Enjoying Huron County, Michigan, July – August 2015

Posted on September 8, 2015 by Michigan Traveler

When we started fulltime RVing back in 2011, our first stop was at the vacation home of our friends, Stan and Betsy, in Lake City. Stan has a huge workshop in their backyard and a gravel parking spot right next to his shed. It was like having your own private campground and Stan even put in a 30 amp RV plug for us.

Both Stan and Betsy have retired and have a good life in the area. We went with them to play Euchre at the Elks Lodge in Cadillac, I did some geocaching in area and Stan paddled with me to the other side of the lake to recover a cache that was on an island. Later in the week we were blessed to have another set of friends, Roger and Darcy join us for dinner one evening and it was great to spend time with old friends.

Sunday, July 19th, we headed back to Bad Axe, it was certainly different without three girls with us and we settled into the farm routine. I mowed the lawn and worked on finishing up a couple of batches of wine that Geri and I had started in June. Pat worked in the gardens, weeding, hoeing, and picked fresh vegetables and fruit.

One day we took a drive up to Pointe Aux Barques to visit a couple of Pat’s cousins, Margie and Don Wessels. They had just bought a new fifth wheel trailer and were camping at Lighthouse Park.

DSCN5514We took advantage of being in the area to visit Grindstone City. In 1834 Captain Aaron Peer pulled his ship into a protective bay on the north shore of the Thumb to weather out a storm on Lake Huron. While making repairs to his ship his crew discovered a large deposit of sandstone that had a very fine grit, perfect for grindstones and sharpening stones. Worldwide demand soon earned the town the nickname of Grindstone Capital of the World.

The town became largely a company-built town, with homes, a grist mill, wharfs, and a booming industry with two quarries. A salt mining operation produced 125 barrels of salt each day during the 1870s, and the first railroad built into Grindstone City began transporting the stones by rail in the 1890s.

By 1888, the Cleveland Stone Company bought property owned by other companies to become the sole quarry and grindstone company in town, employing about 150 men and manufacturing 35 to 40 tons of grindstones each day.

Sharpening materials like carborundum became popular during World War I. Natural grindstones produced a finer edge, but inexpensive carborundum ultimately replaced the natural stones.

The grindstone industry at Grindstone City died in 1929. The town platted the area and sold the property mostly for summer or retirement homes.

Today, the few traces left of the grindstone industry here are some of the large grindstones used as decor for private homes or piled, seeming nonchalantly, at places like the town’s free public lake access and boat launch park.

One of the best things about Grindstone Ice CreamGrindstone City is the General Store which is now an ice cream parlor and claims to have the largest ice cream cones in the Thumb. I think they are the largest ice cream cones in the country. On our way in I saw a guy with a cone with three huge scoops and jokingly said, “You got a small one, right?” Then I got inside and discovered that was a Small! Each scoop is the size of a softball, a Baby size is one scoop, Kiddy is two scoops, and a Small is three scoops. We both got Kiddy cones and I estimated we each had about half a quart of ice cream!

DSCN5527Once a year the Detroit Chapter of the 82nd Airborne Division Association and the 425th Regimental Association have a joint picnic at the Bruce VFW Post in St. Clair Shores. It’s a lot of fun for my fellow Rangers to hang out with the Paratroopers of the 82nd. The weather was beautiful as always – I don’t know why we always seem to have great weather for this event. There is always plenty of food, free beer, and war stories that get better with every telling. When we start the event with the Pledge of Allegiance I felt such pride. It’s a wonderful feeling to be able to hang out with these warriors.

DSCN5554We took a day to make another DSCN5553run up to Grindstone City for more ice cream and to do some geocaching in the area. We made a special stop at a local winery called the Dizzy Daisy Winery. I’m not sure where the name came from, but there is an interesting back story. A local farmer decided to grow grapes on a portion of his land with the intent of selling them; however, there were no buyers. Consequently he decided to make wine himself. He studied and researched, converted a building he used for milk into a winery and the Dizzy Daisy was born. We sampled some of his wide variety of wines and I found it interesting to see the owner working in the tasting room.

I normally use my brother-in-law’s dumping area behind the barn for a makeshift rifle and pistol range. This year I took some time to build a frame to hang some targets and measure a 25 meter distance from the target. It was nice to have a decent range to fire on and to see my marksmanship skills haven’t degraded too bad.

20150821_102811My primary mode of exercise has been bicycling and I combined exercise with geocaching for a couple of days with a couple of 20 mile rides to find some clusters of caches. I explored some of the local back roads and some wind turbine farms. A one geocache I saw a couple of deer fawns. Great exercise and great fun!

