St Clair, MI and Niagara Falls, Ontario

We left Holland and our friends about 9:00 AM Friday morning and headed for the east side of the state and St Clair. The trip was about four hours and with rest stops along the way we arrived in the early afternoon.

Don and Diane were waiting for us. Their home is beautiful and the coach fit easily in their driveway. The neighborhood is very upscale. We are surprised motor home overnight parking is allowed; maybe it isn't. We didn't ask. Don has a 50-amp plug receptacle on the side of his garage for motor homes; he has done this before.

We received a guided tour of the area that took most of the afternoon. The St Clair River is the key feature here. This river is the boundary between the US and Canada and it is a major waterway for the huge Great Lake ships that move ore, grain, coal, etc. The river connects Lake Huron and Lake Erie by way of Lake St Clair and the Detroit River. We traveled by ferry to a huge island in the river and saw some spectacular summer homes on very prime real estate. Looking south from the northern shore of Lake St Clair, we could see the GM Headquarters building in Detroit.

Driving along the river through St Clair, Marine City, and Algonac to the shores of Lake St Clair gave us a new perspective of how the Great Lakes are connected by rivers and lakes.

Don had reservations for dinner at a high rise restaurant in Port Huron with a view of the river. On the way to the restaurant, he showed us a river front development project that is underway and will take years to finish. A man named Jim Acheson has purchased hundreds of acres of river front in Port Huron and will build recreation facilities, housing and commercial, and tourism facilities. Apparently Jim inherited a lot of money from his dad. His dad invented WD-40. Every motor home owner knows about WD-40. We would like to come back over the next few years to see how this project evolves.

Our dinner was very nice and we did see one loaded freighter going down the river and an empty one up bound. We saw more of Port Huron after dinner , to include a Light Boat in the river. We returned home quite tired and ready to kick back.

This morning Diane prepared a wonderful breakfast before we departed. We very much enjoyed our stay with Diane and Don and appreciate their hospitality.

The drive into Canada began at the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron. The crunch was past the bridge at the security booths. We waited about 20 minutes and had no problems entering Canada. The guard was very pleasant and the process was quick once we got to the booth. Canadian roads are like U.S. roads: under construction. The big problem was a major accident that forced us off the main road and a one hour detour. CB conversation reported that more than one car and at least one tractor trailer were involved and there were fatalities. The road was closed and we were fortunate to be detoured; traffic ahead of us was stopped and unable to turn around. Miss Garmin did a great job of getting us back on the main road although we did have to go through some very small 'municipalities' with one traffic light.

As we neared Niagara, traffic increased and the drive became more intense. By the time we reached the campground, we were ready to kick back and relax. We elected to call it a day and stay close to the coach tonight.

KOA Niagara is a large campground that is populated this weekend by children of every age, size, and interest. The park is celebrating Halloween today; we have no idea why. The children must have know in advance because they have costumes. There was a big parade of the children; trick-or-treating followed with the kids visiting participating coaches, presumably the parents of the children. We are still trying to adjust to today being September 1. It is mind boggling to have Halloween in September.

We plan to begin touring tomorrow. There is much to see and do here and we have two full days to see as much as we can. More later.