Michigan Upper Peninsula, Visiting with Friends

On Friday we drove from Munising to the Sunset Bay RV park on the Keweenaw Peninsula. It is a very rustic place just south of Eagle River. 

We had a direct view of the lake from the front window of the Alfa, and when we arrived the wind was really blowing and waves were pounding the shore.

There sure was no sand on the beach, just lots of red rocks.

Although the weather had been blustery, Sunday was beautiful and we decided to drive to the tip of the Peninsula and see Copper Harbor and Fort Wilkins Historic Park. If you blink when going through Copper Harbor, you will miss it. But Fort Wilkins, just a bit further on, is well worth a stop.

Our walk around the fort was quite interesting. It was built to protect the copper miners and fur traders in the area.

Next we tried to drive out to the furthest point of the peninsula on a rough road, but missed the turn and ended up on an even rockier road more suitable for ATVs. Glad we were in the Jeep!  I was too busy holding on to take pictures, but when we came to the last mud puddle I got out to document the drive.

Later, back at the RV park:

Just to give proof that when it comes to taking care of the Alfa, Craig is on top of it! A tree branch had caused our cell phone antenna to bend down as it is designed to do when something hits it. This may keep it from breaking off, but then it is necessary to manually return it to the upright position. 

Sunset Beach is aptly named. This is one of the sunsets we have enjoyed here.

From there we headed west along the south shore of Lake Superior to our last "planned" stop this summer. We met up with Fred Reinke, a high school friend of Craig's, and his wife Joan at the Union Campground in Porcupine Mountain State Park. 

It rained much of the week, so we spent a lot of our time hanging out in the rigs talking and eating.

We did go over to see the Lake of the Clouds. Fred doesn't get around very well due to serious back problems, so we were limited to a short walk up to the overlook.

I love this picture. It could be a painting or a book cover.

On the next day, Craig and I went for a five mile hike to Trap Falls.

The trail was quite muddy in places.

We noticed many interesting mushrooms.

Craig remembered going mushroom hunting with his stepfather and step-grandmother when he was a kid. Of course neither of us has the kind of knowledge she had, so we left the mushrooms unharvested.

Part of my plan had been to swing over to Door County to see the trees changing color. Unfortunately, when I checked the "Wisconsin Fall Color Report" web site, I discovered they would not peak until the third week of October. We have many things we still need to do this fall and cannot stay in Northern Wisconsin until then this year. Maybe some future year...

But we did get a small taste of fall color in the UP. 

Earlier this month I contacted Karen and Steve to see if they would be home on the days after our time camping in the UP. They were, and we had a wonderful couple of days with them. The image below shows the wonderful old house that they are restoring and expanding.

Too soon it was time to get rolling again. We are headed straight West to La Crosse, Wisconsin and then down the Great River Road along the Mississippi.

So much to see, so many places to go.

RV Life is Fun!

Surprise This Morning

After three good days of driving we decided to take a couple of days off and so took a 80 mile detour north, 

to connect with Karen and Steve who were camping at Elephant Butte State Park, New Mexico.  We have followed each other's blogs for several years and enjoyed a visit with them at their home in Wisconsin last July.

We spent a pleasant afternoon sitting out in the warm sunshine gabbing away. Then about four or five, as the sun snuck behind the building clouds, the temperature began dropping and we decided to move the get together into our Alfa. They also have a terrific motorhome. It is an older Safari that Steve has kept in prime condition.

Rather than dig out our two extra dining room chairs from deep in the bay, they brought their two chairs on over. The men cooked the brats on the grill and Karen brought a couple of yummy sides.

We sat around, drinking wine and exchanging stories for several hours.

This morning when we opened the shade we were surprised by this:

Snow! 

 You can't quite see it, but there is a delicate hint of dawn color in the sky and except for some rabbits I was the only one out and about. 

The temperature was 22° and the water hose was frozen, but everything will start to melt as soon as the sun comes up a bit more.

My footprints in the snow, with Karen and Steve's Safari and our Alfa.

Good morning world, now we don't feel left out of the National Weather scene.  It should get up to 55° this afternoon and all will melt away.

