A last few pictures and almost home

We spent one more day in the Petoskey area.  It really is a nice place, full of lakes, large and small,  like Walloon Lake.

Also, a couple of nice views of Crooked Lake.

 

 

Luke went back to get a better picture of St Francis church in Petoskey, hoping the sun would be shinning.  He got this photo which is pretty good.

But then he began to play with a HDR photo enhancing program and came up with this!

Looks like a pen and ink, colored-in greeting card, doesn't it!

Onward southeastward.  Through most of the lower peninsula of Michigan, and much of Ohio, today we entered into West Virginia, almost home (almost heaven?).  The clear, bright skies and low humidity of Montana, Canada and the NW gave way to our familiar smoky Blue Ridge.

Back into Virginia, we are at our final Wal-Mart parking lot for this trip.  Funny....most Wal-Marts don't mind the "campers".  In fact, they welcome them, as it is sure business.  But this WM  is next to a Lowes, parking lots divided only by a traditional "street" in a shopping mall.  This LOWES doesn't want us!  They have constructed bright yellow barriers across each entrance, stating that the clearance is only 12 feet.  That effectively keeps out most of the larger RV's.  (sorry for the bad picture - it's been raining, raining.)

So our summer adventure is almost over. 100 miles to home tomorrow. True to the Blog's name, we covered some latitudes (and longitudes!).  With central VA being at a latitude of about 37 degrees, we managed to go northward far enough to reach over 53 degrees (Mt. Robson near Jasper National Park). That's 960 nautical miles or 1100 statute miles of north south travel.   Our most westward longitude was Summerland, AB, at 119 degrees.

2 months 3 days, 17 states, and 2 Canadian providences and nine national parks.  That put 7,100 miles on our RV and an additional 3,800 miles of adventuring on the car.

Heather had a chance to visit for over a week and take in the Calgary Rodeo. We were able to camp with Lisa and family and share the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. We visited with Erin and her family in Longmont.  It's been a splendid adventure.   And tomorrow, we'll be home for Nikki's birthday and a visit from sister-in-law Beth!