July 2010 Summary

The next leg took us to Manistique, MI (7/2). We had a very nice drive across northern WI and into the UP of MI on a beautiful day. This brought back memories of the old days fishing, camping and motorcycle riding all around there. Our stay in Manistique was a nice 6 days over the July 4 weekend. We walked the boardwalk, visited Big Spring (Kitch-iti-kipi), visited Fayette and went to the beach. Then the rain came just in time for us to leave.

On 7/6 we drove across one of my favorite roads, US 2, on the south edge of the UP to St. Ignace. It had been many years (maybe 15+) and it was surprising to see how the shore line of Lake Michigan has changed so much. The water level had been way down for years and it looks like vegetation took hold on the old beaches. Now that the water levels came back up, there are no beaches where there used to be miles and miles of beach. There is still the one stretch where people stop all the time but that is about it. Oh well.

Lake MI between Petoskey and Charlevoix

We crossed the Mackinac Bridge (Ann went in the back and didn’t watch) to the LP and on to our next CG near Gaylord. We stayed there for a week and visited the Elk herd, took some walks, and did a day trip to Petoskey and Charlevoix that was very beautiful. It was cherry season so we got some fresh cherries, oh so good.

Did I mention that I work during the week and we do this stuff evenings and weekends? It will be nice to retire and be able to spend all day every day doing fun stuff.

Papa Elk

Where to next? It was south (7/11) to the White Cloud/Newaygo area to the Woodlands on the Lake CG for 2 weeks. This was the cheapest place within driving distance of Rockford (my parents) and Grand Rapids (old friends). Based from here we visited family and friends. Ann flew back to Phoenix in the middle of this period (7/17) to go back to work (ugh). So, starting the second week here I’m on my own for a couple of months or so. This is also when the rain set in. Every day! We are at mid-July and it is supposed to be dry and hot. Well, it is wet and hot. I had to sneak walks in the woods and around the CG between rain downpours. I had forgotten about deer flies.  OMG, they were horrible!

I pulled out of this CG (7/25) and parked at my brother’s place for a week while I made a trip to Virginia for work. When I got back I headed north (7/31) back to the same campground near Gaylord. On the way up I spent the afternoon at a friend’s cottage on Lake Mitchell in Cadillac. It was a great time (in spite of more rain) visiting with a bunch of college friends that gathered there for the day. I didn’t really do anything special during the week in Gaylord other than a drive (8/7) down to Houghton Lake and back (go to Camping World for RV stuff) and see the area.