Day 7 - Tuesday, September 21 - Ispheming, MI

 It was 54 degrees out when I got up this morning. Weatherbug claims today's high was 68 but I struggle to believe it was that high. Right now, at 7:30P its 57. Clouds move through the area fast. At some times during the day it was partly cloudy with a fair amount of blue sky showing. At other times the cloud cover was solid, dark and ominous. At other times is was drizzling rain.

We had originally planned on driving to Munising, MI today and doing at least one boat ride. The boat ride people's web site noted that the water was rough enough that they might not be running today. We opted for Plan B, do something in Marquette.

Kathy came up with the idea of climbing Sugarloaf Mountain. The top of the "mountain" rises to 450' above Lake Superior. She turned out to be tougher than I thought she was and I turned out to be less tough than I thought I was <grin>. We encountered a surprising number of people on our way up and down. Some locals apparently make the climb at least once a week. The view is great.

From the parking lot trail head we were offered two alternatives. the improved, not so rugged way up, and the unimproved, rugged way up. We chose the improved path.

The  path was dirt, rocks sticking up, tree roots and multiple stairways (total just over 300 stair steps). There were a few short areas where the path was smooth, well-packed dirt. Then there was the majority of the path:

Yes, this is actually the path.

Lots of rock outcroppings made interesting scenery.

And then there were the stairways.

But the view from the top was well worth the climb. After 10 minutes of enjoying the view it started sprinkling. We decided we better get headed down, hoping that the path wouldn't get to slippery before we got down. We weren't even a quarter of the way down before the sprinkling stopped.

No "fall color" shows in these photos but we did see some brilliant reds starting to show up. Hopefully the colors will be grand before we leave in a couple of weeks.

We had lunch at Jeffrey's Restaurant. The fish was highly recommended on the website reviews. When we got our menus we found out that they only have fish on Fridays. Bummer. Our food was edible.

On the way back to the campground we stopped at one of Kathy's favorite places, a roadside farm stand.

Back at the campground I did some RV maintenance. The city water hose connection had recently started leaking. I tried doubling the washers but that still didn't stop the leak. The inlet to fill the onboard water tank is vented but some time ago the screen that keeps bugs out of the vent disappeared. I had been putting duct tape over the vent opening and ignoring the issue. Since there is both a Camping World and a big Ace Hardware within a half mile of the campground I took advantage and replaced both fittings. The Ace Hardware also came in handy because a set screw had come out of one of the faucet handles on the kitchen sink. I took the handle in with me and found a new set screw AND a the right size small allen wrench needed to tighten it. The set screw and allen wrench cost me $1.09.

I paid $2.97/gal to fill up when we left Crivitz, WI a couple of days ago. Fuel at the same brand stations here is $3.29/gal. Wisconsin's tax on diesel is 32.9 cents/gal. Michigan's tax on diesel is 44.5 cents/gal plus they whack you with another 6% sales tax on fuel, which adds another 18 cents/gal when the final price is #3.29/gal. Total MI state tax 62.5 cents/gal. When you add is the feds 18.4 cents/gal tax it means 81 cents/gal of the $3.29 pump price here goes to the governments. At least MI's roads are smooth, so far.

God is good, may He bless you and yours.

Day 6 - Monday, September 20

 Today we travelled from Crivitz, WI to Ishpeming, MI, about 120 miles. We are at the Country Village RV park in Ishpeming for the next 5 nights. We have stayed here in the past.

Kathy did some laundry at the Peshtigo River campground before we left. The laundry was close to our site and she said the washer/dryer prices were good. We topped off with fuel before leaving Crivitz. We paid $2.97/gal.

Todays travels were on 2 lane US highways. We have driven 792 miles since leaving home. Todays roads were the best we have encountered since leaving Missouri. Perhaps the secret to good roads is to stay off Interstates and limited access highways when not driving in Missouri.

We started to see some fall color during the last 50 miles today. Also say a number of fields tilled and ready for spring planting.

One observation that continues to interest us is political signs. When we drove to and from Amana Iowa we drove through the two counties immediately east of Amana; Linn and Johnson counties. President Biden won 71% of the votes in Linn county and 56% of the votes in Johnson county. President Biden won 76% of the votes in Dane County, where Madison Wisconsin is located, and where we stayed two nights.  We have seen a LOT of Trump/Pence signs in Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin and now in Michigan. Today we saw a Trump 2024 sign and a "Miss Me Yet" sign. We have not seen one Biden/Harris sign.