Good Friends that you have never met before

Quick catch up first: we took the Kohler factory tour while in the Sheboygan area. For my New Zealand friends, Kohler is one of the top producers of bathroom fixtures in the country. The tour was three hours long and we walked over three miles. It was quite interesting, and an excellent reminder of what working in a real factory is like. We toured the pottery/ceramics plant, the iron plant and the brass plant. Although the work does not look extremely hard, the work floors were loud, hot, and dusty. I don't think I would have been a very happy worker doing one of these jobs over and over for years on end. Conditions in the Kohler plants were as good as they can be, but I wondered what conditions in overseas plant must be like. Kids today can learn about production of the the things around them from programs like "How It Is Made" on the Discovery or Learning channels, but these shows do not teach them what it really feels like to be a factory worker. 

We also were able to buy and enjoy some real Sheboygan bratwurst from Miesfeld's. 

We have six pounds of them stashed in the freezer. After eating them for two dinners, I have decided the big difference between the "real" Sheboygan brats and the mass marketed grocery store brats, (Johnsonville brand) is in the seasoning. The real brats have more salt, more pepper, and more of whatever other spices they put into them. The flavor is great, and very satisfying.

We left the Sheboygan area on Thursday afternoon and drove just about 65 miles to our next stop, a 19-acre county park located on Lake Winnebago called Columbia Park. On Thursday and Friday it was not very full, but on Saturday and Sunday almost every site was occupied by weekenders. We really don't mind lots of people around. We enjoyed visiting with our neighbor and watching the kids ride bikes. 

The park has a nice boat dock and launching areas. Since we don't really need water and sewer hook ups for short stays, $23 per night for a 50Amp level spot is OK. 

Once again the weather was mild, the humidity low, and almost no mosquitoes!

Thursday night we drove over to Chilton to meet fellow bloggers Karen and Steve at a local park band concert.
Karen is also known as Karen In The woods. 

Last year Karen bought this sweatshirt jacket online from a company that contributed a bit from each sale for food for rescue animals. I like it so much I bought one too. We agreed to both wear them so we could find each other. No prior mention was made about the blue shirts we wore underneath. "Sisters" in the love of RVing and fiber arts. Creative minds think alike.


Unlike the huge crowd at the Madison concert, there were only a few hundred people in attendance. Almost everyone seemed to know each other. If you mentally dressed the crowd in period garb, you could imagine the same gathering on a pleasant Thursday night in small town America, fifty or a hundred years ago.

One fun element was the drawing for door prizes provided by local business. Before the concert everyone put their name on a slip of paper and it was put into a hopper for the draw. The draw was free, but there was also a 50/50 raffle for which the tickets were $1 each. We bought 5.

After every few songs the band played names were drawn for door prizes. Craig won one. It was a $5.00 certificate redeemable at the local bank for cash. So we came out even!

Friday we went over to our friend's home and got to see their Safari, motorhome, and all the neat stuff they found to furnish the house they bought last year. 

Steve is not yet retired, and after they sold their larger home in Northern Wisconsin, they bought a smaller place near the park that will eventually be just their summer home. 

Karen is a weaver and sock maker. Her work is pretty and practical and can be found on her ETSY shop. 

Small town/rural America loves to have "feeds" and "frys" as fund raisers. 

We have seen many signs promoting this or that "festival" on our travels. This week was the Quinney Fishing Club Annual Perch Fish Fry. The club sure did a great job, and we enjoyed yet another Wisconsin tradition: community eating to raise money.

The dinner cost $12 each, with $1.00 beer and $1.00 deserts. It was hard to decide which of the homemade cakes to choose.

Steve works for the state of Wisconsin at High Cliff Park. On Saturday they were having a 50 year anniversary celebration, and Steve became Smokey the Bear. 

Karen was his "Friend" and helped him get his head together. 

We had some cake and ice cream and enjoyed watching the kids, big and small, hugging Smokey.

At the end of the afternoon a very hot bear was escorted back to the woods.

On Sunday Karen and Steve came down to our park for a BBQ. Most of the weekend campers left early in the day and we pretty much had the park to ourselves. We had a campfire and the camp host came by to say hello because we had the only fire going.

When it was time to say goodnight it felt like we were leaving family. Part of our RV family. There is something very special about meeting old friends that you have never seen in person. We are sure we will meet up with Karen and Steve again someday. They have promised to lead us on a boondocking adventure one day.

Who have you met lately?