Still feels like we are on VACATION???

Yup, although we have been living in the motorhome for a couple weeks while parked in the driveway, I am still feeling like we are on VACATION and I am dreading going home and having to take care of the house.

But the joke is on me, because there is NO house to go back to and take care of!  LOL

After the successful house closing on Tuesday, (which took a mere 15 minutes)  we had a few more things to finish up in the Oconto area.  Steve has now seen the arthroscopic surgeon and is set for surgery on  August 17th. The surgeon seems upbeat and positive and it is an easy fix on Steve's knee.  So we will be looking forward to that.

We hung out at Holtwood City Campground in Oconto for four days. One evening Erin and Mark with the two grandtots came to visit.  They live mere blocks from the campground.  This is a small city run campground and after living in the area for 15 years, we FINALLY camped here!

Holtwood Campground Link

We cooked out and had a great meal... and of course enjoyed the antics of little Clayton and Chelsea.

Good thing we parked close to the playground equipment! 

By Thursday afternoon, it was time to shove off.  We had the rig ready to roll and I drove it over to meet up with Steve for his doc appt.   Soon we were heading on down the highway, to loop around the bay of Green Bay and up towards Dykesville in Southern Door County. 

Our friends have a cottage that is only 12 miles from where Steve works (more on THAT in the next blog!)   and have generously offered that we can pull in and park and enjoy their property for the next 10 days.   

The cottage is located on the waters of Green Bay, across the bay from our old home-town of Oconto.  We are facing the west, and there was an awesome sunset last night... but I forgot to take the camera down to the shoreline to snap a pic.  Oh well, we will be here 9 more nights, so I will be sure to snap a few.

See why this still feels like VACATION to me? 

Today it is somewhat warm, but not nearly as hot and humid as it had been all week.  I took the doggers down to the beach to wander around a bit in the water.  They went right in and enjoyed the coolness.  Ducky tried to roll on a dead fish on shore, so I will go down later with a shovel and bury it.

It was a great way to spend part of the day...

after all, cleaning and housekeeping in the rig goes quite quickly ... 

so I guess I can splurge a little time to be a beach bum, eh?

I have four or five more boxes of "stuff" to go through yet that are sitting in our livingroom area of the motorhome.  They are things we didn't quite want to part with, that we could still use.  We just don't have a "place" for them yet in the rig.  I am working on finding locations that make sense and don't take up space that is for something else.  Steve noticed the rig seems to ride better now with more weight on board.  Our available CCC  (cargo carrying capacity) is rated quite high, and we have never fully loaded ourselves up before.  I will do a blog post later on CCC, UVH, GVWR, and GCWR.

Plus we decided to get wall-hugger style LaZboy recliners instead of the ones we have now.  Our present ones are much wider and need to set too far away from the wall to recline.  We looked at a few the other day with a narrower profile that are wall-hugger types, and we might make a decision by the weekend.

In the meantime, we will enjoy this location for the next ten days, and then I will write about our next exciting news as to what the future will hold for us!!!!

Oh, by the way, the doggers think this VACATION state of mind 

is just fine and dandy with them too! 

.

Campground Review- Little Smokey Lake – Holmes Park campground Iron County, MI

(this is one of series of posts of various campgrounds we have been to over the years... I am going through my files in alphabetical order and posting past camping trips in my blog.... something to do over this long long winter---- sigh)




This is a very small county run campground of only 6 or 7 sites along a small lake just on the southern edge of Iron County, MI.   We like going here, as it's very close to some hunting land that my brothers lease each year.    The campsites are not really defined, and it's pretty much park where you find a good spot.   If you don't like where the firepit is, move the ring of rocks to a better spot.   There usually aren't any envelopes by the self-pay tube, so be sure to bring an envelope to drop in your $6 fee.  


Rustic camping, no hookups, not even water.  Nobody seems to pick up the trash in the overflowing barrel by the outhouse either.  So we haul our garbage back out with us.  Not a "Big Rig Friendly" park.  I don't think we can manage the sloped entrance apron with our diesel pusher.  We camped here last in our Coachmen 28' and we had to take it at an angle. 


The other negative is that the cars on the roadway whiz by fast,  so keep a close eye on your little ones and off-leash pets.  The lake water is shallow, so launching a boat is difficult.   I think these things keep most folks away from this campground.   All sandy bottom though, so it's fun to wade around and play with the dogs.  Just about EVERY time we have been here, we have been the ONLY ONES here.  It's such a lovely little lake with good fishing for the guys.   We let our kids paddle canoes around the perimeter too.   Down on the south end of the lake are a few cottages, but the rest is all woods.   At night you hear the coyotes howl....

Information about all campgrounds around Iron River, MI

(this is the BEST site along the edge of the shoreline!  and my sister took it) 

These photos are from a time we came here when we had our older motorhome, the Coachmen... we parked right up to the shoreline, nose first, in in order to keep our back end off the gravel roadway---

 what a great view!

 

The next morning we woke up to heavy fog... 

It didn't take too long for the sunshine to come along and burn it off.

  

The fog was still around during coffee time.. but we didn't mind.  We knew we had a great day of weather ahead of us.  This is another "favorite phote of Steve"

The shoreline was almost picture-perfect for an autumn day....

Ducky appreciated the view too... actually she was just waiting to see if her Auntie Schmoo was coming out of her trailer, and bringing a pocketful of doggie treats.....

The dogs love to run free and fetch in the water... as long as there weren't any other campers there, we could let them enjoy some off-leash time.  (keeping them far away from the main road) 

Here is Auntie Schmoo (my sister Linda)   with her dogs... "The Girls"     One is named Wee-Wee with the red collar and the other is Booger with the blue collar.  Otherwise I can't even tell them apart.   We had also hauled our fourwheelers up in the campground too, to take a ride later into hunting camp.

 

In and out all day long they played, fetched, swam and rolled in the sand and dirt on the shore, just to jump in again and wash it all off. 

 

 This sure is one batch of Happy Doggers! 

Duchess (a.k.a. Dumb Ducky) was crowned the Princess of the Park

 The calm surface of the lake just invites more photo taking opportunities-- 

as long as there aren't any dogs sloshing in and out and in and out

 We hopped on our fourwheeler ATV's and headed out to Da Camp... which is some hunting land my brothers and sister lease each year.   We loaded a cooler with ummm beverages and took a nice ride in the woods.  All the birches and popples were yellow and the maples rich reds... it was a wonderful day for a ride. Steve and I normally take up two fourwheelers for trips, but this time we decided to just take one and I rode behind Steve.  Otherwise we each drive one.  I love to hit the puddles, and he likes to stay clean and dry!  haha!  

We also took a ride back to a friend's trout hatchery... 

It was a perfect blue-sky day with no clouds and no wind.  The day was a memorable one.

Schmoo and Fuzz were ahead of us on the trail and stopped for a pit-stop (potty break)   At least I waited till he was back outta the woods before I took this pic

I took this one from the back of the fourwheeler----wheeeeeeee

That pretty much captures the essences of the day...