Two months! It’s been two whole months since we
returned home from our winter visit to Florida and the “condo” has not left its
nest in the backyard! Can you imagine
how restless H has been? Not to say we
haven’t taken any day trips - In early
spring our good friends Bud and Carol joined us to re-explore the
always-changing displays at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn Michigan. This is the deal where we get in free with
our Bank America Debit Cards on the first weekend of the month! The highlight of this visit was the very
impressive new display of vintage and classic cars. In mid May, we all climbed into the van and headed for Dayton
Ohio to see the Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson AF Base. Bud had been in the Air Force stationed in
Maine after he graduated from High School, but had not been to the museum in a
big bunch of years. It was so cool to
see him gazing at the very same type of huge jet plane that he used to work on
way back then! C and I were just awe
struck at the vast variety displays and to see just how far air flight
technology has come. 
H and I did manage to get away one day to go fishing
up at one of our favorite lakes – Baw Beese Lake in Hillsdale Michigan. Yep – guess who caught the first, the
biggest and the most! H’s was a keeper
as was one of mine but in the end, he chose to release them both because he
didn’t want to clean just 2 fish. Oh
well. Our last day trip was a drive to
Central Indiana– just north of Logansport.
H had sold his canoe because it would not fit on top of the new truck
and he had finally found a nice used Porta Bote to purchase.
Which now brings us to our camping trip up north! We HAD to test the Porta Bote to make sure
it would be a good one to take to Florida next winter, yah know! Our first two nights out were in Mitchell
State Park in Cadillac Michigan. We’ve
driven thru the park in the summer but it has always been packed full of
campers and boats since it is situated between 2 lakes and divided by a canal -
usually lined with boats and fishermen.
H’s PVC pipe trailer worked well in transporting the wobbly looking
craft from the campsite to the waters edge and then back when our sea going
venture was completed. H looked like a
lanky young kid pulling his wagon behind him!
The next two nights we were in the Manistee National Forest with NO
electricity or running water or nearby neighbors. The little red Honda generator worked just fine each evening to
power the TV and charge the batteries!
As did the gas furnace warm the chilly “condo” each very cool
morning! Sand Lake is a deep little
lake with clear cold water and we were told by everyone that fishing was great
and that we’d see lots of fish. We
didn’t “see” as many as we wanted to but I did manage to catch 2 beautiful
–albeit too small to keep – bass. The
highlight tho was a solitary loon – floating out by himself not too far from
the tall grasses and the sandy shore.
Our last two nights were in Pentwater at a private
Passport America Resort – Whispering Surf.
We had stayed there a year or so ago with Ron and Nancy! This year we met a great new couple – Ed
and Katie from Kalamazoo, Michigan and had a fun time getting to know them and
teaching them to play “ Left Right Center” a silly fun dice game that R&N
had given us. Pentwater was having
their garage sales weekend and we made it to as many as we could! And still, we did not find a thing to
buy! Me? Not finding a thing to buy.
Hard to believe, isn’t it!
Back at the campsite we rested our weary feet and legs before climbing
back into the big blue truck and going 10 miles down to the small town of Hart
where the National Aspergras Festival was just winding down. As we arrived, we saw the last of the
parade go around the corner! We
jostled thru the heavy street crowds and inspected some of the vendor booths
before heading up the street where we stopped at a Mexican Restaurant and had a
burrito for supper! It was SO huge
that we split one order and still had plenty to eat! 
Since rain was again in the forecast for Sunday
afternoon, we chose to head home and attempt to beat the possible storm. Back roads took longer but we have now
traveled more places that we’ve never been!
Gas prices had sky rocketed into the $4.29 level so we filled up at
Walmart at $4.20 (with 10c more off using H’s gift card) before sadly hitting
the I94 expressway towards home. On
US23 we ran into road construction, which brought traffic to its knees. The gas tank was dangerously low by this
time. When we did manage to pull in our
driveway, the gas gauge said we had just over 1 mile till empty! Talk about fumes!