CAMPING- Morgan County Park and a visit to Rainbows End Alpaca Farm

 

This might very well be our last weekend of camping for the season, so we decided to head up to Morgan County Park on Timm’s Lake.  It is in the Marinette County park system,  and here is the link to their website:

www.marinettecounty.com/parks/camping/morgan_park_campsites/

Steve took Friday off of work, and I only babysat granddaughter Chelsea till 10am.   So we had time in the morning to load up the motorhome with a few groceries and clothes, add some water to the tanks (Steve had already blown out the lines for the season but hadn’t yet added antifreeze)   and in no time we loading up the laptops and sock machine.  

We drove up through rainy icky weather on Friday afternoon, and it was looking like a gloomy wet frozen weekend, forecast with snow showers and sleet.   But we didn’t care, we were going CAMPING!

The campground was almost empty, there was only one camping trailer on one site, all closed up with nobody around.  We selected a wonderful site (number #17) and paid our meager $15 fee, which included 30amp electricity.  This campground stays open until after gun hunting season, which starts Nov 20 and ends Nov 28.  I am sure next weekend there will be quite a few deerhunting groups here.  But for now it’s very quiet.  Just the way we like it!

There are 32 sites in the campground, and some have nicely bordered areas with timber, sunken fire pit, crushed red gravel and very level.  Other sites are less improved, but just as nice.  During the summer months, this place is usually full every weekend.   There is even a little retaining angled wall, where the land slopes away to the ravine.  There is a small river down there, leading into the lake nearby.

I think there are only 2 or 3 sites we would not fit on comfortably due to level or tree placement.   There is a dump station (water turned off but the dumping hole is open)  and 3 sets of lighted outhouses.  Plans are to add a shower building in the future, but not just yet. 

We set up on our site and turned on the Lasko electric heater to supplement the propane catalytic heater to warm up the back portion of rig faster.   The front area was pretty warm from the dash heat while driving.  Once we were set up, it was time for Mr. Steveio to take a bit of a rest….

While he napped, I cranked on some socks.  I have an order to get a bunch done for Patty Reedy at Rainbow Fleece Farm in New Glarus, WI.  She sends me her custom spun yarns from her own sheep, and I knit it up into socks for her.  Then she sells them in her shop Yarn From the Barn. 

 

We added a new *toy* this week too for our motorhome.  We don’t watch that much tv, but like to find the local stations for weather and news usually before going to bed.  When camping up in rural areas, it sometimes takes 5,6,7 or whatever tries to find the local stations on the antenna.   That means getting up, re-aiming the antenna, and running the tv through the setup program to scan for available channels.  (our tvs run through first analog and then digital stations so it takes twice as long to do set-up scans)   If no channels show up, we have to get up, reposition the antenna, and run setup again.  and again.  and again.    LOL   Soooo we found this:

SURE LOCK antenna signal finder by King Controls, $42.79

It is set it up between the antenna and the switcher box. Simple cable in and out.   Flick it on (it runs on a 9volt battery) and then while watching the row of LED lights, turn your antenna a full 180 degrees.  Where the lights show the strongest signal, that is where your channels are!   Once your antenna is set in that spot, now you can run the setup scan only once and find them all!   Then you can turn off the SURE LOCK as it’s work it done.  Saves the battery.

 

We already knew coverage up here is spotty.  We were only able to pull in one analog station which was very fuzzy, so we spent the evening watching some rented DVDs and eating some pastys… a local dish.  Pronounced “pah-stee”   The old Cornish miners would have sausage meat and potatoes and rutabegas wrapped up into a crust and baked ahead of time.  Then,  when down in the underground copper mines, they would set the pasty on their mining lamps to warm through in time for meals down in the mine. 

Some folks like to slather them with ketchup, some with gravy ladled over the top, or like me, just a dab of butter or two.  They are a meal in themselves and one is very filling.  We split one because they were so big.   We dozed off to the sleeting sounds of rain and snow and ice falling on the motorhome.  Didn’t care much, we were inside and warm and dry.