Mask update - When I bought fuel in Crivitz I had to go into the convenience store to pay. On the counter next to the cashier was a box with free masks for their customers. Neither the cashier nor the other two customers in the store were wearing masks. This afternoon we went to the IGA in Ishpeming for some groceries. A couple of the people shopping were wearing masks, but, by far, the majority were not. 

Day 5 - Sunday, September 19

 Kathy's cold bothered her last night so she slept in late this morning while I read. The plan for today was to drive to the Peshtigo River Campground in Crivitz, WI, about 190 miles. We didn't need to be in a hurry and thought we would leave about 11 AM. We didn't need to leave the campground until 3 PM.

About 10:30 I went out to start raising the stabilizer jacks, etc. The bad news was that we had a flat tire. The good news was that I had a hydraulic jack and the was able to loosen the nuts with a 4-way. More good news was that the tire went flat while parked at a campground, not out on the road.

The good news was that there was a Walmart only a couple of miles from the campground. The bad news was the nail in the tire was so close to the sidewall that they wouldn't repair it. The good news was they had this size in stock. The bad news was that even though their repair bays only had a couple of cars in them they were horribly understaffed with repair guys. I was in the store for over an hour waiting to get the tire mounted. (As long as the feds keep piling more debt on our children so they can pay people not to work, why would anyone want to work?)

(We have a spare that has never been on the road. It looks great but it is over 10 years old. In a pinch I'd use it but I'd be scared it would blow out on a long highway drive in 85+ temperatures, because of its age. I am taking the old tire home with us. I will take it over to the local tire shop where I do business and ask if they can't put a patch on the inside. The tire is only 5 years old and has lots of tread left. I think I'd feel more comfortable with it as a spare.)

We finally hit the road around 1 PM, There was an RV ahead of us at the dump station but we didn't have a long wait for our turn. When we pulled up to dump there were already 2 RV's in line behind us.

 Of todays 190 miles only about 50 miles of it was acceptably smooth, another 50 miles was bumpy, but didn't shake the filling out of you teeth. The remaining 90 miles was miserably rough.

We had another senior surprise today. About 40 miles from Madison a car pulled up along side us and the passenger pointed back at the trailer. I'm thinking, "WHAT NOW?" As I pulled off the road I noticed the Emergency Exit bedroom window was flapping open, in the wind. It couldn't have been that way very long because I check my mirrors fairly often. We had the window open while we were in Madison and probably didn't properly lock the latch, especially considering all the vibration caused by the rough roads. Nothing was damaged. I closed the window and made sure it was locked down.

We pulled into the campground here around 5 PM.  We didn't bother unhooking the truck from the trailer since we only plan on being here overnight. In the morning we will head for Ishpeming, MI, about 120 miles from here.

Temperatures were surprisingly hot here today. The high reached the high 80's. At 9 PM the temperature is still 70, The overnight low is forecast to be 63. Last night the low here was 45.

We sat outside drinking coffee and reading until after dark. For those who have forgotten what we look like

And this is what we look like in the dark, in front of a near full moon, while playing with the camera on my new Pixel phone.

God is good, all the time. May He bless you and yours.

Day 4 - Saturday, September 18, 2021

 Today was an absolutely glorious day! Kathy and I couldn't come up with a way that the weather could have been more perfect. The overnight low here was 54. We left the windows and vents open overnight. It was only 58 in the camper when I got up, but that was fine. We had breakfast at the camper and then we were off to Madison and the capitol building.

The capitol square is two blocks on a side, so it is 8 blocks around the square. On Saturday's vendors set up around the square for a Farmer's Market. Kathy remembered spending time there during one of the trips we made to Madison so that I could attend occasional seminars at the University. We scheduled our trip so that we would be in Madison on a Saturday.

We arrived before 10 AM. There were a lot of people while when we got there and the crowd was still building when we left 90 minutes later.

We were a little shocked over how few people were wearing masks, maybe 5%. This county voted 76% for Biden. You do need to wear a mask when you enter a retail establishment but only a couple of the Farmer's Market vendors were wearing masks.

There were several dozen booths with beautiful fresh flowers on display. Most were larger and nicer than the one in the photo below.

