Michigan, Canada and New York state

Leaving our camp site at Tawas Point State Park on Wed, July 10^th, we had a small problem. The day before it had rained and our sandy site ended up about four inches under water. When we began backing up the motorhome, and I turned the front wheels, the front wheels dug huge holes in the sand and we were stuck. I stopped and exited the MH to survey the situation.

A nearby camper came up and said he had a pickup truck and a strap and offered to pull me out. I think I hurt his feelings when I told him I didn’t think that would work, because the MH weighs about 30,000 pounds. Later, I thought I should have asked him if he had a Tundra pickup…since they can pull the space shuttle and I’m sure the shuttle weighs quite a bit more than our MH. Anyway, we got out of the sand okay on our own and were shortly underway.

We headed north up I-75 about 150 miles towards the Mackinaw Bridge. We hadn’t crossed it in about 30-years and it’s an amazing engineering feat between Michigan’s lower and upper peninsulas.

The wind was blowing a little, and warning signs had RVs cross the bridge at 20 mph. We checked in at Straits State Park at the northern end of the bridge in St. Ignace and were pleased with the park. Our campsite was long, level and had a nice grassy area next to the site. After we got set up, we went over to our friend’s house to visit and have dinner. We met Eldon and Cindy Patton on our trip to Alaska in 2011 and had seen them again in Florida in January 2012 and 2013. It was fun catching up.

 

On Thursday, we took the passenger ferry from St. Ignace to Mackinaw Island. We also took our bicycles with us. The only modes of transportation on Mackinaw Island are bicycles and horses. After a nice lunch, we enjoyed a leisurely 8.2 mile bicycle ride around the island. The road was fairly flat and there were many bicyclists, mostly on rental bikes.  

After the bicycle ride, we parked the bikes and walked through town to the world famous Grand Hotel.

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed treats at a new ice cream shop, but the portions were way too much. I had a turtle sundae and Julie had one scoop of ice cream.

 

On Fri, July 12^th, we got up early and left St. Ignace for Sault Ste. Marie to cross the border into Canada. There was a long line of traffic waiting to cross into the USA, but we didn’t have to wait long to cross into Canada. Then we headed east towards Sturgeon Falls, Ontario, where we had reservations at a KOA, about a 300-mile trip from St. Ignace.

Saturday we drove about 20-miles east over to North Bay, Ontario, to see how things have changed over the past 30-years. We lived in North Bay, population 54,000, when the U.S. Air Force stationed us there 1982-1985. We enjoyed seeing our old house, the local indoor mall, and other areas of town. We were disappointed to learn that they had just demolished the old St. Joseph’s Hospital in April, where our son Paul was born in May 1983.

We laughed when we saw this truck and how much the Canadians love their politicians too…

We decided to leave on Sunday morning, rather than try to drive through Toronto on Monday morning. We got up at 5:30AM on Sunday and were on the road before 7AM. Toronto is about 4-hours south of North Bay and we drove through Toronto around 11:30AM with some traffic. We crossed over to the USA at Lewiston, New York (rather than the much busier Niagara Falls crossing), but it still took about a half-hour to cross.

We stayed for 3-nights at Four Mile Creek State Park, in the very northwest corner of New York state, and it was an awesome park. We had large grassy sites and a great view of Lake Ontario. We could barely see the Toronto skyline across the lake about 50-miles away.

 

 

 

On Mon, July 15^th, we went into Lewiston for lunch and enjoyed The Silo, with fantastic views of the Niagara River and its green colored water.

After lunch, we headed a few miles south to Niagara Falls. Julie and I hadn’t been there since the early-80s and there seemed to be more tourist clutter around the area. It’s a shame, since the natural beauty of the waterfalls is so amazing.

 

It was a warm day, in the upper-80s and very humid, so we headed back early to Four Mile Creek to cool off.

Tuesday, we decided to head to Lockport, NY, about 20-miles away to see the historic Erie Canal and the canal locks there.

