Tuesday - We didn't do much today. It was again warmer than we like, highs in the upper 70's. We did do some walking around the campground. It is a delightful place to walk. There always seem to be interesting sights. There were empty sites all around this camper. Why they put them on a site where it took this type of Rube Goldberg setup to drain their tanks is a mystery.
Wednesday, August 31, 2022
Tuesday & Wednesday, August 30th & 31st
Monday, August 29, 2022
Monday, August 29th - New Tires
This morning $921 worth of tires were installed on the Flex, they aren't even Michelins. Before my 11:30 tire appointment I spent over an hour searching for campgrounds in the Holland, MI area, to no avail. I finally got tired of searching and we just extended our reservation here. The current plan is to go from here directly to Mom's, near Coldwater, MI, on Friday.
We weren't supposed to get any rain today, but we did. It was warm and humid. Last nights low was 72 and today's high was 79. We had thought about going to the Grand Traverse Bay beach but the weather didn't cooperate. We did go into Traverse City and had lunch at a J & S Hamburg. Kathy had a hamburger and I had their country fried steak breakfast (country fried steak smothered in sausage gravy, 2 eggs, hash browns and toast. Yum, yum). Kathy's hamburger was also good.
Then it was a trip to Meijer's for a few groceries and back to the campground.
This evening we spent over an hour searching for campgrounds to stay in on our way back to MO. The goal is to spend a few nights in the Nauvoo, IL area and also in the Hannibal, MO area. I spend (waste) a LOT of hours searching for campgrounds. I use Good Sam's campground finder and RV Life (which they have almost ruined by "improving" it). Tonight I tried out Go Camping America. I wasn't overly impressed. If you have any recommendations on campground finders please let me know.
Some thoughts on fuel costs. Our coach does burn a lot of fuel. I still don't have a good handle on the fuel mileage because I haven't done a good job of keeping track of how many hours we ran the generator between fill ups. We have driven the coach about 2,100 miles and the Flex 2,300 miles. I think our total fuel cost has been around $2,150. If we had driven my Duramax 2,100 miles pulling our travel trailer and another 2,300 miles sight seeing, I think the fuel cost would have been around $2,000. About a 10% difference.
God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.
Sunday, August 28, 2022
Saturday & Sunday, August 27th & 28th - Still at Timber Ridge
Saturday - We didn't do much today, I don't like driving around on a donut spare. We did go to Best Buy to get the "right" cable to transfer data to my new tablet, to Aldi's for a little grocery stopping and to a Chinese buffet for a late lunch. We also stopped at the farm stand and bought another dozen ears of sweet corn.
I did do some work on the coach today. I reset the latches on three of the bay doors. I'm not sure I did it the best way, but they seem to latch better. Our main awning won't deploy. It's possible that the windstorm in Sault Ste Marie did do some damage to it, although it seemed to close OK. I don't have a long enough ladder to get up and get a good look at the top of the mechanism. I did use what we have to get on the top of the coach in Marquette, to clean it off after a storm. It was difficult to do and short of an emergency I'm not getting back on the roof until I have a better ladder.
As I walk around the campground I see more and more interesting sights. The painted rocks below are along the roadway that leads to the swimming pond, and other activity areas. The creativity of some people is amazing. How someone could look at a rock, "see" this butterfly, and then paint it, amazes me; same with the frog. There was also an eagle but I didn't take a photo of it. The "butterfly" has about a 3' wingspan, the "frog" is equally as large.
A little after 9PM I was setting at the table trying to get the data transferred to my new tablet when I noticed a parade of lit up bicycles go by, maybe 25. They were lit up with the tube lights wrapped around their rims and other places. It was quite colorful. We think that one of the kids crafts during the day must have been bicycle decorating.
Now that I have the "correct" data transfer cable I worked over an hour and still could not get data transferred to my new tablet.
Sunday - After breakfast I again tried to transfer data. I don't think I did anything differently than last night. This morning the transfer worked.
We didn't leave the campground today. We watched Charles Stanley deliver a message. He is always good. We took several walks around the campground. More interesting sights. I had used the air compressor station to add air to our low tire but I did not notice the bike repair station next to it. There are a variety of tools attached to the bottom of the cables, a rack to hold a wheel while you work on it and above the cables was a place to hang your bike from.
