Thursday, July 31, 2008
Thursday, July 25th, we finally put the “big boat”, Harry’s Citation, in the Maumee River to make sure it would run as it is the toy of choice for this next wandering of ours! All was well on the Maumee and we even saw 2 eagles soaring high over one of the islands! We brought the boat home and proceeded to get her and the tent packed for our venture to the Allegheny National Forest and Reservoir for a week of camping and exploring the wild and beautiful long curvy reservoir which runs from Pennsylvania up into New York.
Tuesday July 28th was another good day to be on the road and it was an easy trip to Pennsylvania via route 90, past Erie and on to New York and Jamestown. The rest area there was on a high hill overlooking the 16-mile long beautiful Chautauqua Lake, which we are hoping to come back to and spend some time on. Just past all the Jamestown exits we headed south, back into Pennsylvania and the Willow Bay Campground. The camp spots are nicely spaced and this campground is less than ½ full.
After we got the tent and screen room set up our first objective was to find the boat ramp – by walking thru the other 2 campground loops, thru a pine woodland area with a shaded path that lead thru rock strewn fern clumps growing by the bay. Supper done and we were ready to pack it in since there were NO TV stations and only 2 radio stations. The sun set and our eyes closed but then the clanging started at the dumpster down the way!!! As we found out the next day - - - - a bear had enjoyed his late evening snack and then distributed the remains all the way to the creek!
Weds July 29th brought gray skies and promise of rain so Harry flipped his dice and elected to go explore the area via truck! We found several other NF campgrounds, the beach area, a marina and the Kinzua Dam. We round about the back roads and stopped for ice cream and then found Bradford Pa but not the Wal-mart. Home for supper and our entertainment for the evening: watching “Frick and Frack” the new neighbors try and back in their 5th wheel trailer. Must have been their first time to back it in. The driver of the truck is old, walks with a cane and hunched over. His son didn’t have a clue as to what he was doing. NOT A CLUE!!
Tuesday July 28th was another good day to be on the road and it was an easy trip to Pennsylvania via route 90, past Erie and on to New York and Jamestown. The rest area there was on a high hill overlooking the 16-mile long beautiful Chautauqua Lake, which we are hoping to come back to and spend some time on. Just past all the Jamestown exits we headed south, back into Pennsylvania and the Willow Bay Campground. The camp spots are nicely spaced and this campground is less than ½ full.
After we got the tent and screen room set up our first objective was to find the boat ramp – by walking thru the other 2 campground loops, thru a pine woodland area with a shaded path that lead thru rock strewn fern clumps growing by the bay. Supper done and we were ready to pack it in since there were NO TV stations and only 2 radio stations. The sun set and our eyes closed but then the clanging started at the dumpster down the way!!! As we found out the next day - - - - a bear had enjoyed his late evening snack and then distributed the remains all the way to the creek!
Weds July 29th brought gray skies and promise of rain so Harry flipped his dice and elected to go explore the area via truck! We found several other NF campgrounds, the beach area, a marina and the Kinzua Dam. We round about the back roads and stopped for ice cream and then found Bradford Pa but not the Wal-mart. Home for supper and our entertainment for the evening: watching “Frick and Frack” the new neighbors try and back in their 5th wheel trailer. Must have been their first time to back it in. The driver of the truck is old, walks with a cane and hunched over. His son didn’t have a clue as to what he was doing. NOT A CLUE!!
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Sand Dunes and the Muskegon River
In the beginning of the summer of 2008, we decided that our “weekend” trips would start on Monday and end on a Thursday or Friday because the campgrounds would not be so busy. Here it is - July and we left for the Silver Lake Sand Dunes State Park on Lake Michigan, near Hart on SATURDAY July 12th! Go figure! The theory is that there is ALWAYS more hill climbing fun when there are more trucks, dune buggies, ATV’s, dirt bikes and funny cars to watch and to be watched! Even at $4 a gallon for gas there were plenty of folks who thought the same - even though a storm had just passed thru!
Silver Lake Dunes is a state park that allows off road licensed vehicles to drive on the acres and acres of beautiful shifting sand dunes that sit on the shores of Lake Michigan. Harry’s toy of choice is his 1988 Suzuki Samurai, which when the tires are aired down to between 5 and 7 lbs, has been known to climb even the highest hill! On Saturday afternoon tho, he did not even air the tires down at all and the Zuki had no problem at all, crawling over the dunes between the entrance of the dunes and mile long beach that was being pounded by the angry looking surf. (Were we in Michigan or Texas?)