We decided to do some local traveling and on August 23rd left Bad Axe for Suttons Bay on the Leelanau Peninsula near Traverse City.

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Rifle Lake and Bad Axe, MI – July 2015

Posted on July 30, 2015 by Michigan Traveler

Rose City MapIt’s always a pleasure staying in Bad Axe. It’s Pat’s home town and she gets to see family and old friends. We stay at her brother’s house, just north of the old family farm, and camp in his backyard. He has several acres and he was kind enough to put in 30 amp RV outlets in his pole barn so we can get sufficient power to our RV. Our granddaughters always enjoy the wide open spaces and the fruit and vegetable garden. They help pick raspberries, but I’m not sure how many make it to the table!DSCN5258

We enrolled them in the vacation bible school program at the church we attend when are in the area, and in the summer reading program at the local library. They enjoyed both programs and had lots of stories to share with us. They were even featured in a front page article on the library program in the local paper!

One afternoon we visited the Huron County Pioneer Log Cabin Village. This is the largest collection of log cabins in the state of Michigan. We toured a general store, blacksmith shop, a barn, and an old one-room schoolhouse. The girls listened to Pat talk about her experiences as a one-room school student. They spent more time here than any of the other buildings. We also toured a single family dwelling that housed a family with eleven children – very cramped quarters!

DSCN5323A highlight of the visit was a trip to Dave and Rosemary Seagroves to ride some of Rosemary’s horses. The girls and Robin’s son, Jeremiah, rode in the corral until they were comfortable and then were able to ride in the open field behind the house. Pat’s sister, Mary Lee, and I rode a couple of more challenging horses in the field while Rosemary worked with the kids. It was certainly a BIG difference from a horseback ride at a camp or county fair, and a great time was had by all!

On July 2nd, we drove to the Smith Family cottage on Rifle Lake, near Lupton, MI.

There is a family tradition to gather at the cottage over the week of Independence Day. Pat’s brothers bought a new cottage that is right on the shore of Rifle Lake. Mary Lee and Welton’s fifth wheel (from Milwaukee) and ours park in the driveway of the garage, across the street and the rest of the family stays in the cottage. Elisabeth and Katrina had their own, private accommodations – tents behind the garage! It is a week of family fellowship, fun, and way too much to eat!

DSCN5336The kids decorated the DSCN5353cottage golf cart and we drove it in the park’s Golf Cart Parade. Nearby Rose City has a fireworks display that is quite the show for a small town. We arrived just before dusk and laid on the lawn on the hill overlooking where the fireworks are lit. It’s a great show and laying right under the exploding fireworks is a unique experience. The kids loved it!

One of the new, favorite things to doDSCN5368 was to fish off the end of the dock. The five kids shared two fishing rods with a lot of cooperation and only a little conflict – the grandparents were happy with this. There were no shy fishermen in this group, the kids baited their own hooks, and only needed help getting the fish off the hook when it had been swallowed by the fish. The keepers were cleaned by the adults and saved for a fish fry at the end of the week. The prize for the largest fish went to Katrina for her 14-inch largemouth bass.

DSCN5414Tubing behind the pontoon DSCN5403boat was another popular activity. Being pulled by the pontoon boat, rather than a ski boat meant slower speeds, but also the opportunity to stand on the tube. Needless to say our kids had almost no fear and tried every different way to ride the tube.

DSCN5496I keep a small sailboat at the cottage. I took it out and gave the girls a chance to try their hand manning the sails. The winds were light so it was a bit of work to sail around the lake.

One day, Pat, Mary Lee, and 20150708_165645Maureen took the kids to play miniature golf and they had a great time. Pat was very pleased with herself for scoring a “hole in one.”

DSCN5501One of the last things we did at the cottage was celebrate the birthday of Pat’s brother, Geri, and sister, Mary Lee. Welton and Geri’s boys had been hard at work building a bean bag toss game for both of them. Geri thought it was a surprise for Mary Lee, and he was the one surprised when he found he was getting on too.

On Monday, July 13th, we left the trailer at the cottage and drove to the Holiday Inn in Flint so I could fly the girls to Memphis to deliver them to their other grandparents. We played in the pool and had pizza for dinner – a great finale to a wonderful month. The next day was supposed to be an uneventful trip. 20150714_065958We were up at 4:00 AM for a 5:40 departure. We got to the airport in plenty of time, the girls were terrific during the long trip. In Memphis, we met 20150714_121742Dave and Jackie Smalley outside of baggage claim and I collected hugs from everyone and an extra one from each of the girls for Pat. I had a few hours to relax before I flew back to Flint. I made it to Atlanta without any problems, and that is where the problems began. My 9:00 flight was delayed to 9:20, then 10:06, then 11:35. The airport was closed due to high winds. I finally departed from Atlanta at 1:34 AM and arrived back to our room at the Holiday Inn at 4:10 AM – talk about a long day!

