Month: July 2019

After nearly a month in Michigan, it was time to turn our wheels west and south back towards Elkhart, Indiana. One of our reasons for planning this entire trip was to get some renovations done on Lola’s interior. A few folks have commented that from what they could tell, Lola looked just fine as she was. Well, that may be true on the surface but let’s just say she was getting saggy a few places and down right uncomfortable in others.

You have to remember that when we first purchased Lola, we were only thinking of her for vacations and long weekends. If the dinette and chairs weren’t that great, so what? We’d be back to our comfy chairs when we got back home to the bricks and sticks. But when Lola became our full time home, it made us realize that there were some things we really needed to change in order to feel comfortable 24×7. For instance:

• Captains/driving chairs. The original chairs did not have a lot of cushioning and what there was had been compressed to such a degree that even in a short 2-3 hour drive, Dan’s back and rear were pretty stiff and sore.
• Couches – we had two couches and we really only needed one. We had nowhere to put our feet up (other than the passenger captain’s chair which had a partial foot rest). In addition, the “pleather” on these seats were starting to peel, an unfortunate issue with seats made in 2013 and 2014. And finally, although we did not need them for beds, the reality was that neither would be comfortable as a bed if/when needed or for resale. We wanted to replace one couch that would be comfortable to sit in AND be comfortable as a bed. The other couch was to be removed and replaced with two wall hugging recliners and a small cubby in between.
• Dinette – this was the biggest mess of all. The table was not stable, mounted on a very wobbly telescoping leg, extended down too far, and basically made it nearly impossible to slide into the booth without hitting your legs. Although it was a u-shaped booth, we found it hard to sit two people comfortably at the table (and we had to hold onto any glassware in fear of spills due to wobbly table)
• Rug – and finally, there was the rug under the table and along the driver’s side slide floor that looked about the same as a rug in a frat house after a weekend party.

We planned to remedy all of this and more by replacing all of the above with new furniture and rugs. We also decided to get rid of our cloth window valances that came with the coach. Not only did they not meet our tastes, they also attracted and held onto dust and dirt and were impossible to keep clean.

So, on a Tuesday afternoon, we pulled Lola into Bradd & Hall so they could take her in for her makeover. Of course, this meant we had to find somewhere else to stay! Specifically, we packed up our stuff, some food, and the dogs and moved into a room at the local Candlewood Suites. The hotel came with a kitchen and did accept pets (and they waived the pet fee for us too!). Now, we had gone from a 400 sq ft RV to a less than 200 sq ft hotel room with two people and two dogs. How do you think that went? Let’s look at it in phases:

• Afternoon – housekeeping cleaning up rooms, maintenance making the rounds as needed. All of this creates noises, closing doors, etc. which results in….barking dogs
• Evening – Since many people staying at this extended stay property are working, they start to return from their jobs. This leads to people talking as they walk down the hallways, closing doors, and playing TV’s. Which results in….barking dogs.
• Night – Some of the guests go out for dinner…or for other things, come back later in the evening. Decide to walk around a lot with loud TV’s on, talking on phones, etc. Which results in….barking dogs
• Early morning (we’re talking 5/5:30 am) – The guests who are good, are getting up to go to the gym to exercise (which is just down the hall from us). This results in sounds of people walking in room above us, doors opening and closing, etc. Which results in…barking dogs.

You get the idea…lots of times that our dogs wanted to bark which meant we got very little sleep (and the ongoing fear that someone would complain and we’d be kicked out to sleep in the Volvo!).

Thus, on Wednesday am, we decided it would be great if the dogs both got a good bath and stay there all day. We went to an RV parts surplus store for a few things and then took a nap! The next day, Thusday, we were expecting to pick Lola up but had not had an updated on the renovations. Fearing we may have to stay an additional night in the hotel, we put the dogs in daycare and visited the shop to see how things were going. This is what we found:

The furniture was in but not installed. The new wooden valances were in and looked beautiful! The delay was with the carpet. But we knew Charles and the crew and Bradd & Hall would get it done so we did some shopping, checked out downtown Elkhart, and circled back later in the afternoon. By about 4:30 pm, all was in and we were ready to go. And the changes were amazing!!!

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Look closely at the above pics to see the improved custom wood valences as well as the new carpet. The folks at Bradd & Hall did a great job. Stephanie was so helpful in guiding us on what would work best in our coach (we did all the ordering 14 weeks in advance without seeing any of it in person or getting to sit in it), keeping us calms amid potential manufacturing delays, and ensuring all got done as promised. Charles worked tirelessly to get the install done as promised, taking the time to make it all perfect (he had to build special carpet covered wall boxes for two power outlets and even did some work on our entry stairs where they were missing a few screws).