A Walgreen's store that looked like it must have been in some type of landmark building provided some interesting architecture on the square.

Then it was off to the Parkway Family Restaurant for an early lunch. Kathy had eggs benedict and I had a cheeseburger. Both were very good, as was the service.

We both read for awhile when we returned to the campground, and both took a nap. The campground is a great place. The only thing that would make it better would be full hook ups, rather than just 30 amp electrical.

There are a lot of campers here, but it doesn't feel crowded. 

Note the mini Airstream in the photo below. It is off to the right on the other side of the road. We talked briefly with the single woman who owned it. She said it was all she needed. She make a point of making sure we knew it was an Airstream and that she was a member of the Airstream Club.

I had to blow it up so that you could see it better.

One side of the roof of this shelter is covered with solar panels.

I'm guessing all this electrical gear is associated with the solar installation.

There are miles of bike paths and walkways in all around this area. Providing 95 psi "free" air for campers and bikers is a nice touch.

This evening we ventured to Patricia's Taqueria and Mexican Grocery. The good was OK, but not great. It was an interesting experience. The waitress had a very limited grasp of English but it wasn't an issue. It was an interesting experience, both the meal and checking out the small grocery.

All in all it was a great day. Tomorrow we plan on driving about 190 miles for an overnight stay in Crivitz, WI, before venturing no to Ishpeming, MI on Monday.

Now for the old person story of the day. We had only plugged the meter for 1:45 of parking. We knew we were getting close. When we got to one of the corners at the capitol square we realized we didn't know where we were in relation to where we had parked. We didn't bother to even look at the street when we walked several blocks up to the square. I walked a couple of blocks down the street we chose and realized it was not the correct one. Then I started walking around an 8 block by 8 block square, looking up and down the streets looking for my truck. Kathy was waiting for me on the square. She texted me that she remembered that we parked near the library. Using Google maps showed me that I was headed in the right direction and was only 2 blocks from the truck. The meter was expired so I plugged it with another quarter while Kathy walked to the truck. It was a humorous morning.

Then for our evening old persons story.....I has purchased some mexican cookies at Patricia's and was going to make some coffee so that we could try them out. There is no heater under the carafe so I typically fill it with hot water from the faucet and let it set for awhile as I put coffee and water in the coffee maker. I flipped the lid down on the coffee maker and turned it on before going over to fire up my laptop. All of a sudden Kathy hollered. I had forgotten to put the carafe back in the coffee maker. We had several cups of coffee all over the place. This made for a humorous evening.

God is good. He even makes a glorious day like this one better with our humorous "mistakes". May He bless you and yours.

Day 3 - Friday, September 17

We had an interesting experience last night. Well after dark someone pounded on our door. A lady said her and her husband were unable to make sense of the campground map and wondered if I would help them find their campsite. I got a flashlight and their campsite was two spaces down from ours. I helped direct them into the space and mentioned that the only electrical receptacles were standard 120v and 50 amp RV receptacles. They had a small Class A motorhome with a 30 amp plug. I dug out a 120v to 30 amp convertor and loaned it to them for the night. It was cool, they didn't need AC, so it gave them power for everything they needed for the night. In the morning the campground hosts brought them over a 50 amp to 30 amp convertor. The couple, and their 3 dogs, had left Elgin, IL that morning, towing a Jeep. Somehow the tow bar broke and they had to take the Jeep back home. They had had a LONG day. They had reservations for 2 nights and had planned on spending the day exploring the Amana Colonies. Driving around the small towns in their motorhome will be a challenge. They are on their way to Kansas City.

Today We drove from Amana, IA to Madison, WI, about 190 miles, 486 total miles so far. We are BEAT, at least I am. Beat to death by the road construction methods in both Iowa and Wisconsin. We bounced are way to WI, 100 miles, and had to stop for a break just to rest from the beating. 60 miles of the 90 miles in WI was decent road, about on par with what we expect in MO. The remainder was like Iowa.

Iowa has a 30.5 cents/gal gas tax, Wisconsin's is 32..9 cents/gal. Missouri's is only 17 cents/gal, but it is increasing to 20.5 cents/gal October 1, 2021. I have no idea how Iowa and Wisconsin can spend so much money and have such crappy roads.

After all that whining and moaning we are thankful that we have had no problems this trip.

