Life On-the-Move

Other than 3 nights with our friends, the Almekinders, we have spent only one night at each of our next 4 stops (2 in northern Michigan, and 2 in the south) until tomorrow when we will move (again) to a 2-night “groupon-priced” RV resort.  We have lots of practice getting rolling and getting stopped for the night but it will be nice to stay put for 2 nights. 

Once again, we have met up with our friends, Dave and Nancy Hilmo.  We knew they were leaving Minneapolis on Sunday and getting to Michigan by way of the UP and Mackinaw Bridge to the lower peninsula.  We followed a bit behind them doing the same basic route:

  

We crossed the bridge on Wednesday morning, but they crossed it on Tuesday.  We both stopped at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on the shores of Lake Michigan.  This park has been managed by the National Park Service only since last year.

 For more details about the park, see http://www.nps.gov/slbe/index.htm

We had an opportunity to chat with th Hilmos at the Visitors Center, and at the same time met with another Nomad couple who are also on their way to the Annual Meeting.   

Thursday morning we revised our travel plans and chose to remain along the Lake Michigan shore a little longer.  We found a well-reviewed campground at Little River Casino in Manistee, and arrived there early this afternoon.  The Hilmos had stopped there for lunch and were still in the parking lot so we had another chance to chat.  We are staying overnight and using the pool and fitness center, but they pushed on to boondock at a winery further south of here.  We will see them again next week at the Nomads meeting.

The Time has Come…. We are Rolling Again

Cousin Tim and his wife, Pam, came last weekend for a visit and we spent time at the bonfire with Steve and Deanna while watching this beautiful sunset. 

 

Tuesday, the 15^th, we cleaned the dust and cobwebs from the motorhome, and got ready to load it up again.  Paige’s Mom came for one last visit this year.  Wednesday was “moving day” when we moved all the stuff that had migrated out of the motorhome back to where it belongs, including groceries and clothes.  Thursday we cleaned and closed the cabin, sauna, and garage.  Unless Brett comes up for hunting season or for snowmobiling, it won’t be opened again until springtime. 

 

We left around mid-day for a short trip to Duluth, where we parked at Lakehead Marina near Canal Park.  We stayed for just one night while having a “going away” dinner with Joyce and Steve and Deanna. 

After sanitizing our water system overnight and dumping our gray and black tanks on Friday morning, we left for a weekend stay with our friends, the Almekinders, in Wisconsin.  We haven’t been to their house for 3 years.  So good to spend time with them again!

Saturday was set aside for motorcycling to nearby Tomahawk for Harley’s Fall Color Run. 

 

Our hosts showed us some great backroads on the way home and provided us a great steak dinner, too.  We will host dinner tomorrow (homemade lasagna and fresh-baked bread).

September Already

Looking back, it has been a very pleasant summer: certainly not too hot - mosquitoes, ticks, and biting flies were not bad at all.  We got plenty of rain when we needed it (mostly at night).  The only drawback was a lot of windy days, both on-shore and off-shore.  Looking ahead, we can see and feel that fall is in the air.  We have already had overnight lows below 40F nearby and jackets are used until mid-morning.  It’s getting much quieter up here as more people are bringing in their boats and closing things up for the winter.

We had one last visit from Brett’s girls.  They stayed about 4 days and we enjoyed it all.  Here they are acting goofy while having a picnic at one of the islands (the Riewe Island, they call it) (can you find the “hidden” grandpa?)

 

Bob and Brett finished the last of our projects when they completed the insulation under the cabin floor.  Our feet now stay warmer on cold days.  In order to fill some time, we helped the neighbors stain their deck and did some branch cutting at Steve’s.

 We had some beautiful views of the lake over the summer.  Here’s one when there was fog in the morning.

 

We were lucky to have Mom make many visits up here this summer and even spent some overnight visits.  She also brought a couple of friends from her apartment building for a couple beautiful afternoons up here.

As this post is being created, it is Thursday the 10^th.  We had guests this morning when Tom and Carole, from across the point, came over to help pull the swimming raft and the dock out of the lake and parked for the winter on shore. 

We will have more company later this week when Tim and Pam Howe will be here for the weekend.

Our fall and winter schedule is coming together: we will be going back to Arizona and California for most of the winter, and going by way of Michigan and Indiana.  We’re leaving the cabin on Thursday, Sept. 17^th.  Nomads’ annual meeting will be in Kalamazoo MI, starting in a little over 2 weeks, then we are scheduled to work on 5 projects (at 3 weeks each) before the end of March.  When April comes, we will wander back to MN doing nothing but sightseeing along the way.