Finding Bigfoot with Bill and Janet

We belong to a few specialized groups on Facebook and on Yahoo that are specifically related to the Safari brand motorhome that we own. We've been in some of these groups for as long as we have owned our rig back in 2006, and joined up when Yahoo groups first started, long before I ever heard of Facebook!

Over the years we have developed friendships among various members. Especially the helpful ones who can offer advice, part numbers, repair and modification ideas. As you can imagine, sometimes there are varying opinions or things get heated up, or unecessary comments develop on a thread that is uncomfortable. And usually, along comes who we call "THE VOICE OF REASON" a.k.a. Bill Edwards! He can usually straighten things out, clarify things, or lead the conversation back with the correct information and help really relay what the actual circumstance or what the poster is trying to portray.

We have so enjoyed Bill's helpful conversations and input over the years, but never met him in person.  One time he even sent us a replacement door panel for our cabinets when he was doing some remodeling and didn't need it.  We did, and he graciously sent it to us in the mail from Colorado. Free of charge!  Can you imagine our delight to find out that he and his wife Janet were going to be traveling through our area and they asked if we could meet up somewhere... and maybe spend a day or two together! How wonderful!

It turned out that they would be traveling through a part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan just a mere hundred miles from our home. We arranged a day that would work out for both of us to meet up at a campground of our choice. We coordinated our meeting time, and Steve and I decided to go up a day earlier, just to be sure to secure a couple of campsites that were in a more open solar-friendly area for our panels to operate. This was better than the more fully wooded sites that we knew that were in this rustic National Forest campground.

I will do a following post on a campground review for this place, called Little Bay De Noc on Lake Michigan in the Hiawatha National Forest:

Little Bay De Noc National Forest Campground

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Steve and I left on Friday morning to drive up, even though the weather was not very cooperative. As we drove along, it was getting rainier and cloudier and windier.  Ugh. 

But we persevered on our way through to get to the campground. Fortunately, the two sites that we wanted to occupy were vacant and they were the first come first serve variety. Some of the sites in the park are reservable, but not all of them. That is nice to have some sites remain first come first serve, so it allows travelers on the spur of the moment to still have the chance of getting a good site, even on a Friday morning.

We are down on the far end in the Twin Springs loop,

 sites 35 and 36.  Nice and open for solar exposures.

Actually, there were only three other campers in the entire Campground. So getting a site really wasn't a problem after all.

We paid the envelopes for both sites to occupy it for Bill and Janet to hold their site. We weren't sure if they would make it in on Friday night or not until Saturday morning. We erected a small pup tent that belongs to our grandchildren and parked our Saturn on the site. Just as we finished getting the tent put into place, the rains really started pouring down. So we rushed back into our motor home and laid down and took a wonderful afternoon nap with the rain pounding down on the roof.

As we woke up, it was getting cooler out in the mid-fifties so we decided to kick on the propane Olympian Wave 8 catalytic heater.  At the same time I also had the refrigerator going on propane, and I could hear a howling squealing sound outside of the motorhome by our propane tank. Steve opened up the window and yes, he could hear our propane pressure regulator making an obnoxious sound. It had done it a couple times last fall and once this spring already. It seemed to do it when more than one propane appliance was drawing from the tank.

He said it would be a good time to change it and we knew that there was an RV dealer only 20 miles back in the city of Escanaba. We called them to make sure that they had one in stock and yes they did. It was slightly larger than the one we currently had but it was still a dual stage with the proper inlet and outlet threaded sizes, so it would fit. They were open until 7 p.m. so we hopped in our Saturn and drove over and got the regulator. 

Luckily, the rain had stopped. Steve always carries a sufficient amount of tools to do just about any repair job while we are on the road. So we got out our tools and supplies and I helped by being his go-fer and we took care of changing over the regulator. 

The captions in the pics explain the process:

The hard to read the lettering:

"Having grandkids means you always have blow bubbles along, 

perfect soapy water to check gas fitting connections."

