Raleigh, NC – April 2015 – Part One

Posted on April 30, 2015 by Michigan Traveler

Falls Lake MapWe arrived at the Holly Point Campground, Falls Lake State Recreation Area on March 30th, but we would not officially start as Camp Hosts until April 1st. The loop of the campground that we were in was not even open yet, so we had the whole place to ourselves. The next day we met with Ranger Dave Mumford, our boss, we worked out our schedule, and were updated on changes since we were here two years ago.

DSCN4952Normally we are supposed to stay in the campground through the weekend and be available to the campers in case they have any issues that we can resolve. However, Michigan State University was playing in the Final Four and was only on cable. Ranger Mumford gave us permission to be out of the campground and we had a family Final Four party at Elisabeth’s house. Unfortunately, Duke won and they faced Wisconsin instead of MSU.

DSCN4961We had Elisabeth out to the trailer to celebrate her birthday with one of her favorite meals and homemade cheesecake for desert. Isn’t it great how birthdays allow you to eat all of the things you shouldn’t?

The routine in the campground was pretty relaxing. We would clean our assigned bathrooms, get our workouts done, have some lunch and generally goof off the rest of the day. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it, right?

DSCN4977Pat and I thought we would check out some of the local attractions. Our first stop was the Sarah P. Duke Gardens at Duke University. The Duke Gardens began in 1934 as an Italian-style terrace garden and has expanded over the years into four unique gardens. I’m not a fan of gardens, but even I was impressed by the layout and maintenance of the gardens. It is a great place to get away from the hassle of the day.

DSCN4991The Neuse River is a popular fishing and paddling area. The City of Raleigh has established a number of launch sites for canoes DSCN4994and kayaks as a park of the Raleigh Greenway. Elisabeth and I paddled the upper eleven miles of the river. The weather was very strange, we had an ideal day with sunny skies and a light breeze, but Pat reported that the campground was hit with heavy rains. We saw turtles sunning themselves, squirrels ran up trees on the shore, and geese honked at us and flew off as we paddled towards them. The Neuse River biking and running Trail runs parallel to the Neuse River and we saw bikers and runners through the trees as we paddled downstream. This was the annual Neuse River clean up day and we picked up a couple of large trash bags worth of plastic bottles, basketballs, inflatable beach toys and other junk that ended up in the river. All in all, a wonderful day!

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The Road to Raleigh – March 2015

Posted on April 16, 2015 by Michigan Traveler

We left Key West early on March 17th on our way to the Manatee Cove RV Park at Patrick AFB near Cocoa Beach, FL. We had planned to make the trip in two days, but decided to make it a long day and do it in one shot. We arrived just before the office closed and were directed to a site in the overflow area. The sites are a little closer together than we would have liked, but after so much dry camping in Key West we were happy to have an electrical hookup.

20150320_103858We had camped at Manatee Cove in the past and had already done the normal tourist stuff of visiting the Kennedy Space Center and other tourist spots. We relaxed, did normal housekeeping activities, and just took it easy. A map of the area showed the Banana River Aquatic Preserve north of us, and we decided that would be a great place to explore. We gathered our kayaking gear, I downloaded some geocache coordinates to my GPS, and we were off.

DSCN4909What a beautiful day for kayaking! A light wind and sunny skies made it a pleasure to be on the water. One of the nice things about combining geocaching with kayaking is that you have a plan to follow while paddling. We paddled to some areas that we may not have otherwise explored. At one point we spotted a manatee eating the leaves off a plant on the shoreline of one of the islands, it was quite a show. We passed a couple of other groups of kayakers and told them about the manatee sighting.

DSCN4932Our next stop was the Kings Bay Submarine Base near St. Marys, GA. We had never seen a submarine base and this looked like a good opportunity. We arrived at Kings Bay after office hours on March 22nd. The camp host had all of our information and told us about the facilities and that there was to be an ice cream social in the community room the next evening.

Kings Bay is one of the nicest RV parks we have stayed in. The sites are roomy with full hookups, free bags of ice in the office and a free laundry room. There is typically something going on in the community room, at least once a week. The camp hosts were very friendly and helpful, just what we always hope for. There are bike paths all over the base, making it an easy place to get around.DSCN4920

Unfortunately the weather turned cold and we suffered strong winds and rain. The next day the weather moderated and we were able to drive into St. Marys to visit the St.Marys Submarine Museum. As home of the Kings DSCN4917Bays Naval Submarine Base, one of only two Trident submarine bases in the world, it is only natural that St. Marys plays host to one of the world’s most extensive collection of submarine memorabilia and displays.  Extensive is right! I have never seen so many historical items relating to the “Silent Service” in one spot. One of the highlights of the visit was a video describing life in a nuclear missile submarine. Its target audience is grade school groups, but it was well done and was still interesting and informative for adults.

