We arrived back in Michigan on Mother’s Day. Had a quick visit to Lansing to see family and friends.
Getting settled in Montague at the RV park in town for a short time we will be here. Managed to get a round of golf in with 8 found balls. However, I forgot about poison ivy and I am covered in it hoping the Prednisone kicks in soon. Another round today which I will stay out of the woods.
We had a relaxing, hot, and quick visit to Nancy and Edson in Lansing for a few days. John and his former golf league had a two-day golf reunion in honor of Edson and his fight with ALS. Everyone had a wonderful time despite the heat.
Nancy and I enjoyed a day of bar hopping with friends. We began at the beer garden (they have wine so I could go) at Horrocks and Katherine joined us. I had never been to Horrocks and it was a fun experience.
We then proceeded to drop the car off at Borges’s house and walk to Preston’s in Grand Ledge. Terri Schultz, Suzanne Brisbois, and Jeri Jo Meyer could join us. Lots of laughs, keno playing, a few thousand drinks, and fun was had by all.
I am officially married again. Over a year ago I had to have my wedding ring cut off when I broke my wrist playing pickleball. See, never exercise. Anyway, I finally got it resized and fixed and can wear it again. Thanks to Ron Alexander at H&H Jewelers in Grand Ledge. They originally designed my ring and now fixed it so I can wear it again.
Grand Ledge is a lovely town and I enjoyed the early morning walks on the island and through town.
Talk about a small world. John was organizing the guys for golf at Eagle Eye and a guy walked up to him and said do you Janice Szur. Never a good sign right? LOL. Anyway, it was a former High School classmate, Dave Bachelor, from the Detroit area who was playing golf at Eagle Eye and recognized John from my Facebook posts. What are the odds right?
Golfed at Thoroughbred Golf followed by dinner at Stony Lake Inn. The course needs some work to get it into good shape, but it is still fun to play.
Celebrated our anniversary with friends. First, a round of golf at Lincoln Golf Club followed by dinner at @Handsome Hobos in Muskegon.
What a great week with friends, Maggie Spitzley Laban, Jerry Laban, Cheryl Gleason, John Gleason, Karen Spotts, Frank Prosen, Kathryn Prosen, Lowell, and John. We started the week with golfing at Benona Shores followed by dinner. One day we did a 12-mile bike ride to the pub north of us for Happy Hour. Drinks at the Eagles and the girls won $80 in Keno. Saturday we golfed in a charity scramble and the women took first place. Picturesque walks were also taken.
Played golf at Stonegate. Started as birdie golf and ended more like bogey golf. Dinner after at the Effin bar. Visited Russ and Cheryl at their new slip in Adelaide Point Marina. Played trivia at Jimmy’s and our group took first place by only 10 points.
We had a horrendous storm and we were without electricity for a day. Thank goodness for a generator. Lots of damage just south of us, but other than no electricity we missed the brunt of it.
Played Old Channel Trail and Frank had one of his best rounds ever. Some damage on the course, but they did a great job of cleaning it up.
Frank and Kate came over and we watched the PGA tournament and drank a little wine. Frank also rec’d a golfing chipping game for Father’s day, so we played that. I won!!
OMG, the mid toilet is leaking. I have taken the toilet apart a thousand times and reassembled it, but still no luck. I ordered new seals and that didn’t work. After close inspection, I realized we had a crack in the plastic just below the seals, ordered a whole new base.
Played Colonial Golf Course. It was very busy and we had a foursome in front of us who was slow (they were giving lessons to two of the people). Finally, they let us play through. Our husbands were two groups behind us and they weren’t so lucky. They also had a group in front of them that was giving lessons to a third person and they didn’t let them play through. We finished about an hour ahead of them so went to the bar and had a few drinks while we waited.
We enjoyed a wonderful boat ride on Kate and Frank’s boat on the 4th with calm waters on the big lake. It was followed by a potluck in our RV park and ended with watching the fireworks at Prosen’s marina.
We drove to Ludington on Friday and visited many friends who were vacationing there. OMG, fun was had by all. The first stop was Stix for lunch, then the Eagles, then the Sandbar. Eighteen people in all.
I received the new toilet base and installed it, and it still leaks. I called the manufacturer and sent pictures, they said I was doing everything correctly. After many more attempts, I called and scheduled a mobile RV tech. I then posted my issue in my Facebook group with similar RV’s. They said it isn’t seated properly and I need to keep trying. I tried one more time the night before the tech arrived and got it to quit leaking. Amazing!!!!
We enjoyed our last week in Montague as we began our journey to the Canadian Rockies with a few new stops in Michigan. We played a new course, Chase Hammond and we all enjoyed the course. We ended the day at the Full Moon Saloon so I could finally have my olive burger for the summer.