After sleeping in we drove back to the cottage, hooked up the trailer and were on our way to visit our friends, Betsy and Stan Pash in Lake City.

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Lansing, MI – May/June 2015

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Michigan Traveler

DSCN5034Lansing Cottonwood Campground is a gem in the south end of Lansing. It’s like being in the country even though you are still in the city. Tucked away off Aurelius Road, it has a pond for fishing and boating, many mature trees, and a nice trail that leads to the primitive campsites – a true urban park!DSCN5010

Things were quiet when we first arrived, but that changed dramatically over Memorial Day weekend, at one point I noted there were only 6-8 unoccupied campsites.

DSCN5031In honor of Memorial Day, we went to the Memorial Day Parade in our old home town of DeWitt.  DeWitt is “small town Americana” at its best. The parade consisted of the VFW/American Legion Honor Guard, followed by a float with the VFW/American Legion officers, and the DeWitt High School band. While the parade has gotten smaller over the years, the crowd has not. We all lined the streets of the downtown area and followed the band as we all joined the parade to walk to the cemetery. The band played, wreaths were placed at the veterans monument, the mayor gave a short speech remembering his father’s service in the Navy in WW II, the VFW/American Legion Honor fired the salute, and the band played a medley of patriotic music. It made me proud to say I was from DeWitt.

By lunch the campground was already clearing out. While it will be nice to have a peaceful and quiet campground again, it was fun to watch all of the young families with their kids playing in the pool, on the playground, and boating in the pond.

DSCN5078The Sunday after Memorial Day Pat and I visited the Michigan Historical Center. This is a great place to learn about Michigan history. They have a special exhibit that changes frequently, and the regular exhibits take you through Michigan’s early years. There are highlights of the timber, mining and automotive history and it was especially to tour the part of the Museum dedicated to the 50’s and 60’s.

Pat flew to Tacoma, WA to pick up our three granddaughters – they will be with us until the middle of July, I hope they don’t wear us out too much! I had my hands full get the trailer organized and putting the tent up for Katrina and Elisabeth (our daughter) to share. Both parties arrived with a half hour of each other at Detroit Metropolitan Airport where I picked them up for the drive to Lansing. The next morning we did some repacking and left for Dearborn for the wedding of our nephew Steve Smith to his fiancee, Brooke Murphy.

DSCN5185The wedding was held at the Dearborn Inn, with the wedding outdoors on the grounds and the reception in the ballroom. The weather was a bit uncertain, but it was only a bit overcast, with the sun coming out right after the bride and groom exchanged their vows. It was like it was planned that the sun would shine on this new family.

Our three granddaughters (10, and 8 years old twins) were on their best behavior, but once the dancing started they became the center of attention on the dance floor. It was fun to watch them enjoying themselves, and the whole family had a great time.

DSCN5214The next week was spend enjoying the campground with the girls and finishing up some errands in the area.  Pat took Katrina shopping one afternoon and I helped the twins to kayak in the pond in the campground. This is a nice pond, big enough to do some semi-serious kayaking, but not too big that the girls couldn’t kayak by themselves. We drove up to Mt. Pleasant to have lunch with my sister and her husband. They enjoyed visiting with the girls (who wouldn’t?) and we brought each other up on what we have been doing and plans for the future.

Pat and her friend, Darcy, took the girls to the Potter Park Zoo while I started packing for our drive to Bad Axe.DSCN5226

On Friday, June 19th, we made our way to Bad Axe. We stopped at Bronner’s Christmas Store in Frankenmuth, MI. Bronner’s has Christmas 361 days a year and they thought it was quite a treat to wander through all of the decorations. We even had lunch at the feet of a giant Santa Claus!

We arrived at Pat’s brother’s house late that afternoon and were quickly set up in his backyard.

 

 

 

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On the Road to Michigan – May 2015

Posted on May 27, 2015 by Michigan Traveler

Route MapIt was great to spend so much time with our daughter in North Carolina, but we were anxious to get back to Michigan to see family and friends. The trip was a bit of a blitz, with only a few long stopovers.