DSCN4923Across the street from the museum is the Visitor Center for the Cumberland Island National Seashore is right across the street. The Cumberland Island National Seashore includes a designated Wilderness area, undeveloped beaches, historic sites, cultural ruins, critical habitat and nesting areas. Cumberland Island is located seven miles east of St. Marys, Georgia, and is only accessible by boat. A concession operated passenger only ferry departs from downtown St. Marys. There are over 50 miles of trails and roads as DSCN4925well as 18 miles of beach. Hiking, biking, bird watching and beachcombing are popular activities on the island. We did not have the time to go out to the island on this trip, but promised ourselves that we would come back and stay long enough to explore it in detail. I did get a chance to tour the Cumberland Island National Seashore Museum, which had displays of the development of the island. It increased our desire to return for a longer visit.

Finally the weather cleared enough that we were willing to take our chances kayaking on the Crooked River. This is a tidal river with a ten foot change in depth between low and high tide, so you have to time your kayaking with the tide. The Crooked River State Park has marked kayaking trails on the river and provides maps of these routes. The paddling was easy, but even paddling with the current, it was a slow trip on open water, more like paddling on a lake instead of a river.

The next day, March 26th, we were on our way to Fort Fisher, NC.

The Fort Fisher Air Force Recreation Area is located in Kure Beach, just north of the North Carolina Aquarium. It’s a nice location between the Atlantic Ocean and the Cape Fear River. The RV sites were a bit strange as the electric and water hookups were on the front side of the trailer (wrong side) and the sewer DSCN4942was on the back (right side). Some of the sites had all of the hookups on the wrong side, although a couple of them were right. It appears these used to be mobile home trailer pads and that may be why the hookups were so strange.

Elisabeth joined us to celebrate my birthday (I’m not going to say which one!) and we enjoyed a great birthday dinner together.DSCN4945

The next day, there was a vintage car show at the Recreation Area and we had a chance to view some very nicely maintained old cars (and some not so nice!). We treated ourselves to lunch at one of the vendors and had funnel cake for desert – what a treat!

The weather was colder than normal and we sort of hibernated, and watched our MSU Spartans playing in the “March Madness.” Elisabeth and 20150329_105319I combined our walks with geocaching and I was able to pick up several caches in the area.

Sunday night Elisabeth drove back to Raleigh. The next morning we drove to the Holly Point Campground at the Falls Lake State Recreation Area where we will be camp hosts for the month of April.

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Key West, FL – February/March 2015, Part Two

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Michigan Traveler

20150222_170014We hosted a small party at our campsite combining our friends from 2013 and our friends from 2014. Jim and Philly were “headed up the road” the next day and Alina had talked about how she had taken up the guitar, so we thought we would have a jam session. Of course it ended up being more of a performance when we discovered she hadn’t brought her guitar with her. However, we had a good time together and it was great to have everyone together.

I finally got to dive Intova Digital Cameraon the Vandenberg again. The Vandenberg is an Air Force radar ship that was used for tracking satellites and was sunk off Key West as an artificial reef. It is the second largest artificial reef in the world. The thing is huge and it would take a week of diving to see it all. I dove with Lost Reef Adventures and they run a nice operation. The crew was sharp and took care of all of us in fine style. I recommend them to anyone looking for a good SCUBA dive center in Key West. So often when I show up for a dive, it is a roll of the dice if I get a good dive buddy. I lucked out on this trip with another Advanced Open Water Diver named Dave. We were very equal in our skill level and worked well as a team. I should always be so lucky!

We thought we were going to move into a full hookup site on Wednesday, but were told that was not going to happen, but we would most likely move on Friday. On Thursday I was coming back from my fitness walk and found a Camp Host parked in front of our RV. “You’re moving – TODAY,” he said. Apparently someone on active duty had canceled a reservation. So we got down to packing up and were set up in our new site in “Hollywood” before lunch. Considering it got up to 90o it was nice to have air conditioning again! Otherwise a nice, lazy afternoon.