Twice we have seen a tractor pulling campers by our site. Today I saw 20-30 campers out in the woods, in a storage area. I wonder if some folks leave their campers here and when they make a reservation the staff moves their campers out of storage and to their reserved sites.Kids were having a ball on this huge bounce pad. I think a young lady was giving them pointers on acrobatics.
It has been quite warm the past 2 days. A high of 85 yesterday and 82 today.
God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.
Friday, August 26, 2022
Thursday & Friday, August 25th & 26th Still in Traverse City
Thursday - Just hung around the campground. It rained in the area but only drizzled on and off here. We thought about going to Grand Traverse Bay to watch the sun set, but it was just to damp and cool to go set by the water.
We did have some entertainment during the afternoon. I was sitting at the table working on my laptop when I happened to look out the windshield and noticed the woman across the street using their campers outside shower to give her dog a bath. We older folks can remember the song, She Wore an Itsy Bitsy Yellow Polka Dot Bikini. This woman's bikini was black, but it was VERY, VERY itsy bitsy. After washing 2 dogs she then took a lengthy shower (she did shower in the bikini). The hot water heater in her camper must be huge because she was either washing dogs or showering for over 45 minutes.
Friday - We packed up to leave Timber Ridge this morning. I put the water softener in the back of the Flex because its easier than storing it under the coach, and I would be hooking it back up at the campground we were moving to. As I walked by the Flex I noticed that the passenger side front tire looked low, again. I had put air in it 2 days ago. I checked online and found an auto repair shop 15 minutes away. A puncture, near the sidewall, had previously been plugged. The tire was leaking around the plug. They wouldn't patch it because the puncture was so close to the sidewall.
I looked the tires over before we bought the car and they look like they have 20k of tread left on them. The recommendation for AWD's is that you replace all tires at the same time, so that they all have similar tread depths (i.e., similar diameters and circumferences on all four tires). They didn't have this size 19" tire in stock so I had them order a set of four and they put the donut spare on. The new tires are supposed to arrive at their shop Mon AM and be installed at 11:30 Mon.
Fortunately I was able to extend our reservation here thru checkout Tuesday AM. I cancelled our reservation at the campground in Zeeland/Holland.
So, what did I learn today? Part of my Old Testament reading for today was Psalm 9:1-9. Psalm 9:5 - "You answer our prayers by performing awesome acts of deliverance, O God, our savior." My New Testament reading was John 9:1-23 the story telling about Jesus healing the man who was born blind. As I was sitting outside reading this during the afternoon I wondered if the manner in which I became aware of our tire problem was an "awesome act of deliverance"? The tire could have deflated when we were pulling it behind the coach. We probably would not have known that we had a problem until we saw chunks of it flying off and destroying the front fender. Christians know that "we are in the world" in that we will experience trials while here. Jesus said that the blind man was born blind so that God's glory could be revealed. I need to be sure to be on the lookout for some way that God's glory might be revealed by our minor inconvenience.
I think I am a lot like the Old Testament Israelites, I focus on my minor trials instead of being thankful for the multitude of blessings I have received. I have a God who sent His son to pay from my sins and who offers me a way into Heaven. I have family who I love, and who mostly love me 😀. I was born in the greatest nation on the planet. I am in reasonably good health, especially for an obese 75 year old. I worked for over 40 years at a job I enjoyed. While not as wealthy as some of the good Socialists in our nation (Bernie, Nancy, Joe, Kamala), I don't have to worry about how I am going to pay for a set of new tires. Etc.
God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.
Thursday, August 25, 2022
Wednesday, August 24th - Took a Drive
Temperatures got to warm today. I'm kind of wishing we had stayed in the UP for another week. Today's high was 85, the AC is humming.
I forgot to mention that last week we started noticing that the leaves on one type of tree were starting to change colors. We were in Sault Ste Marie on October 1st last year and were disappointed that we saw very little color change. The change in these trees may just be a tease.
Today we took a 120 mile drive around a peninsula that forms one side of Grand Traverse Bay.
Tuesday, August 23, 2022
Tuesday, August 23rd - Nothing Exciting
We didn't do much during the morning, mostly just sat outside reading and enjoying the weather and peaceful scenery. I doubt that the campground is even 25% full. There is a lot of airplane traffic over the campground. I know we are close to the airport but never thought it would have so much commercial traffic in and out.