We took two days to get to Delaware State Park, just north of Columbus, OH. Our goal was just to relax for a couple of days and to visit some friends from our time in Key West. 20150509_093803We met John and Terri two years ago in Key West, and John has been my best buddy for geocaching since he introduced me to the sport. We had a great time visiting and having dinner at our campsite.

Our next stop was Middlebury, IN. We had noticed hydraulic fluid collecting on the footpad of one of our leveling jacks, but couldn’t figure out what was causing it. We had had the leveling jack inspected at an RV dealer in Pensacola, but even they didn’t know what was causing it. Quadra Systems makes the Bigfoot Leveling System and is based in White Pigeon, MI, so we decided to travel via White Pigeon and have it checked out by the people that manufactured it. We had an appointment for 7:00 AM, which made for an early departure from the KOA campground in Middlebury. Fortunately they were able to find the problem (a very minor one) and we were on the road within a half hour.

With only about 75 miles to our next stop at the Woodchip RV Park in Byron Center, MI, just south of Grand Rapids, we arrived early in the morning. Fortunately we were able to get into a site right away. We knew there was a weather front moving into the area and it was nice to be all set up and able to sit through the storm nice and dry!

Both of my uncles live in the greater Grand Rapids area and we made plans with my sister to meet all of them for dinner. Ever since my dad passed away in October of 2010 I have felt the need to have a stronger connection to them.

Third BattalionThe primary reason for staying in this area was to see family and old friends. I used to command the 3rd Battalion, 126th Infantry of the Michigan Army National Guard and I was able to meet with several of my former comrades in the Third Michigan NCO Club at the Grand Valley Armory. Two of my former staff officers both have winter homes in the Phoenix area and didn’t know it. Now they will be able to see each other while in Arizona. Another one had served as a commander in the northeastern provinces in Afghanistan. Wow, did he have some stories to share with us! I was proud of him and even prouder to hear from him that much of what he did was based on what he had learned from me over the years we served together.

Pat had some friends in the area from high school in Bad Axe. Kay and Lynn have been our friends for years. After dinner we were able to watch some videos of Lynn singing in barbershop quartet competitions. Lynn was a member of a couple of national award winning quartets as a part of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, better known as the SPEBSQSA. My dad had also been an active Barbershopper and I really enjoyed watching Lynn’s performances.

After all of these visits I couldn’t believe we had spent time with these people who are important to us and didn’t take a single picture! What a lost opportunity!

Even though we consider our trailer our home, it is still a trailer. Consequently the rolling aspect needs regular maintenance. We made an appointment with Cummins Bridgeway, LLC to have the wheel bearings inspected and replaced/repacked. We also asked them to inspected the brakes. We only had a short trip to make to get to our next stop in Lansing, so we planned to have the work done on Friday morning on our way out of town.

We were enjoying breakfast when I got a call from Matt, our service advisor, that one of the drum brakes was literally falling apart and the other three had severe wear on the linings. We told him to go ahead and do what had to be done. We spent most of the day shopping and hanging out in the area and were finally able to pick up our trailer around 6:00 pm. This definitely made for a late arrival in Lansing, but a much safer trip.

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Raleigh, NC – April 2015 – Part Two

Posted on May 14, 2015 by Michigan Traveler

DSCN4997The last part of our stay in Raleigh seemed to fly by.

Pat and I took part of a day to visit the North Carolina Museum of History. I was impressed with the way the history was displayed. As we walked through the displays there were placards that told the story of individuals who lived in the area during each period. This made the display much more personal to me. The displays that had the biggest impact were those that dealt with the Reconstruction period following the Civil War. Blacks had many opportunities and took advantage of them. North Carolina’s largest city, Wilmington, had a large population of black professionals; physicians, attorneys, etc. Unfortunately, the white population did not DSCN5004like how things were turning out and literally took over the city by force, removed the black leadership and put them on a train out of town. Black legislators were voted out of office and most of the gains from Reconstruction were lost. The Civil Rights Act of the 1960’s began to correct this situation. I went back to the Museum with Elisabeth the following Saturday. It was nice to see her interest and to be able to share it with her.

Also during this time, we finished the batch of homemade wine that I had started when we arrived, enjoyed dinners, both at our campsite and at Elisabeth’s house. Having the time together was the best part of the trip.

Our time in Raleigh ended rather dramatically. While cleaning the bathrooms on our last day in camp, 20150504_215905I stood up under a wall-mounted hand dryer and cut the top of my head. This required a trip to the local urgent care clinic and eight staples in my scalp. Fortunately the whole thing was covered by Workman’s Compensation and I was in good enough shape to drive the next day.

On Tuesday, May 5th, we started our trip back to Michigan.

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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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