We camped Saturday night in a cozy little city campground in Hart and put up the tent on the prettiest spot in the place! But it was also the one that caught all the wind that was hurling itself across the lake. Cooking supper was a real feat and sitting out to watch the coral sunset didn’t happen either. Sunday after we “played” on the dunes, we drove up thru tourist busy Pentwater to make sure nothing had changed since our last visit. From Hart we moved the tent down to the Newaygo county campground park that sits right on the rocky shoreline of the Muskegon River.
By 9:30am Monday morning, our little orange kayaks were floating downstream, just below the Croton dam on the river. The water was still high enough that the rapids and shallows were covered up with fast moving tea colored water so our sturdy little crafts did not scrape bottom as often! The sky was deep blue and the trees hung over the river to provide refreshing shade when the sun got high and hot. And the sights we were shown: a kazillion sun bathing turtles, almost as many fish, Kingfishers darting from one side of the river to the other, a mother duck protecting her sleeping ducklings on a log, Blue Herons with raucous screams when we interrupted their silent fishing, cliff swallows darting in and out of their nesting holes in the side of the sandy cliffs high above the water, a mother deer and her 2 twin fawns that scrambled up that sandy cliff when we surprised her as we came around the rivers curve, and a magnificent Bald Eagle that cruised above us following the river up stream! Too bad it is not wise to take a camera with you in a kayak on a fast moving river or this blog entry would be full of wildlife photos instead of the sand dune shots!
We showered our pink sun burned bodies and piled all our gear into the van and Zuki and headed for home with a stop at Wampler’s Lake to visit with Ron and Nancy to share vacation stories.
Keep watching! Our next trip will be soon and will begin on a Sunday or Monday!! Wish you could join us!
Silver Lake Dunes is a state park that allows off road licensed vehicles to drive on the acres and acres of beautiful shifting sand dunes that sit on the shores of Lake Michigan. Harry’s toy of choice is his 1988 Suzuki Samurai, which when the tires are aired down to between 5 and 7 lbs, has been known to climb even the highest hill! On Saturday afternoon tho, he did not even air the tires down at all and the Zuki had no problem at all, crawling over the dunes between the entrance of the dunes and mile long beach that was being pounded by the angry looking surf. (Were we in Michigan or Texas?)
We camped Saturday night in a cozy little city campground in Hart and put up the tent on the prettiest spot in the place! But it was also the one that caught all the wind that was hurling itself across the lake. Cooking supper was a real feat and sitting out to watch the coral sunset didn’t happen either. Sunday after we “played” on the dunes, we drove up thru tourist busy Pentwater to make sure nothing had changed since our last visit. From Hart we moved the tent down to the Newaygo county campground park that sits right on the rocky shoreline of the Muskegon River.
By 9:30am Monday morning, our little orange kayaks were floating downstream, just below the Croton dam on the river. The water was still high enough that the rapids and shallows were covered up with fast moving tea colored water so our sturdy little crafts did not scrape bottom as often! The sky was deep blue and the trees hung over the river to provide refreshing shade when the sun got high and hot. And the sights we were shown: a kazillion sun bathing turtles, almost as many fish, Kingfishers darting from one side of the river to the other, a mother duck protecting her sleeping ducklings on a log, Blue Herons with raucous screams when we interrupted their silent fishing, cliff swallows darting in and out of their nesting holes in the side of the sandy cliffs high above the water, a mother deer and her 2 twin fawns that scrambled up that sandy cliff when we surprised her as we came around the rivers curve, and a magnificent Bald Eagle that cruised above us following the river up stream! Too bad it is not wise to take a camera with you in a kayak on a fast moving river or this blog entry would be full of wildlife photos instead of the sand dune shots!
We showered our pink sun burned bodies and piled all our gear into the van and Zuki and headed for home with a stop at Wampler’s Lake to visit with Ron and Nancy to share vacation stories.
Keep watching! Our next trip will be soon and will begin on a Sunday or Monday!! Wish you could join us!
Friday, June 27, 2008
Hot muggy Florida
It’s always more fun to write a blog AS YOU TRAVEL, but the trip to Florida was not all fun and games. As stated in our previous blog for our West Virginia motorcycle trip, we came home on Saturday and then turned around and left for Del Ray Beach, Florida on Tuesday to tend to the estate of Harry’s Aunt Ruth who had passed away.
