Holiday Greetings

This video is for the family members that are not able to come home for Christmas. Enjoy.

Shelter for Voyager

This is how we spent our last two weekends. 🙄 I am so glad we are finished. 😬 This is a look at what we had to do. They made it look so easy on the brochure. Well it was not to hard just a lot of parts.
Well enjoy.

Day trip

While waiting for the Airstream to have the warranty work done Mike and I went to the Bicycle Museum of America in New Bremen Ohio.  The cost was $3 per person and the place was full of vintage and a few new bikes. There was three floors full of bikes. We were shown a 15 min video about the company and people doing tricks on the vintage bikes. If you are in OH this is a nice place to visit.
I hope you enjoy this short video.

Trying to Vote

Today was quite the adventure, it all started on Monday. Mike and I left after work to take the camper to Jackson Center Ohio for some small warranty work. We arrived in Ohio around midnight. We ate dinner while we were on the road.
We parked the camper at the Airstream camp site. They have sites that have full hook-up so that their customers can arrive at anytime of the night and be right at home (in their campers) until the morning.
Well back to the story. We woke up around 7 am and waited for the shop to open. When it was open we drove over to have them began the work on the camper. Once we did a walk through with the technician to inform of our issues we left and went to breakfast at Bob Evans. After breakfast we went to two thrift stores I found some curtains for the back porch. Then we went to the bicycle museum that was nice.  I digress, we pick up the camper and headed back to MI at 4 pm. We still had to vote. The drive is only 2 hours so we knew we had plenty of time. Well that's when all hell broke loose. It started raining  cats and dogs on our way home so we had to go a little slow to be safe, but again we have 4  hours right. Then as we were going along we heard on the radio that a semi jacked knife and 75 was closed up ahead, so we got off and took another route. At this point we have only one option to not drop off the camper first, and just go straight to the poles with the camper. Well that is what we did driving 75 miles per hour to make it with 10 minutes to spare. We made it I voted did you?
Well despite all that occurred we did have a great day in Ohio.

The want for summer.

Well we took Voyager to be winterize, that symbolized the end of our camping season. I began to think of next year and all the adventures we will have. Mike and I will try new places to camp and explore. We welcome any suggestions or ideas.
There are a few things that I will do differently next year like make a better list so I do not forget anything. I will Relax more and take one day at a time.
Well as the days grow shorter and the cold slowly creeps up on us, I know that soon we will be back singing camps songs and roasting marshmallows.

Halloween

This was our first time Halloween camping. We had a ball I will definitely go again next year. My friend Beatrice invited us. She stated that she had a few decorations for her site. Well when we pulled up she had every inch of her camp site decorated. 😄  She had so much stuff  that she had no room for her boyfriend to park his car, so he had to park on our site.  We on the other hand had few decoration and I do mean a few.  Next year we will be better prepared. My nieces and nephews came to trick or treat with us. They got a lot of candy and enjoyed themselves.  The camp sites were impressive and everyone was nice. One site passed out Jell-O shots for the adults. Who said camping is just for the kids.

Final thoughts for the season.

As we return from a two week camping  Road Trip ( our idea of a road trip). I find myself getting sad,  because I live in Michigan and the end of the camping season is drawing near.
I am just not ready to step back into the modern day trappings of work and deadlines.
At the end of the two weeks I found myself closing my eyes more and breathing deeper my attempt to stop time. I wanted to capture every moment as if it was a post card.  I love loosing myself to nature, it has a profound effect on my spirit.
When I camp it is my hope that with each experience I will leave with a sense of peace,calmness and the stillness I need to deal with the day to day of life stresses.
I Love This Saying:
The mountains are my bones, the rivers my veins.
The forests are my thoughts,and the stars are my dreams.
The ocean is my heart it's pounding is my pulse.
The song of the earth write the music of my soul.

Well as the saying goes I Live to Camp another day.

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The end of the Road Trip.

Well we are at Sleepy Hollow State Park. We will be staying here for a week. This is the last leg of the road trip.
The blog will contain the entire week of events.

