Day 15 -- Brimley to Sault Ste. Marie, MI -- 26 Miles

You probably noticed that our total progress today weighed in at a stellar 26 miles. No, we didn't get stuck in a mud hole because of all the rain, we simply set our sights on a camp in Sault Ste. Marie that lay right alongside the watery passageway between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. This passageway, as you might guess, tends to concentrate the ship traffic between the two lakes. It's this ship traffic that we were hoping to observe.

We probably could have come here yesterday afternoon, but as it happens I was tired of driving and we felt the camp at Brimley, 26 miles northwest of here, was likely to be large and partially empty since it belongs to a Casino. We weren't so certain about tonight's ideally-located park, as we felt that camps right on the water would probably be popular with other folks wanting to watch and photograph shipping.

The upshot was we got to this camp really early this morning and managed to get the last place directly on the water that they had. The available utilities were disappointing as the camp does not offer full hookups, which meant we'd have to use the dump station. But the manager was quick to point out that no camps next to the great lakes offer sewer connections.

Once we were checked in, we turned the rig around and went back down the road to the place where we planned to visit -- the Valley Camp cargo ship which serves as a floating museum. According to Wikipedia: "Valley Camp was launched in Lorain, Ohio, in 1917 as the Louis W. Hill for the National Steel Corporation. She sailed for this company for 38 years hauling iron ore and coal until 1955 when she was sold to the Wilson Marine Transit Company. It was in this fleet that she received her current name. For this company she carried a wider array of bulk goods including grains and stone."

"Valley Camp was a member of the Wilson Fleet only until 1959 when the Republic Steel Corporation bought her and several of her Wilson fleetmates, including her identical sister ship Silver Bay (formerly Albert Heiken of National Steel). Republic kept Valley Camp's name, and for that company she hauled iron ore and coal to their mills in Buffalo, New York; Cleveland, Ohio; and Indiana Harbor, Indiana."

"In 1966, Valley Camp made her last voyage. Her age was not an issue in her retirement, but a major problem with a coal-burning boiler was, Her twin, Silver Bay, went on to sail until the early 1980s."

"Purchased by Le Sault de Sainte Marie Historical Sites, Inc., for $10,000, the ship was towed from Wisconsin to Sault Ste. Marie on July 6, 1968, during Sault Ste. Marie's tri-centennial celebration. As a museum ship, Valley Camp is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Visitors have the opportunity to explore and look in every nook and cranny of the ship. In addition, the cargo hold houses hundreds of artifacts, paintings, shipwreck items, models, two lifeboats from the wreck of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, and exhibits of objects related to maritime history."

"Valley Camp is well maintained and has brought in many tourists to Sault Sainte Marie. Valley Camp stretches 550 feet overall with a 525-foot keel. Other dimensions of the ship include a beam of 58 feet and a depth of 31 feet. Her gross tonnage capacity is 12,000 gross tons."

"The ship was powered by a 1,800 horsepower (1,300 kW) triple expansion reciprocating steam engine which she retains to this day. Never the flagship of the fleet, her quarters were spartan yet comfortable. The crews quarters are lined by wood trim and equipped with simple bunks. The wheelhouse is lined with wood and trimmed by brass. Her original steering wheel is in place. In the stern, her original smokestack, including her double-chime whistle are still in place. Almost unmodified from her original configuration, she is the most intact example of the classic Great Lakes ore carriers that once numbered in the hundreds and few of which survive to this day."

Wikipedia said this thing was big, but we had no idea how B-I-G she was until we were standing beside her. This ship is mammouth, containing something like 20,000 square feet of interior exhibit space. And that doesn't even count the deck space you encounter when you venture topside

The admission price to access this massive floating museum is a bit stiff, we thought, but we imagined that the upkeep on this vessel must be substantial. They did give us a small discount for military veterans.

The first thing that struck us as we entered the exhibits area was the overall quality of each and every exhibit. Though some displays were certainly better than others, presumably due to whichever volunteer group had been involved in construction, but the sum total of the ship's displays were just wonderful.

The displays covered the whole spectrum of the shipboard experience, from historical to more modern. We learned about every imaginable topic from rope tying to iron ore hauling, from underwater salvage to air sea rescue, and from whistle codes to running lights protocol. If you wanted to know something about ships, seaman, and a whole different world at sea, you'd probably be able learn about it at this museum.

Speaking for myself, I always adore the physical aspects of any trade. Aboard ship I love the anchors and winches and steam engines and ships wheels and rigging and, well, you name it. The Valley Camp Museum has a myriad of artifacts in their collection, many of which you can reach out and touch unless a sign prohibits you doing so. I was just in heaven the whole afternoon.

There was only one problem with today's activities: My expensive Nikon lens took this opportunity to begin malfunctioning. I can still take photos, but only ones from a distance. The camera simply won't focus closer than four or five feet. At first I thought there had to be something wrong with the auto-focus mechanism. But then I discovered that the lens won't hand focus, either. No amount of resetting to factory specs, changing out the battery for a fresh one, nor checking all the pertinent settings does anything at all.

At this point I'm not sure just what I'm going to do about the problem as there are many weeks of vacation time left. Nowadays you simply don't see many camera shops, but I have found one listed in Sault Ste. Marie here and will try and go there tomorrow. I know the lens needs to be sent off to Nikon, but I won't do that until I get home. I'd rather find a nice used lens at a camera store or pawn shop that I could buy for an affordable price to get me through vacation and then serve as a backup in the future.

What's silly is that I brought backups for lots of other stuff on this vacation, just didn't think about backup for my lens. You get used to Nikon lenses being bullet proof, but every once in a while they WILL surprise you.

Moving on from my personal disaster, we're hoping to do a harbor cruise tomorrow if the sun decides to shine. I'm not sure it's worth doing if it's raining like it was an hour ago. Seems like it rains all the time here in upper Michigan. We'd also like to go to the old section of town and do some walking if the weather will behave. If the weather is nasty, well we'll just go hang out at the Walmart. I wonder if they sell fine lenses?

<>And that's it for now. We are the Happy Wanderers coming to you from the ultra soggy state of Michigan where we're praying for rain anywhere else but here so we can have a nice, sunny harbor cruise tomorrow. So until then, we wish you happy (and dry) travels and exciting destinations as you hit the two-lanes and explore the greatest country in the world.