Geocachers will, on occasion, host a “geocaching event.” On February 28th, John and I attended a couple of these and got a chance to meet a few of the local geocachers. One of the events was a CITO (Cache In, Trash Out) event where we picked up trash and litter near a couple of cache sites along Government Road.

20150302_113914Our Sigsbee geocaching crew (and their spouses) went after a couple of geocaches that were only accessible from the water. On the way there we saw a iguana swimming across the river. We had never seen anything like this before – another Key West first! I think this may have allowed John to claim that he has found every geocache on Key West. I may have to hide a couple more just to give him something to do!

I made another SCUBA dive on March 5th. This time we dove on two reefs, Marker 32 and Nine Foot Stake. Once again I was fortunate on a dive buddy and teamed up with an Emergency Room doctor from Chambersburg, PA. The seas were rough with waves up to 3 1/2 feet. Normally you can get away from the turmoil on the surface once you are underwater, but in the shallow water of the reef we were feeling the wave action even at 25 feet underwater. The waves made getting back into the boat a bit exciting with the boarding ladder bobbing underwater like a yoyo!Intova Digital Camera

The visibility on both dives was very good for this time of year and there were plenty of fish to see. Our big treat was seeing two nurse sharks at Nine Foot Stake. One of them had its nose burrowing into the reef trying to dig a lobster out of its hiding place.

This world seems to be getting way too small. No matter how far you are from home you always seem to run into someone you know. Through Facebook I discovered one of my high school classmates was vacationing just up the road at Islamorada. Carolyn and her husband drove down to meet us for lunch. It was interesting to hear what she had been up to for the last 47 years – Wow! Has it been THAT long?

20150308_123258The Old Island Restoration Foundation conducts tours of local homes and Pat volunteered to serve as a docent for the February tours. The Foundation hosted a luncheon for all of the volunteers at the Oldest House in Key West. We met another one of our friends, Marie, who had also served as a docent. It was interesting to hear about the broader mission of the Foundation and their efforts to preserve the history of Key West through its buildings.

20150308_214829That evening Pat’s brother, Geri, and his wife, Marcia, flew into Key West to spend a week with us. Considering the temperature was -1 when they left Michigan, they were very happy to enjoy temperatures in the 80’s!

20150311_143818It was fun to show them around the island. We showed them around Duval Street and did some shopping and stopped in for a drink in Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville. Marcia surprised all of us when she agreed to go parasailing. Pat & I joined them and we all enjoyed flying above the harbor under a parachute. Showing them around caused us to do some things we had never done before, such as going on a sunset dinner cruise. It was a great time with good Caribbean music and good food. The only disappointment was the lack of a good sunset due to low clouds.

20150313_183944We did some of the obligatory things like getting a picture at the Milepost Zero sign and the Southernmost Point Marker. Of course, we had to do sunset at Mallory Square where we enjoyed several street performers and a lovely sunset.DSCN4790

We spent one day traveling to the Dry Tortugas. We traveled on the Yankee Freedom ferry to the island and toured the fort and the grounds. Pat and I also enjoyed snorkeling out to the coral heads in the waters around the fort.

But all good things must come to an end. Geri and Marcia flew back to Michigan on March 16th and the next morning we headed up the road to the Manatee Cove RV Park at Patrick AFB near Cocoa Beach.

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How Do You Get Mail? Communication and Technology on the Road

Posted on March 3, 2015 by Michigan Traveler

Mailbox PicWhen we are talking to people about being full time RVers the one question that comes up most often is, “How do you get your mail?”

Because we no longer had a physical address in Michigan we had to establish a legal residence somewhere. There were several options available to us. Most full time RVers establish their legal residence in either South Dakota, Texas, or Florida. There are other states to choose from, but these three seem to be the most popular. The primary benefit is no state income tax. We chose South Dakota because of no state income tax, low vehicle registration fees, low vehicles insurance prices, no vehicle inspection requirement, and you can become a resident of South Dakota by staying there overnight. We subscribe to a mail forwarding service called Americas Mailbox, (www.americasmailbox.com) based in Box Elder, SD, just outside of Rapid City. All of our mail is delivered to our Personal Mail Box at Americas Mailbox. Americas Mailbox will hold it until we go online and ask that they forward it to wherever we may be at the time. There are levels of service and we pay an extra fee to have them separate out the fourth class mail (junk mail), and only send us the mail we really want. Many campgrounds will accept mail for campers, but if that is not an option we can have it sent to the local Post Office as General Delivery Mail. We just go to the Post Office and pick it up.

