While at Cedar Point, we celebrated our first Nomadiversary. After a year on the road, one might think we would be tired of moving around. It can be exhausting, but the allure of seeing and doing new things continues to draw us across the country. With just a few weeks left on the road, we made the most of this last week. We are taking a breather in Wisconsin Dells, WI, after visiting the Detroit area, South Bend, and Chicago.
From Cedar Point, we motored to Harbortown RV Resort in Monroe, MI, about 40 minutes south of Detroit.
I’d make some crack about not wanting to get any closer to Detroit, but one of my best friends is in the process of moving there and I’d like an invitation to visit someday.
We celebrated M3’s 13th Birthday with a chill day that included the Angry Birds movie, cookie cake, and an “epic” family Nerf battle that ranged across multiple campsites.
Age is just a number, but it has been a real pleasure watching M3 mature into a fine young man.
A run up to Dearborn brought us to The Henry Ford. The Henry Ford is a unique museum. It, of course, includes many exhibits dedicated to the Henry Ford’s achievements and advancements in the auto industry, including the benefits of the assembly line.
I found this expanded Model T particularly interesting.
The museum also showcases historical automobiles of all manufacturers from classics…
to clunkers…
to eclectic.
If the Oscar Mayer Weiner Mobile does not bring a smile to your face, nothing will.
On the flip side, seeing the limo that carried President Kennedy into the gun sight of Lee Harvey Oswald was pretty sobering.
The museum also displayed the limo that Secret Service Agents shoved President Reagan in after John Hinckley connected with a .22 caliber ricochet off the door.
In a similar vein, here is the chair in which President Lincoln sat on that fateful night in Ford’s Theater.
Less gruesome and more inspiring, the museum displayed the bus in which Rosa Parks took her civil rights stand (or sit depending on your perspective).
The Henry Ford provides ample opportunities to experience the past. Here are the kids checking out an old combine.
You can also tour the Dymaxion House, a round, stainless-steel contraption once billed as the “house of the future.”
Seeing Awesome Bill from Dawsonville’s record-breaking 1987 Thunderbird brought back memories. Bill ran the fastest official lap ever run by a stock car (212.8 mph) when qualifying at Talladega in 1987. Shortly afterwards, NASCAR required restrictor plates at fast tracks like Talladega and Daytona. Accordingly, Bill’s record still stands.
Goldenrod held the World’s Land Speed Record at 409.277 mph for 26 years (1965 until 1991).
If you favor power over speed, you would love seeing the 1941 Allegheny Locomotive. This ginormous engine was the last of the steam-powered locomotives.
In addition to the Henry Ford, we toured the Ford Rouge Factory. Completed in the 1920’s, the Rouge became the largest integrated factory in the world. Now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Rouge continues to produce Ford F-150 trucks in a state-of-the-art assembly plant. We enjoyed a tour of the assembly plant (no pictures allowed except from the roof observatory).
From Michigan, we set our sights on Chicago. Chicago doesn’t have much in the way of RV parks or campgrounds close to the city. We decided to boondock in the McCormick Place Truck Marshaling Yard. For $35 you get a 24-hour parking spot right on Lakeshore Drive. That’s not a bad deal given that it is downtown Chicago, but we didn’t want to stay without power, water, or sewer any longer than needed. If we drove straight to Chicago, it would be well into the afternoon before we arrived and got set up. So we decided to break-up the trip with a stop in South Bend, IN, home of…
We enjoyed some good Chinese food and took a quick car tour of the Notre Dame campus.
The historic football stadium is undergoing some major renovations under the watchful eye of “Touchdown Jesus.”
Now less than two hours from Chicago, we motored out early the next morning.
After a very-much-undesired-unplanned loop through the no-truck/low overpass zone of downtown Chicago (I missed our last exit within sight of the marshaling yard), we rolled into our spot among 53 foot trailers that would be our home for 24 hours.
The Lakefront Trail along Lake Michigan meandered by just on the other side of Lakeshore Drive from our parking spot. We quickly hopped on our bikes and headed five miles north to the Navy Pier, checking out the scenery along the way.
We made it to a packed Navy Pier.
Turns out the America’s Cup was in Chicago and we had arrived just in time for the first race.
These are the same sailboats that we camped next to at Liberty Harbor while we were visiting NYC.
We made our way up the pier and had a pretty good view of the entirety of Race 2. Artemis just edged out the U.S. Oracle boat for the win.
Feeling fortunate to catch a race, but also starving, we made our way to Giordano’s Pizza to get on the wait list before the crowds grew after the conclusion of Race 3. We opted for a somewhat chilly table outside, but we did not have to wait long. We love Chicago Stuffed Pizza!
We faced a pretty steady wind in our face as we biked north to the Pier. Fortunately, that wind would work for us on the return trip. We needed it after downing that heavy pie.
We took it slow on the way back and stopped to enjoy some Chicago landmarks. Here is the Cloud Atlas, better known in our circles as “The Bean.”
We had fun taking selfies in the mirror-like finish…
Further down, we stopped to enjoy Buckingham Fountain. I could not get the Married With Children theme out of my head.
After heading back to the motorhome to check on Angel, we grabbed an Uber to the Skydeck at Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower). The Willis Tower held the title of World’s Tallest Building from its completion in 1973 until 1998. Some might know it better as the place where Ferris and friends looked down on the Chicago crowds in the middle of an epic day off from school.
We marveled at the Skydeck views and ventured out into a glass enclosed box hanging over the western edge of the building.
That capped a great Chicago adventure. Eat your heart out Ferris!
I was just in Chicago last week (Wed/Thu). I wonder if we were there at the same time! I indulged in the pizza as well.. oh my… so good.
Just missed you. We arrived Sunday morning and departed Monday morning.