INTRODUCING LAKE MICHIGAN!

After spending two days at the Thor service facility in Wakarusa, Indiana (south of South Bend) we left July 2nd for Michigan.  I think they have finally solved our water system problems, but we will be testing it further during our Michigan explorations.

The Michigan state line was only 45 minutes due north, and we crossed into Michigan heading to the coast of Lake Michigan.  Stopped at a small roadside park with beach access for our first glimpse of the Lake (on this trip) and lunch.  Beau and I walked the beach a little bit, then we drove further north to the small town of Montague where we booked a campsite for two nights at a small county park (Meinert Park) with access to the beach. Fourth of July is Friday, so campgrounds are mostly filled and we were lucky to get any campsite, and especially lucky to have full hookups with access to the Lake.

Hot day, but few people on the beach.

Lake Michigan is so big it feels like the ocean, especially with the waves!

Luna enjoys finding new places to sleep

One of her favorite places is on top of the closet where she has a commanding view of the entire RV

We spent our two days at the county park cleaning the RV (mechanic workshops are dusty and we were inundated with flies) and relaxing.  The only downside to this campground was no phone service, but they did have decent WiFi.

We left on the Fourth after lunch and drove inland to our next campsite that will get us through the last of the very busy camper Holiday Weekend.  This is a Harvest Host campground - an organization that works with farmers, breweries, wineries, etc. that provide a place to park and the campers are expected to repay their hosts by purchasing something they make or provide.  This Harvest Host is a fourth generation farmstead where they raise Scottish Highland cattle and chickens, and unusually, they also have full hookups (for a fee).  They have four graveled parking spots looking out over the fields and woods - a beautiful spot.

Unfortunately, the cows are in a rotational field far from where we are parked with the exception of one mama and baby.  

Beau and I walked along the electrified fence through the fields (that were higher than Beau so he had to keep jumping up to see where he was going) out to where the cows were lounging in the shade.  The owner said they need electrified fencing because regular barbed wire doesn't work because of their long, shaggy coats.  

We are thoroughly enjoying our stay in this rural area of Michigan (and even has good phone service).  We did purchase organic eggs, some organic chicken breasts and a pint of home tapped maple syrup.  

On Monday, we will head back to the western coast of Michigan (along the eastern side of Lake Michigan) to resume our explorations.

Fun at Lake Wallenpaupack

 Lucas graduated on the 19th and we went to his party on the 20th - Frank and the boys built a beautiful outdoor bar to complement their outdoor fireplace.  They do amazing work!  Lots of friends, family and fellow graduates were at the party and the food and company were great!

Timothy designed and built this lovely Koi Pond

The next day, I met up with high school friend, Linda and her husband and we drove up to her son's home in South Orange for a wonderful steak dinner, lots of laughter and reminiscing. 

The owner has a lovely rose garden

On Monday, my bestest (and only) brother, Chas, fixed a few things on the RV that Jack just can't physically do anymore.  He saved the day!  Had a nice dinner with Chas and Rayne, and left the next day for Lake Wallenpaupack where my son, Frank and family have a lake house.  We had tried to visit here before but couldn't find a campground anywhere nearby with sites available, but this time I called a place that only rents sites for the entire season.  Luckily for us, the owner said he did have an open spot and we could stay a couple of days!  

Frank picked us up from the campground to tour the lake property and their house.  The brutal heat wave continued, so we ended up eating dinner inside, but still had great views of the lake.  The next morning, Frank picked me up and we (Frank, Karen, Timothy, Lucas) went jet skiing (first time for me) and it was great!  Not quite as good as a roller coaster when my grandson decided to get us flying over other boats' wakes, but it was a great time.  Stopped at a couple of islands with small sandy beaches - really nice lake.  Later, we picked Jack up at the campground and we had lunch, then went out on the lake to watch Lucas and Johnathan surf the waves produced from their wave boat (unfortunately Timothy is still recovering from shoulder surgery, so had to pass up the surfing).   Then Frank took us on a boat tour around the lake, seeing more than few mansions, including one rumored to be owned by Kid Rock, and trying to get a glimpse of the baby Eagles in a nest on one of the islands.  A fabulous, but exhausting day.  I sure wish I was younger and could try that wave surfing, but doubt I would be able to get up without hurting myself......I'd probably face plant on the surfboard!