Other mail forwarding services in South Dakota are “My Dakota Address,” – www.mydakotaaddress.com and “Dakota Post.” – www.dakotapost.net, and Your Best Address” – www.yourbestaddress.com. In Texas you can subscribe to “Escapees,” – www.escapees.com and in Florida there is “My RV Mail.” – www.myrvmail.com.  Many of these companies will also renew your license plates and perform other local serves for a fee.

We also reduce the amount of mail we receive. Thanks to the internet we can pay most of our bills online. For online access we use a Verizon Wireless Hotspot. Verizon has a great network and we have rarely been someplace where we could not get a 4G signal. Our hotspot can handle up to five devices at a time and we pay a set amount for 12 GB of data every month. We find this to be enough data for our normal needs.

Verizon Jetpack 5510L

Because we don’t have a lot of room to spare, we read ebooks on our Kindle and Sony Reader. We download both ebooks and audio books from library sites.

Even though we are on the road we still like to follow what’s going on back in Michigan. Detroit radio station WJR has a cell phone app that we downloaded to my phone and we use that to listen to Michigan State University games and other Michigan programs. I have a small portable speaker to amplify the speaker on the phone.  My friend Chris Holman has established the Michigan Business Network which also has a cell phone app that allows me to stay up to date with the business climate in Michigan.DSCN3437We often deal with signed documents for insurance and investments by signing, then scanning them and sending the scanned documents to the agent.

Obviously, Pat and I both have cell phones, and we recently changed to a plan that allows unlimited calls and texts. Thus, we have no problem staying in touch with friends and family. We use Facebook and our WordPress blog to keep family and friends up to date with where we are and what we have been doing. The blog also serves as a record of our travels. When we finally decide to settle down someplace, we will have a very good “coffee table book” of our time on the road.

No RVer I know travels without a GPS in their vehicle. Ours is a Good Sams Club Rand McNally GPS with a 7-inch screen. That large a screen makes it easy to see as we go down the road. Our GPS also calculates routes based on the size (weight, height, and width) of our fifth wheel trailer and avoids roads with bridges we won’t fit under. When we are not pulling the trailer, we can shift it into a normal car mode with more flexibility in routes. Technology can only do so much and we never travel without a paper atlas to double check where the GPS wants us to go, computers only do what they are programmed to do.Good Sam GPSIn every RV park and campground in which we have stayed, we have seen RVs with satellite dishes. We have not opted to subscribe to a satellite service (although I think about it every now and again), and only use the trailer TV antenna to get local channels. Most of the time that is sufficient and we have been pleasantly surprised how good the reception is. Some RV parks have free cable service and that is always nice, but sometimes there is nothing to receive. For example, in Key West, we can receive two Spanish channels and one 24-hour infomercial about Key West. This is one of the locations that gets me reconsidering having a satellite subscription!

I often wonder what is was like thirty plus years ago when people traveled fulltime in their RVs and didn’t have the advantage of the technology we have today. It was obviously possible, but much more complicated.

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Key West, FL – February 2015, Part One

Posted on February 21, 2015 by Michigan Traveler

Key West MapWhile we were in Tampa, we got word that, for the first time, the RV park on Sigsbee Island was turning people away. However, one of our friends checked it out and found that if you arrived at Sigsbee Island, they would find a site for you somewhere. It was a 20150125_174937two-day trip and we decided to overnight at the Indian casino north of Homestead. We signed up for our player cards and each got $30 credit for the slot machines. Pat lost her $30 stake at the casino, but I was able to walk away with $40 in winnings. We spent part of that on the buffet for dinner that night.

DSCN4645Upon arrival at Sigsbee Island we were put into a temporary site along a road near the housing area. We stayed there one night and the next day were moved into the Emergency Overflow at the Trumbo Point. We spent three nights there until we were assigned a “dry camp” (no electric, water, or sewer) site at Sigsbee Island. Many people commented that they had never seen the campground this full. The office staff and the camp hosts were working hard to get everyone settled as soon as possible and were doing a great job to accommodate every camper.