(typo: Protective caps)

In no time it was done, the squealing had stopped, and we were back to the peaceful quiet National Forest woods. The weather for the evening had turned beautifully calm and the rain had stopped. The sun was setting and it was absolutely fantastic!  

Here is a bit of overkill of pics,

 but it was SO pleasant after a rainy windy icky day.... 

There is a nice swimming beach further up in the park,

but each site in this loop had nice sandy access as well.

The bay water was like glass....  how serene.

We sat out until dusk ...  and then we went back inside and played a couple games of Yahtzee and watched a bit of the local news before turning in for the night. 

~~~~~~~~

The next morning we anxiously awaited the arrival of Bill and Janet!

Soon Janet and Bill rolled on in and got all set up on the site next to us. They were quite pleased that we selected an open site for them so their solar panels would have adequate access even though it was a cloudy and rainy windy day again. The winds were blasting so strong we couldn't even visit outside, we had do our visiting inside of each other's rigs. It felt like a winter day outside.

We were parked pretty close together, but we still had to use an umbrella to get back and forth, just in case of a spontaneous deluge of rain. The weather kept changing from sun to clouds and rain and back to sun again.  It couldn't make up it's mind.

That afternoon, the campground host stopped by to chit chat. He politely inquired as to whether or not we had dropped our pay envelope in the post over at the registration kiosk. The remaining tag from the envelope is hanging on the post at our campsite so he knew we must have filled one out. He stated that when he went to clear out the envelopes that morning to do his paperwork, there was only the one envelope holding the site next door for Bill and Janet. He did not receive our envelope. 

Well I know darn well I had put both envelopes in, and he said don't worry about it, they'll look around and see if they made a mistake somewhere. I felt bad, I almost felt like I should pay again because they couldn't find our envelope. The Host couple stopped by a couple times and chatted that afternoon, but said no, they still had not found the envelope. They also were missing the one for the site on the other side of us.  They were new hosts just starting that week, and their boss was coming later to go over things with them.  They really wanted their books to be correct, and they were considering putting in their own money to make things balance! 

We offered a little mirror that they could look up inside of the post in case the envelopes were stuck inside. They did one better, they went and used a cell phone and stuck it in there facing upwards and took a photo with flash. Sure enough! There were four envelopes stuck up in there inside of the pay post!!!  It was ours and the neighbors and 2 from some previous camping people. Evidently the fifth envelope that went in for Bill and Janet's site was able to fall down below and not hit the little support bracket that the others were all hung up on. 

It's amazing that nobody else had ever complained about missing envelopes from the previous hosts from last year, or maybe just their paperwork was always wrong because they were missing envelopes? Who knows. But evidently all the envelopes must have eventually fallen down last year, otherwise someone surely would have recognized the problem. 

Anyhow, the hosts were relieved that they did not have to pony up the extra cash to make their books balance before their boss got there, and we were relieved to know that our envelope was finally found. P.S. This Campground is normally $22 a night for a rustic camping site but with our Federal Senior Access America pass, we got it for $11 a night.

We sat for a while in Bill and Janet's rig admiring all of their changes and updates and interior. Then we went back to ours to cook supper and invite them over to our rig for the evening again, admiring each other's changes and update and interior. It sure was fun. Their rig is a few years newer, a bit longer, and has a slide in the livingroom and kitchen area.  But still made by the same Safari company with a few changes over the years. 

We have a lot of the same standard features and some custom features. Sharing ideas and improvements, but also bemoaning the repairs and the "Not So Well-Designed" things too. It was a wonderful evening and we enjoyed hosting them for dinner. We had bought four of the traditional Cornish mining specialty food that is quite popular in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan called a "pasty". Here's some information on what pasties are all about:

In the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the term "pasty" is associated with a particular type of pastry shell stuffed with ground beef and root vegetables, although the pronunciations of these terms differ. The food variety, ironically, rhymes with "nasty" rather than "tasty." The dish is as culturally ubiquitous in the U.P. as deep-dish pizza is to Chicago.

The pasty's prevalence is linked to an early 1800s rush to mine copper deposits in the region. The resulting onslaught of laborers from Cornwall, England, brought over the pasty.

The Cornish miners favored the dish due to its portable nature — a small meat pie that could easily be carried into the mines for 12-hour workdays. 

I baked up four pastys in the oven along with making some salads and we had a wonderful evening meal together.  We also gifted them with packages of Wisconsin Treats...  cheese curds and string cheese that we picked up in our state before we headed up to the U.P. We thought it would be nice to introduce these Colorado folks to some of the "local cuisine" LOL.

Before we knew it, it was time to toddle off into bed, listening to the wind outside and the rain. It was a miserable evening for weather. No sitting around the campfire for us.