Less than week since install and we are so much happier in Lola, so many places to sit or lay down and relax. It all looks and feels great! Lola may look the same outside but she’s all shiny and new inside and ready for our next adventures as we continue south.

Next up – We visit Ohio (another new state!) and work our way back to Kentucky for another visit.

We’ve just finished up our tour of Michigan (unfortunately, we were not able to make it to the upper peninsula this time around) and really enjoyed the variety of sights and scenery along the way. We left off on our last blog heading north to Petosky so that’s where we pick up.

We had a nice back in site at the KOA in Petosky at the back of the park. We had some shade and the weather continued to be cool and crisp.

Our first major adventure was to drive up to Mackinaw City and catch the ferry over to Mackinac Island. Once on the island, we’d take a horse-drawn carriage tour to see some of the sights and then explore a bit more on foot. You see, on Mackinac Island, no motorized vehicles are allowed. You use horses, bikes or feet.

On the way over, we got some great views of the Mackinaw Bridge (connects lower and upper peninsula of Michigan) as well as the approaches to the island.

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A tip for any others who decide to visit this nice little island – get there early! The place definitely fills up and there is only so much room for all these day visitors to fit! Once we landed, we went to the carriage booth and were lucky enough to get seats on the very next tour departing (later in the day, people were waiting an hour or more for their ride). The first part of the tour took us thru the town, up past the Grand Hotel, finally arriving at a transfer station where we’d move to a larger carriage that would travel thru the park area of the island.

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At the transfer station, they had a small museum with examples of carriages used on the islands. Once on board our new carriage, we traveled thru the woods, past the island’s cemetery, and finally reached Arch Rock, one of the major highlights of the ride. At the end of the tour, we were able to walk back down to the town, passing the old fort and several other beautiful homes along the way.

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When we got back into town, the place was packed with people! Although there were no cars on the road, the streets were still dangerous to walk as you had to dodge bikes and horses (and horse poop!). We decided it was time to take refuge in a local eatery and soon we found ourselves at the bar of one of the more popular restaurants – The Pink Pony. Now, for those folks in Atlanta who may think this means we were treated to naked women and bad food, sorry to disappoint. This is no relation to the strip club in Atlanta at all. Great food and everyone had their clothes on!

Another day we took a ride along the Tunnel of Trees route. This narrow road runs along the lake and thru several small towns. Highlights of the ride included:

• A visit to a winery/market/farm
• A stop at a small church founded by Indians
• Lunch at Harbor Springs

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July 8th was moving day and also Dan’s birthday. We left Petosky and Lake Michigan and set up camp at Bay City, on the eastern shore of Michigan on Lake Huron. This camp was a small, city campground with lots of trees and a short walk to the lake shore. We found a great seafood restaurant on the Saginaw River (plus, the food bill was 50% off on birthdays!!) and enjoyed a nice dinner outdoors.

We did some relaxing while in Bay City but also did some touring. Dan spent a few hours touring the USS Edson, a destroyer escort that served during the Korean War and is now set up as a museum on the Saginaw River. About 90% of the ship is accessible to visitors so it was a real treat to explore from end to end and top to bottom. A few pics below to give you an idea of what was seen.

Another day, we visited the town of Frankenmuth (yes, that’s its real name). It is billed as a Bavarian village, sort of like Helen is in north Georgia. We weren’t that impressed with the town but did visit Bronner’s Christmas World, billed as the largest Christmas store in the world! It was huge and we did pose for a pic and see something we might want to pick up another time.

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We were in Bay City over the weekend so we had to pay tribute to this group (even though they are from Scotland, not Michigan…)

On July 15th we moved further south to New Baltimore, MI, on the shores of Lake St. Clair, our first waterside campground since Navarre.

Unfortunately, we also arrived in this area during the annual Fishfly event. These “bugs”, similar to Mayflies, have a short 24 hour lifespan but swarm in the thousands, particularly around lights at night. Thus, we stayed inside with all shades down from sundown to sunrise. And we saw their presence when visiting several stores where they were piled up like dead leaves, with a smell of decaying fish (thus their name).

During this stay, Dan left Jill with Lola and the dogs for the first time to travel to Georgia to visit his mom (and, he left on Jill’s birthday, not a smart move…). It was a quick trip and gave Jill the opportunity to run Lola and take care of the dogs for three days on her own. It was also Dan’s first time away from Lola since moving in on January 9th. All went well and Dan and Jill (and the dogs) were happily re-united on July 20th.