At Sigsbee there are only 94 full hookup spaces available, so everyone starts in dry camp and goes on to a rotation roster to move into a full hookup site for two weeks, when they rotate back into dry camp. We were very fortunate to be assigned a site on the perimeter of the campground, where the sites are deeper and no one is behind us. We quickly found our friends from last year and made some new ones.

20150211_171702Sigsbee is a very friendly campground. Our first night in the Overflow area, one of our friends from last year saw we were here and invited us to join them in town for happy hour. On the night of the Super Bowl, we walked through the campground and were invited to join several groups (some friends and some people we had never met) to watch the game.

Later in the week we discovered that the couple camped next to us were from Michigan and as we talked about where we were from back home, we discovered that they are good friends with my sister – what a small world!

20150207_171755We jumped right back into our routine from last year. I contacted the US Coast Guard Cutter Ingham Maritime Museum and got on DSCN4661the schedule of volunteer greeters and scheduled with the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) office to conduct the Snorkeling 101 class I taught last year. We also signed up for a potluck dinner and a sunset kayaking event. There are Spanish classes, yoga, an exercise room with machines and free weights, pick up softball games, pickle ball, the list of things to do goes on. One thing about camping in Key West, if you don’t have anything to do, it’s your own fault.

20150127_175146It’s a regular activity to watch the sunset off the shore in the full hookup area, called the Rockpile and Hollywood. People gather with friends and have snacks and drinks while the sun sets in the west.

We still own a house – it’s DSCN4647just on wheels! As with any home, there are always things to do on it. I added some fans to the top of the refrigerator to help exhaust the hot air to improve its efficiency and Pat recovered her lawn chair.

We attend church at the local United Methodist Church while staying here. It is a friendly congregation with a good pastor. It is an easy bicycle ride from the campground. Of course almost everything is an easy bike ride as Key West is only 7.4 square miles, roughly two miles wide and four miles long.

IMG_20150210_123946_035John, a friend we met last year is an avid geocacher and got me inspired to do it too. His goal is to find every geocache in Key West and he is well on his way to achieving that goal. Nearby Geiger Key has a number of geocaches that can only be reached by canoe, kayak, or paddleboard. We drove out there with our kayaks a couple of times to find caches and some of them took some real balancing acts to reach them from a kayak bouncing on the waves!

The weather has been cooler than in the past, getting in the low 60s at night (and a few nights into the 50s). I know this sounds like whining to the folks back home in Michigan, but I’m glad I bought a 3mm wetsuit top to wear while snorkeling.

After three weeks in Key West I was able to make my first SCUBA dive. It has taken longer to get one in because the winds have been so high, few of the small boats in the campground have gone out. My dive buddy from last year, Tony, set up a dive with a friend to look for lobsters. This seems to be the most popular underwater sport around here. We dove a site called the “Flats.” The name is appropriate because even at high tide the water depth was only two to four feet deep. With the visibility poor and no lobsters to find, we went farther out on the reef to a site called “Sullivan Shoals.” Here the water depth was eight to fifteen feet deep, better visibility, and better fishing. Tony and John were able to catch nine lobsters between them, but four were too small and had to be thrown back. Note: they are very strict out here, if the Fish and Wildlife Wardens find undersize lobster on board, they can seize your boat!

20150217_182304When we returned we discovered that two of our friends from our first trip here, AJ and Alina were staying at Trumbo Point. We were already headed into the Turtle Krawl for dinner with Jim and Philly so we made a party out of it. Just another day in paradise!

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Tampa, FL – January 2015

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Michigan Traveler

MacDill MapAs we worked our way south to warmer weather our next stop was Tampa. We normally stop here as we go south to spend time with our niece, Robin, and her two kids.

While there are quite a few campgrounds and RV parks in the area, our favorite is Raccoon Creek Recreation Area at MacDill Air Force Base. As I have mentioned before, one of the benefits of being an Army retiree is that we can stay at military bases that have a campground as a part of the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) program. With over 300 campsites that offer full or partial hookups, Raccoon Creek is a popular destination for military campers and “snow birders.” DSCN4640In some of the sites you can stay as long as six months at a time. Some can be reserved for two weeks and some are set aside for stays of two weeks or less. When all the sites are full you can stay in “dry camp,” without any electric, water, or sewer hook ups. We arrived without a reservation, stayed one night in dry camp and then were moved to a full hookup site for the remainder of our stay.

