1 county park and 1 state park. You choose!
Flint, the Motor City, about 70 miles
from Detroit, seems to be able to only support one RV park, — an it is owned
and operated for you by Genesee County. The campground is by the shore
of Holloway
Reservoir. True, that is some 15 miles (east) of I-75 but we've gone
much farther than that for a good spot.
(continued
in column 2) |
|
(continued
from column 1)
We seem to skip Saginaw (recognize the name, folks?) but, in
Bay City (another GM city) we have
another tax-payer supported facility (thank goodness for state parks).
This one, in the
Bay City State Recreation Area includes Tobico Marsh, one of the
last and largest remaining freshwater coastal wetlands in the Great
Lakes region. You like to watch birds: you'll see them buy the
thousands, here.
Houghton Lake has two parks.
We had expected them to be on the Lake; they're not. It takes a lot of
money to be on the shore of Houghton Lake. The next waterfront park we
know of is east of Grayling on the east bank of the
East Branch Au Sable River. It's only 5 miles from I-75. It has 43 sites
— all back-in —
15 of which actually front the river.
Gaylord is known as the Alpine
Village. Gaylord has Otsego Lake which has an abundance of
beautiful, white, sandy beaches. And, on the south shore of Lake Otsego
we have the 62 acre
Otsego Lake State Park
with 155 sites. Typical of most state parks, the only hook-ups are 30
Amp electrical but they do have a dump site.
Another river-front RV park is southwest of
Wolverine (exit 301), on the Sturgeon
River. Something which should be mentioned is that many of these RV
parks in northern Michigan have excellent access to snowmobile trails.
Hence, they are year-round campgrounds. There are State and Federal
forest lands all over northern Michigan which means hiking trails in the
summer and cross-country skiing plus snowmobiling in the winter.
We've had campgrounds on lake shores (including one on Lake Erie),
on river banks, and now we have one on the inland waterway (the
Cheboygan River). Just a couple miles south of
Cheboygan (exit 322) we have an RV
park on the Cheboygan river only 3/4 mile above the confluence of the
Black River. So you couldn't tow both a boat and a car?
Waterways Campground
not only has a boat ramp, they'll even rent the boat to you!
Mackinaw City has Lake
Michigan on its west and north sides and Lake Huron on its east side.
This is at the south end of the Mackinac Bridge. About 1 mile southeast
of Mackinaw City is Tee Pee
Campground nicely sited on the shore of Lake Huron's Straits of
Mackinac. At the moment, although they have full hook-ups, they only
have 30 Amp breakers.
At the north end of the Mackinac Bridge is
St Ignace and
Straits State Park. Also on Lake Huron, across the strait from Tee
Pee, This state park has 50 Amp electrical hook-ups but not water and
sewer. Water is available, of course, and they do maintain a dump
station.
The International Bridge carrying motorists from
Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, in
the USA to Canada over the Saint Mary's River, marks the north end of
I-75, — 354.7 miles
from its beginning in Miami, Florida. That makes I-75 the longest
north-south Interstate highway. We used to be able to just pay the toll
and take Hwy 17 from
Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, around the north end of Lake Superior, through
Thunder Bay, back into the USA at Grand Portage, Minnesota.MN-61 is a
lovely highway with many worthwhile attractions that every American
should be able to enjoy at least once. But 'Homeland Security' has other
thoughts. It's been a great trip; hope you enjoyed it as much as we do.
contributed by
Bob Masters |
