Oshkosh to Menominee Michigan

From Oshkosh to Menominee County Park
I left Oshkosh in the morning and headed north on Hwy 41 passing thru Green Bay. This is the home of the Green Bay Packers and for such a small city to have captured the NFL football title so many times is a great tribute to them and their past coach Lombardi. The town is rife with tributes to him and the team.
It was then on to Marinette where I was all set in the local library to post my blogs. I started to download some grandchildren photos when all of a sudden my internet went out. I looked around and others were still on the library computers but no one else was using wifi. So I tried in vain for about 30 minutes when I spotted some workers and asked if they were working on the internet system. “Why yes we’re installing a new server and wifi network” How long do you think it will be down? “Probably for the afternoon”.
So dejected I went to the information center for the city next door and asked about other wifi sites. Well it turns out Applebees Restaurant has one and they were only about a mile or two away. So, informed that is where I spent some time with coffee and used their free site.
Oshkosh to Menominee
Now I am in Menominee (sounds like a small minnow) County Park right on Lake Michigan. This is after crossing over to Hwy 35 to come up the west side of the lake. I have seen ducks and geese and even a golden eagle on the way and tons of Harley motorcycles headed to Milwaukee.
This is a great site right on the lake and all you can see is water out my side window. It is hard to imagine but I can only see on the horizon the outline of Green Bay which is just a small portion (about 1/4th the way across the width of the lake.
The Great Lakes formed a wonderful transportation system for the Northwest of the country. Lake freighters could carry iron ore from the iron range in Minnesota to the steel plants of Pittsburg and Detroit to make automobiles. Chicago became the commodities capital of the nation because grain could be sent up Lake Michigan from the Midwest and from Lake Superior. Other goods going south from Chicago could go down the Mississippi River. Cargo could be transported around the world from here and the west side of Lake Michigan all the way to Lake Ontario became huge industrial centers.
Now, that the St Lawrence Seaway is completed the bulk carriers do not have to unload their cargo from lake freighters to ocean going vessels but the ocean going ships come right to the Great Lakes.
Well I digress again from the trip. I will spend two nights here because it is so beautiful watching the lake and then it is on northward again to the top of Lake Michigan. I may take a side trip to Sault St. Marie to see that before going south across the Maukinaw Bridge. Now that should be a real heightening experience. One of the tallest and longest bridges I will have encountered.
1 A typical dairy farm
2 A tribute to the woodworkers of Oshkosh
3 Geese or ducks on the river
4 Campsite in Oshkosh