~~~~~~~

The next morning we were up early and perked up some fresh coffee on the stove. I mixed up one of those Krusteaz's cinnamon swirl coffee cakes and baked it in the oven. Janet and Bill joined us for coffee and the coffee cake and we were happy to see that the sun was coming out. It was still windy but not quite as bad as the night before.

We enjoyed our morning coffee clutch conversation and then we decided to do a little exploration and drive through the campground so they could see the rest of the sites, and particularly why we chose the ones we chose.  (They had a little mishap with the winds crossing the Mackinac Bridge and it loosened a cargo bay door. They rescued it and stored it inside until they could later repair it, so the space is occupied by some cardboard until they can do the repair).

Then we drove on down about 15 miles to tour a lighthouse on the very end of the peninsula, called Peninsula Point Lighthouse. It is also part of the Hiawatha National Park and we went through the grounds on display. Janet and I went up inside of the tower while Steve and Bill wandered around the point, out on the rocks and looked at the surrounding grounds. 

The lightkeepers house is gone, but we could climb up the stairs in the tower to the top.

I tried a panorama shot with my camera... but it really distorts it

They are also protecting the monarch butterflies with a stopover site on the point of the peninsula.

On the way back we drove through an area with a deserted little Village Store and some pretty buildings and farms around it called Deerfield.

I will have to research this little area some more.... 

The stonework on the barn is like artistry... 

And this old farm house speaks to me... 

From there we drove a little further north and Bill spied a Safari motorhome, just the front end, peeking out of somebody's barn! We drove into the driveway a little ways to take a couple pictures. There were signs warning that there were surveillance cameras and there was electric wire fencing around the paddocks. 

Nobody came out to find out why we were stopped in their driveway for a few minutes taking pictures of their motorhome in their barn. But we decided we better get out of there, since there wasn't any type of friendly encounter (and we didn't want an unfriendly one) so we may as well take off. 

We drove further up the road, driving through the woods.  When off to the left I spied BIGFOOT! You just never know who you're going to see in the woods of the U.P. What a hoot!!!!

Here is a closeup:

See???  He DOES exist! 

After our little journey around we went back to the campground for an afternoon of relaxation. The sun was shining and then the weather would change instantly and it was pouring rain. Then the sun would shine again and it would be beautiful. But then it would be pouring rain again. 

In between the showers Bill had set up his Weber Smokey Joe charcoal grill and also his Blackstone griddle on the picnic table. They were treating us to the evening meal. Bill and Janet prepared a wonderful seasoned pork loin on the grill and big baked potatoes wrapped in tinfoil. Then on the Blackstone he grilled some tasty fresh asparagus. We checked out his Blackstone, and it might be something that we might consider buying in the future. We do enjoy cooking when we are camping and this just might be our next newest toy of choice? 

