Living and Re-Living History - 9th update from Best of Both Worlds

Aloha all,

we got to live and re-live history in the past few days: We met friends we had not seen in a quarter century and made new friends with a soldier of the revolutionary war, I found a job in 1860 and we got to spend time with family. 

As much fun as it was to meet distant cousins, this time it was really close family: Sandra’s sister has joined us since Chicago. If you read all the way to the bottom, you’ll also learn that we will go back to the island tomorrow…but let’s start in Ohio, where we left off. 

We went to Fort Meigs simply because we enjoy historical sites. Little did we know how good our timing was. We always thought the American Revolution happened from 1775-83. What we were not aware of is that one of the battles took place on August 25th, 2018 at Fort Meigs. We suspected something was going on when we saw several people in the parking lot in clothing about 240 years older than ours. Then we saw over 100 British and American troops and civilians hanging out in the fort together, before they met outside to fight just one more battle of the revolutionary war.

Re-enactment of the Revolution

The real history buffs amongst you will notice how weird that is. Fort Meigs was built in 1813 for the war of 1812 and then they fight a battle from ca. 1778 there. What I liked most about this battle was that after half an hour, all the dead stood up, lined up next to each other, answered some questions and then went back to the fort where they continued to show us how to make candles, how to draw maps without the use of an iPhone and how to cook without a microwave. They also had a 1800’s fashion show and re-enacted a court-martial. 

That's how Lewis and Clark made maps!

This is where we met this soldier, who was surprisingly nice, considering he had just deserted his post and had stolen two bayonets. He let me try on his uniform, which makes me want to go back to the 18th century even less. As if fighting a war isn’t bad enough, those wool uniforms are hot and heavy!

Hot and Heavy in 1778

The next day we went to “Sauter Village”, another living history museum (nope, we are not getting tired of them). After we had seen our first few Amish people on horse buggys the day before, we got to ride in one ourselves. Besides the horse, the price was very cute, too: Only two dollars! We also learnt about the life at a trading post, about schools for the kids of the pioneers, visited a weaving shop and a cooperidge. That’s where I got a job offered for just long enough to snap a picture.

Working at the cooperidge for a few seconds

Joy got very excited when we pulled up to the RV Hall of Fame. Yes, that’s a real thing. It honors historic and modern RVs  as well as people who shaped the industry. Even though we would induct Joy right away, she had to stay outside, but got a nice free, quiet spot to stay for the night next to a water fountain. We got to tour the museum, which featured RVs  almost as old as automobiles themselves. They actually had a 100 year old Ford Model T that was converted into a motorhome as well as Winnebago's very first motorhome. It was Joy’s version of finding long lost cousins. In the library we also read about novel ideas from the 60’s, like multistory RV Parks and RVing in Hawaii. It sounded like the future then, but obviously, neither really took off. 

RV Hall of Fame

The reason that the RV Hall of Fame is in Elkhart is that an astounding 80% of all RVs in America are manufactured in or around this small town in Indiana. Winnebago is one of the few exceptions. But since we did not get to tour their factory when we were in Iowa, we went on a factory tour of Thor instead, that’s the company that made MaRVy, our RV from our first big trip 10 years ago. They don’t allow visitors to take pictures on the floor, but it was fascinating to see step by step how the bare chassis becomes an RV. In some aspects, seeing the construction made me feel more confident, in which case of course I assume that Joy is built the same way. Other aspects made me a little more skeptical, in which case I assume that Winnebago somehow does it differently. I have not checked on that, so I will enjoy this false sense of security until we get to tour the Winnebago factory whenever we make it back to Iowa. Some sort of technical issues are part of living in an RV. Imagine you build your house, with plumbing and electrical systems and then shake and rattle it for an hour or two every day, of course every now and then something will not work. But we are glad to report that all the issues we had with Joy so far were very minor and easy to fix. I doubt she’ll last a century like the one in the RV Hall of Fame, but if we get a decade of joy out of Joy, we’d be happy campers indeed.

Our last stop before Chicago was at the Indiana Dunes. Such beautiful colors in the water and so much sand, it makes Big Beach on Maui look tiny in comparison. And it was hot enough that even Sandra went swimming! I had been to the Indiana Dunes about 28 years ago on my very first trip to America, with a group from the women’s shelter on the South Side of Chicago where my girl friend was volunteering back then. But I did not remember the dunes very well. I think back then I was more intrigued by the group of ladies and the fact that some of them had never been to Indiana….or even downtown Chicago!

