CAMPING- Ottawa Lake in the U.P. of Michigan

We made it the rest of the way to our planned campground destination without any more tire mishaps.  Whew!   (read last blog about our flat tire on the Tracker)

I gave our Hopkins Tire Pressure Monitor a kiss goodnight for doing such a good job.  It hangs over our bed to better reach the signals from the rear of the rig, closer to the Tracker as it's being towed.  Steve had wired in an extra 12 volt DC receptacle for it's operation.  I also use the same receptacle for plugging in the laptop or cell phone when using them in the bedroom area.  I can still hear the warning beeps of the monitor unit from up front in the passenger seat, or with a turn of my head, I can see that reassuring green light, saying all is good to go!

We got up to Ottawa Lake in the Ottawa National Forest about 4pm. My folks were there ahead of us and saved our sites.  They pay for the site, put the money in the post and set a lawnchair up or park a car to hold it till we get there.  Otherwise this park fills up too fast and we can't ever get a site, much less a long enough or level enough site for us to fit on.  There were only 3 other empty sites when we got there.  This is rustic camping without hookups, and the park is usually pretty quiet.  It seems the other types of campgrounds with power attract noisy families, booming music lovers, and lots of partiers.  We enjoy the quieter places, plus the guys like this lake for fishing walleyes. 

We have camped on every one of these sites in this campground many times, 

starting when I was 10 years old.  

My folks were set up on the site next to us since earlier in the day, and were waiting through the morning rain to quit.  By mid-afternoon is was all sunny and bright. Yayyyy camping! 

A very good camping friend (who is just like family) joined us by the nickname of Bob Senior.  Yes, there is a Bob Junior.  We sometimes just call him Senior and we all know who we mean.  LOL 

A long time ago, when Senior got his newest camping trailer, my sister and I bought him some "party lights" or known as "awning lights" and snuck them over and clipped them on his awning as a Trailer Warming Present.  The park we happened to be camping at had electric hookups that time.   He never forgot that we did that for him.

Senior knows we most often camp at places without any electrical hookups, so we never get to put out the "Party Lights" on our own awnings.  One day he was looking at a catalog and found some SOLAR POWERED Party Lights!!! Whee heeeeeeee!!!!!   

He bought a set for both me and my sister as a surprise!   What a neato idea!  They are about 20 feet long, and have 25 LED bulbs in pearlescent glass globes.   They come with a small solar panel that can set right on the edge of the awning to catch the rays, or be staked out on the included stake to reach the rays.   They are not blazing bright or bothersome to others, and emit just enough of a nice glow to see your way around outside, but not attract bugs.

Now, how cute are these?   They can also be used with the regular AC type household current too. 

The lights can be found at http://www.plowhearth.com  and they have other shapes and styles available.

Senior always has along his constant companion, Shadow.  The dog also has a nickname of "Federal Express"  ... due to the zoom zoom zoom frantic running he would do as a puppy when we started camping with them 15 years ago.  We have watched this dog grow up and now he's also in his Senior Years.   We love you, Shadow! 

We relaxed around the campground and enjoyed visiting and telling stories and just plain old being together.  Tossed a few brats and hot dogs on the grill, hauled out a potato salad I had made, and we were comfortable and happy.  The sun was shining, we were in our lawn chairs, what more could we want? 

Friday night my sister and brother-in-law went out in their boat to do some walleye fishing. (best done after dark)   They weren't gone more than half an hour and we saw them coming back up the hill to the campfire again!  ACK!!!!  HE hooked HER!     Turns out that he caught a nice walleye, and while she was helping him get it in the net, she got hooked by a treble hook on the fingers!

I must say, what a brave woman!!! She didn't cry, yelp or swear (much) as Surgeon Steveio went to work with a tin snips to get the ends off the hooks to slide out. There wasn't any room to do the "press down" technique, so they had to cut off the hooks to remove them.  ACK!   I could not watch, so I ran to my camper for antibacterial ointment and medicated bandages to seal it up once they were done preforming surgery.  What a tough gal!  .... and they went right back down to the boat and continued fishing~~~~


On Saturday, we had some rain spurts here and there.  So they put up some tarps over the table and cooking area on my sister's site.  It was just enough to keep the rain off, but still allow us to sit outside for our cooking and meals.  Steve prepared his fishing gear to go out in brother-in-law Fuzz's boat, but the rain kinda kept them back in the campsite instead.  No hooks for him!  LOL

We had met some nearby camping neighbors who had a darling little gal named Jaydon (sp?)   She was a hoot and enjoyed some time by our campfire.  Check out the umbrella hat!  LOL    Later her older brother came back to purchase some of my wool socks for his mother's birthday. Awwww so they came and "shopped" in my stash of finished products, and I made some $$ for the weekend. 

Even with a throbbing hand from fishing hook punctures, my sister was working on weaving lawn chairs for some friends.  You can see from the pics that we all have our woven lawn chairs and cherish each one.  My sister is still able to do them, but they hurt my hands too much anymore.

Here is a previous blog post with more information on how to make these chairs:

blog post about macrame woven lawn chairs

The weather was so beautiful on Sunday, we sure didn't want to go home!  Mom and I ran into town and got some country ribs to do up over the campfire.  We first simmer them in onion soup mix in the pressure cooker on the stove, and then later put them on the grill over the campfire to brown them up and put on some Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce.  Added some ears of roasted sweet corn.  Yummmmmm!   We always eat good when camping!

We didn't pack up and head home till after 5 pm.  Stopped at the dump station and did a good rinse out of the tanks because there wasn't anyone behind us.  Another good reason to wait till later in the day to leave a campground--- the dump station is less crowded. LOL

I am pleased to say we didn't have any more tire mishaps on the way home.  Whew!

I dread coming home to unload and unpack and start laundry and get things done.  Duke of course, doesn't like it either, and pulls a hissy fit about coming in the house.  So I didn't come in either!  I stayed out in the rig doing a few things till almost 9 p.m. before heading into the house for the evening.

Only 35 more days till I NEVER have to unload the motorhome, because it WILL be our HOME~!



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