A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 323 miles from St Clair to Buckley, Michigan.
Travel from St Clair to Buckley, Michigan
We drove our coach 323 miles, about five hours of driving, from St Clair to Buckley, Michigan.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading northwest:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
I-69 West:
Rest area:
Flint Strong water:
North towards Saginaw:
I-75 North:
Rest area:
Paladin on the dash:
Route 10 West:
Speed Limit 75, Truck Speed 65, Minimum Speed 55:
Rest area:
I like this style of passing lane, where the dotted line strongly suggests moving right:
Arriving at KOA:
Replacing light under kitchen sink
I previously replaced the cover on the light under the sink, but it got knocked off again, so I decided to replace the whole light fixture this time, figuring that the clips that hold the cover on may be weak.
The light is available from Tiffin’s online parts store, part number 5032143 “Light Wardrobe Brown LED”:
Rather than using the wires that came with the light, I simply unplugged the existing wires from the old light, and plugged in to the new one. But the light didn’t work; it turned out that I needed to reverse the wires; so I guess the original was hooked up differently:
But all good now:
An easy fix.
Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation
We visited the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation in Detroit, Michigan.
But first, Lamy’s Diner within the museum for lunch:
Menu:
Classic diner food:
McDonald’s sign:
Presidential cars:
Trains:
Classic cars:
Sports cars:
Planes:
Hallmark collectable ornaments:
Bikes:
Machinery:
Cobbler:
Sewing machines etc:
Model T car:
Exploded Model T:
Glasswork:
Dymaxion House:
Wienermobile:
An interesting collection.
Baseball: Detroit Tigers vs Boston Red Sox
We attended a game of the Detroit Tigers vs Boston Red Sox, playing at the Tigers ballpark, Comerica Park.
The Tigers completed a 3-game sweep of the Red Sox on a pleasant evening in Detroit. Nice stadium with a couple of fun things (carousel with tigers instead of horses and a baseball-themed Ferris wheel). Tarik Skubal pitched very well and efficiently—11 strikeouts and only one walk. Amazing homerun robbery with assist (scoring: F9-8) by the Red Sox to steal a run from Kerry Carpenter that will be in the highlight reels for years. Exciting steal and advance on a throwing error for some 9th inning heroics by the Tigers and a walk-off single to end it—a fun game.
An interactive map of the ballpark:
Entrance, with lots of tigers:
Big tiger:
More tigers:
Team store:
Carousel:
Kielbasa and pierogis:
Fried Classics:
Elephant ear:
Baseball bat drink of Tiger Fuel:
Selfie from our seats:
View from our seats in Section 126, Row 27, Seats 1 & 2:
Play ball:
The mascot, Paws:
Run scores:
We liked how the sculptures captured the motion:
Ferris wheel:
Exploring the ballpark:
Nice stats display:
New pitcher:
Tigers win:
Big Boy
We ate at Big Boy in Port Huron, Michigan. Notable as we had previously visited the original location in Burbank, California. This franchise wasn’t quite as iconic.
Menus:
I had a cookies & cream shake:
My burger and waffle fries, and Jenn’s Philly cheesesteak and fries:
Fairly tasty, but nothing too exciting.
St Clair River and Lake Huron
We took a drive to see the St Clair River and Lake Huron.
It’s kinda crazy how far one needs to drive to see the lake; there were some paid parking areas near St Clair, and a few minor roads, but pretty much all of the coastline was populated with houses. We drove 37 minutes north to a roadside park to be able to properly see the lake.
An interactive map of our route:
St Clair River and the Blue Water Bridge to Canada:
Very blue water:
Quite swiftly moving river:
Under the Blue Water Bridge:
Nearby, Fort Gratiot Lighthouse (closed on the day we drove by):
37 minutes north, Lake Huron Roadside Park:
Steps down to the lake:
But the bottom is blocked off:
A navigation buoy? washed up on the shore:
Endless lake:
Thousand Trails St Clair
We stayed at Thousand Trails St Clair in St Clair, Michigan. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A nice Thousand Trails campground.
