About ready for our winter trip.

In preparation for this winters trip, I took the camper to Hickman’s Brakes & Alignment to get the brakes inspected, slide calipers lubed, chassis greased, and to have the Bilstein shock bushings inspected. The brakes have about 65% remaining on the pads; I thought that was OK for a 64,000+ mile camper.  Replaced one shock bushing. While doing an inspection, they noticed the ball joints were worn well past tolerance and that the axle pivot bushing, whatever that is, was in need of replacement soon.  The ball joints and axle pivot bushing failure comes from hard use. When I ordered the ’08 Lazy Daze I went with the 4WD option.  ;-) We frequently drive mile after mile on some pretty bad roads to get to one or our very special camping spots.  No plans to change that either. Our favorite camp sites are frequently in the middle of nowhere with only the three of us around.  The repairs didn’t require me to fund *all* of the Hickman’s 2011 retirement account, just $800 worth.  

Two of our Lazy Daze friends are Ray & Joan Webb from Georgia.  They are the most well traveled RV’ers I know. Ray guesses they have put over 250,000 miles on three different RV’s. When they had a 4WD truck camper, Joan joked that Ray never saw a dirt road he didn’t like.  Once they drove from Montreal all the way to Labrador. I recall Ray saying that trip involved about 400 miles of dirt roads.  We’re not going to do that, but I admire their spirit.  They are about 80 years old and going strong last I heard. We can only hope.

We picked the camper up on April 25, 2008 with 41 miles on it. After 64,189 miles and 3 years, 7 months, this recent suspension/front end work was the only Ford repairs required. This does not include preventative, or routine, maintenance costs like changing fluids, filters and such.  The only non-Ford repair was the replacement of the toilet bowl seal.  I’m very, very pleased with Ford and Lazy Daze.  .

Our travel plans are firming up. My mother has a doctors appointment on December 1^st. We plan on heading out on the 2^nd.

One of our stops on the way west will be NOLA.  Jennifer & Alex , and a lot of our money, went to college at Loyola University in NOLA.  Beignets at Café du Monde, a muffuletta at Central Grocery, a Ferdi Special at Mothers. Never had a bad meal in New Orleans. The plan is to drive to the French Quarter early on Sunday morning. Should be easy enough to find someplace to park. While I’m not wild about leaving the camper parked in NO, the French Quarter is well policed plus Gopher will be inside. She’s a very good watchdog. Anyone who gets close will see some very large teeth growling at them.

After that it’s a slow, and generally unplanned, drift west to NM then north to Longmont to arrive on December 20.

Carols new toy, the Kindle Fire, showed up the other day. She’s been playing with it ever since.   It won’t put the Apple iPad out of business, but it’s an interesting device. 

We have a full load of ‘stuff” heading to Suzanne’s house in Longmont. Last year when the three girls were down for Christmas, we told them to go through the house and take anything they wanted home with them. Suzanne was flying so she just boxed up things for us to haul out to her the next time we were headed that way. The camper is overflowing with boxes. We’ve got my mothers china, our sterling silver place settings, my Lionel trains that my father bought for me in 1948, and boxes of assorted treasures. The big item is the platform for the train. My father made it. It’s a 4’ x 8’ sheet of plywood hinged in the middle. For the trip, it’s going to live between the rear couches while driving and on the floor up front when parked.

We’ve only been home from our summer trip for about six weeks and already we’re anxious to get going.

 We'll end this trip with the Lazy Daze Spring Fling at Hanna Park in March.

Free phone & video calls

A few weeks ago I discovered a great app. for the iPhone/Pad. Called Tango.

Tango

It allows for absolutely free ,no strings attached, no advertising, voice/video calls to any other Tango subscriber any where in the world. Both parties must have the Tango app. installed on a smart phone or a computer with a camera/speaker and have a wi-fi connection. That's all there is to it. My sister called her son in Toyko the other day. Got to see her grandchildren for the first time this year.
Tango has become out primary calling plan to the kids. Last week Suzanne called to show us the snow storm they had in CO. Oliver was in the back yard building a snowman. Then we saw Finn and Teagan carving pumpkins in Virginia. 