I needed to pick up a prescription at Walgreens so after lunch we headed into town. On the way to town we stopped by a farm stand and bought sweet corn and a few peaches and plums. We had sweet corn for supper, it was great. We plan on buying another dozen ears tomorrow. Kathy is going to cook them, cut the kernels off and freeze them.
In addition to the fruits and vegetables there were nice flowers along the edge of the field.After picking up the prescription we went down the street a short distance and did some shopping at Costco. We would like to find some more comfortable lawn chairs but so far haven't found anything we like. Its not even the last week in August and Costco has toys and Christmas stuff out.
A cornhole facility, with bleachers. They must have some serious tournaments.
A pickle ball(?) court.
A track for radio controlled cars.
A guy was running this around the track while I was there.
Monday, August 22nd - Happy Birthday Kathy
Today was moving day. We moved from the Tiki RV Park in St. Ignace to the Timber Ridge Resort in Traverse City, 125 miles. We are now back in MI's lower peninsula. Weather was good, traffic was moderate and roads were in decent condition. Kathy even let me drive today, its the most I have driven the coach in a single day. I even got to drive across the Mighty Mac.
This place is big, 250 sites, but calling it a resort is a stretch. It has a pool, a nice playground and full hook ups. Calling a place with coin operated showers a resort is a huge stretch, but I guess if you are going to charge $65/night for a gravel site with a small concrete pad for a picnic table you need to call it a resort.
The site spacing is acceptable, and there are a lot of trees. Many sites look to me like they require some levelling blocks, ours did. There are lots of empty sites so I have no idea why they put us in a site that should have been limited to no more than a 36' coach. It was a booger getting into it and even though it is called a pull thru site the back of our coach would drag the ground if we went down the "ramp" leaving the site. It will be a booger backing out of it.
Getting into the site required missing the tree on the left, not hitting the tree on the right as the rear of the coach swung during the turn and not driving over the fire pit. A guy from the campground bent the green roadside sign over against the ground so that the tail of the coach could travel over it.
The ramp leaving the site is much steeper than it looks.
They do have some nice places for kids to play.
Some strange things were in the air as I walked around the campground. Look for the strange thing near the top center of the photo below.
Did you find it?
Monday, August 22, 2022
Sunday, August 21st - Slow Day
Yesterday's high/low temperatures were 78/54. It was mostly sunny, but a little hazy. We are sure getting spoiled by all the great weather we have had this trip.
We didn't do a lot yesterday. I got hooked on an apocalyptic fiction book and was up until 2AM Sunday reading. I did get it finished during the day.
Kathy saw an ad for the restaurant at the St Ignace Kewadin Casino. The ad touted their Sunday buffet and a dining room that overlooked Lake Huron. When we got there we found out that they no longer have a Sunday buffet, but their Sunday specials looked good. Kathy had their chicken florentine and I had a steak french dip sandwich, both were good. At $21 it was the cheapest meat we have had during the trip. We did have a table with a nice view of the Lake. There were two people dining when we arrived and a couple came while we were eating. A maximum of 6 people in a place that probably seated 200.
There are 5 Kewadin Casino's in the eastern half of MI's UP. Two near Lake Superior and two near Lake Michigan and one near Lake Huron. Most, if not all, have RV "campgrounds" in, or very near, their parking lots. It's basically overnighting in a parking lot with water and electricity connections, and an available dump station. You could not reserve a site. There were maybe 30 sites and over 10 of them were empty. At $15/night it is a good deal it you only want to park somewhere for a couple of nights so that you can check out the local tourist sites. If an RV'er had seeing Mackinac Island on their bucket list it would be a great place to stay two nights. I think the shuttle bus for the ferry would come to the casino and pick you up.
After lunch Kathy dropped me off at the coach. I took a nap while she checked out the local grocery store.
During a walk around the campground we saw that the Texas couple, Mike and Kathy, who were our neighbors at the Soo Locks campground in Sault Ste Marie had arrived. We forgot to exchange contact information while at Soo Locks so I left a note on their door with our contact info and inviting the over to sit by the campfire and visit during the evening. They came over and we had a nice evening.