Tampa hosts one of the largest RV shows in the country at the state fairgrounds. We 20150115_174432spent the day there on Thursday and wandered through the many trailers and motor homes. It’s always interesting to see what is hot in the RV industry. In addition to the RV dealers highlighting their inventory, there are hundreds of smaller vendors that offer discounts on their items. We took advantage of this to buy a sunscreen for our awning and upgraded our cell phones. Of course we left our camera in the trailer, but I was able to take a picture of Pat with my new cell phone. My knee was still bothering me and I bought a set of crutches, the day before, to take the pressure off of it. It did make it quite a challenge to go up and down all of those RV steps!

With so many veteran families spending so much time here over the winter, they have formed their own community. There is a church service in the community building on Sunday, potluck dinners every Friday night, and many other group activities going on throughout the week. If you don’t have anything to do, it is your own fault!

20150117_144332On Saturday we rented a couple of kayaks from the MWR marina and took Robin and the kids on the kayak trail at Weedon Island Preserve across Tampa Bay from MacDill. It was a lot of fun and enjoyable for Pat and I to watch the three of them as we paddled across ponds and through mangrove forest on canals that made for some difficult paddling.

The next day they came to our campsite and we watched the Green Bay Packers vs. the Seattle Seahawks in the playoffs for the Super Bowl. We also took Jeremiah to the beach to chase seagulls.

Later in the week we met up with two comrades from the Ranger company I commanded and their wives. We were able meet for drinks and dinner in town. It is always a good thing to catch up with old friends and retell all of the war stories.

DSCN4641On our last day in town Robin’s family came to hang out. We had lunch, played games, and had pizza for dinner – just a fun time. Jeremiah was my number one helper for packing up the things we had outside and everyone pitched in to load the kayaks and bikes in the truck.

We heard that the military RV park in Key West was filling up, so on Sunday morning, January 25th, we were on the road to Key West.

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Wine Making on the Road

Posted on January 31, 2015 by Michigan Traveler

In 2011 my wife and I sold our home and moved into a fifth wheel trailer as full time RVers. We now travel all over the country. However, I did not want to quit being an amateur wine maker. Home wine making is a fairly simple process but when you live in a fifth wheel trailer there are some unique problems.

DSCN3726The first is the lack of space. I have read several blogs that described dozens of 6-gallon carboys of wine in various stages of fermentation, or how it can be challenging to make wine in a small apartment. In our trailer there is no space to set aside for wine making so it is important to maintain a minimum of equipment and supplies.  I have one primary fermenter, one six-gallon glass carboy, two-one gallon glass jugs, and a small plastic container of chemicals, racking tube, corks, and reference books.

The second is a matter of temperature and timing. It is much DSCN3728easier in a home to have a location with a consistent temperature. I try to start my wines when the outside temperature is appropriate for the primary fermentation. Even in the south it is often quite cool at night when it is warm during the day. I often have to put my primary fermenter in front of our electric fireplace to warm the must after a cold night. If it is too warm outside we have to run the air conditioning to keep the must from getting too warm and killing the yeast. Because it normally takes more than a month to complete a batch of wine and we are often moving from to another location during the wine making process. I make sure I can complete the primary fermentation prior to a move, then rack the wine into the secondary (glass carboy or jug).  I store the Wine Making OTR-3secondary Wine Making OTR-4container on the floor of our truck, then drive to the next location. I then store the secondary in the trailer, out of the way. If we move again before the wine has cleared, I rack the wine before the move and repeat the process.

The third is having a stable platform for clearing the wine. No matter how well braced it is, our trailer always has some movement. To get the last few particles out of the wine, I always rack the wine through a filter before bottling.

DSCN3730I use a hand corker when bottling (no room for anything bigger). Our “wine cellar” is the floor of my closet, so I am limited to four cases of wine/empty bottles. On occasion I will make a kit of six gallons (30 bottles), but more often will do one gallon batches. When I am making from a kit and have to stir the must with my drill to drive off the gases, I move to the picnic table to avoid making a mess in our small kitchen.

We used to have a patch of raspberry bushes in our backyard and raspberry wine was always a staple. I would often get fresh fruit from local farms when it was in season. Now that we are on the road, I often buy packages of frozen berries to make wine in small batches. One of my favorite DSCN4517inexpensive wines is a concord grape wine made from Welch’s Grape Juice. E.C Kraus has the recipe on their website.