 

Today, Wed, July 17^th, we began heading south, through Buffalo and around Pittsburg to a campground about 30-miles south of Pittsburg. Tomorrow, we head towards Luray, Virginia near Shenandoah National Park, for the weekend and a family reunion.

Steve & Julie Cornelius

sandjcornelius@msn.com

Rolling through the Midwest

We left Lakeway, TX on Sun, June 30^th and headed north on I-35. We planned to overnight at the WinStar World Casino RV park, Thackerville, OK, and weren’t disappointed. It was on I-35, Oklahoma Exit 1. The RV pads were spacious with level concrete pads. Our site looked out on the swimming pool.

 

When we checked in at the office, the clerk asked us if we’d like a free “Players Card” for the casino. We asked what the benefits would be and she said we’d get our first night of camping free. That sounded good to us, since we were only staying one night.

We rode the shuttle to the Casino, enjoyed cocktails and dinner and rode the shuttle back to the RV park.   It was a beautiful evening so we used the hot tub and pool before calling it a night.

The next morning, we headed up U.S. 69, passing through Muskogee, and sang “I’m an Okie from …” to each other.  We crossed the Arkansas River in Muskogee…yes, the same Arkansas River that flows from the Colorado Rockies through Colorado and Kansas.

We spent two nights at the Water’s Edge RV & Cabin Resort on Grand Lake o’ the Cherokee. We had a lakeside site that was one of the best RV sites we’ve ever had. Each RV site came with a small deck over the water’s edge. The weather was perfect, in the low-80s, and sunshine.

On Tues, we went into Vinita and had lunch at Clanton's Café, right on Historic Route 66. Clanton’s has been recognized with many awards and even a visit from Guy Fieri of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.

Wed, July 3^rd, we headed out for West St. Louis where we overnighted at a KOA.  On July 4^th we made our way to Terre Haute, IN for another one night stay. On Fri, July 6^th we drove through Kokomo and South Bend on our way to Elkhart, IN, stopping at a White Castle for lunch. They’ve been around since 1921 and serve cheeseburger sliders by the bag.

We stayed at the Elkhart Campground and it was very nice with long, grassy, level sites. We visited the RV/Motorhome Museum in Elkhart (on our bucket list) and it was well worth the stop to see over 50 vintage RVs.

 

On Sun, July 7^th we headed up the Interstate towards Tawas Point State Park for a 3-night stay. I-75 was clear sailing northbound, but jammed up on the southbound side after the long weekend.

 

The state park, right on Lake Huron, was pretty full with many families on vacation. It’s flat there and we enjoyed several rides on our bicycles.

Julie’s Dad was stationed at Wurtsmith Air Force Base, near Oscoda, Michigan. We took a trip down memory lane today, going by the high school Julie attended and the base house she and her family lived in on Wurtsmith AFB. We also scattered some of her Dad’s ashes next to the main runway on Wurtsmith AFB where he took off and landed many times in his B-52 bomber.

 

 

Our First Ever RV Rally

We arrived at Gillette, WY for the Family Motor Coach Association rally, on Wed, June 19^th. We attended several motorhome-related educational seminars, perused a huge RV vendor display area, took in several large new motorhome displays, and attended a Buckingham’s concert. You know, they had huge hits in the late-60s and now they’re in their 60s. It was interesting to learn the group is from Chicago. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We met a nice couple at our newcomer’s orientation, from Miami Beach, retired from the restaurant business, and like us, living in their motorhome. Peter and Sandy were a lot of fun and we're sure our paths will cross again.

The weather didn’t cooperate though. We had pouring down rain all day Thursday and Friday, and our RV lot quickly became a mud pit. We decided to leave a day early because of the weather and headed south on Saturday.

We overnighted in Cheyenne, Colorado City (south of Pueblo), Amarillo, and San Angelo, on our way to Lakeway (Austin), Texas. We spent 4 days here with Julie’s mom and sister to scatter her Dad’s ashes, after his passing last September.

We’re heading out tomorrow, on our way to Virginia for a family reunion on July 18-23. We’ll drive through Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ontario-Canada, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, finally reaching Luray, in the Shenandoah Valley on July 18th. Enjoy your July 4^th holiday!