Our "rides"

Frank, Timothy, me and Lucas

Eagles' Nest on one of the islands

Rumored to be Kid Rock's House...one of many gorgeous homes on the lake

Start off using the tow rope to get up, then once in front of the wave, they drop the rope and surf!

Karen, Frank, Timothy, me and Lucas

Exploring one of the small islands

Next day, we left the campground and the owner offered to let us stay again next time we were in the area - we will definitely take him up on it!  Stopped at a great roadside stand and got some vegetables and an Amish chicken pot pie for dinner (delicious).  We then headed west, through the Scranton area and then Route 6 across the top of Pennsylvania.  A couple of times, we were very close to Elmira and I was afraid the Elmira magnet was going to pull Jack back, but we resisted and survived and stopped at Crooked Creek Campground in Gaines, Pennsylvania, just east of Coudersport.  It's a nice, spread-out park with lots of room between sites on a creek where the kids go tubing.  We decided to stay a second day to get laundry done, enjoy the welcome break from the heat, and begin to plan the rest of our trip to Michigan in detail because 4th of July weekend is coming up and we may have trouble finding places to stay.

Update, update:  just got off the phone with Thor (our RV manufacturer) and we will be going to their Indiana service facility so they can try to figure out why our water pressure is so low.  We are very happy for this small delay for our Michigan portion of our Summer 2025 trip to hopefully get this water system working correctly after over a year of problems! 

FINGER LAKES, NEW YORK

Enjoying our stay here in the Finger Lakes.  Our first day was sun and clouds, but it has been cloudy and cool for the past couple of days.  The weekend brought quite a few folks to their campers that have been empty since we got here, but the campground is still not full.  The owner told me that starting next weekend they are completely booked for the entire summer.

Relaxing at our campsite on the water.

Beau and Luna have found a way to play, even with her in her pet tent.  It looks like Beau is being aggressive, but watch Luna when he backs off - she goes right back at him.

On our walks around the property, we spotted many of these giant mushrooms

Mark Twain's Gravesite

We rented a car for our time here so we don't have to break camp while we drive down to Elmira and around the Finger Lakes.  On Friday, we drove the 1 hour to Elmira to visit Jack's family gravesites at the large Woodlawn cemetery, including a quick stop at Mark Twain's grave.  His wife's family were long-time Elmira residents and Mark Twain wrote some of his most famous books while living here.  We made a tour of the homes Jack lived in before he moved to New Jersey and did some grocery shopping at his favorite store - Wegmans!  

Jack went to school with Ernie Davis, who was the first black Heisman Trophy winner

Yesterday,  we went to the Windmill Farmer's Market on the east side of Keuka Lake.  This is a large indoor/outdoor market that is a mix of Amish baked goods, cut flowers, plants and vegetables along with local handcrafters and a few stalls with typical imported market merchandise.  Jack got his favorite pumpkin raisin cookies and I found a few handmade items that called my name.  Beau enjoyed walking around with all the great food, people, and doggie smells.  As we were leaving, I spotted this sign for the Amish merchants....

Beau prefers his nachos without salsa.

Afterwards, we met up with Mike and Joanne from Elmira at a distillery/bar called Black Sheep just a mile from our campground.  Mike and Joann have a cottage on Keuka lake and live here all summer.  We enjoyed catching up and checked out the distillery's specialty cocktails.  A fun happy hour.  

Keuka Lake - one of the five major Finger Lakes

We left Keuka Lake for New Jersey on Wednesday so I could attend youngest New Jersey grandchild's high school graduation.  It was held in the Rutgers basketball stadium and there were just under 800 kids graduating and probably 6,000 people in the stands.  Very nice ceremony in airconditioned space and very well organized - start to finish in just under 2 hours with good speakers.  Congratulations, Lucas!

Sorry for poor photo, but taken from the jumbotron, or whatever the giant video thingie is.