 

We woke up to only a little bit of snow along the edges of the road on the leaves… where the heat from the ground didn’t melt what fell overnight. So that was the extent of our first snow of the season.  Not too impressive, huh? 

Saturday morning was still drizzly, overcast and not too nice for a walk around the park.  Steve took the dogs out, but came back pretty muddy, wet and cold.  I had to dry off their paws as best I could and toss ‘em in the bathroom area with the doors closed to the bedroom and up to the kitchen/living area.  So until they dried off, they had to stay on the vinyl flooring in there.  Such a meanie, huh?  But beats wet dog on the couch, carpeting and flooring.

We took a ride on Saturday afternoon to check out a place that Steve found an ad for in the local shopping paper.  It was called Rainbows End Alpaca Farm near Norway, MI.

http://rainbowsendalpacas.net/

It was a lovely new building overlooking the pastures full of the lovely soft gentle alpacas.  We wandered around the shop a bit, with me fondling the yarns while Steve patiently waited for me to get my fill.  

They had a lovely seating area around a fireplace, and off to one side a meeting area for knitting clubs and lessons.  Besides the skeins of yarns, they had displays of everything alpaca related!   Knickknacks, knitted goods, and other wonderful items imported from Peru.

I saw a very strange spinning wheel, on display by the fireplace.  It was obviously very old, but for my fiber spinning friends reading this—it had a metal flyer!   Very intriguing. 

 

It was not operating at the time, as the back rod from the treadle to the wheel was off, and there wasn’t any drive band.  Otherwise I might have asked to try it out!

We walked out on the viewing deck to check out the alpacas, and I snapped a few shots of some other young ones hanging out in a nearby shed in the parking area.

 

Saturday night it was still raining/sleeting/snowing so we decided to hang out inside the rig, no campfires.   Before we left for the alpaca farm, I had put a turkey breast in the new small crockpot I bought 2 weeks ago. 

By the time we had gotten back from the alpaca farm, the turkey was fall apart tender, juicy and perfect!  I steamed up some cauliflower and broccoli, and whipped up a pot of rice.  Yummmmmm   These are all turkey breast meat, no bones, no wings, no legs or carcass of any kind to deal with.   Just roast it and slice off a mouthwatering piece. 

We popped in a travel DVD of touring the southeast coast from Georgia to Florida all the way to Key West.  It is part of a 6 DVD series called America’s Scenic RV Adventures.  (rented from Netflix)   After that was done, we put in Dustin Hoffman’s Little Big Man, never having seen it before.  Gosh, the violent things done in the name of the US Army, to the native americans.  We know this is a part of our history not often talked about, but sure is awful.

 

Sunday morning I woke up and realized the rain/sleet sounds on the roof has ceased!  I reluctantly opened the blinds, scared to think I would see a couple feet of snow… Nope.    And the rain had stopped long enough for a nice walk with the dogs before breakfast.   Steveio put on his chef’s hat and whipped us up some ham and cheese omelets!   He is watching his cholesterol, so eggs are a rare treat for him.  About once a month is all he indulges in them.

Now,  I am having a pleasant morning of knitting socks and doing a bit of this and that around the rig.  I am dreading going home, as it will be the last time camping for the season.  That means taking all the foodstuffs and canned goods into the house, removing the extra things that I will plan to use in the house for the winter, like the spinning wheel and yarn stash, and any cleaning or bathroom products that can freeze.

Weekend Camping will be over until either a winter vacation getaway to the south or springtime thaw.   Unless we get nice weather later in the month?  But with opening weekend of hunting season next weekend, the woods will be full of bangs and booms and hunters all over the place.  Plus the traffic will be bumper to bumper heading north on Friday night.  

Opening Day of Deer Season is such a national holiday around here that most schools even close down on opening day to allow the older students to take the day off officially, instead of parents calling them in with excused absences.  Or skipping. 

 

After lunch on Sunday, we got ourselves *road worthy* to head on out.  We dumped the holding tanks and gave them a good rinse-out with our own onboard water system, as the park’s water has been shut off since Oct 1.  And time to hit the road.  Back home. End of camping.  Sigh.

 

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