For years Carol & I rejected this new technology as being interesting but of no particular value to us.  Now we're addicted. Have a Kindle Fire on order!!

Southeast Lazy Daze Group GTG, Williston, FL

Carol & I attended the SELD Williston, FL GTG. We arrived on Sunday and will head out in the morning. The rally continues until Friday morning but we had a prior commitment we could not change.
There were twelve rigs here; a pretty good turnout for the newest and smallest of the regional groups. Jeanne Gaffney will be the next Wagon Master, Mistress I suppose. Jeanne is a real ball of fire and will do a wonderful job.

On Tuesday we tried something new, a 6:30 desert social. It was very well received. Everyone brought the most wonderful homemade goodies. Tedd & Mary Lou Lester were here. We met them at the very first SE Lazy Daze GTG held in January, 2006. They are a very interesting couple. Years ago they through hiked the A.T. Tedd's a great singer and guitar player with four CD's to his credit. He provided the entertainment.

Carol & her friends by the old train.

The undeveloped area behind the campground is full of old vehicles. Trains, trolly cars, autos, trucks, etc. It's a fun place to explore.

From here we head home to work on the plans for our Winter trip and to give the Lazy Daze its annual checkup at the garage. Seems I can never get the LD out of the garage for much less then $500. I always tell Jerry the same thing, go from bumper to bumper. If a piece or part needs replacing, do it. I'd much rather head off a problem at home then deal with it in at a strange garage in the middle of nowhere.

Next trip: Christmas in Longmont,CO with our daughters family, then south to Arizona to join up with some of our Lazy Daze friends, then back to Florida in time for the big Southeast Group GTG in Hanna Park in early March. Jeanne Gaffney is the hostess for this GTG so it's bound to be a great event.

We're home once again.

We left Fort Pierce on June 9th and got home yesterday, October the 6th. Just under four wonderful months and 6,904 miles. The odometer now reads 63,761 miles. We've owned this LD since 04/08; 42 months. That's an average of just over 1,500 miles/month. We put about 65,000 miles on the 2000 LD we owned before this one. That's in the neighborhood of 130,000 Lazy Daze miles in about seven years. We talk about this often and wonder how we managed to travel this many miles in the Lower 48. From Bangor, Maine to Los Angles,CA is right at 3,200 miles. We could drive that 40 times for the 130,000 miles.
During this time, we have never experienced a Ford mechanical problem while traveling and only minor problems with the different on-board mechanical systems like A/C, ref., and such. The Lazy Daze components have, with a few minor exceptions, proven to be equally reliable.

The last stop on our trip was the Lazy Daze GTG in Mountain View, AR. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as we always do when camped with a group of LD owners. We were there from Saturday through Wednesday.

The first stop on the way home was a Wal-Mart in Chelsea, AL which is just south of Birmingham. I wanted to avoid the morning rush hour by getting through Birmingham on Wednesday.

After that we planned to stop at a state park in Florida for one night then finish the 1,100+ mile drive on Friday. We got near the campground about 2pm. The weather forecast for Friday was rain all the way home so we decided to just get the drive out of the way. We got home about 7:30pm on Thursday.

We're always thankful when we get home safe and sound,and with no trips to the ER :-), from such a long trip.

Our next trip is a short one to the Southeast Lazy Daze GTG in Florida.

One more perfect day

We had a decent night at the Wal-Mart campground. About midnight, the guy with the vacuum cleaner truck drove up and down all the aisles. It only took him about thirty minutes. :-)

In the morning we decided to drive by the Ozark R.V. Park just in case there was an opening for the night. There was, plus there were vacant sites for Thursday night as well. When I inquired about vacancies on Thursday, the guy behind the counter was very involved with his iPad. I sensed that I was disturbing something more important then generating income for his boss and saying "We're full" was quicker then registering us. Turns out that was true. On Friday, the manager said there were indeed sites available for last night as well. It turned out well.  The free night at Wal-Mart paid for the admission to the Folk Center.
This RV park has a paved path leading into the Folk Center which was the only practical way for us to gain access. There are shuttle buses that run from the main parking lot into the Crafts Village but,strangely enough,they are not handicap accessible, and even if Carol could get into the bus, there was no place to carry her scooter.