Mike has to work so we decided to stay at a park close to his job.
Well for me I will take this time to rest,read and sleep.
We arrived around 3pm to a barking dog from our neighbor, he finally got used to us and stopped barking. I was relieved.
Our neighbor seems nice he told us his whole life story in about 20 minutes. He and his wife are staying the week also. This is their first vacation in 4 years. They have a cute pop up camper. I believe his wife is working like Mike, because I never see her doing the day and I hear her leaving in the morning.
Any way this camp site reminds me of Pontiac Lake because they both have the hidden sites. The only thing I do not like about this park is that 4 sites share the electrical box. It's in a central location, so you have a path leading from each site to the box. Some of the paths are wide leading from your spot. There is a wide opening between our spot and the neighbor spot because of the electrical box. We were able to back the camper back enough to hide the neighbors.
The park is empty now but it was full when the weekend came.
This site is electric only, I was able to make it the entire week. I was careful with my water use and took a shower twice at the campground shower.

I woke up one morning to a thumping sound when I went to see what it was it stopped. About one hour later it started again and I saw what it was. A small very green frog fell in between my windo and the rock guard and was stuck. I did free him he was so cute.

Later in the week we went to Eaton Rapids to the Urban Air. There were about 100 Airstreams lining the downtown and the side streets.  There was old campers and new, small and large Airstreams. We spoke to a lot of the owners and we were able to go inside them. I saw a camper with a slide out that was my first. I saw a Motor home airstream my first.  It had a very interesting decor. It had a fish theme with any and everything that delt with fishing glued all over the inside of that camper.
We stayed for the spaghetti dinner it was for charity.  Next year we will bring our camper.
That pay phone in the video works for local calls only. So if you or your child needs to call home you an and it free. I made a call.

One week left on the road trip.

Well we are back in Michigan staying at the Van Buren State Park in South Haven. We are only staying here one night.
This is a nice state park we have a large site. #115.
There are two other Airstreams here a older model and a Bambi. We spent a little time with the owners of the Bambi they are school teachers and they travel every summer in their camper. That will be us one day.
We went into town and spent some time at the beach. The weather was great.
While at the beach a tall ship came into the port.  It was beautiful.  I have a short video of it above.
Well as usual we got ice cream, it was huge.
Later in the day we went to the beach to watch the sun set off the water. It was a site.
I will definitely come back to this park. Well tomorrow we are headed to Sleepy Hollow State Park.
Well I hope you enjoy the video.

Road trip continues.

This is another video of our road trip. Sorry for the late post we were busy camping and just now able to post more video. This video contains a few pictures from the Camper Museum in Elkhart Indiana. We stayed at this private campground one night to be close to the museum. This campground was ok for one night, the campground was in a neighborhood.   I don't know about you but this was very different for me. It did have everything you needed a pool, game room, putt putt golf but I just could not get used to it being in a neighborhood. The Museum was small took about 1.5 hours to walk around. It was great seeing the vintage campers. They allow you to go into some of the trailers but not all of them. They have a nice gift store with quirky items. Well I hope you find the pictures interesting.
Well enjoy.

Days 5 & 6

I loved this campground, to be a state park it had everything.  I was impressed with the washer and dryer.  I washed all our dirty clothes while enjoying the deer playing in the field near me.
Mike and I did a lot of biking and hiking. This is a large park with a lot of trails.
Everyone we met was friendly and enjoying camping.
While hiking we found a cave Mike tried to get me to go through it I just could not. He tried hard but I just would not do it. If we had a better light maybe.
Well here is a short video, enjoy.

Road trip days 4 & 5

Well we are headed to Kentucky this campsite its three -3- hours away from our current location.  We had quite the adventure getting there. The GPS took us down a single lane dirt road  that was only big enough for one car.  We decided to turn around once we found a yard large enough to turn aroun in. We drove for about 15 minutes before we found a small farm to turn around in. The owner had a sign on the barn that stated " Since bullets are expensive there will not be a warning shot". We hurried up and got out of there. 😳 We finally got back on the right road and found the campsite. It was way up in the hills but it was beautiful. This campsite has a lot of hiking and biking trails. We did a lot of hiking, and saw a lot of beautiful natural bridges and small caves. The next day we went on an cave tour to X-Cave.  The tour lasted about 45 min and only cost $10 pp, not a bad price. The weather is great here it's been 90 degrees. Well here is a short video I hope you enjoy.

Road trip.

Well this is the start of our two week trek across a few states. We started in MI then went to Ohio. From Ohio we went to Kentucky and from there we went to Indiana. I hope you enjoy our adventure, with more to come.