Not much to do in this area but there was a classic car museum, Stahls’ museum, which we visited. They had lots of classic cars as well as more self-playing musical machines.

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After Dan got back from Atlanta, we did a late birthday celebration for Jill at a restaurant on the St. Clair river where we could see Canada.

From New Baltimore, our plan was to head back to Elkhart (with an overnight stop near Chelsea, MI at a state park to cut the trip in half), but that’s a story for another day/blog. But before we wrap up our trip to Michigan, a few bits of humor from our observations along the way (and apologies to those who may have already seen this on Facebook).

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That’s it from Michigan. Next update – renovations and hotel stay in Elkhart, Indiana. That should be fun!

OK, so the marketing works! We’ve never been to Michigan and all the hype and advertising lured us into our plans to aim for Michigan for our first long distance trip up north. We’ll be spending about a month in Michigan before heading back south. Since this is more than a one stop/one update state, figured we’d break this into two parts.

Leaving Elkhart, Indiana, which lies just south of the Michigan border, we pointed north towards Traverse Bay for a two-week stop, our first since leaving Florida on May 1. This will give us time to recharge, do some heavy cleaning and checking of Lola, and also ease into life in Michigan.

Our first stop – Grand Haven. This would just be a two-night stay as we worked our way towards Traverse Bay. We had a great site, facing the Grand River (thus why “Haven” is so Grand, also the same river that makes the “Rapids” Grand up stream in Grand Rapids, MI).

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It was cool and misty most of the 48 hours we were in Grand Haven. We grabbed lunch one day while checking out the town but it was pretty chilly trying to get a pic of the beach and the pier/lighthouse so we didn’t stay in town long.

An interesting observation we’ve made as we traveled from one campground to another – Adele really loves a campground with a dedicated dog run/park. We thought, at first, that this was someplace she sought out to get off leash and play a bit. But after more observation, we have come to realize she sees these parks as her “bathroom”. She will hold her “business” until she can reach one of these dog parks, whenever possible. Good to know as we select parks in the future to ensure they meet the need of our sweet Adele.

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Next stop, Traverse Bay. We had a great back in site, lots of space and very quiet. Weather really made a big swing during our time here. It started cool and ended warm, with summer finally catching up with us (we hadn’t seen temps in the 80’s since we left Nashville!). We really didn’t have a lot planned for this stop, really only three main objectives from a tourist standpoint:

• Visit Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
• Explore the Old Mission Peninsula
• Explore Traverse City

First up, Sleeping Bear Dunes. This is a beautiful part of the country, part forest, part huge (400 plus feet high) dunes. Given Jill’s medical history (Type 1 diabetes) we were able to qualify for national park admission for free, signing up right at the visitor center, no questions, no forms, no proof! Great deal and great for everyone to take advantage of where possible. We drove the loop road, stopping along the way to enjoy the views.

One thing we were not expecting was the beautiful, varying colors of the waters of Lake Michigan. In some cases, they seemed to rival those we have seen in the Caribbean. We also stopped at one dune which was 450 feet above the water level. Although people were warned not to make the trip to the bottom given the 2 plus hour trip it would require to return to the top (or a fine of $1,000 to be rescued), we saw several people attempting this challenging climb.

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We continued on our tour of Sleeping Bear by visiting several other vistas as well as the preserved life saving station which previously housed 8-10 rescue personal who saved sailors on ships which became stranded while sailing this area of Lake Michigan.

We spent a couple of days doing a deep clean of Lola, both inside and out. You don’t realize how much a 42′ RV can get dirty but with two humans and two dogs, things can get dirty and smelly pretty quick. A few days were spent cleaning human and dog beds, clothes, and doing a very complete wash and wax of Lola, the first full cleaning she’s gotten since December.

Unfortunately, while working on cleaning, our mascot UGA got out and tried to cause some trouble. He headed for the swamp out back of our site and got all messed up (luckily, no Gators there to mess with him). We had to wash him and then dry him off – luckily we had the fire pit to give him a quick dry!

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Next up was a drive up the Old Mission Peninsula that divides Grand Traverse Bay. This small, thin strip of land is covered with wineries and thus our plan was to combine a little bit of history with a little bit of sipping.

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We stopped at four wineries on the way back and enjoyed the sampling and the views.

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We also stumbled upon a cute little little music museum just up the road from our campground. This museum has been opened for several decades and focuses on instruments that can be played by themselves – player pianos, antique phonographs, calliopes, organs, etc. And most of them have been restored! Thus, the 1 1/2 hour tour included listening to these wonderful and unique machines that in most cases, were over 100 years old.