As we were finishing up our meal, the sun was setting again with the most absolutely beautiful sunset the colors were amazing the camera doesn't even do it justice. The winds had finally calmed down and it was going to be a pleasant evening for sleeping.

~~~~~~~~~

The next morning was going to be Bill and Janet's departure date. The water was smooth as glass and peaceful now.  Sure wish it had been like this all weekend!!!

We had done many many hours of jaw-jacking and idea-sharing and parts information and vendors and places to find things on the internet. It was so interesting. We got a lot of new ideas and I hope they did too, sharing with each other. We had some fresh coffee and home baked blueberry muffins for our coffee clutch in the morning. 

Soon it was time for Bill and Janet to start loading up and getting organized to head out further west. They had other commitments of stops to make as Bill was having some parts replaced or repaired for some things on a big back hoe, which was the whole reason for his trip over to our neck of the woods. So he was meeting up with somebody else near Minneapolis and needed to make a connection there later on.  

What a great campsite! 

Since it was so nice out, I decided to take a few pics of their Safari Panther motorhome and their jeep tow vehicle.  What a way to travel, eh?  They are not full time RVers, and have a home in Colorado. But they love to get out and see the sites like we do, and travel in style in our vintage Safari Motorhomes.

Most Safari motorhomes have custom painted murals on the back, done by the Dame family at the factory before they even leave the facility.  Each one is different and unique, and many have tiny hidden animals on them.  I didn't find theirs, but I will look closer later at this photo I took. 

Ours has 2 white tigers and tiny hidden mouse.

So they got all loaded up and hooked up and we said our goodbyes. 

We took our obligatory photos by our rigs to share with the others on our group:

Soon they were winging their way west...

 That left us debating if we should start loading up or stay another day???

We messed around a little bit with a Tire Linc tire pressure monitoring system that we had bought on clearance over at the RV dealer on Friday when we picked up the propane regulator. The problem was the new app available for the system was not compatible with the sensors and transmitter of the old system we bought that was made to function with their older app. We wasted a ton of time on the phone with customer service, to no avail. So that's why it was on clearance. Basically it was obsolete. So we decided to load on up ourselves, swing by the RV dealer and return it on our way through heading south back to our house. I think we will buy a current Tire Minder system instead. That is what Bill has, and we have researched it a while back and have it sitting in a wish list catagory on Amazon. 

At the same time we stopped at the Aldi grocery store in Escanaba and did our bi-monthly grocery shopping --- since we were driving right past it. It was easy to pick up all of our groceries and put the refrigerated and freezer stuff right into the motorhome to transport it home. The winds were kicking up as we were driving home, so we kind of battled a little bit of a headwind and side wind for the final 100 miles home. But we got back in the mid-afternoon and safe and sound.

It sure was a fun weekend to spend with people that we have corresponded with easily for the last 10 years or so, and to finally meet in person.  Thanks Janet and Bill for a fun weekend! 

CAMPGROUND REVIEW - Bear Lake in Nicolet National Forest near Wabeno Wisconsin

Some of the campgrounds in the Nicolet National Forest in our area just opened up on the 5th of May. So on Friday, we decided to take our chances and buzz up to get a campsite for the weekend at Bear Lake. 

We rarely camp on the weekends if we can help it, we opt much more often for the quieter sites during the week without the Weekend Warriors. I had a commitment on Friday afternoon to be the special guest at my granddaughter's first grade tea party. So Steve hopped in the rig earlier in the morning and headed up on his own. The campground is only 75 miles from home so I drove up later in the Saturn. For the trip home we would hook on to the back of the motorhome and tow it back.

He was quite fortunate when he reached the campground, there was only one other campsite occupied. We were able to get one of our favorite site number 15 overlooking the water. 

Here is the view from our site:

link to information:

Bear Lake in the Nicolet National Forest

Sites 15, 17 and 18 in our opinion are the best sites for us in our long rig. They have the best views and each one has its own set of stairs down to it's own little private beach and lake access.