The Ozark Dulcimer Gathering is taking place for the next two weeks, at the campground we're in. Each day there lessons, demonstrations and entertainment.

Some of the entertainment.

Look at the tall guy playing the washtub.

A number of years ago when we were touring Ontario, we heard about an event called The Fiddlers on the Trent. It was a gathering of fiddlers that was being held in a campground east of Toronto. We called and managed to get the very last spot. We were the only Yanks there and had a most wonderful time. Neither of us have any musical skills of any type. We just say we're professional listeners.


The Ozark Folk Center is a state park. There is Crafts Village with areas demonstrating Ozark crafts like candle making, gun smithing, weaving, basket making and such,as well as buildings transferred from around the region. There was a cooper shop. It never occurred to me just how complex the process of making a barrel by hand really was.

The old one room school house.

Two relocated homes.


There is an on-site restaurant; the Iron Skillet. On Friday night they have a seafood buffet for $11. Now for $11 you don't get New England lobster, Clams Casino and Oysters Rockefeller, but it was very good. The fried shrimp and hush-puppies were excellent.

On Saturday morning we made one last Wal-Mart stop before heading over to the Regional Lazy Daze GTG.

Michigan to Arkansas

We entered Port Huron, Michigan from Sarnia, Ontario, Canada on July 21st. It’s been two very enjoyable months in MI. Last night we were talking about past travels and Carol thought this might just be the most enjoyable trip to date.
We spent last night, the 25th, at the Holland State Park. On the 26th, we “camped” in the Truck/Bus/RV parking lot at the Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo, MI. We treated ourselves to an excellent buffet dinner. It was among the very best casino dinners we can recall.

Heading to Mountain View, AR

Tuesday the 27th.
It was raining when we got up and it rained steadily until after noon. After that it turned into a grey and chilly day. We’re missing our Florida sunshine.
We drove south through Indiana, around the Gary, Indiana- Chicago area then south on I-55. The truck traffic was heavy as expected. Tonight we’re at the Riverside Campground just north of Springfield, IL. It’s a nice community campground set in a wooded area. $15/night for a water/elect site.

Wednesday:
First thing we went to the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville,IL. We had been there before on a previous trip. They have an 11:30 am mass.

After that we continued west into Missouri to the Meramec State Park near Sullivan. $19/night for a nice site with electricity. As a comparison, Michigan SP’s cost from $27 to $29/night plus an $8/day park admission charge.
Right near our campsite is a Burr Oak tree that was a sapling in about 1700. I think this is the oldest tree we have ever seen except for some redwoods and sequoias.

Thursday:
We decided to just finish the drive to Mountain View rather then spending another night someplace. Plus we wanted two days to explore Mountain View before the Lazy Daze GTG began. The plan was to stay at an RV park that is adjacent to the Ozark Folk Center then just walk over in the morning but they were full. Seems there was a dulcimer convention going on in the immediate neighborhood. We drove to a nice city park for the afternoon then went out to dinner at a bar-b-que place. The restaurant was OK but nothing remarkable. After dinner we went to the downtown area. Rather disappointing. We were expecting a fairly high quality, well kept area. Mostly junk stores. Not really worth a visit in our opinion. They do have a Farmers Market on Saturday morning.

Tonight’s “campground” is Wal-Mart. Tomorrow we’ll spend the day at the Ozark Folk Center. There is a restaurant associated with the Folk Center; the Skillet. On Friday night they have a seafood buffet. We’ll be there.

We were talking about some weight issues last night. :-)
As soon as we get home, it's diet and exercise. In the mean time
Laissez les bons temps rouler.

Grand Haven

We arrived at the Grand Haven State Park on Tuesday, the 20th. We got a very nice site directly on the beach overlooking the jetty and lighthouse.
Saw Pam Summers Lazy Daze as soon as we pulled in. Later in the day, Pam stopped by for a nice visit.
We’ve been to Grand Haven before but during July when the place was packed. This time, we had our choice of campsites. This is our favorite MI state park. There is a 2 mile long paved multi-use trail running along the waterfront to the downtown area; that was our daily walk.
On Wednesday we walked down to the Farmers Market for some fresh veggies.
Our initial plan was to stay here for two days then continue south. It’s just so nice, we’re staying until Sunday.