Mike and Kathy live near Dallas/Ft Worth. Hopefully during our winter months travels we will have an opportunity to spend a night or two in that area and spend some more time with them.
God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.
Sunday, August 21, 2022
Saturday, August 20th - Day 51, Mackinac Island
We have driven the coach 1,430 miles and the car another 1.770 since leaving Centertown.
The weather was good today, until late afternoon, when we started getting occasional light showers. We were back at the coach long before it started raining.
Some campground stuff first. The car next door. I need to get over there when the folks are out and get a better look at it.
One of the 20+ yurt tents that must be part of the campground.
We took the 9:30 ferry from St. Ignace to Mackinac Island. As part of the trip the ferry makes a loop under Mighty Mac before heading to the Island. It isn't foggy, that is spray from the boat. She is a beautiful bridge. Clearance for ships is 155'. The roadway is 199' above the water. The water is 140' deep at the piers. The piers are sunk 105' into the soil/rock bottom.
We thought the Island was commercialized when we walked around it over 50 years ago. Now the area around the docks is so touristy that it is hardly worth bothering with, but once you get away from that area it is still a nice place to visit.
There are 3 ferry companies that bring people from both Mackinac City and St. Ignace. The water is fully of ferries. There are 3 bunched together in the photo.Rent a kayak.
Rent a bike.
They cram a LOT of folks in a small area, and feed them fast. No pressure to hurry eating. The waitress came by and refilled my coffee cup at least once.
The Grand Hotel. You can have brunch there for $80/person.
Friday, August 19, 2022
Thursday & Friday, August 18th & 19th - Hummm, What Did We Do
Thursday - Didn't do much other than enjoy ourselves. I did get the last two wheels cleaned up.
We went to Zorba'a, the place we we have gotten a good salad and pizza almost every time we have been up here. We when we were there a few weeks ago it was the least good we have had. Today was better, but not up to what we have had in the past. It rained a little when we were in eating. After lunch we drove down to the Meijer store. We sold $6.30 worth of aluminum cans (63 cans with MI's 10 cent per can surcharge) and did some grocery shopping.
When we arrived back at the campground there was quite a bit of activity. A squall of some type had hit the campground. Depending on who you talked to, 4-6 RV awnings were destroyed. The ladies across the street from us have a free standing, screen enclosure. It ended up down about 4 campsites from theirs. They are parked near a storm drain and said the water was 8" deep just outside their camper.
It appears that the rain sensors on our Fantastic Fans don't work. We had some wet throw rungs and Kathy's side of the bed got wet. Our main awning is supposed to automatically retract in a high wind, it didn't but does not appear t have been damaged.
Friday, Moving Day - We packed up this morning and moved to the Tiki Campground in St. Ignace, MI, just on the north side of the bridge. It was only a 60 mile move. I'm not a real happy camper today, not with the site they put us in. I told them we had a 40', 4 slide coach, this site is probably okay for a 36' coach with slides on one side, if you have a lot of leveling block.
We jockeyed around, got parked. The jacks weren't long enough to raise the front end enough to level us. We backed up the coach, drove it up on 1.5" blocks and I put blocks under the front jacks. We got level but couldn't get one of the slides all the way out. Back down off the jacks. Re-positioned the coach and back up on blocks. We got level, the slides will deploy and most of the storage bay doors will open fully. We were far enough away from the power pedestal that I had to use the 50 amp extension cord I'd made to get us hooked up to power. The water hydrant was also far enough away that I needed an additional short section of hose to reach it. Bottom line we FINALLY got set up.
The road behind the coach is one of the campground exits. I hope someone doesn't hit our bedroom slide on their way out of the campground. The gravel this side of the car is the driveway for a house.
The gravel behind the coach is access to another campsite. There was a pickup parked on it when we pulled in.It must be at least 12" from the ground up to our first step.
For supper we went to Clyde's Drive In. They are noted for their world famous hamburgers. The place was a madhouse. We waited 50 minutes, after placing our order, for two mediocre hamburgers.
But...the good news is that we have 50 amps electrical service and we have a water and sewer connection. (No sewers, only a dump station at Soo Locks) Kathy has been doing laundry for hours.
God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.