Bear Lake has 27 campsites total. About five or six of them are tenting only, some are walk-in tenting over to the peninsula beyond on the beach. 

Camping is only $15 dollars a night, but if you have the America The Beautiful Senior Pass, then it's HALF price at the bargain of only $7.50 a night.  Some of the sites are reservable online, but also there is a pay post and envelopes for the cash payments of the first come first served sites.  Sorry, no credit card machines, this is out in the boonies.  LOL 

Cell signal is sporatic and at times, non existant.  We used a cell signal booster, and even that was blank at times.  Only tv antenna stations are 4 PBS stations, nothing else on the antenna day or night. 

We made a list of which campsites were better for us in a long motorhome with a description on each one. 

• 1 OK not water side first come first serve level lots of room
• 2 OK not on the water side nice and level reservable 
• 3 slope too sloped and short to work for us
• 4 ok first come first serve nice and level not on the water side might be okay for solar
• 5 better first come first serve on the water side pretty level have to come in from the other direction might be good for solar
• 6 better reservable pretty good site overlooking water really nice view and pull in opposite way nose first
• 7 ok reservable not on water side nice and level kind of green moss in flat area
• 8 too short slope Breaking down blacktop and ledge to get down by picnic area too short
• 9 OK nice and level not water side first come first serve flat fire pit to ground kind of mossy level area open for solar
• 10 slant short
• 11 hard to get into
• 12 tent up a hill
• 13 ok first come first serve slight slope to the end could do it in a pinch but not a favorite not on the water side level fire pit to the ground
• 14 ok reservable. Level green mossy flat not water side probably good for solar easy to back into
• 15 BEST SITE. Stayed here May 2022 best to pull in nose first stay to the left for solar on the water side not reservable first come first serve
• 16 OK first come first serve not on the water side nice and level green moss flat area really good for solar best to back in
• 17 BETTER Reservable lake side nice and level little more trees than the others has its own steps down to the water
• 18 BETTER first come first come first serve nice and wide open has its own steps down to the water might be good for solar Lots of parking area Lakeside might be better than the one we were on 15
• 19 OK not on the lake reservable nice and level tall trees not quite as open
• 20 OK reservable Lakeside a little smaller than 18 still good little further away from the lake has stepped down to the lake not nice of a view
• 21 SLANT reservable but not too bad right before the cul-de-sac Could work in a pinch nice and deep period flat fire pit to the ground period may be good for solar
• 22 SLANT reservable wide open lots of sand might be good for solar raised fire pit right before called de sac
• 23-27 tent sites

There are pit toilets on both ends of the campground and two well pitcher pumps for water. So be sure to fill your RV freshwater holding tank before you arrive. There are no spigots or faucets.

We walked down to the cute little swimming beach (no lifeguards on duty) and picnic area.  Everything is clean and well kept, even after a long winter under the cover of snow. 

It's just a short walk to the beach and this trail also leads to the walk in tenting sites.

Nice and clean and neat.... 

but a bit cold as the ice only melted off a few weeks ago! 

There is a boat landing for the small lake which is only suitable for kayaks canoes and small boats with electric trolling motors. No gas engines allowed . The park is relatively quiet but does allow generators during set hours of the daytime. But not at night. Of course, we are loaded up with 500 watts of solar on the roof so we try to park carefully on sites where we will get good solar access, especially in the morning hours. 

There's a short little walking trail to another nearby lake called Little Cub Lake. It appears to be wonderful fishing because there are reminder signs and information for fishermen as well as the limits of the newest inland trout season that just opened. There were two other vehicles parked there with fishermen out on the lake in little portable fishing boats that could be carried down the trail. 

We walked on the trail to the end where there's a little dock to launch from. With the high waters and recent rains, the very end of the trail was submerged. Steve balanced on his tippy-toes along the side rail just to get out there. Just to say he did it. I was hoping with the camera I could catch him falling in, but that was not the case. 

He made it back to dry land safe and sound. 