Because I am from Michigan and love lighthouses, I name all of my wines after lighthouses on the Michigan shore of the Great Lakes, such as Copper Harbor Concord or Rock Harbor Riesling. I found a lighthouse label that I can run through a printer with six labels to a page and use that on all of my wines.

Wine making “on the road” can be a challenge, but is still an enjoyable hobby.

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Rainbow Springs State Park, Dunnellon, FL – Jan 2015

Posted on January 24, 2015 by Michigan Traveler

Rainbow Springs MapRainbow Springs and the Rainbow River are unique places to visit. The Rainbow River is one of the clearest rivers in the world, with underwater visibility of over 250 feet in the headsprings area. This is why we wanted to visit the area. Years ago we had kayaked and snorkeled in the Rainbow River, and two years ago I did some SCUBA diving there as well.

We stayed at the Rainbow Springs State Park. This is a very nice campground with campsites that are spread out with sufficient trees between each site to give you some privacy, but not so much that you can’t make friends with your neighbors if you chose to do so. There is a swimming area and canoe/kayak launch a short walk from the campground. They have carts available to move your boat from the campground to the launch – a nice touch!

The Rainbow Springs State Park has a unique history –

In the 1920s, this spring was a favorite spot for tourists and locals. The privately owned Rainbow Springs attraction opened in the 1930s. As the attraction grew, the river was dredged for glass bottom boat tours; and waterfalls were built on piles of phosphate tailings. A zoo, rodeo, gift shops and a monorail with leaf-shaped gondolas were included. In the mid-1970s, when larger theme parks lured the tourists away, Rainbow Springs was closed. In 1972, the U.S. Department of the Interior designated Rainbow River as a National Natural Landmark. On October 25, 1990, Rainbow Springs State Park joined the Florida Park Service. Today, the park consists of more than 1,470 acres and has three main entrances.

Shortly before we left Pensacola I injured my knee while running, so my mobility was very limited. It was very frustrating to be in such a nice place and not be able to enjoy it to its fullest. However, it didn’t stop us from kayaking on the Rainbow River.

DSCN4604We paddled up to the headsprings where the river begins. Because the river is spring-fed, it has a constant temperature of 72 degrees. The temperature and the clarity of the river make a popular location for kayakers, snorkelers, and SCUBA divers. The current is slow enough that it is easy to paddle upstream to the headsprings and drift back downstream. We landed our kayaks at the headsprings DSCN4615canoe launch and explored the site of the old Rainbow Springs attraction. We wandered passed waterfalls that were created from rocks dredged from the river and water pumped from the headsprings. We could see the remains of the zoo and other features. It was a very unique history lesson. Later in the week we paddled upriver again, had a picnic lunch and searched for geocaches.

Our niece, Robin, and her kids drove up from Tampa to spend the day with us on Saturday. We “entertained” them with pictures of our trip to Alaska and she brought us up to date on what is going on in their lives. Afterwards I took her son, Jeremiah, kayaking. He has a great eye for spotting wildlife and we had a lot of fun.

DSCN4623Sunday was a beautiful, warm day and we paddled up to the headsprings and changed into our snorkeling gear. With our kayaks in tow and my Diver Below flag up, we drifted downstream. The water was SO clear! We saw small mouth bass and turtles as they swam below us. There were spots along the river bottom where other springs flowed into the river. You could feel the warm water flowing right out of the ground.

On Monday, January 12th, we took our time to make the relatively short drive to Raccoon Creek RV Park at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, FL.

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Pensacola, FL and Home for Christmas – December 2014

Posted on January 11, 2015 by Michigan Traveler

Pensacola MapFrom New Orleans we traveled back to Oak Grove Park at Pensacola Naval Air Station. This is a great campground – nice sites, close to the water, nice running trail, and the camp hosts have a no-host happy hour every afternoon so you can meet your neighbors and make new friends.

We didn’t do much sightseeing in the area. I did some DSCN4541work on the trailer and upgraded the fan in the bathroom, and we did a lot of our Christmas shopping. Even though we live in an RV we did hang our Christmas decorations in our “house.”  The campground manager hosted a Christmas Party for the campground. The theme was “Your Ugly Christmas Sweater” and there were DSCN4522several there that I thought should have won a prize. Regardless of the attire, we had a great time, renewed old friendships and made new ones.  The base chapel hosted a night of Christmas caroling with a drum and bagpipe band from a local Irish restaurant.  We caroled in the enlisted housing area ans many of the sailors and Marines joined us as we sang our way through the complex.