Indiana Dunes

Speaking of a long time ago in Chicago: During our three days in the city, we got to see two friends who we had not seen in a quarter century! Gina came to the rescue when our RV parking spot at McCormick Place fell through. We got to hang out with her and her husband in Welmette, eat the best udon I ever had, tour the Bahai Temple in Evanston and the beautiful campus of the Northwestern University on Lake Michigan and enjoy a drink at a rooftop restaurant

Northwestern University in Evanston

Joy got to stay with Gina when we picked up Sandra’s sister at the airport and stayed in downtown for two more days. Before we picked up Petra, Sandra and I went to the one restaurant where we knew Petra did not want to go. The “Berghoff” had been THE German restaurant in Chicago, even 25 years ago, but back then I did not even know that I like German food, and coming from Germany, we had no interest (and not enough money) to go to The Berghoff. Now, coming from Hawaii and with a few more dollars to our name, we thoroughly enjoyed a delicious German lunch there. Who knew you can make Knödel out of Spätzle?

The Berghoff Restaurant

We got to meet Anna, another blast from the past, at the bean in Millennium Park. We wanted to go to the Jazz festival together, but first sat down to get dinner at an outdoor cafe to take advantage of this beautiful summer evening…or so we thought. We had just ordered our drinks when it started to rain. Actually, that is an understatement. In 48 years on this planet, I have never seen rain starting so suddenly and so heavily. In a split second, the scene changed from peaceful summer evening to a wet chaos. Luckily, there was an indoor restaurant close by, where we found refuge and a delicious meal. It was so nice to see Anna and Gina again. You know you have good friends if after not seeing each other for 25 years, it seems like nothing has changed, except that you have a lot to talk about. 

With Gina at the Lake

At first glance, it looked to me like the skyline of Chicago had not changed much since Sandra lived here. But I was proven wrong when we went on an architecture boat tour on the river and saw how much especially the riverfront has improved and how many more skyscrapers have been built. We had been on one of these cruises before, but this was the best one, not only because Gina got us on for free.

Divy Bike Trip along the Lake

While in Chicago, we also used the "Divy” share bikes for a bike tour along Lake Michigan, went to the free Lincoln Zoo in Sandra’s old neck of the woods and had drink at our favorite bar, the Signature Lounge on the 95th floor at the Hancock building, still the best view in the city!

View from our favorite Bar in Chicago

We left Chicago and Gina the next day, but she was still with us in spirit, because we were so grateful for her suggestion to visit the headquarters of the SC Johnson company in Racine, Wisconsin. It’s an eccentric, historic and free tour that includes two Frank Lloyd Wright buildings, how did we not know about this before? For starters, we were not aware of the SC Johnson company, even though we should be. Amongst other things they make Zip-Loc, Shout, Off!, Autan, Draino, Raid and Windex, so we use their products pretty much every day. But until last week, I could not tell SC Johnson from Johnson & Johnson.

The tour started with a great movie about the company CEO following his fathers historic 1935 flight to Brazil in a custom-built amphibious airplane called “Carnauba” at a time and to an area where there were no airports yet. His father went there to look for a steady supply of a special palm wax, which was the magic ingredient on which the company built it’s fortune. But along the way, the trip also changed his life. The film was touching and a great introduction to the SC Johnson company, which was founded in 1886, but even though it’s now a huge global enterprise, it’s still headquartered in Racine and it's is still in the hands of the Johnson family. 

The reason they offer tours of their headquarters is that they are built by no other then our old friend Frank Lloyd Wright. Apparently, Mr. Johnson asked Frank Lloyd Wright 'not to build anything too ordinary’, which seems a bit redundant, kind of like if Sandra were to ask me to write about our week on the road, but to make it ‘not too short’. Obviously, Frank Lloyd Wright delivered the whole package: A spectacular and definitely not ordinary ‘research tower’ and a very unique ‘administrative building’, complete with quirks like leaking roofs, windows you can’t see through and chairs that fell over all the time. But gorgeous! So if you can’t get reservations at Fallingwater, I recommend heading to Wisconsin instead and take the free tour at the SC Johnson world headquarters. 

Headquarters from the SC Johnson compay

Our main highlight in Milwaukee was the tour at they Historic Pabst Mansion. Americans must have drunk a lot of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer back then to afford the Pabst family such a luxurious mansion. I might have guessed that they were German, I did not know how German they were: Apparently, mostly German was spoken at the house and a lot of the artwork and inscriptions throughout the mansion are in German. Funny how quickly the times have changed: A few decades ago, the house was supposed to be torn down to make room for a parking lot, now there is a bunch of historians working on re-constructing every little detail of the house and the lives of the Pabst family. Our tour guide gave a treasure trove of information about the house, the family and the brewery. 