We are staying at the WG Luney County Park near Madison. It is one of several county operated campgrounds, in county parks. They pack a lot of campers in a small space but the way they are arranged allows everyone to have decent space around their camper.

After arriving we walked around the campground for awhile but I was to pooped (feel like I've taken a beating) to walk far. We saw tents of various sizes and all sorts of campers. A crowd of campers not to far from us have a big stock trailer.

As soon as I post this I'm heading to the shower house and then to bed. It supposed to get down to 48 degrees by morning, great sleeping weather.

We plan on staying here 2 nights. 

God is good, may He bless you and yours.

2021 Fall Trip Days 1 & 2, Sept 15 & 16

 

Day 1, Wednesday – Drove from Centertown to Amana, IA. The drive was relatively uneventful. We stopped for fuel at an Ayerco truck stop in Palmyra, MO, paid $2.94 for fuel. Temperature was decent and we ate lunch in the camper while parked in the truck parking area. We pulled in to the Amana RV Park & Event Center around 4PM. I was surprised at its size. There is room for over 400 of RV’s. Reasonably large, level FHU sites. Not much shade but there will be in another 20 years, lot of trees planted. There are maybe 50-75 RV’s here nightly during an off-season, weekday night.

After getting set up we drove the mile or so into Amana, walked around a little and had dinner at the Ox Yoke Inn. I used to drive through this area a couple of times a year when we lived in Maxwell, IA, in the late 70”s. I always tried to schedule my trips so that I could eat at one of the restaurants in the Amana Colonies. The Ox Yoke was nothing like the restaurants I remember from then. I has the roast beef dinner. It was a good cut of beef, but wasn’t as flavorful as it would have been if Kathy had fixed it. The service was okay but SLOW!!! We were forewarned, there was a sign on the door that they were understaffed.

We were both really tired after finishing packing in the morning and then the 275 mile drive. I don’t know where Iowa finds their DOT personnel and highway contractors but Iowa roads must rank near the bottom of the barrel. They look relatively smooth but driving on the concrete surfaces is similar to riding across a choppy lake in a flat bottom boat, where the swells/waves are 15-20 feet apart. We experienced the same thing several years ago when we drove from Centertown to the Des Moines area. It just goes on mile after mile after mile. I slowed down 5 mph trying to ease the bouncing. I was concerned that the constant “vibration” was upsetting my stomach. The “nice” concrete road leading to the campground is almost a joke. It has saw cut joints every 15-20 feet and the surface is humped UP between the joints. If you put a long straightedge (25’) on the roadway surface I bet you would see ¾” gaps at the joints. I can’t imagine how a contractor could construct a road that ends up like this one.

Day 2, Thursday – We both slept well on the new mattress we put in the camper before leaving. We had a leisurely breakfast and then headed back to Amana around 10:30. We parked and walked around to look at “highlights” noted on the brochures.

Kathy got a pastry from the Amana Colonies Bakery and Café, buy everything they had was to fancy for me, nothing like a simple glazed donut, or long john. Then we did a lot of walking. I never took the time to look around 45 years ago but my guess is that commercialization has hit the Colonies. If you are interested in communal societies in early America, get a book, one with lots of old photographs, and read about the colonies, don’t bother making the trip.

We had lunch at The Ronneburg. I had a Jager Schnitzel and Kathy had some type of chicken dish. Sides were cole slaw and green beans. She got an extra side of pickled beets and I got hot sauerkraut. The food was much better.

There are a lot more people wearing masks around here than in Jefferson City. Most stores had signs that masks were recommended. Some “required” mask for the unvaccinated, but there was no enforcement.

The weather has been great. We had the AC on yesterday afternoon, to cool down the hot camper, but turned it off when we went to bed. I think the low was in the low 50’s. It was 64 inside the camper when I got up. Today it got into the low 80’s, with lots of sunshine. The humidity was low and there was a brisk breeze. It was quite comfortable.

Saturday, October 10 - Day 26

 The good news is that Kathy & I made it home, safe and sound, around 8:30PM. The not so good news is that our camper is still 300 miles away, in Kenawee, IL.