DSCN4527We volunteered to help place wreaths on the headstones at the Barrancas National Cemetery as a part of the Wreaths Across America program. In 1992, a Maine company, Worcester Wreath, found themselves with a surplus of wreaths nearing the end of the holiday season. The owner, Morrill Worcester, realized he had an opportunity to honor our country’s Veterans. With the help of Maine Senator Olympia Snowe, arrangements were made for the wreaths to be placed at Arlington in one of the older sections of the cemetery, a section which had been receiving fewer visitors with each passing year. This marked the beginning of “Wreaths Across America.” Over the years the Wreaths Across America program has grown dramatically and now they ship wreaths to over 540 locations. At the Barrancas National Cemetery there were so many volunteers this year that I’m not sure they needed our help, but it was uplifting to be a small part of this effort. It was moving to see families putting wreaths on headstones of their loved ones.

DSCN4531We took a day to do some kayaking at the Big Lagoon State Park. We launched our kayaks from the Gulf Islands National Seashore and paddled across The Big Lagoon to the state park. we paddled through a series of lagoons and went for a short hike. It was a nice place to spend a day.

On Dec 17th, we flew back to Michigan for the holidays. Our friends, Susan and Gary Aten, invited us to stay at their home while we took care of medical appointments in the Lansing area.  We were able to spend some time with our son, Dave, and do some final Christmas shopping. We met my sister and her husband for lunch in Mount Pleasant, then drove to Detroit to pick up our daughter, Elisabeth, who flew in from North Carolina.

DSCN4546On Saturday we drove to Bad Axe to stay with Pat’s brother and we celebrated Christmas with her family. Of course the star of the show was our niece’s daughter, Addy. It takes no effort for a two-year old to be the center of attention!

We flew back to Pensacola on the 30th. These were the easiest flights we have had in a long time – no delays or problems, in fact, most of the flights were early!

We celebrated New Years with a New Years Eve Party and a New Years Day dinner in the campground. A great way to celebrate the start of 2015!

DSCN4580Saturday I visited the National Naval Aviation Museum. This is my third visit, but I still enjoy it. The museum covers Naval Aviation from WW I to the present. The exhibits are very well done and there are several special effect exhibits that simulate actual flight operations. One of the nice things about this museum is the planes are not roped off as in other museums, you can actually touch them!

On Monday, January 5th we headed for Rainbow Springs State Park, in Dunnellon, FL.

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New Orleans.LA – November 2014

Posted on December 16, 2014 by Michigan Traveler

New Orleans MapNew Orleans is always an interesting place to visit. While we didn’t intentionally plan this, our schedule had us camping there over Thanksgiving.

We stayed at the Aviation Arbor RV Park at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans in Belle Chase, LA. This is a relatively new military RV park and is the only military RV park near New Orleans. One unexpected benefit was that the base Galley (dining facility) was offering a Thanksgiving Dinner with all of the trimmings to all base personnel, military DoD civilians, and retirees.

DSCN4469New Orleans has several events around the Thanksgiving holiday. There is a tree lighting on the day before Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving day there is the Bayou Classic Parade from the Superdome through Lafayette Square. After our dinner at the Galley, we drove to the Algiers Ferry so we didn’t have to drive into the French Quarter DSCN4473and deal with all the traffic. The French Quarter is a short walk from the ferry. We wandered through Lafayette Square, stopped by the Cafe Du Monde (famous for its Beignets), and checked out the French Market. The parade was one high school band after another. I have never seen so many high school bands in one place before!

DSCN4484Saturday there was the “Tis the Season” Art Festival at Palmer Park. There were many craft booths. Some were the typical paintings, or crafts made from some kind of scrap, but others were quite unique. The one I liked the best had banks that had been fashioned from post office boxes. There were food vendors and live blues music as well.

From Palmer Park we rode the street car to the New Orleans City Park for the Celebration in the Oaks. DSCN4491City Park’s famous oaks were swathed in hundreds of thousands of twinkling light displays, throughout the Park. We were treated to a wide range of attractions, from light displays to the walkways lined with dozens of Christmas trees decorated by local school groups. The animated “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” with a Karaoke Santa was fun, but the most entertaining exhibit was the animated “Cajun Night Before Christmas” display.

It was certainly the most unique Thanksgiving we have ever had, and on Monday, December 1st we were on our way to Pensacola, FL.

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