Historic Pabst Mansion in Milwaukee

That night, we took advantage of our Movie Pass one more time, never sure when they will go out of business. “Julia, Naked” was playing at a local, artsy movie house. We loved the quirky movie and we loved the special effect after the movie was over: The story was set mostly in England and when we left the movie theater, they had spread so much fog around the whole city that we felt like we still were in England. 

The ‘Lizard Mound Park’ sounded more interesting on paper than it was in real life. There are dozens of man-made hills in a variety of shapes, including some animal shapes. They are burial and ceremonial mounds made by native Americans about 1000 years ago, but they were pretty small and even standing right next to it, we had a hard time making out the shapes. Of course it did not help that we found the entrance with all the explanations only on the way out. At least we learnt that there used to be over 20,000 of them, of which only 4,000 remain and these are the only ones in animal shapes. Risking that I lose my false reputation as a history buff: I found the critters on the plants more interesting than the mounds.

Distraction at the Lizard Mounds

Next stop: Green Bay. Obviously, I knew nothing about this town except the Green Bay Packers, who I don’t really now much about. But since they were not playing, we found two other attractions: First we went to the Nation Railroad Museum, where we got to ride on a train upfront with the engineer, see the huge 'Big Boy’ steam engine locomotive, Eisenhower’s mobil command train (think “Train Force One”) and the slick, but failed “Aerotrain”. 

At the National Railroad Museum

But the real highlight of Green Bay was the program the local Historical Society put on at the Cemetery that evening. It was called “If Tombstones could talk” and it featured 7 actors bringing to life local residents, telling their life stories right by their grave site. What a great idea! I am, not surprised the event is very popular with the locals, there were three large groups going from grave to grave, listing to what the tombstones had to say.

One of the seven "Talking Tombstones"

Sticking with the theme, we went to a ghost town the next day. “Fayette” on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan was a thriving company town built around an iron smelting operation. It was only in operation for 24 years in the late 1800’s, but they left behind many of the town's buildings and they are located on such a scenic spot, that it was turned into a state park and it is most pleasant and interesting to visit. But as pretty as it is, it did not make us want to live there, not now and definitely not in the 1800’s. That’s actually a common thread throughout pretty much all historical sites we go to. As much as we enjoy visiting historical sites, I am perfectly happy being born much later and would not want to go back to live in any other time period. 

Fayette Ghost Town

Last night we had one of our prettiest campsites of our trip, right by a lake, on a little bluff, very nice full-timer RVing neighbors, a beautiful sunset, even a little beach… But just before we forget how lucky we are to live on Maui, the wind started blowing so cold that we had to abandon the pretty scene in a rush. If this is what early September feels like, we don’t want to know how winter feels around here. Another ‘Lucky we Live on Maui” moment happened at our picnic lunch today. We found the most beautiful rest stop on Lake Michigan, it was warm and sunny and had a great view…but also wasps and biting flies, which made it a little harder to enjoy the beautiful spot. So lucky we live on Maui, where the winds are warm, the flies don’t bite and the temperature is always above average...

Don't let the pretty picture fool you it was COLD

Today we got to see Kitch-iti-kipi Lake, or the 'Big Spring' at Palms Book State Park, in case that rolls easier off your tongue. Since it’s such a mouthful of a name, it makes up with easy-to-remember stats: This  spring fed lake is 45 feet deep and has a constant temperature of 45 degree Fahrenheit all year long. And most of the trout you see in the lake are Lake Trout, now that I might remember! I’m not so sure about the name. The spring at the bottom pumps out 10,000 gallons of water per minute, but surprisingly, the lake looks very calm. And it has the clearest water I have ever seen anywhere. Clearer than Molokini, where it’s always 100-200 feet visibility and clearer than some of the drinking water we’ve filled our bottles with. 45 feet below the surface, we could clearly see a pacifier in the otherwise unspoiled lake. Not sure whether mom was afraid of the 45 feet or the 45 degrees, but I don’t blame her for not going after it.

View into Kitch-iti-kipi

They’ve put a self propelled raft on a wire straight across the lake to allow for the full effect of the clear water and to see the springs and the fish through the large opening in the middle of the floor of the raft. It was so fascinating (and so free) that we took the tour twice.

It’s hard to believe that we will not be sleeping in our beloved ‘Joy’ tomorrow…but WE ARE GOING BACK TO THE ISLAND TOMORROW!!! Mackinac Island that it. You didn’t think we’d be done with this trip, did you? It’s just half time!

Aloha from the UP in Michigan,

Chris, Sandra & Petra