We played trivia on Wednesday and garnered first place. It’s a great way to end our trivia season in Montague. We spent two nights in Mt. Pleasant and on Sunday our kids and grandkids came up for a visit and we enjoyed the small lake in the hot weather. Today we head to Lexington, MI for a week. We have never stayed on that side of the state so looking forward to it.
Spent the week in Lexington, MI. We played at Lakeview Hills Golf and Country Club. John and I played the South Course on Tuesday and when Karen and Lowell arrived we played the North Course on Thursday. I must have changed tee times a hundred times because of the weather, I am sure the pro was ready to tell me we couldn’t play because I was such a pain.
We enjoyed a wonderful steak dinner with the Spotts on Wednesday night, and dinner at a dive bar, Thursday we had an all-American dinner at the Spotts as they had friends in from the Dominican Republic. Saturday we enjoyed dinner and drinks with the Spotts for their 39th anniversary at the marina in Lexington. We ended our dinner with a full moon overlooking the lake and the marina.
A few days were spent on Lake Huron beach followed by Happy Hour wine on the deck overlooking the Port Huron to Mackinaw Boat race.
We arrived in Caseville for four nights. Enjoyed a beautiful sunset on Saginaw Bay. On Monday we visited with John’s former boss and wife. It was great to see them. Tuesday we hung out on the beach and walked the pier. Wednesday we enjoyed a wonderful dinner with Roger and Kris S14. Thank you very much for your hospitality.
After Caseville, we headed to Cheboygan for 5 nights. We checked the area the first day, walked around the marina (great boat name) and Lake Huron Park, and stopped at the local Eagles and dive bar. Saturday our friends Linda and Phil came over for a visit and dinner. It was great catching up and we look forward to seeing them in San Diego in October.
Sunday we golfed at the Cheboygan Golf and Country Club—nice course, especially for the money. We enjoyed the rolling hills and well-kept greens.
On our final full day, we drove to Charlevoix (OMG that city is crazy busy) to visit with my brother, Jim. It was great to see him after we walked along the marina.
Today we crossed the Mackinaw Bridge for the first time with the RV. It was hazy.
We spent 4 nights in Newberry to visit Tahquemenom Falls, Whitefish Point, and the Pictured Rocks. We had beautiful and hot weather for most of it. We chose the Sunset Spray Falls Pictured Rocks cruise. Although we had calm waters and wonderful scenery it was cloudy so no stunning sunset but still a wonderful trip. Sorry for all the Pictured Rocks pictures but the scenery was just fabulous.
After the fall’s visit, we drove to Whitefish Point, had lunch at the State docks, watched a few fishing boats come in, and then on to the Shipwreck Museum. The history of all the sinking ships is so sad.
Before the Pictured Rocks cruise, we hiked the Sand Point Beach area on Lake Superior. The water was warm close to shore. After the hike, we visited the Pictured Rocks Interpretive Museum, met the Prosens for dinner, and on to the cruise.
On the cruise, the captain pointed out the view on the Michigan 2018 quarter. I happened to have one so I snapped the two together. It appears the one on the quarter is taken from land, not the water.
The last day we had nothing planned except to handle some items electronically and of course, that is when the internet was out for the entire surrounding area. Grocery shopping and relaxing happened instead. Today we head to Marquette, the birthplace of Frank Prosen. The rest of the group arrives tomorrow and our tour begins.
Frank started our tour with a Jeep ride on County Road 510 (all gravel and now the Jeep has to be rewashed). We hiked the Yellow Dog River Falls, and climbed Sugarloaf Mountain. Frank said it was just a few steps, but 1,000,000 steps later we were at the top to see a gorgeous view. John and I stopped at the Thomas Rock Scenic Overlook and had a great view of Independence Lake and Lake Superior.
We tried to visit the lighthouse but it is now a B&B and they only do tours on Sunday. We stopped at the infamous Lumberjack Tavern in Big Bay where the murder occurred where the movie Anatomy of a Murder was based.
Day 2 continued our Frank Prosen tour via bike. We rode through Presque Isle Park with the obligatory stop at Blackrocks Beach. Frank tried to convince us to jump off—no way, maybe 30 years ago. We stopped at a few coves, lighthouses, and marinas and someone found our way to a few bars. Good lesson, don’t drink too much before biking back home.
Day 3 was a trip to Lakenenland. Lakenenland is a sculpture park founded in 2003, when artist Tom Lakenen moved his collection of scrap iron sculptures from his yard to a plot of land near the Lake Superior coast. Lakenenland contains more than 80 sculptures. From there we played 18 holes of golf at the Northern Michigan University golf course. A nice course with rolling terrain and a green with an NMU wildcat paw sandtrap. Stopped for dinner at the 906 Pub and listened to all the trivia questions (we didn’t play which is a good thing because we were clueless). Ended the evening with a nice fire with the Gleasons and Prosens.