Timothy, Lucas me and Johnathan at Lucas' graduation.

Lucas will be attending High Point University in North Carolina, only 4 hours away from us in Summerville!

STARTING OUR 2025 SUMMER RV TRIP

This year, we are starting our Summer trip by first attending high school graduation celebrations for two grandchildren.  The first was in Charlotte, congratulations Finley! and the second will be in New Jersey for Lucas.  In between we are spending a week in the Finger Lakes so Jack can catch up with his friends, and visit his favorite places and restaurants.

It takes me two days to prep the RV for a trip, cleaning and lots of backing and forthing loading our stuff from house to RV.  The weather in Charleston while I do this?  Record breaking real-feel temperatures.  Ugh.
 

Had to take frequent breaks and drink a LOT of water.  The day before we were leaving, I walked out the back porch door and what slithers in super fast?  A snake!  Really.  Went under the porch furniture and I moved things around a bit, but he kept finding another hiding spot.  I was pretty sure it was a garter snake like this one, but he was on the large size and I wasn't 100% sure.  Put out a call on our Legend Oaks Helping Neighbors website, and Sean Hanley came by about 5:30 and checked everything.  Apparently, the snake made his own way out the back door that I left open in case he decided he didn't like the accommodations at the Pitt Stop. A huge thank you to Sean. 

We left Saturday, June 8 and drove to Rock Hill South Carolina for a campsite at Ebeneezer Park on Lake Wylie.  It is gorgeous - not too big, and newly renovated.   In addition to lake access for boats, there is a small sand beach, a fancy new playground, pickle ball court, volleyball court and a fabulous semi-circle pier for fishing and picnicking.  

Using his golf cart to transport his swan to the lake from the campground!

State of the Art Playground

Lake Wylie

A portion of the giant pier

Some very impressive mansions on the lake

A better distant shot of the pier

On Sunday, we attended Finley's graduation celebration (middle Charlotte granddaughter).  We returned to the campground and left the next morning for the Finger Lakes in New York.  We usually drive fewer miles/hours because I am the only driver now and the animals (Beau the Bernedoodle and Luna the tuxedo cat) don't like to be cooped up too long in the RV, but we decided to do a long first day and then two short days. 

Hmmm, my side of the dinette.

  Our campground was in the Shenandoah Valley in New Market, Virginia along I81 at the Endless Caverns.  Huge place with very steep and rough roads, but campsites are nice and spacious.  Drove about 3 hours the next day and stopped in Pennsylvania at Paradise Island campground along the Susquehanna River.  A small campground right on the river was perfect and the weather finally cooled down a bit and the humidity dropped a lot, making outside Happy Hour very comfortable.  Luna got to try out her new Pet Playpen.  

Monday morning we woke to 57 degrees - great sleeping weather!  And when I check ed the online newspaper from home, the early morning temp was 77 - glad to be out of that heat and humidity. We are getting on the road earlier because Luna wants to eat no later than 6:45 and she starts letting us know the clock is ticking around 6, meowing and climbing all over things, making a racket.  We drove north on Route 15, the road winding along with the Susquehanna River.  After Williamsport (home of the Little League) the road left the River and it was a beautiful drive through wooded hills/mountains.  

For our time in the Finger Lakes, we rented a car and picked it up at the Penn Yan airport at the northern end of Keuka Lake, then drove to Camp Elmbois, our campground on the west side of the lake.  Another very small campground on a couple of little ponds, but the property is huge - really nice and the weather is great, although we are getting a lot of haze from the Canadian wildfires, but thankfully, no smoke.  This will be our home base for a week while we visit Elmira and the Finger Lakes.

Walking Beau around the pond.  The back of our RV is hidden in the trees across the pond.

Our site in the trees, backed up to the smaller pond.

Lovely property

Back in the USA!!!

 We were hoping to see more icebergs along iceberg alley, but they are not cooperating.  None are on the way while we will be here, so we called the ferry company and we scored a spot leaving in a few days with a pet friendly cabin!  The reason we were so lucky is that the long ferry (14 hours) that goes to eastern Newfoundland had to cancel most of their crossings for June (don’t know why), so they added another crossing on the short ferry to western Newfoundland to rebook the 2,000+ people who were on the cancelled crossings.  The additional crossings are for folks coming up to Newfoundland in prime season, which left the ship relatively empty for the returns.