We thought this would be a good place to mention the various types of parks we park. It really ranges from very inexpensive parks (state, local, and national) with few amenities (some with none at all) all the way up to places with pools, nice individual sites with shade, tables, chairs, etc, walking trails, off leash dog parks, and more. You usually get what you pay for and we try to balance out the variety to help with budget as well as sanity (remember our spot back in Nashville?). At Traverse City, we stayed at what we’d consider a more upscale place with a large pool, beautifully landscaped public areas, several club houses, and nice laundry. They also had a “dog park” but we soon discovered that this park was in a flood plain and was an underwater mud bog the whole time we were there. They also had very specific rules about walking dogs that we had never encountered before. They included:

• Dogs were not to be walked on any individual sites other than the one we were assigned to. This included all/any site/turf that came up to the road since lots were individually owned and the owners did not want dogs going on their grass.
• If dogs were to leave your site, they could not go anywhere else other than common areas (like grassy area near entrance, along entrance road, near clubhouse, etc.).
• As noted previously, we were welcome to use the dog park if we didn’t mind our dogs getting muddy and eaten up with bugs, etc.
• No trash receptacles for depositing dog business was located anywhere in the park. You were expected to carry it back and place it in your trash for pick up later.

So basically, we had to walk our dogs in the road, keep their urges held until we got to a common area, pick up their stuff, and walk back (and then they could go again when we got back to our site if they needed to).

This may seem trivial but try telling your dog exactly where they can and can’t go after having free reign for the last 5 months. And we totally get that some parks prefer not to have dogs, others prefer just small dogs, and most limit types of breeds. But this park noted itself as being “pet friendly”. We’ve decided that what they really meant was that they were “pet tolerant”.

The other amusing interaction we had while there for two weeks involved the trash man. As mentioned earlier, this park provided trash pick up each morning at the site (at many parks, you take your own trash to the common trash receptacles that are centrally located). We’ve had this service a few times, it’s nice to just put out your trash in the AM and see it disappear. But at this park, they were very particular:

• All boxes should be broken down (except when they ask you to put your trash bag in a box, see below) but don’t put them in a bag (even though the posted rules said to bag all trash)
• All dog poop bags should be put in your trash bag

Seems simple. But there were all these other unwritten rules that the trash man gave us when he stopped by:

• Although not noted in the rules, he’d prefer to have all trash bags placed in a box at the curb (or even better, hung from a nice decorative cast iron hook that you should buy and use)
• If a bag gets opened (this happened to one of our bags after birds picked it open after we left one morning), the trash man may or may not pick up your bag.
• If he does pick up your bag with anything that fell out, he will, under no circumstances touch any dog poop bags that fall out. He will, instead, push them with his foot over to your rig so you can put them in another bag and hopefully have more luck the next day.

Too many rules for us! 🙂

So, for those thinking that since we don’t work, we don’t have to deal with drama or politics, don’t worry. Campgrounds have their fair share.

As some may know, this area of Michigan is also well known as the Cherry Capital of the country. In fact, their airport is officially called the “Cherry Capital Airport”. And the last weekend of our stay also marked the start of the week-long Cherry Festival. There would be all sorts of cherry related activities – cherry pie making, cherry pie eating, cherry pit spitting contests, etc. By the way, as we have traveled the country, we have enjoyed learning the names of the Class AAA baseball and junior hockey team names. In Traverse City, the team is literally named “The Pit Spitters” or just “Spitters” for short.

So, with it being Cherry Festival time, you’d think that as you drove thru the groves, you’d see lots of trees full of red fruit or maybe empty after having just been picked. Instead, what we saw are trees with green fruit. At first, we thought we were driving thru olive groves! We were later informed that the cherries would not be ripe until late July/early August. “But then, where are all these cherrie coming from?” we asked. Come to find out, all the cherries come from Washington state! So, happy National Cherry Festival, wherever they come from!

One last surprise/unplanned activity was meeting up with Chris and Kris Varley. Jill has known Kris for years and they live in the Tampa area so we don’t get to see them much. However, it just happens that Chris’ family has property only 30 minutes from where we were staying and they were flying into town the day before we were leaving. A few texts and emails and we were able to connect for drinks and dinner on our last night in town.

Overall, we enjoyed two wonderful weeks in the Traverse City area. The weather was glorious almost the entire time, the people were very nice, and the towns we visited were all picture perfect. But, after two weeks of sitting still, we were ready to move farther north. In fact, this would be Lola’s farthest northern stop on this trip. Our next destination – Petosky, Michigan!