Our final day included a trip to Ishpeming and Negaunee with a stop at a few thousand local bars ending at the Eagles, dinner at the Vierling Restaurant and one final stop at the Wooden Nickel. Frank really showed us Marquette and it was a wonderful visit.
Normally I like to stay in more woodsy parks (if full hook up of course) when it is just a few days. Except we decided to pick up a hitchhiker (aka chipmunk) that I can’t figure out how he is getting in and where he goes after.
We arrived in Ontonogan just before the high winds and rain came in. We went to town to check out the local Eagles and walked to the VFW hall. Everyone was so friendly and we met people who knew our friend Kathryn and my brother Jim.
On Saturday our first stop was the Ontonogan lighthouse (that is no longer in use) and on to Adventure Mine. We did a 2-hour tour of the underground copper mine. In the early 20th century they hired about 300 people and the miners earned $1 per day. Some people did the longer tour so they could repel down the shaft of 80 feet, nope not me. From there we drove to Bonds Falls and hiked around the dam area.
We drove forever to Copper Harbor on Sunday with a stop on Lake Superior for lunch and walking the beach. We stopped at a few falls and toured Ft. Wilkins in Copper Harbor. On the way back, we stopped in Houghton to walk along the river before returning to Ontonogan for dinner with our friends. We stopped at the Museum Bar and we were going to eat there but Frank thought stuff would fall out of the ceiling on his food, he might have been right.
Monday was a beautiful day and we drove to Lake of the Clouds (I believe I was there as a teenager with my family). From there we drove through the Porcupine Mountains and did a quick trail along the Presque Isle River out to Lake Superior. After we stopped at Konteka restaurant which had bears outside because they fed them. One final stop along the lakeshore of Lake Superior to walk the beach and collect more rocks.
We conclude our time in Michigan as we head west along Highway 2.
After leaving Michigan we stopped for one night at a Harvest Host, a small airport. We met one other camper, had a fire with them, and then headed to Duluth, MN. We met up with our friends, Prosens and Gleasons again. John and I spent the first day exploring the Canal neighborhood, then one day in Superior, WI (just across the bay) bar hopping with our friends, and a final day of a short hike along the St. Louis River. I scratched off two more states on my RV travel map (Wisconsin and Minnesota).
OMG what a cluster. We have a hotspot for our internet and it was acting funny, so I just turned the device off and back on. When it came back on it said no SIM card and of course, it is the weekend so no one to call. Next up try to use the park internet. They have this goofy system where after you connect you have to put in email, phone and voucher number. You get one device only. We wanted the TV, well there is no way to enter the voucher number on the TV, even though I got to that screen going through internet on TV.
I gave up on the internet and we went to Itasca State Park. It is the headwaters for the Mississippi River. It was a very nice park and we went on a couple of short walks and had lunch on Lake Itasca. After we stopped at the local Eagles. It turns out we could have stayed there with our RV for free. Darn, I messed that up.
Arrived in Leeds, ND. We have officially stayed in every state west of a line from Michigan to Florida in the contiguous US. We have just missed a few states on the East Coast. We are here for two nights (and that is a big mistake as there is absolutely nothing here). I saw a municipal 9-hole golf course 5 minutes for here and it was a very expensive $3 so we decided to go for it. No one was there so we left. Later in town, we saw the course manager at the local pub and she told us, you play it and leave the money.
Driving to Epping, ND for two days and staying at Lewis and Clark State Park. Gleasons and Prosens are already there. We drove past sunflower fields and the geographic center of North America.
Our 2 days in Epping is at least 4 days. Our engine light came on about 90 miles from the park. There is a Cummins dealership in Williston (30 miles further), so we drove there and they did a quick diagnosis and discovered it was related to the intake manifold. We have an appt on Monday for further diagnostics.
Meanwhile, on the weekend, we took a quick day trip to Theodore Rosevelt National Park. We saw buffalo and cool rock formations. We choose not to hike as it was 91 degrees.
We made it to the Cummins dealership without breaking down. They had the coach all day and thought it was only a sensor. Eight hours later, with more diagnosis, we still have a check engine light and no idea what the problem is. We get to spend at least one more night in North Dakota.
Two more nights in BFE, ND. We checked into a hotel as staying in the RV at the repair place isn’t a very good idea as it is next to a busy road and we have to be up at 5:30 am so they can start working on it at 6.
The joys of RVing
After 7 days in BFE ND and sitting in Cummins repair center, we just got back on the road.
We had an engine light come on a week ago. After the tech tried everything that he was supposed to try and replaced many parts and still didn’t work he talked to a high-level engineer at Cummins that said the original first sensor part that they replaced (Which he was positive was the problem) on Monday was the wrong part. Literally, the wrong sensor was in the package from corporate. The package had the right part number but the wrong sensor was in it. He just ran out and got another part from another location he just installed it. We are fixed and we left.
Yellow Dog Falls