Binney enjoyed herself and got a good sniff in the woods. Lolly-gaggling along at the far end of her leash.  She loves the chance to explore a bit, but we always keep her on leash.  The flexi lets it expand a bit, but if anyone is around, we reel her in and lock it tight to a 6 ft length. 

 

We had walked around the loop of the campground, which later on we found out was 1.7 Mi. It was a little longer than we first thought. Also nearby on the map there is another hiking trail back into the woods. The sign says it's the Rat River Recreation Trail. We didn't take that trail but it would be a nice little nature hike if you came to stay in the campgrounds. See the map below for more details.

The Nicolet National Forest has very nice rustic camping sites in many lakes in this area. There is also Ada Lake, Richardson Lake, Boot Lake, and then Boulder Lake (which does have some sites with electric), there's also the Oconto County campground of Chute Pond and there is a Township Campground of Goodman all in the general vicinity. 

Now for our camping experience: 

Steve had the rig backed in and set up by the time I got to the campground. It was a lovely evening and the temperatures have finally warmed up around Wisconsin where we could even sit out and enjoy the view for a while without bundling up in winter jackets! 

What a view from our campsite! 

The rear of the rig looks scary here, but it really isn't that close to the edge. 

and our own staircase leading down 

to our own little private beach! 

We cooked up some delicious burgers on the grill and I put some steak fries in the oven. Food always tastes so much better when we cook outside.

It was so peaceful for the evening. Two other campsites became occupied, one person with a little tab trailer and another couple with a tent. It was so quiet. One of the nice things about this campground it is far far away from any busy roads or trains and there's no motors allowed on the lake so it's very very quiet. We fell asleep peacefully in the night without anything to disturb us.

Saturday morning was absolutely beautiful. We lolled around in bed for a while with fresh perked coffee on the stove. We were really enjoying the peaceful campsite. This is what it's all about.  Look at the view from our bedroom...  It was crispy cold in the mid 30's, but we were toasty warm with our Olympian Wave 8 Catalytic heater which uses no power to operate.  Set on low all night, we were comfy.

It was so pleasant and peaceful. The lake was like glass and not a sound other than the birds.  I kicked back in the lawn chair to soak it all in.  This is what I waited all winter long for. 

Steve wasn't entirely happy with the numbers coming from the solar panels, so he took out his extending telescoping ladder and got up there to give them each a good scrubbing down. He removed layers of winter grime and dirt. It made such a big improvement on the panels.

Go Go Go 

Steveio! 

We got a fire set up and ready in the pit, but then we got a ding on the phone that there were fire danger warnings.  With the low humidity and high winds forecast, caution was advised. The woods are SO dry this time of year, and no fresh green growth yet, just dried leaves and grasses from last fall.  Tinder box waiting to happen since it hadn't rained in about a week. So we decided to not light the fire. 

Around noon we came to realize that it was a good idea to maybe pull out the motor home and turn it around and drive it in nose first on the other side of the campsite. This would take more advantage of the solar exposure for our panels. That way we would be fully recharged for the evening. We didn't use a lot of solar the night before. Only 9% of our battery capacity. Our Trimetric gauge for the solar setup inside was showing us that we still had 91% left. But with deep cycle batteries you should never go beyond the first top 20 to 25 per-cent off the top.  It gives you more recharge cycles if you take care of your batteries and never drain them down too far. Once you drain them down to the 30 or 40% range you severely limit the number of recharge cycles you can ever get out of the life of your bank of batteries. Our last batch of 6 volt deep cycle batteries lasted US 10 years! So we are hoping to make this set last just as long with regular maintenance and do not abuse them during our camping sessions.

It didn't take too long to secure items inside 

back the rig out, turn it around, and drive it in nose first 

on the far left side of the site.

Besides, being nose-first into the campsite 

gives us this absolutely amazing wonderful view 

from the front windshield and living area of our rig! 

I decided that I wanted to work on a little sewing. I hauled up my quilt supplies and my bare basic Brother sewing machine. I don't like to use my good computerized Janome sewing machine or my precious antique Singer Featherweight with the brush motor when running off the solar and just the inverter. The inverter sometimes (because it's not pure sine wave) can mess up computer control boards or not work properly with brush type motors. 