Labor Day

Well the camping season for us is drawing near. 😞 This is a peak at our Labor Day Camping.

Recall 🙄😒

Had to take Voyager back to Grand Rapids there was a recall on our hitch, 😡 and we had two other minor things that needed fixing. We want to have everything fixed while it is under warranty.  We were hoping to camp at the Ionia State Recreation Area but we had to leave the camper so they could do the repairs.  Well we pick the camper up this week and more adventures to come.

River Rasin

Spent this weekend camping with good friends. Thank you to Mario,Beatrice and her girl friend and family.  Al, Carol,Heather,Beverly and Antoine for making this another great camping trip.
We spent time at the River Rasin Jazz Featival in Monroe. As always that was good jazz.
We arrived Thursday evening and started our fun. The weather held up we and one episode of rain that lasted for about 10 min or so.  Not enough to ruin the day.

This was a relaxing weekend.
The music was good at the festival. Michael and I was the only two that went to the festival the others stayed back at the campsite.

Well we have finally started our camping group it small just three campers 🔥but it is a start.  Our goal is to camp as a group and grow the group with campers of like minds. Which is to camp,relax and be one with nature.  If that sounds like a group you want to join all you need is a camper of any size and enjoy camping.
1. Michael and Patrice
2. Beatrice and Al
3. Beverly and Antoine
Here are a few pictures:

Summer is fleeting

Well another great camping trip. We stayed at Sterling State Park for an entire week, this allowed friends and family to come and stay a day or a night.
I would like to thank all those that came out to make  this a memorable week.
We took four kids to boys (my nephews) and two girls (my nieces).  The boys stayed in a two room tent and the girls slept in the camper.
As usual the trip was short.  A week is not long enough to do and see everything. It's August already.!!  Where did the summer go?????
I feel my self treasuring ever trip as the days grow shorter.
Well I have included a short video and I hope you all enjoy.

Re post of the inside.

This is a re-post because someone stated they were unable to open the post that contains the inside of the Airstream.  
This is the lounge/ kitchen area.

Weekend get-away.

Went camping on Thursday- Sunday.  Just a quick get away, but a good one.  This was our first time at this state park. It was beautiful. The park has a lot of biking and hiking paths.  We walked the trails one day and rode the trails another day.
Our site was very private, just the way I like it.  It had plenty of mature trees, and enough land to call your own.
The beach was just a short walk from our site. We did not swim but it was relaxing just being on the lake.
I was surprised to see cabins at this park. It has one rustic and a deluxe cabin.
The fellow campers were kind, polite and respectful.
We will come back here again. Another great Michigan State Park.

On Saturday we went on a tour of the State Capitol Building. The guided tour was nice.  Our guide
was knowledgeable. We had a small group of 10 people that was in our tour.
I was surprised to find out that the marble and walnut were painted to mimic real marble and walnut. More than nine acres of walls ceilings, woodwork and columns were painted by hand using brilliant colors and elaborate patterns.
I would recommend this tour a must see.

Family camping fun

4th of July Camping

Reflection

Just returned from a weekend camping trip with the in- laws. There was eleven of us. Some of the family members rented cabins and we of course took our camper.  We stayed at Duke Creek Campground. The camp sites are smaller than what I am used to but it had everything we needed. The campground had beautiful mature trees for shade, a small stream, a hiking trail and a pool. Everyone at the campground was friendly. The staff was the best. We chose to stay there because that campground has 6 cabins. The family will not stay in tents. 😄 Glamping all the way for them.
Their cabins had everything they needed microwave,shower,bathroom, and refrigerator.

While camping we met a very nice lady that was here to help her father spend his last days camping with his loved ones. That is how I want to spend my last days. Enjoying nature and being with family.

The trip was to short but needed.
When I am camping the world seems to stop for me. I leave everything and every worry at the door. My sole is at peace. I find that I sleep better when I am camping. I totally unplug.  No phone, no internet unless I need directions.
Well I can not wait until the day comes when we can camp full time. Until then we will continue to camp every chance we get.

Airstream camping

Duke Creek Campground

Airstream Maiden Voyage

The beginning.

Airstream Dream

Making it like home.

