adventurers2.comLife in an RV

We left Donna's house in Fruitport about 2:00 in the afternoon on Memorial Day and arrived in Ludington about an hour later. We stayed at Vacation Station RV Resort in Ludington, near the S.S. Badger dock. We needed to be at the dock by 8:00 Tuesday morning, so wanted to stay in Ludington to be sure we would arrive on time. 

On Tuesday, at 9:00 A.M., we left Ludington, Michigan, on the S.S. Badger car ferry bound for Manitowoc, Wisconsin, arriving there at noon Wisconsin time. 

The trip was smooth. The temperatures were cold while in the middle of the Big Lake; but, upon arrival in Manitowoc, the temperatures were again warm. A storm was predicted to come across Lake Michigan to the Michigan shoreline. We thought we might meet it half-way across, but we never did see the storm. We had good driving weather in Wisconsin, except for the wind. Driving west, we had a southwind of about 25 miles per hour with gusts of over 40 miles per hour. 

Here are video and stills of the S.S. Badger. If both aren't visible, click on "Read More."

To kick-off our summer trip 2011 trip to Alaska we went camping at Fisherman's Landing in Muskegon, Michigan with Donna, Chris, Carl and Luke. They brought their tents, bicycles, and skate boards. With a hope for good weather, Chris also brought their boat to the campground. We were hoping for one day to be warm enough and not rainy to go out into Muskegon Lake and/or Lake Michigan. Friday evening was a great night to sit by the campfire and cook hot dogs and S'mores. Saturday was chilly and cloudy, but it was a great day for biking and going to the skate park. Sunday was warm and sunny, so we took the boat out to Lake Michigan. We could see fog rolling in from the south and from the north, but we were able to spend a little time on the Big Lake. By the time we decided to go back to the campground, the fog was thick and we could barely see the Muskegon Harbor lights. The fog was a little less dense in the channel and in Muskegon Lake, so we took a tour by the S.S. Milwaukee Clipper. By the time we got back to the dock, it had begun to thunder. Back at the campsite, just as we finished covering the boat, it began to rain. Then the wind came. One of our camping neighbors had their tent make like a tent and then their RV awning got ripped from the rig. Don and Chris went over to help the two women and a child at that campsite. They rolled up the awning and tied it and helped catch the tent and get it taken down. Soon another RV neighbor lost their awning to the wind. But the rain had stopped, so we sat around the campfire and cooked apple and peach pies. When the temperature dropped again, we went inside to play the board game Apples to Apples . This is a really fun game, but it does require at least four players.

Monday, of course, turned out to be a great day. But, after breakfast, we packed up our RV and the tents and went back to Donna's house. About 2:30 PM, Don and Jan left for an overnight in Ludington at Vacation Station to be close to the S.S. Badger dock. Attached is a video of our boat trip, as well as additional pix from our weekend at Fisherman's Landing.

Here is a video of our boat trip on Sunday: 

Here is a slideshow of some of the weekend. If it's not visible, click on "Read More" below. 

We first came to the Mandarin Moose Lodge #42 in November 2010 to stay for Thanksgiving and the Christmas holiday. When we first arrived, it was about a mile from Tracy's home. In December, Tracy bought a new home and the Moose Lodge was still close — only 2.5 miles away. 

We enjoy staying here. It's very economical to camp, only $350 a month including water and electric. The drinks are reasonably priced as is the food at the social quarters.

Since Tracy had just purchased a new home, we extended our stay at the Lodge so we could help her move and get everything in the new home settled. We stayed until mid-February. Then we traveled around Florida, visiting some of our favorite haunts and visiting new places, too.

We stayed at several Moose Lodges across Florida, and the Mandarin Lodge is our favorite. It has a pool, a kid's playground, an outside barbecue area and, of course, the RV sites. This is the only Lodge we've found with a pool. 

We're now back at the Moose Lodge. We have friends from Nevada coming to Jacksonville and the Lodge will be close to where they're staying. We'll also be here for Courtney's birthday party, to be held at the Jacksonville Zoo.

We'll be leaving Florida towards the end of April and starting our trek north.

What can I say? It's been a tough winter on our electronics. First, our MacBook Pro died a slow and painful death and we were a few weeks without a computer. Finally, we ordered one online from Best Buy and picked it up at the store in Lakeland, Florida. While restoring all our information from our Time Machine, we discovered that our Internet connection had suffered a breakdown. That took some effort to repair. In the meantime, we did have limited Internet access through campgrounds and "borrowed" connections. 

But we did win in the end and we're back online. I will now try to summarize our travels and catch up. It's been an interesting year and a half of travels and loads of fun! 

More to come. 

With our first year behind us, we’re starting to feel like seasoned RVers. We have definitely learned a lot in our first year. We’ve met many people with great advice for us that have been on the road for 10, 12, 15 years or more. We’ve learned for ourselves how long we can dry camp before needing a dump station and fresh water refill. We now know where to economically camp when we need to readjust our budget, one of which is Donna’s driveway or Monument Lake National Park in the Florida Everglades. 

We learned that campground write-ups are not created equal. Some of the write-ups sound like pure paradise, and turn out not to be so great. Others sound terrible, but are pure paradise. The only way to know what a campground is like is to try it. We read the reviews, but remember that a reviewer could be disgruntled at the time of his stay and nothing will please him/her. We’ve visited some parks with poor reviews, but have found them to be quite enjoyable. We learned that campgrounds in Canada usually have 30 amp power, but often have low voltage. Most of the campgrounds in Nova Scotia were waterfront and beautiful.

We spent our first winter traveling around Florida, learning the places we definitely want to return to.

In August, we traveled to Nova Scotia, taking Jan’s sister on the journey. We had a lot of laughs and had a great time. It was a worthwhile trip. We went to Nova Scotia from Michigan through Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick, and from Nova Scotia to Cape Breton. One of the things that became obvious is how expensive it is to travel in Canada. We returned to Michigan from Nova Scotia by ferry from Digby to St. John, New Brunswick, to Calais, Maine and through Vermont, New Hampshire, upstate New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. We avoided interstates and saw beautiful country by using the backroads.

Jan has learned that it’s not easy to maintain a blog site. Sometimes the excuse is poor Internet connection. The new year resolution is to stay on track and write something every day. Already the resolution is failing.

We are now on a road trip to Florida, staying on the roads less traveled, visiting friends and family along the way. We have been to many places for the first time. We left Michigan to Illinois; to Missouri; to Arkansas; to Oklahoma, through Texas to Louisiana. We are traveling through Mississippi to Alabama, to the Florida Panhandle and on to Jacksonville/St. Augustine. We will again travel around Florida during the winter months.

In Illinois, we stayed at Cave-In-Rock State Park. We visited the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas, and had fun digging for diamonds (with no luck). We liked Cypress Bend Park in the Sabine River Water Conservation District in Many, Louisiana. Another wonderful state park is Grand Isle State Park in Louisiana. We especially enjoyed New Orleans and the French Quarter. We’re stopping at casinos along the way and trying our luck with the one-arm bandits. We’re also learning where there are better or worse payouts.

We have joined a few organizations offering discounted camping. The ones we like are FMCA, Good Sam Club, Encore/Equity Lifestyle, and Passport America. Don recently joined the Loyal Order of the Moose. Many of their lodges have on-site campgrounds for members, one of which is very close to Tracy and family.

We don’t know how long we’ll do this. There’s still much more to see and do in the USA, like a trip to Alaska. We’re not setting a time period, one way or the other. Like living in Hawaii, we’ll know when it’s time to move on to a new adventure.