No more icebergs was the bad news, but being able to get an earlier ferry allows us to attend Johnathan’s combination graduation party and going away party…..he graduated Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania and starting his graduate program at Wake Forest, North Carolina, in July.

We really enjoyed our second visit to Newfoundland and of course we complained about the cool temps, and now that we are back in the states with temps in the high 90’s, we are complaining some more.  But, we are glad to back in the USA after going without any TV and paying about $7 per gallon for fuel!

The crossing was good with clear weather the whole way.  Arrived on Nova Scotia at dinner time, got a campsite locally. We are currently in Massachusetts and will be on NJ tomorrow for the party tomorrow.

After this, we’ll head to Elmira to visit friends, then on to Indiana to get the remaining warranty items repaired on the RV.

Thanks for following us on this shorter than normal adventure!

Another Iceberg

Before leaving Crescent Lake Campground, Beau and I walked around the campground and along the lake.  They had a great playground for children with a Loch Ness monster made out of tires (cut in half) and a tic-tac-toe board on a large flat rock with small rocks for the x's and o's.  Very creative.

Creative Tic-Tac-Toe Board

Oversized chair at the kid's playground

Love the "Rustic Spa" - Bathhouse and Laundry, first time I saw a campground provided line for hanging laundry!

Stayed on this peninsula to chase an iceberg northeast of us at Brighton.  On our way, we drove through Triton, a small town with the shelters that the kids use while waiting for the school bus all painted in different designs - assume it was a fundraiser of some sort, similar to what we saw years ago with painted ponies and cows in some towns.

Still seeing some of these abandoned fishing village buildings, but not as many as when we were here 7 years ago

Trash Bin

Interesting Fence

Tiny house - probably Air B&B

On to Brighton and found the iceberg, but couldn't find a good place to take a photo.  I finally stopped on the side of the road and tried to get a photo between two houses when the owner of one came out and called to me - "Are you trying to get a photo of the iceberg?"  He then proceeded to tell me all about the iceberg being in his backyard for a while and that I could just roam around his property to take as many photos as I wanted.  Newfoundlanders are known for being some of the friendlist folks on the planet!

He came back out to show me photos he had taken when he took his boat out to the iceberg - incredible.  Brighton and nearby Triton are small towns with quite a few new, large homes but no obvious employers.  I asked my new-found Newfoundlander friend (couldn't resist) "what do folks do for work here?  "Oh, they don't work, here, right? (they use "right" like other Canadians use "eh?")  "They drive down [1.5 hrs] to Deer Lake, then fly out to the Alberta Sands [oil] or the Labrador Mines and work there a few weeks, then come home for a week, right?.  Big money, right?."  So, we finally solved the mystery about all the new homes we were seeing.

Headed back south again to Route 1 and resumed our eastward travel.  Checking the map, we found a town on the northern central coast called Leading Tickles - the name called to me and so we decided to visit.  Found a municipal campground on a small spit of land that extended into the ocean.  Campground has ocean surf crashing on craggy rocks on three sides, with spectacular views.  Beau and I climbed the Bear Cove Lookout Trail - not very long, but incredibly steep.  So much so, they had a rubber mat on the boardwalk's steep incline and I still needed the railing to pull myself up!  The 360 degree views were worth the exertion.

Decided to stay another day to get our laundry done here and to enjoy the three beaches on different sides of this mini-peninsula.  This morning brough a school bus full of little kids to the adjacent playground where they had a grand time for a few hours - we suspect it might have been an end-of-year school outing.

Beau and I explored the beaches and he found a lot of crab debris and sea urchins.  The gulls were plucking them out of the water, then dropping them on the rocks to break open and eat.  Beau tried one before I could stop him, but luckily he decided he didn't like it much.  Two of the beaches were just rocks, typical here in Newfoundland, but the third was a beautiful black sand beach.  Great relaxing day.