Well now that we have the Airstream of course we have many trips planned. I would like to say thank you to every one for all of the nice comments about the trailer.
I will post more pictures showing what I have added to make it feel like home.
 I know a few people had questions about the storage and could not see or understand where we put all of our belongings I will post my storage ideas with pictures on my next camping trip.
If any one have any great suggestions about storage please share them with me.

A look inside the Airstream.

This is a look inside the Airstream.  Her name is Silver Cloud.

We purchased the twin bed model.  The beds are lager enough for the two of us.

 

Love the pillows. 

The TV in the bed room.

Here are a few pictures of the inside of the camper. We have twin beds. In the pictures I have the dining table down for a lounge look.  I will post more pictures.

Well we finally picked up the Airstream.
  We left after work on Thursday, picked up the old camper and headed down to Grand Rapids. We had to get the old camper the night before because the storage place opens at 10 am and we had to be in Grand Rapids at 9 am for the walk through and orientation for the new camper. The drive to the Airstream dealership is 2.5 hours from our house.
  We arrived in Grand Rapids around 11:30 pm so we decided to stay at a rest stop. We were going to stay at a hotel but what to do with the camper? Can we fit in the parking lot of a hotel with the camper? So the rest stop was the next best choice so I thought.  Sounded good in theory but well, where do I start.
   It started to rain, and the temperature dropped that night and it became very cold.  We slept in the old camper with no lights or heat.  We had plenty of blankets but it did not help. Besides the cold the noise was unbearable. I am a light sleeper so what was I thinking staying at a rest stop. Our first "boon docking" experience. If you can call it that.
 I  woke up every 3-4 hours. I got a bad headache in my left temple, and had to take an excedrin without any water. What a night. I will post pictures of the inside of the camper as soon as I can figure out why they will not load onto the Mac.
Well we got to the Airstream dealership around 9:20 am and started our journey. All went well the orientation seamed to take all day. I just wanted to eat and go back to bed.
 The only problem we encounterd was that they forgot to install our awning. So they will have them ordered and install them  at another date. We had two minor issues that they were able to fix before we left. Well here are two videos that I was able to load. More to come.

Well next Friday we will go to pick up the Airstream. Can not wait. Next week can not get here fast enough. I will post the pictures. We will spend the night at the dealership they have an extensive orientation.  I will video tape it because I know that I will not remember everything and will need a reference. I hope the move from one trailer to the other do not take long. Well until next week.

Well we have started our count down for the Airstream. 22 days and counting.  I must say I am not as excited as I thought I would be. I guess once the days are shorter I will become more excited.  We were not able to sell our current camper to family as we would have liked so we are trading it in.  I will post the pictures once we pick it up. Can not wait.  I just really want to camp. I am tired of being indoors.

Up-Date on Airstream

Well we spoke to the airstream dealer and we should, I say should take possession of the camper in April. I do not care as long as we have it before the start of camping season in MI. We would love to go camping now but its not quite warm enough for me.  We will spend the first night at the dealer to make sure everything is working as it should and to learn all we need.

I have a few more decorations for the camper.  I have more decorative pillow cases and a few odds and ins.  Some of the items we purchased are not glamorous such as wheel chock and leveling blocks. I will post the pictures.

We have about 10 camping trips planed for this season, and we will do our random camping trips.We will do our first Halloween camping with the nieces and nephews. I hope the family will join us and rent a cabin.  Well more to come.

Still waiting

Well I thought by now I would have information about the Airstream. No such luck. I guess the factory is so busy, they have not responded to my purchase order as of yet.  Well I guess we have to be patient and just wait. This weird warm Michigan weather is making me want to get out and camp. I just hope that once it does get warm I have the new camper, if not will continue to use what we have.
I am still working on the color scheme for the airstream. I have some beautiful throw pillows and a few accessories.  Will post the picture when I am in the new camper.

Wow.... A new year is here. A toast to many camping adventures in this New Year.

What a year 2015 was. Here are a few notable adventures from 2015:

The April camping trip in which we encountered a bad wind storm that shifted our camper while we were in it. What a scare. It came so fast we could not get out in time.

The July 4 th camping trip that was the best. Relaxing and fun.

The Jazz Festival camping trip in Monroe MI. Great music. Great trip.

The fun Halloween camping trip. Great decorations.


So many good camping trips. Looking forward to making memories in 2016.