On Friday we went downtown and had lunch and stopped by the very nice bakery once again. We’ll be home by about October 7th. Back to our standard meals which do not include frequent stops by the bakery. Incidentally, Fort Pierce has a wonderful bakery, the Sunrise City Bakery. Each Saturday we go walking downtown to the Green Market and buy one sticky bun to split three ways. That’s our sole weekly treat.
The downtown area in Grand Haven was having a contest to see who could build the most beautiful “rocket fish”. Over the years, we’ve seen other communities with a mascot of sorts. Fort Pierce has the manatee, Burlington, VT has the cow. Other mascots we’ve seen are moose, pigs, salmon and hodags. A hodag is a creature that is said to live in the swamps near Rhinelander, Wisconsin.
Here are some pictures of rocket fish and one of a hodag.

An angle rocket fish

Hodag sculpture made from several verified eyewitness accounts.

Friday was a very windy day. We were entertained by a group of sailboarders and kite flyers. The stunt kites were especially interesting.

Sunday was a grey and rainy day. We did the laundry then went grocery shopping winding up for the night at the Holland State Park campground. Filled the gas tank at "only" $3.55/gal. About the cheapest gas of this trip.

We built one last fire from some wood we scrounged from here and there.

Tomorrow we continue south towards Mountain View, Arkansas with the plan of arriving on Saturday, October 1st.

Sleeping Bear Dunes to Pentwater

Wednesday, Sept 14;
Continued heading south on US 31. This part of MI is the fruit belt. Apples, cherries, plums, pears, berries, grapes, peaches, on & on. We stopped at a roadside stand to get some peaches.

Apple trees



As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, we both said “we’ve been here before”. Between failing memories and our years of travels all over America, we find ourselves more and more forgetting where we’ve been and when. We’ve traveled in every state in the Lower 48 at least twice, Alaska once and five of the Canadian Provinces; after a while it does tend to get blended together.
While we were at the stand, there was a group of people were touring in some vintage cars. They had stopped for a break and to add water to the Stanley Steamer that was part of the group.

We stayed the night at the Traverse City(TC) State Park. Not because it’s particularly nice, because it’s not, but because it was just time to stop for the day. When we have no destination in mind, after a couple of hours of poking around, we’re ready to get off the road. We were in TC for the annual Cherry Festival two years ago; or we think it was two years. At any rate, it’s held on the 4th of July weekend and is a very worthwhile event.
Another cold, gray and rainy day.

Thursday:
We took M-22 to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Some group recently voted Sleeping Bear Dunes as the most beautiful spot in America. Of course, anytime you use the word beautiful, you’re talking about a very subjective opinion. We’ve been here before and do agree, it’s a beautiful and interesting location. Most beautiful in America???

Tonight we’re at the Platt River National Park campground. Strangely, when we pulled in about noon time, we got the very last campsite!! We only got that because it was a last minute cancellation. There are over a hundred campsites in here. I never would have guessed.
Still cold with an occasional shower. We’re talked about touring MI in September/October but have changed our minds. We’re just not cold weather people.

Friday:
We continued south on M-22 which follows the Lake Michigan coast. Stopped in Frankford just to look around. They have a real nice river walk area so Gopher and I got a walk in. Further south is Arcadia. Once again, we recognized the town immediately from a previous trip. They have a very nice lakeside park with plenty of room for a few RV’s.
On M-22 a mile north of our destination for the day, the Orchard Beach State Park, is a great Manistee Township park right on the lake. There is a handicap ramp leading right down to the waters edge. It was too cold for Carol to want to take a close look , but Gopher had a great swim.
We stayed the night at the Orchard Beach SP. Nothing real special but nice enough. $24/night.


Saturday:
Today and tomorrow, we’re staying at the Charles Mears SP in Pentwater. $27/night. We pulled in early afternoon and had a choice of several nice sites. The campground is located on Lake Michigan where the Pentwater Lake Channel terminates. The campground is basically beach sand. No privacy between sites at all. It does however, have paved streets and a paved path along the lake and running out onto the jetty. Plus a dog beach so Gopher is enjoying the area as well. There is a snack stand here that sells very good ice cream cones.
Today there was a Fall Festival here for the children. Pumpkin painting, arts and crafts, horse drawn carriage rides, etc. A very nice touch for the kids.

Sunday:
The three of us took a walk into downtown Pentwater today. A typical summer resort sort of town. Shops selling clothes, tourist junk, some nice restaurants, two ice cream parlors and such. It’s only mid-September and already some of the shops are closed. Come October the National Forest campgrounds begin to close until next May. A local commented that they have about another month of summer left.

The campground area from the jetty

Is the surface not uneven when it's dry??


Tomorrow we continue our slow trek south.

Petoskey,MI

Friday, September 9:
After we crossed the Mackinac Bridge, we took M-119 south from Cross Village. This road is called The Tunnel of Trees. A sign advises that the next twenty miles are a narrow and winding road. M-119 runs along the coast of Lake Michigan, although the lake is rarely visible. It was a very pretty drive. We imagined it would be just beautiful as the leaves were changing. In Good Hart there is the Good Hart General Store; opened in 1934. Turns out it’s now owned by a couple who got tired of twenty plus years of the Miami rat race. Can’t blame them there.
The store is a combination tourist junk store, deli and bakery. The sticky buns were good, but they had a desert made from two carrot cake “cookies” filled with cream cheese icing. On the same idea as the Amish whoopie pie. It’s good that we didn’t try these until we were quite some distance from the store or we would have bought the place out, they were that good.
They deli specialty was chicken pot pies which they have been making since 1986. They have sold over 10,000 this year, or so says the sign. They are frozen so we’ll just save it for a cold night when I don’t feel like cooking.

Saturday and Sunday:
We’re at the City of Petrosky Mangus Park campground until Wednesday. We’ve been here before on our MI travels. The campground is nothing real special but OK. $22 for a lakeview site with water and electric is quite reasonable. The great thing about the campground, is the location. It’s right on a paved multi-use trail that runs for miles both ways. We take the trail towards town where it leads to some beautiful waterfront parks, a jetty, the city marina and the quaint older downtown area. Lots of neat shops, restaurants, coffee houses, etc. It’s probably three miles round trip which is just perfect for the scooter. On both days we made the trip twice.

Ed & Gopher

Monday:
Running errands, grocery shopping and laundry day. There is a Meijers store in town. Not unlike a walMart but of a higher quality. Much better produce, seafoods, etc. Carol noticed a bakery as we were looking for the laundry place so while the cloths were washing I walked back to the bakery. What a great find. It’s Johan’s Pastry Shop at 565 W. Mitchell Street. They have perhaps the most extensive assortment of quality donuts, pastries, pies, rolls & bagels that I’ve come across in our travels. Add Johan’s to the Top Five Bakery list.

Tuesday:
The weather man was right; a cold, grey day with a little rain here and there. When Gopher and I were taking our early morning walk, we decided to add Johan’s Pastry Shop to the route. She waited patiently outside while I got a wonderful almond coffee cake for “breakfast”.
I talked about the market in Good Hart where I bought this most wonderful carrot cake cookie that Carol said was her personal all-time favorite desert; or at least close to it. We decided to make some. We bought a carrot cake mix, a 15oz can of pumpkin (not pie mix, just pumpkin), and a can of cream cheese icing. Carol simply mixed the pumpkin with the cake mix, then spooned cookie sized dollops on the baking tray and cooked them up. 350* for 15 minutes. After cooling, she put icing on them and made a sandwich. They were so good, we decided to make some for the Lazy Daze GTG we’re going to in Arkansas next month.

The Cookie Maker.

I made a fresh batch of apple stuff; another good rainy day project.

Tomorrow we head south on US 31 which runs along the west coast of MI. No particular destination in mind. We’ll stop when it seems like the thing to do.
Fall is making itself known in MI. The high for the next few days is forecast in the low 60’s with nighttime lows in the 40’s. Cold by our standards.

Last day in the UP

Yesterday we camped at the MI State Forest campground at Hog Island. There are 50 sites. When we arrived about noon time we had our choice of all 50. We had a large, sunny site with a path leading straight to the water. I scrounged up firewood and we had another campfire. Regrettably, we were out of marshmallows.
By dark there were two other campers.

From our campsite at Hog Island.

We parked along Lake Michigan during the drive to St. Ignace.


Just before we got to St. Ignace on US #2, I saw a sign for a pastie store. The sign said "In business since 1959". It was lunch time so I got one last UP pastie. We stopped in a rest area and ate lunch. Of all the pasties I've had in the UP, this was by far the best. Should have gotten some for the freezer.

When we arrived in St. Ignace we stayed in the Straits State Park. Once again, we found a super campsite. The picture of the bridge was taken leaning against the back of the camper. The really good campsites are right on the water but don't have any electrical hookups. That works for us but most campers just have to have that electric cord dangling from their RV. Good, let's keep it like that, saves the best for us.
We watched the freighters come and go and enjoyed a beautiful, sunny day.

Tomorrow we cross the bridge and head south following the west coast of MI.

We'll be back to the UP. Most likely for a September-October trip some year. We would like to see the leaves change and really enjoy camping after Labor Day. Our favorite part of the UP is along Lake Superior. It tends to be sparsely populated and we like the cobble stone beaches.
There is a Lake Superior Circle Tour that runs through Canada. Perhaps that.

Another 30 minute driving day

This morning we went into Manistique for gas and groceries. Jack's Fresh Market has a decent selection of salads, veggies, etc. for a small town. After shopping we drove about 30 minutes to our next campground, the Michigan State Forest campground at Milakoia Lake. There are 33 sites here. It's us and two other campers. We're on a large site with our own private beach. There was a downed cedar tree nearby that provided us with wood for a campfire just right for roasting marshmallows.

There are still wildflowers in bloom and industrious bees at work getting ready for a long winter.

The view from our campsite

Indian Lake State Park

We left the Little Bay de Noc campground on Labor Day, the 5th. The weather forecast was for record setting cold weather with possible frost. While the camper has a good gas furnace plus a Wave 3 portable heater, we thought we would treat ourselves to a campground with electrical hookups. We have a small, electric cube heater that does a great job.
First we went to the Fayette Historic Park campground near Garden. The campground wasn't much. Very heavily wooded and dark. We were looking for some sunshine, plus this SP didn't have a dump station like we needed. We continued east to the Indian Lake State Park which is located four miles west of Manistique. There are 145 campsites. Labor Day has past and today there are perhaps a dozen RV's here. For the rest of our trip, we should find prime campsites available anywhere we go. Our sight is on a low bluff with an unobstructed view of Indian Lake. We chose a site with no trees so we could enjoy the warm sunshine. The park has a nice paved multi-use trail. The three of us took a walk this morning then mostly poked around. This is a very nice campground; we'll be back in the future.

We discussed, once again, our winter travel plans. Here is todays version. Leave home in mid-December. Weather permitting visit with John & Marge in KC,KS then go to Suzanne's in Longmont, CO for Christmas. In December a trip on I-70 from KC to Denver can be complicated by winter storms. If the weather doesn't look good, we'll take the southern route to ABQ then north to Longmont. After Christmas, we'll head south to AZ & NM joining our friends at "Q" like last year. We have an invitation from John & Linda Leach to see their new house in CO as well as their new "granddaughter"; Sadie the pup. Jeanne Gaffney is planning a big get-together for the Southeast and Northeast Lazy Daze clubs at Hanna Park in Jacksonville during the first week in March. We'll return to FL for that event. That will be the sixth anniversary of the SE Lazy Daze club.

Little Bay de Noc

Since Labor Day weekend is coming up we decided to just stay put until Sunday the 5th. We have a very nice site right on the water and it’s only $6.50/night.
I called the Monarch Butterfly hot-line today. No help. They said the butterflys were still headed south but they had no idea when they would be in this area. We did see one Monarch Butterfly today. Hopefully by Sunday more will be in this area.

Our campsite

http://www.monarch-butterfly.com/

Thursday:
Drove into Escanaba to get propane, dump the tanks, fill the water tank and go grocery shopping since we would be here for four more days. Carol wants to cook hotdogs and toast marshmallows over an open fire so these items were on top of the shopping list. We’re camped on the Stonington peninsula. Right across the bay from us is the Gladstone City Campground where we stayed one night last week. The GPS says it’s 1.1 air miles away but it takes a 7.5 mile road trip to get there.

Friday:
It was supposed to rain all day but it didn’t. It was just us in this part of the campground today so, once again, Gopher has free rein. In the evening we had a campfire so Carol could do her marshmallows. Hot dogs tomorrow perhaps. Tonight Carol had leftover Chinese for dinner and I had my last pastie.
Carol & I have the most wonderful time just being together. It doesn’t matter if we’re doing something special or just poking around. We simply enjoy being with one another.
By 6:00pm the other campsites in this area were occupied so Gopher is back on her leash. Unfortunately, if she saw another dog, even at a distance, off she would go to visit. I won’t have that.
We saw one Monarch Butterfly today. Maybe tomorrow.


Saturday:
Saw two Monarchs at the same time. Not exactly a major migration, but twice as many as yesterday.
It rained on and off all day. The first day like that on this trip.
We had a nice campfire, a weenie roast then marshmallows.

Toasting marshmallows. Gopher waiting for her share.

The current topic of conversation is what to do this winter. Stay at home and go to Lazy Daze and Escapee rallies and take short trips to the state parks or go to Suzanne’s for Christmas then spend the winter in the Southwest. Next summers plans all depend upon the family reunion that Carol’s family is talking about. If it comes to pass, we’ll stay East. If not, we’re going to go to California then follow the coast north to Canada. We both agree; what wonderful choices we have to make. Should we have a great time here or there or someplace else?

Sunday:
A cold, grey, rainy and blustery day. Forecast wind gusts to 30 knots. Gopher and I took a nice walk this morning in spite of the weather. Every campsite we saw was taken.
There are six campsites in our immediate area. By 3:00 three of them had packed up and headed home. Tomorrows forecast is for a high of 60* and a low of from 30* to 40*; not very nice family camping weather. If we were locals with children we’d head home as well. For two old folks and one dog it’s not a problem at all. Sure beats the weather at home.

Carol read books on her Kindle and I played with the computer. Mostly doing research on public campgrounds in the Lower 48.
Carol has really taken to the Kindle. She has almost a hundred books in her library. Before this Kindle, we had two cardboard boxes filled with Carols books. What a space and weight saver. She gets a lot of the books for from free to $.99. The most she’s paid for a book has been around $5.00 with from $2 to $3 being typical. Each day Amazon has a good selection of free books. I just “bought” an interesting sounding mystery story to read. I can download these books to our iPad via the computer then I can read a book on the iPad while Carol reads on the Kindle. Amazing stuff.

By about 5:00 it became clear that the solar panels were not going to be able to get the battery charged so I turned on the generator. Since it was running, I used the heat strip to take off the chill. It was 60* inside.

Tomorrow we move on. It’s been nice to get off the road for a few days. We will be back to this campground again.

A giant fungus of some type.

The Escanaba area

Saturday, August 27, 2011

A perfect weather day.  Blue, sunny skies, high about 75*, forecast low tonight of 50*. Carol checked the weather at home; heat (misery) index of 104*. No hurry to return to that. The three of us took a nice walk this morning to the day use area of the campground. We had the place to ourselves so I let Gopher run. The Bark River dumps into Lake Michigan in the day use area. Gopher had her usually fun time swimming and playing stick.

A game of stick in the Bark River.

We cooked on the grill again. Last night chicken and zucchini, this time sweet potatoes, one of our favorites, and hamburgers.  When we’re eating dinner, Gopher lays under the dinette. Once she senses that the meal’s about over, she crawls out and sits at the end of the table. The question on her face is perfectly clear “Did you save anything for the family dog?”.  We always do even if we could have comfortably finished everything that was cooked. Gopher’s not a picky eater; fruits, veggies, meat of course, ice cream, cookies, whatever.  If she thinks that perhaps we don’t see her sitting there, although it’s not easy ignoring a dog with her chin on the table, she’ll tap us on the leg with her snout.

Some friends of our lost their long term pet cat, Oreo, recently. We don’t like to even think about such things.

Sometimes Gopher will come up to me, sit down and just stare. I look into her eyes and would give anything to know what she’s thinking. I wonder what it must be like to be a pet dog. Spending your life with a collar around your neck, being chained up, relying on someone else for food and shelter, always being in a subservient position.  Not unlike being a slave in the old South I suppose. When I’m at a zoo, I wonder if the animals prefer the incredible boredom, but total security, of life in a zoo, or would they rather live free in the uncertainty of the wild. Be a pet dog or a coyote?  A house cat or a bobcat?  My guess is they would chose to be free. I read articles about people rescuing a sick or injured animal, tending to it then releasing it back into the wild. I don’t recall ever hearing of an animal that refused its freedom.

Since it’s supposed to get cold tonight, Carol wanted a fire. The campground we were at on Thursday, had a big pile of free firewood so I brought some with us for future use. I was sitting around the fire in shorts and a T shirt, Carol was bundled up in jeans and a

sweat shirt and Gopher was just laying around chewing on a piece of firewood.

Alex and Jennifer live in Northern Virginia right in the path of Hurricane Irene. Carol called them just to say hello. Jennifer is without power but, so far, Alex is OK.  Alex and the children are sleeping in the basement bedroom tonight just to be extra safe. The kids think it’s a great adventure.  Carol called Suzanne as well to talk about soccer angels and such. Seems Izzy’s new travel soccer team isn’t doing very well and she needs all the extra help she can get. Carol’s saying some special soccer prayers she knows, or makes up. I’m not sure which.  Can’t imagine it matters either.

Sunday:

Drove to Escanaba to do laundry and grocery shopping. The laundry was unique in that it also housed a tanning salon. You could wash your cloths and work on your melanoma simultaneously. The waterfront of Escanaba is very nice. Mostly parks with a nice paved path all along the waterfront. Gopher and I took a nice walk. We went to the city campground in Gladstone for the night.  $22/night for a nice site with electricity right on Little Bay de Noc and another paved trail.  Gopher enjoyed swimming and playing stick with a yellow lab.  After her swim, the three of us went walking. It’s supposed to get down to 49* tonight. We have enough firewood for one more campfire but Carol thought it would be too cold to sit by a fire tonight. :-) Another time. There are still some children in the campgrounds. School starts next week so after that we’ll have our choice of prime campsites about anywhere.

Monday:

In a brochure we read about the annual migration of the Monarch Butterfly from Michigan to Mexico.  The article said this migration was the only know round trip migration of any insect. The butterfly’s congregate at an area called Peninsula Point Lighthouse Park at the end of a peninsula separating Little Bay de Noc and Big Bay de Noc.  The photo of the sign tells the story.

The road to the park is paved except for the last ¾ mile which is a one lane dirt road. The Forest Service information recommends a maximum vehicle length of 16' with a height of 8' past that point. There is no way Carol's scooter could go that distance on a dirt road and we had driven too far to turn back.
Gopher and I walked the road and decided we could make it just fine. A squeeze here and there, the odd low branch, but manageable as long as no vehicles were coming the other way. The park was well worth the drive. We got there about noon time. No Monarch’s to be found. We all walked around the park and generally enjoyed a perfect day. I climbed the lighthouse for a great view of the area. Gopher has claustrophobia so she wouldn’t even go through the entry door to the lighthouse.

 The plan was to wait as long as need be, overnight if necessary, to see the spectacle. About 5:00 a nice couple showed up and I went over to say hello. They were local. The women said the Monarch’s were running late this year because of strong winds from the south. Unlike birds, butterflies can’t fly into a headwind; they can only wait for a following wind.   Our total Monarch Butterfly count for the day was maybe four. Oh well.  Turns out there is a local “Monarch Hotline” to check on the status of the migration. Quite a big deal apparently.

Peninsula Point Lighthouse

Carol enjoying the great view

Tells the story

Monarch Butterfly

View from the lighthouse


We went to the Forest Service campground of Little Bay de Noc and got what is probably the very best campsite.  Nice and sunny with an unobstructed view of the bay. We’ll be here for the next three days. We can look across the bay and see the campground we stayed in at Gladstone last night. Tonight it was warm enough to have a campfire so we did. :-)

On the lookout for the Monarchs.

Our campsite.