Driving in a big Circle

On Sun, June 2^nd, while in Sioux Falls, we went to our first BBQ Festival. There were contestants there from all over the U.S.  

 

After lunch, we drove to Falls Park (Sioux Falls’ namesake) and spent some time enjoying the park and a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

 

 

 

We left Sioux Falls, SD on Monday, June 3^rd and headed to Forest City, Iowa to have a few things repaired on the motorhome at the local Winnebago-Itasca dealership. It poured down rain on the trip and for the two days we spent in Forest City. We then headed to Denison, where Steve was born and raised. We spent two nights at Yellow Smoke Park, just outside of Denison. The weather was sunny for our visit.

We wanted to stay at a state park west of Sioux Falls through the weekend, but the campground was full. So we headed back to the Sioux Falls KOA met a weekend of torrential rainfall.

On Sunday afternoon we headed to Lake Vermillion Recreation Area and enjoyed 3 nights there. Almost all of the campers had left by the time we got there.

 

 

 

On Wed, June 12^th, we headed across SD for Badlands National Park. We stopped in Mitchell, SD to see the Corn Palace. It hadn’t changed a lot from the last time I’d seen it as a kid.

We explored the Badlands on Thursday and took a side trip into Wall to visit Wall Drug.

 

 

We head to Spearfish, SD for three nights and stayed at a beautiful city park where we enjoyed the big cottonwood shade trees, bicycle paths, and a stream through the park.

 

We took day trips to visit Deadwood and Sturgis one day and Rapid City, Mt. Rushmore and Custer State Park the next day.

 

 

We’re heading to Gillette, WY next for a week to attend the Family Motor Coach Association rally. We’re looking forward to it. There’ll be educational seminars, vendor product displays, new motorhome displays, and over 2,000 motorhomes, with nearly 5,000 of our closest friends.

It’s starting to sink in now with us that we’re living in our motorhome full-time, and not just on another trip. It’s been a lot of fun so far.

Loosened Our Load - June 1, 2013

We bought our 2008 Itasca Meridian in January 2012 and put over 22,000 miles on it the first year. We enjoyed the traveling in the motorhome (MH) so much that, in September 2012, we decided to try “full-timing” and live in the MH. Our plan to FT included selling our house and all the furniture and move into the MH in the spring of 2013. We began cleaning out closets getting rid of stuff to prepare to put our house on the market. After 36 trips to Goodwill, Salvation Army, DAV and ARC in 2012, we were making good headway.

We took a month-long trip to Florida in January, returning to Colorado in early-February, asking ourselves “why come home so soon”? We continued clearing out closets and selling furniture, and by mid-April, were ready to put the house on the market. It went on the market on April 18^th as we left town for a trip to Austin, TX. We got an offer on April 20th within hours of its first and only showing. We were stunned it went so quickly, but after de-cluttering and many little home projects, it really was “move-in ready”.

We returned home from Austin and began selling our remaining furniture on Craig’s List in earnest and made many more trips to Goodwill. We rented a small storage unit to store our family photo albums, some framed pictures, china, pots & pans, and a few other items we wanted to keep. We (and our cat Shasta) moved out of the house (2,600 square feet) and into our MH (300 SF) on Sunday, May 19^th and closed the sale and handed over the keys on May 20^th.



Old home

 

We realize that this was a huge step, but we wanted to be “liberated” from our stuff and live a simpler lifestyle, seeing all the things we only passed by on those infrequent vacations. Now it is time to enjoy the country where every night we can sleep in a comfortable bed, eat food from the local farmer’s market, and return to our home on wheels. No we’re not “homeless”---we’re “houseless”.

New Home

 

We left Colorado Springs in our rear view mirror on Tuesday, May 27th and traveled to Sioux Falls, South Dakota where we established our new “domicile”. On Friday we went and got our SD driver's licenses, registered to vote, and re-plated our GMC Yukon. We’re using a mail forwarding service here in Sioux Falls as our new mailing address. We're staying through the weekend and head to Forest City, Iowa on Monday.