We noticed that also with the vacuum cleaner. And our coffee grinder. So we grind up coffee beans enough for a few days worth at a time while we have regular household current before we leave or if we are running the generator. 

So this basic Brother sewing machine works well enough to do sewing while on the inverted power from the solar panels and batteries. I finished up assembling about seven or eight more quilt blocks while enjoying the sunshine and the pretty views outside.

 

Steve was messing around with a few odds and ends projects on the motorhome. He took care of replacing some of the eyelet ends of various ground wires that deteriorate over time. It's much better to replace them now before they break off and something doesn't work properly. He found that many of them that needed to get a good cleaning up or replacement and then before he reattaches the wire to the stud he uses a gob of dielectric grease to help keep a good connection as well as protected from the elements or corrosion in the future. So while he was putzing around I was able to work on my quilt and we were just happy as all get-out. It doesn't take much to make us retired old folks smile.

He just has to lift up our king sized bed to gain access

to the engine compartment

It was so peaceful we enjoyed a nice nap with the birds chirping outside the open windows. First Time of the Season. Felt good. 

For supper on Sunday, because it was Mother's Day, Steve said it was my choice for dinner. I had brought along a big slab of salmon that we get from Aldis. Steve has this very interesting wire grid that can hold the slab flat while cooking it on the grill. It also allows him to flip it over and let any excess juices or fats run off during cooking. 

Then when he brings it back inside we set it on a wooden cutting board and he can carefully scoop the salmon off the skin side of the slab and transfer it onto our plates. 

I had a vase of daffodils that I had won at our Homemakers HCE banquet on Wednesday, that made a nice backdrop in the motorhome. What a beautiful evening dinner with soft music, glasses of wine, and a pile of roasted veggies in the oven.

Who needs a $50 meal in some fancy restaurant

all crowded up on Mother's Day? 

Besides, I want my girls to spend Mother's Day with THEIR children.  We can get together next week. It's not the day, it's the LOVE....

We took a couple nice walks with the dog and chatted with a few of the other people camping in the campground. We decided we weren't going to have a campfire yet on Sunday night, but some other people were staying until Wednesday so we gave them our meager little stash of camp firewood we had brought along. Share the wealth and Pay It Forward. They were quite happy to accept the gift. 

Instead, for the evening we curled up with a new show on PBS called Legacy List. Then we took nice hot showers and crawled into bed for another wonderful night of peaceful sleep. We sleep so well when we're out in the woods with nothing around us.

We won't mention our own snoring----

Overnight, the weather report changed. This morning we looked at the weather and we had winds that would be increasing throughout the afternoon in the 20-25+ mph range. Gusts are expected in the 40 to 50 mph hour range! That's not nice weather to drive a motor home in. Also this evening there were going to be thunderstorms as well as rain and storms all day on Tuesday. So we decided to make a change of plans, pack up early, get roadworthy, and hit the road before the winds increased.

So as I type up this blog, rather I recite it into my talk-to-text, we are heading home 75 miles back to our house. The winds are already kicking up and it's probably a good idea that we had decided to abandon our campsite and head on home. The skies are pretty blue and things are kind of nice and sunny but I think there's some not-so-nice weather headed our way.  I love using my laptop with an old version of Microsoft Streets and Trips with a GPS dongle. It makes "mouse trails" of all our trips and travels. I make notations along the way of things we would like to keep in our trip records. 

We are now twenty miles from home as I type this, and the winds have really picked up. We are fighting a headwind for the last stretch and it's pretty strong. 

We stopped at our little municipal dump station in Oconto and take care of our holding tanks for the $2 fee. Nice and handy to dump near home because most of the National Forest Campgrounds do not have dump station.

Taking care of the necessary stuff...

Since there wasn't anyone waiting, we could attach the non potable water line and give our black tank a really good flushing at the same time. 

Soon it's home again home again jiggity jig

Now to unload and catch up laundry.