Dates:
- Check in: 2025-05-11
- Check out: 2025-05-18
- 7 nights
Weather:
- Mix of sunny and rainy
- High temps 67-81°F, lows 44-61°F
- Some wind, gusts to 27 MPH
Noise:
- Some freeway noise
- No train horn noise
- A bunch of neighbor noise (kids)
Site:
- #C21, pull-through, gravel
- Buddy site, with neighbor passenger side facing us on both sides (ugh)
- Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
- Fairly level site; high on passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
- Gravel driveway about 70 feet long by 8 feet wide
- 35 feet to neighbors on both sides
- Just grass between sites
- Picnic table
- Fire pit
- Some tall trees
- Somewhat clean site
- Elevation 620 feet, front facing due west
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 50 PSI very hard water, conveniently located
- Unthreaded sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Starlink: 130-300 Mbps down, 7-30 Mbps up, 30-40 ms ping
- T-Mobile: 380-430 Mbps down, 7 Mbps up, 75-210 ms ping, unreliable
- AT&T: 128-142 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 65 ms ping
- Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 0.5-7 Mbps up, 60 ms ping (our SIM has 5 Mbps max)
- Campground Wi-Fi: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
- Pool
- Package delivery to office, at no charge (uncommon for Thousand Trails nowadays)
Our review on Campground Reviews:
A Nice Thousand Trails Campground
This place was typical of an older Thousand Trails campground, but the communal areas looked new and well-maintained. Like all other TT properties, they have switched to assigned sites, which I prefer. A word of warning, however, because the map they have online when you click the link in your confirmation email is highly outdated. Our original assignment was B2, which, on the old map, was a 15A site, which would not suffice, and we had some angst about what we’d do if that were the case. Thankfully, the map on the website itself was an updated version and showed it as a 50A & water site. When we checked in, however, the lovely lady at the front desk informed us that we would be in C-18, which was a full-hookup site. I wasn’t too happy about it since all the pull-throughs are buddy sites (I’d rather not have a sewer connection than have a buddy site). However, she very sweetly moved us to C-21, which was still a buddy site but had larger grassy areas between the sites, so we weren’t cheek-by-jowl with our neighbors, so it all worked out.
One of the best things about this campground is that it is one of the few Thousand Trails campgrounds that 1) still accepts packages for guests, and 2) doesn’t charge for them. It’s also one of the rare TT campgrounds that provides the actual gate code in the pre-arrival email. This is because you need to let yourself in when you arrive and then check in at the welcome center. I’ve been conditioned by past experiences at TT campgrounds to be skeptical of those emails, so it came as a surprise when I needed the gate code upon arrival. We camped at Thousand Trails St Clair in a Motorhome.
Campground map; it says C18, but the check-in person told us C21 was better:
An interactive map:
Our site:
It was a buddy site, which we normally hate, but this wasn’t too bad, since there was a fair bit of space between the sites. Plus it was too cold to want to sit outside, so didn’t bother us too much:
Utilities:
Dusty truck (we did take it through a car wash after this, though it was dirty again a few days later from rain):
We added the Michigan sticker to states map, filling a hole:
Just the little NE states left:
Our original site assignment was here, next to that annual site; it would have been fine, but no sewer:
Other sites:
Office:
Playground:
Community campfire:
Little library and game:
Mini golf:
We’d be happy to stay here again.
Video: Ravenna, Ohio to St Clair, Michigan motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 249 miles from Ravenna, Ohio to St Clair, Michigan.
Travel from Ravenna, Ohio to St Clair, Michigan
We drove our coach 249 miles, about five hours of driving, from Ravenna, Ohio to St Clair, Michigan.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading west then north:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
“Is your TV Antennae Down?” — okay, pedantically that should be either “are” or “antenna”:
Leaving West Branch State Park:
High arching bridge over rail line:
Ohio Turnpike I-80 West:
“Trucks and slower traffic use left lane”; unusual:
Large service plaza truck parking:
Service plaza food court:
BK and Starbucks coffee for lunch:
Paladin in his dash bed with some roadworks:
Ohio turnpike I-80/90 West:
Another service plaza, with RV elctrical hookups!:
Toll plaza:
I-280 North:
Oregon?!
Bridge over Maumee River in Toledo:
I-75 North:
“Welcome to Pure Michigan”:
Not the best road surface:
TA fuel stop:
I-75 North:
“Speed limit 70, truck speed 65, minimum speed 55”:
“Welcome to Thousand Trails St Clair”:
Gate:
Our site: