Day 13 - Sunday, June 21 - Happy Father's Day

 This morning we went out to David's and visited with him a little before going back to the Fairgrounds and heading north. We weren't in a hurry to leave since we only planned on travelling 240 miles today.

A few section of I69/US127/I75 were rough but most pavement surfaces were reasonable. We stopped at a nearly empty carpool parking lot where Kathy fixed us lunch, near Alma, MI. 

I took the photo below as I walked around the parking lot. In one 30 mile stretch along US127 we saw several oil wells (at least one of them was pumping), maybe 40 acres of solar panels and dozens of wind turbines (only 1 of them had vanes that were turning).

Then it was on to the rest area near Gaylord for an overnight stay. Parked at the Gaylord rest area.

I walked to the back of the rest area to look at the small lake.

Looking back at the parking lot from the back of the rest area.

It was a nice evening to sit out and enjoy a little people watching, although there weren't many people coming through the rest area.

An interesting storage shed. The 10'x12' shed consists of 5 precast panels and the door insert. The roof appeared to be a single 11'x13' panel. 

The day was a good day for driving. It was overcast enough that the sun wasn't to bright. Traffic was reasonably light. Some of the pavement was rough but most was okay, some even good. The high was  70 degrees. Tonight's low is forecast to be 45 degrees. We love the temps! But I may hook up my electric blanket 😊

I made reservations at another campground, Indian Lake RV Resort near Manistique. In July 12, out July 16. For any 70+readers. I don't think the following are the directions:

"You take a bus marked "Lakewood Drive"

And you keep on ridin' till you're out of the city

Where the air is fine with the sweet smellin' pine

And the countryside's pretty

And you'll see daffodils peepin' (daffodils) over the hills

Or a honey lovin' mama bear

Just take a left at the bridge

Go down to Quakerforn Ridge

And in a minute you're there

Indian Lake is a scene

You should make with your little one

Just keep it in mind if you're lookin' to find

A place in the summer sun

Well, you can swim in the cove have a snack in the grove

Or you can rent a canoe (you can rent a canoe)

At Indian Lake you'll be able to make

The way the Indians do

......"

This video is a hoot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey69bHCIvTY  

I read that the Cowsills were the inspiration for the 1970's TV show The Partridge Family.

Tomorrow, Lord willing, we will head to the Soo Locks Campground in Sault Ste Marie, 120 miles from here.

God is good. I pray that He bless you and yours. He has blessed me.

Day 12 - Saturday, June 20 - More Driving Around

 First thing this morning Kathy went to the local Aldi store and picked up a few more groceries. Mid morning we picked up Mom and headed to a quaint grocery store on the other side of Bronson, MI. 

Then it was on to an In and Out Burger in Sturgis, MI. We have no idea how one of them happens to be in Sturgis. They are a drive through burger place, only drive through, you can't even go inside to order. Burgers were okay, coney dog was okay, Chicago style hot dog was good.

Sturgis is only a few miles north of Indiana. We headed south out of Sturgis, down to route 120, and took it east all the way back to Fremont, IN, and the lemon ice cream place. Gasoline in Indiana is 50-60 cents a gallon less than in Michigan.

We dropped Mom off at her place and headed back to the Fairgrounds. We are pretty much packed up and ready to head north in the morning. We are looking forward to being back in Michigan's UP.

God is good. I pray that He bless you and yours. He has blessed me.

Day 11 - Friday, June 19 - Another Beautiful Day

 Kathy is feeling almost back to normal. PTL!

Ed & Cindy stopped by this morning and visited for an hour or so. 

My hearing aids needed the wax cleaned from then and I found that I forgot to bring "wax traps" and "domes" with me. I tried a couple of local pharmacies but they did not have any. I will have to find a hearing aid place as we travel around.

After a short nap I went to Mom's and brought her back to the coach. Kathy fixed us potato soup (like my grandmother used to make) with strawberry short cake for dessert. YUM,YUM!!! About 7 I took Mom home.

I added another reservation to our list. The nights of July 9, 10 & 11 we will be at The Country Village is Ishpeming, MI. 

We have reservations at the Soo Locks Campground for June 22, 23 & 24, in Sault Ste Marie.

Then at the Bay Mills Casino in Brimley, MI for June 25, 26 & 27.

Then we go to the Marquette Tourist Park for June 28, 29, 30 & July1 .

We have previously stayed at all of the above campgrounds.

Then on to the Hancock Recreation Area (Hancock, MI) for July 2, 3, 4 & 5. This will be our first time their. 

Then across the river to the Houghton RV Park (Houghton, MI) for July 6, 7 & 8, also a place where we have stayed.

Tomorrow I need to find campgrounds with vacancies and get reservations made at a few other places in the UP. We are hoping that Soo Locks will have a site available for a couple of nights in late July or early August. We love that place.

It is a peaceful evening as I sit by an open window writing this. The temperature is 67 degrees.

I haven't given up on Spanish yet. I'm still having a difficult time retaining things. I have to do a lot of reviewing. The daily lessons in both Babbel and Duolingo are short. I've done a lesson, or reviewed one, 141 consecutive days in Duolingo and 106 consecutive days in Babbel. Babbel keeps track of time and says I've spent 37 hours and 19 minutes doing its lessons.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

Days 9 & 10 - Wednesday & Thursday, June 17 & 18 - Rainy

 It rained all day yesterday. Kathy was ill and we both just hung around the coach all day.

Kathy felt somewhat better today but decided to stay home all day. Mid-morning I walked up to the Fair offices and paid for us to stay through Sunday AM. On the way back, on the other side of a grassy area, I noticed this hawk(?) hopping around on the ground. After a couple of hops it took it a couple of tries but it managed to fly up to the top rail of a board fence. It was pretty scruffy looking.

Later I met my Mom and brother for lunch at the Willows bar, after David took her to her Thursday morning hair appointment. The Willows bar has been here for as long as I can remember, over 70 years. It has always been noted as a place to get a good hamburger. 

Mom went with me when we left the Willows. We drove around the countryside for a couple of hours. During the drive we managed to find our way to the ice cream place in Fremont, IN, for the 3rd time. Their lemon ice cream is really good.

I dropped Mom off at home and spent the rest of the day at the Fairgrounds with Kathy. Weather was great, high 60's with a little breeze. I walked around the empty Fairgrounds. The grandstand area brought back memories. In 1984 & 1985, when we lived in central Illinois, I made sure to be back here during the Branch County Fair. My grandfather, who made his living buying and selling horses, and I went to watch the horse pulling both of those years. We had a great time. I was planning on being back again for 1986 but he unexpectedly died a couple of weeks before the Fair. I looked at the 2026 Grandstand schedule and while the do have "pony pulling" during one of the days, there is no longer horse pulling. There is lots of pulling, just all motorized. Nights of: "street legal pickup and semi truck pulling", "antique tractor pulling", "farmstock and hot farm pulls" and a "NTPA regional truck and tractor pull".

It is 9:10P here and the sun is still up. Sunset is 9:17P tonight. Monday night, our first night in Sault Ste Marie, the sun won't set until 9:34P.

It is absolutely beautiful here this evening. An occasional car goes by on the street, about 100 yards away, but other than that it is QUIET. Well it was, some idiot just went buy romping on his turbo and then backing off, causing unburned fuel to explode in the exhaust. (Maybe I'm jealous I'm not doing it. 😀)

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

Days 6, 7 & 8 - Sunday, Monday & Tuesday, June 14, 15 & 16 - Ice Cream, Horses, Wind

 Sunday - A slow day. Visited with Mom some in the morning. David and Kathy (my brother and his wife) got back from their short trip up north. They said they had a relaxing day Saturday. 

Below are some photos of the restroom shower house facility at the campground. It is a nice facility. The entrance to the men's side is behind the white fence.

Looking through the exterior door. The doors inside are doors on the shower stalls.

One of the shower stalls.

Monday - Mom & I went to back to Fremont for lemon soft serve ice cream today. I also filled the car up. Gas at the two stations in Fremont was $3.19/gal. Earlier in the day I noted that it ws $3.99/gal in Coldwater, less than 20 miles apart.

As we drove around we saw some beautiful sights as the sun and clouds played across the fields.

This is the north tip of Coldwater Lake. The lake covers 1,610 acres. It is spring fed. The deepest point is 92'.

In the evening there were a bunch of girls back practicing in the arena. I counted 16 of them in the arena at one time.

This young lady was putting the pony through its paces as she drove around the fairground roads.

Kathy and her sisters made it back from Tennessee. I picked her up from her sisters in Montpelier, OH. We got back home about 10:30 PM, really late for us  old farts to be out on the roads.

Tuesday - I've been spending time looking for campgrounds for our trip north. Today I spent at least 3 hours online. We did do some grocery shopping and had lunch at a Chinese Buffet. In the afternoon I went out and spent some time with Mom. Below is a photo of one of the fields at Mom's.

I can't remember ever seeing anything other than corn or soy beans planted in this field. 

It was supposed to rain most of the day. The farmer is sure getting after it while he has good weather.

It didn't start raining until around 8 PM, but is was windy when I left Mom's around 6 PM. Definitely not boating weather.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

Day 5 - Saturday, June 13 - Horses

 The weather was great again today. Last nights low was 60 and todays high was 82, a little warm. 

I took this photo of my 97 year old Mom yesterday about 10:30AM. The back door was closed. I opened it and yelled "Mom, its Bert." when I went in. I found here napping in the living room. The "box" in front of her is a heater. She keeps the house warm and still runs the heater next to where she sits.  I sat down and was there for maybe a half hour before she woke up. Her hearing is good but she runs the TV all day, with the volume loud, for some reason. It is usually playing some old western. I've never seen here actually watch it.

There was a horse show at the Fairgrounds today. The weather was nice for it. The only problem was the arena had standing water in several places, and all of it was a little wet. The water was from the rain two days ago. The maintenance guys ran a drag over it several times yesterday and again this morning. Stirring it around helped but there was just to much water to get it completely dry. When I came back from Mom's there were twice this many horses.

Earlier one of these girls/ladies was leading this mare into the arena while the other one was trying to keep the colt from following. She had quite a handful, the colt wanted to follow Mom. I bet the lady ended up with rope burns on her hands. The colt was really fiesty.

I took some hamburgers out to Mom's for an early lunch and visited for awhile. Later I came back to the coach for a break before going back out again in the early evening. We drove down to Fremont, IN for ice cream and then drove around Coldwater Lake looking at the beautiful lake and many cottages surrounding it.

When we got back to Mom's she mentioned that her toilet was not flushing properly. I checked and think iron/rust deposits on the float/valve mechanism are causing the valve to stick shut. I wiggled it enough to get it working again but it may need a new valve. On my way back home (to the RV) I stopped at a Meijer store and bought a big bottle of Iron Out. Hopefully that will clean the rust build up out of the tank tomorrow.

Kathy texted me at 5:45 PM. They were in Crossville, TN, still about a half hour from her brothers.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

Day 4 - Friday, June 12 - Odds and Ends

 I picked up Mom this morning and took her out for breakfast, Kathy stayed home, she is not a breakfast person. After breakfast we went to the coach. Kathy and Mom visited, actually Mom just kept asking if it wouldn't be a good idea for her to move up here from Indiana, again and again and again. (She did that many years ago.) Kathy would patiently tell her that she did move up here and that she has lived here, in the farmhouse she grew up in, for many years. 

I went to a local Walgreens and transferred my prescriptions from the Sam's Clubs in Harlingen & Jefferson City. Getting refills from a Sam's pharmacy is handy in rural Michigan. I also extended our Fairground reservation to check out next Thursday.

I took Mom home and came back to the coach to read and take a nap. About 6 PM Kathy and I picked Mom up and we drove to Kathy's sister Nancy's in Montpelier, OH, about an hour drive. Kathy is spending the night with Nancy. Tomorrow morning they will be joined by their sister Cindy and they will drive to visit their brother in Crossville, TN.

It was a gorgeous day. Mostly sunny with a high of 78. The humidity was low. We didn't need AC, just opened the windows and enjoyed the fresh air.

Because we are here to look after Mom my David and his wife, also a Kathy, were able to go up to some property they have near Baldwin, MI, to have some alone time. They will be back late Sunday. David retired a few years ago but Kathy is still working.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.