I spent the morning calling people at Haylett RV & Lippert Components (mfg of both our old and new axles). Bottom line is that the new problem is totally the fault of Lippert. Our new axles have a self-adjusting brake feature (new to us because the brakes on our old axles had to be manually adjusted, but self-adjusting drum brakes on autos was a standard feature for many years). After all the dust settled, at least as much as can have settled at this point, Kathy & I believe that the brakes on the new axles functioned properly while moving forward. The first time we backed up the camper, leaving the water hydrant at Francis Park, something broke in the brake assembly.

I called Haylett RV first thing this morning and got the same woman I talked to the previous afternoon, I told her I wanted to talk to a service technician directly, rather than have her act as a conduit between the service person and me. She told me she would have him call me back as soon as he could break away from the work he was doing. 90 minutes later I called again, this time I Dusteny happened to answer the phone, I felt like the sun had just broken through the clouds. I explained my situation to her, she gave me her personal cell phone number and told me to call her back if I had not heard from her in 5 minutes. I didn't thing 5 minutes was enough time for her to resolve anything, and I didn't want to bug her while she was trying to get something accomplished, so I waited. It took about 15 minutes for her to call me back. She gave me the name and phone number of a guy at Lippert, so that I could talk directly to him as we tried to resolve the issue. THANK YOU DUSTENY, you are an awesome asset for Haylett RV.

As I discussed the problem with Don, at Lippert, he apologized and agreed that the problem appeared to be solely their fault. I told him we still had 300 miles to go to get back to Missouri and asked about the risk of just heading home with the noisy hub/brake/drum assembly. I suggested cutting the wires that activated the brake in that hub. He strongly suggested that I not go any further than necessary until the wheel/brake drum was removed to access the extent of the problem. 

The campground surface was like being on your lawn. While I was pondering whether or not I was going to put blocking on the grass, so that I could jack up the trailer and remove the wheel/drum assembly without the jack punching through the sod, I did some searching on my phone. The Lord provided a truck towing/repair facility (Hodges Towing and Repairs) less than 5 miles from the campground. I called them and the only guy working on Saturday was just heading out to lunch. He told me that he would check things out. I told him we would be waiting for him at the garage when he returned from lunch.

When Jason returned from lunch he crawled under the camper and used a flashlight to look through the brake adjustment holes in the brake backer plate. He said he could see broken parts loose inside the brake drum. He noted that it would be Monday before he could even tell me how long it would take to get parts. At that point Kathy and I agreed that our "vacation" was over and that it was time to head home, without the camper. 

I called Don and put him on the phone with Jason. Monday someone at Hodges is supposed to pull all the wheels and drums for inspection. They will then contact Lippert with a list of needed parts. Lippert will ship them the needed parts and Hodges will make the repairs. If the camper is ready for us to pick up in less than a week I will be shocked. 

The camper is parked in a lot adjacent to Hodges facility. After emailing Lippert a LOT of requested information about our camper and the new axles we finally left Hodges/Kenawee around 2:30PM and headed home. We had no means of transporting all the food in the refrigerator/freezer. Hopefully the refrigerator will run on propane until the repairs are done and we get back up to Kenawee to pick it up.

It was an interesting "vacation". I still have no idea of how all this fits into the Lords plans, I'm just sure that somehow it does, and that somehow good has/will come from these events. I am a Christian and I believe what the Bible says is true. See Matthew 6:25-38, Luke 12:22-34 & Romans 8/;26-28. But I  admit to also still being a sinful, imperfect man whose faith isn't as strong as it should be, similar to the father in Mark 9:14-29. 

On our drive home Kathy noted: No one was injured during any of our experiences. We were never "stranded and alone". All problems occurred during daylight hours and close to needed assistance. God's provision allows us to be able to pay for the needed repairs without worrying about being able to pay other bills, or provide food or shelter. Instead of touring the Blue Ridge Parkway we spent an additional 18 days with family (including my Mom who had her 92nd birthday during this time) in Michigan and Ohio. 

It wasn't the vacation I had planned but God is a much better planner.

God is good, may He bless you and yours.

PS. For those of you  who have a trailer with EZ-Lube axles. While talking with Don, at Lippert, I told him I had lubed my axles per Lippert's instructions. This had apparently "blown" the wheel bearing seal, which created the problem with the original axles. I asked him for his opinion. He hesitated and then told me that he has a trailer with the EZ-Lube axles, he does not follow Lippert's procedure. He admitted that he might be overly conservative but said that every year he pulls each wheel/drum, washes and inspects the bearings before repacking and replacing them.