We arrived in Del Ray on Thursday and spent the next week, cleaning up, clearing out and conducting an Estate Sale, which we ran from Monday thru Friday. What did not sell was donated to the Battered Woman’s Shelter Thrift Shop and the local Food Kitchen. There are lots of stories that could be told about the experience but we will NOT get into that here!!
Sunday, June 23rd we took the day off and headed down to the Keys in hopes of getting in some sight seeing and snorkeling. We made it as far south as Bahia Honda State Park and snorkeled in both the Gulf and the Atlantic but much to our surprise- the water was as warm as bathwater! Of course the air temperature was in the high 90’s! The thermometer on the van read 98 degrees at one point! We stopped at Long Key State Park on our way back north for a picnic lunch in the shade. The GPS, Lula, advised us to get off the turnpike and take route 95, which took us right next to Miami and Fort Lauderdale. And as it had happened all week – there was another heavy downpour of rain!
That Monday the 24th we finished up the legal business with the attorney and the funeral home and delivered the last of the food items to the local Food Kitchen and loaded the van.
Tuesday we pulled out of the driveway for the last time and then headed northwest to pay our respects at the cemetery where Harry’s Uncle Irv and Aunt Ruth are now both buried. Harry cannot drive thru south Florida without checking on Lake Okeechobee, so around it we went and checked on the campgrounds that had been damaged by storms 3 years ago. One looks just like it did 2 years ago! Exhausted, we parked the overburdened van in Ocala and had a wonderful, but way too short visit with my sister Sharon and her husband Dick. We even got to eat at my favorite restaurant - - Stumpknockers!
Wednesday we were up early again but our fist stop was at Ichetucknee Springs State Park and snorkeled in 2 small but beautiful fresh water springs. The one spring (called the Blue Hole) was said to be 50 ft deep. We could not see the bottom of the craggy deep blue hole in the floor of the spring! From there it was pedal to the metal heading north. The pedal was not always down tho – especially thru Atlanta Georgia at 5pm and then the heavy traffic and road construction just north of Lexington Kentucky.
We are home safely. The van is unloaded and we are getting our strength back. Please keep checking this blog, as we WILL be on the road again. Just not in the next 2 weeks!
We arrived in Del Ray on Thursday and spent the next week, cleaning up, clearing out and conducting an Estate Sale, which we ran from Monday thru Friday. What did not sell was donated to the Battered Woman’s Shelter Thrift Shop and the local Food Kitchen. There are lots of stories that could be told about the experience but we will NOT get into that here!!
Sunday, June 23rd we took the day off and headed down to the Keys in hopes of getting in some sight seeing and snorkeling. We made it as far south as Bahia Honda State Park and snorkeled in both the Gulf and the Atlantic but much to our surprise- the water was as warm as bathwater! Of course the air temperature was in the high 90’s! The thermometer on the van read 98 degrees at one point! We stopped at Long Key State Park on our way back north for a picnic lunch in the shade. The GPS, Lula, advised us to get off the turnpike and take route 95, which took us right next to Miami and Fort Lauderdale. And as it had happened all week – there was another heavy downpour of rain!
That Monday the 24th we finished up the legal business with the attorney and the funeral home and delivered the last of the food items to the local Food Kitchen and loaded the van.
Tuesday we pulled out of the driveway for the last time and then headed northwest to pay our respects at the cemetery where Harry’s Uncle Irv and Aunt Ruth are now both buried. Harry cannot drive thru south Florida without checking on Lake Okeechobee, so around it we went and checked on the campgrounds that had been damaged by storms 3 years ago. One looks just like it did 2 years ago! Exhausted, we parked the overburdened van in Ocala and had a wonderful, but way too short visit with my sister Sharon and her husband Dick. We even got to eat at my favorite restaurant - - Stumpknockers!
Wednesday we were up early again but our fist stop was at Ichetucknee Springs State Park and snorkeled in 2 small but beautiful fresh water springs. The one spring (called the Blue Hole) was said to be 50 ft deep. We could not see the bottom of the craggy deep blue hole in the floor of the spring! From there it was pedal to the metal heading north. The pedal was not always down tho – especially thru Atlanta Georgia at 5pm and then the heavy traffic and road construction just north of Lexington Kentucky.
We are home safely. The van is unloaded and we are getting our strength back. Please keep checking this blog, as we WILL be on the road again. Just not in the next 2 weeks!
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