Sorry
We ate breakfast and packed a backpack with some snacks, water and things we didn’t want to leave behind. Just before we left, we decided to walk up to a raise in the land nearby and lo and behold, we had reception!
We were able to call our daughter who pinged our location through our shared location, and we then call CAA who transferred us to AAA Michigan. What a relief. We’ll probably be out of here in an hour or two. The dispatch from Michigan was helpful, but said that because we are in a remote location she needs to escalate our case to management so that they can find us a tow.
Someone will call us.
Our call was around 9am and noon came around with no word from management.
We walked up the hill and called again. When you call from a Canadian phone number it automatically redirects you to the Canadian offices and they will transfer you if you are in another country. I asked the lady to transfer me to Michigan and she put me on hold. A side note: I was on top of the hill with a phone that has a weak battery and tends to shut down without notice. Also, it was freezing. I was getting nervous. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally came back and asked me for my membership number.
She unleashed the bitch and I said, ma’am, this is an emergency. I already have a ticket open with Michigan but I can’t call them directly. I am cold, my phone is dying, we’ve been stranded here all night, and now there are vultures circling above me. Please transfer me to Michigan now.
She did.
Talked to Michigan again. Still looking for a driver with no luck so far, but they will let us know soon.
They didn’t.
If we have to stay here for a week and our supplies run out at least the hills were covered with big, sweet, ripe blueberries everywhere.
There were also lots of edible mushrooms, so at least we won’t starve to death.
Well let’s hope it won’t come to that, but a couple of hours passed and still no word. At this point we were stranded for about 20 hours which seems a bit extensive. Look how many roads there are around us!
We called again. Went through the drill of transfering the call to Michigan. All business was conducted on top of the hill on a very specific point that had good reception.
No drivers yet. We asked if the can contact the campground to see if anyone there can come and help. She suggested to call DNR (department of natural resources), who operates the parks. She gave us a number
We called DNR and the lady that answered the phone said they can’t help, but gave us a number for a towing company.
At this point we weren’t sure what was going on with AAA so we called the towing company.
The lady that answered our call took the information from us and said that she is actually on the phone with our insurance provider on the other line. She said that she is giving them a quote and if they approve, someone will be here in an hour.
I waited on top of the hill, and soon after AAA called and said that someone is on the way. They will cover us up to $500 and anything above that will be out of pocket. It sounded like a strange statement, so I asked what the quote was so I am prepared for what is coming and the guy from management said “I can’t give you this information.” Really? But what if I don’t approve the quote?!?
The bitch was wise to remain silent, keep her nasty thoughts in her head, and not challenge the jerk that holds our faith in his cold hands.
We sat in the van and waited. While we were waiting, the song don’t go chasing waterfalls came on the radio again and we looked at each other and laughed.
We heard a vehicle approaching and jumped out of the car. A guy emerged from an SUV. No it wasn’t out tow, it was another lost soul trying to get to the campground. His GPS lured him to the sand pit as well, but lucky for him we blocked his way and he had to go around. He did offer to pull us out, but we thanked him and declined saying the tow should be here any minute. There was no way, he would pull 6,500lbs, but it was kind of him to offer.
Finally, At around 4:30 pm out big shiny earthroamer showed up to rescue us.
Tony and the guy pulled out the chains,
Oh, no! The hook was too big!
I was concerned that he will have to go for another couple of hours, but not to worry, he had smaller hooks and he got us hooked up in no time.
All seems well.
And here is the big moment.
The guy pulled us back until we could turn round. He stayed with us until we got back on the better gravel road
There was no talk about money. We don’t know what the cost was, and so far we didn’t get a bill for anything over $500.
After 22 hours, we were finally free, but we really didn’t feel like heading into that campground any more. Especially not with the miserable weather so we decided to skip it and start heading south.
We passed Upper Tahquamenon Falls campground, and then Lower Falls campground, but the mention of waterfalls scared us and we decided to keep on driving. we finally reached Tahquamenon Falls State Park, and decided to stop. The only reason we stopped despite the name was that we knew that this location did not actually have a waterfall.
We found a spot and our next door neighbour, as if he knew what we went through, offered us a glass of wine. Bliss.
We slept really well that night!
Are there any takeaways from this story?
First, if you are going to the two hearted river campground, take the long way and don’t trust the GPS. Check carefully access routes if you are going to state or national forests campgrounds. Those are usually at the end of more rugged road, so know where you are going.
If we weren’t so busy arguing about the gravel road, I could have found an alternative road to take us there safely.
Also, get better traction pads.
Also, listen to Tony sometimes.
Last takeaway: if you have to be stranded in the middle of the road, in a middle of nowhere, tilted sideways, make sure that you at least have some sushi.
We are now safely home. We spent another day on the road, which we’ll share next time. But guess where we are going this coming weekend?
Yup, back to the scene of crime.
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