CAMPGROUND REVIEW - Fox Park near Escanaba Michigan

It was Monday, and we looked at the weather report. The week looked really, really nice. So we decided to pop on the internet and check out one of our favorite parks located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. 

Fox Park is located between Menominee and Escanaba, Michigan, on M35, right along the Lakeshore.

From their website:

Fox Park is a 10 acres park and campground located on M-35 along the Bay of Green Bay. The campground offers 20 electric campsites. The campsites are spacious with many located on the water. Water is available near the entrance of the park, and there are several porta-potties conveniently located throughout the park. Firewood is also available at the park. 

The park offers a picnic area with picnic tables and barbecues, making it a great location to take a break and enjoy lunch. Located conveniently between Menominee and Escanaba along a main corridor, this a popular park for visitors to the Upper Peninsula. The park is located just 5.7 miles north of Cedar River, which offers gas, food, and a full service marina. 

Fox Park is owned and operated by Cedarville Township. For assistance, questions, or to cancel a reservation at Fox Park, please contact Kathie Prestin at 906-424-0590. (Available Monday - Friday, March 4 through September 30 from 3PM to 7 PM & Saturday and Sunday, May 18 through September 30 from 10 AM to 7PM). 

FEES 

ELECTRIC SITES: $25 PER NIGHT

RESERVATION FEE: $10 PER SITE PER RESERVATION (NON-REFUNDABLE)

Fox Park Campground reservation link

Because it's only about 50 miles away from our house, we decided to take a drive up in our Kia and check out where we might want to reserve for the week.

Although we love site number 20, it was already taken for the week. So we drove on through and settled for site number 5. Sites 14 through 20 are really nice, but they were all booked. 

So while right there in the park, we went online and reserved site number 5 for four nights. It was reserved for the weekend, as was most of the rest of the park. That was okay, because we really prefer to only camp during the week.

We went back home and tossed some things in the motorhome, enough stuff to last 5 days. In went the dogs, and my GoPro camera. We were ready to roll.

Although the park is near M35, when situated alongside of the water, it kind of drowns out some of the noise. Upon entering the park, it turns immediately to a gravel road. All of the campsites are gravel.

There are a myriad of signs as you come into the park. It looks kind of uptight and daunting. But really, the place is very relaxed. The camp host occupies site number one.

Here are some of the signs by the entrance of the campground area of the park. Take note, there is also a picnic and day use area to the north of the park. There are a lot of signs there telling people to stay up in the picnic area unless they are a registered camper. This helps alleviate any unnecessary traffic coming down through the campground.

And yes, there was poison ivy here and there among the bushes. Stick to the cut lawn areas or the sandy beach, and you are just fine.

Check out time is 1:30 p.m. Please plan accordingly because just north of the park is the time change between Central and Eastern Time. It's easy to get mixed up. The park is Central Time zone.

As for facilities, the campground recently updated later last summer to electrical service on all 20 campsites. The new posts provide 50, 30 and 20 amp outlets. 

All of the picnic tables have recently been replaced with brand new ones. The fire rings are the heavy dual-walled culvert type. The park is well kept and a lawn service came in during the week and cut throughout the entire park.

All of the campsites have new gravel. Most of them are level. A few on the non-water side are slightly sloped.  

There is water available at the entrance to the park at this powered pump. There are no other water faucets within the campground. There are no toilets or showers, just rented porta potties at one section in the middle of the campground next to the dumpster. I'm not sure if in the future there are plans to put in a complete bathroom, but at this time the 4 porta potties are the only thing available. 

Also note there is no dump station, but there is information that you can go nearby to Shakey Lakes and use their dump station. I also know that further south along M35 there is Kleinke Park which has a dump station that you could stop by and pay a fee to utilize.

Cell phone coverage is one or two bars, mostly roaming. TV stations over the antenna fade out during the day but come back in during the night. You can reach the station in Escanaba and also the one across the water to the Lower Peninsula of Michigan! But only in the evenings.

Here is a You Tube of our visit,

please Like and Subscribe?

What is so great about this park? 

THE BEACH!!!!

It is 

DOG FRIENDLY!

As long as everyone picks up after their dogs and don't create a nuisance, it will continue to be that way.

I took out my GoPro and we set up our silly little pup on a long cable attached to a concrete boat anchor. This gave him his very first experience on a sandy beach. There was nobody else around, otherwise we would not have put out such a long cable. As soon as anybody appeared on the beach, he was reeled in and put back on a 6-ft leash. 

But here's the creative little video that I put together about his very first hilarious experience with SAND!!!

We walked around the campground and took photos of some of our favorite sites to keep in our own records if we want to reserve again.

I also did a walking tour with my GoPro of each site. I will add that link below as soon as I finish editing it.

Site 16

Site 18

This one was called site 18A. We aren't exactly sure what that meant because it does not appear on the reservation list. But it's a very nice site with a path next to it leading out to the beach.

This is the turnaround at the end of the park standing near site 20 which is our favorite. 20 is tucked away behind the trees and facing parallel to the water. I could not take a photo of the site because there were people occupying it.

Here's the view from our own site, number five. It was a very nice site with trees to the north. Site six next to us was rather close but there was nobody occupying it for the week.

Here are some photos of our campsite number 5: 

(That is the old table still in the tall grass yet at our site, the campground hosts were busy removing all of the old tables while we were there)

All of the waterfront sites lead right out with their own little paths to the beautiful sandy beach.

There's not a lot more you can ask for in a little township campground for only $25 a night.

Because the campground faces the east over the water, the sun rises were absolutely amazing!!!!

The sunsets weren't too shabby either, as the sun went down over in the West behind the trees. The reflective pinks and purples and blues were soft and gentle across the lake.

All in all, it was a beautiful quiet week in the park. I will do a YouTube of our actual camping in the park and post a link down here: 

Will we be back again? You bet!

Weekend at Home, GoPro Fun, and Heading Out Camping Again

I left off with last week's blog about heading home from Governor Thompson State Park. We had to head on home and get there before 4:00 p.m. We were told there was a special sale going on and that we got the "grandparent discount" if we could get there before they closed!!!

It was worth it, for sure. We also tipped them very well. 

In a way, we were glad that we came home, because the weekend was going to be all rain anyhow. Sure enough, Saturday morning we woke up to dark skies and rain. 

The weather over the weekend was pretty miserable, on and off all day and overnight. Windy rainy stormy and just all over yucky.

I had mentioned in my last blog or two that I've been playing around with a used older GoPro camera. I am learning more and more, and realized that I needed an external microphone with a wind muff to help on my recordings. Especially when I was aiming out of the motorhome window as we drove through parks or interesting places.

The young man that was helping me with this Go Pro"mod" device that I was buying from him, suggested this product. It's called a Purple Panda microphone and he said it was the best one for its value to use with GoPro, or even cell phones to help cut down wind noise.

I found one on Amazon: 

Purple Panda Lavalier Lapel Microphone Kit - Clip-on Omnidirectional Condenser Lav Mic

It came in the mail and I was able to fiddle around with it a little bit. I'm learning more and more from the GoPro Quik website. They have a little program in there app that I can just download a bunch of short clips. It arranges them into a video and adds music for me. 

Here is one of my newest creations, just about flowers around in my yard:

On Sunday, Steve decided to get some motorhome maintenance done. It's a necessary thing to keep our motorhome in tip top shape. 

This time it was the EGR valve. It needs to be cleaned about every 40 to 50,000 miles. It is very, very expensive to replace with a new one. So it's best to keep the other one cleaned up and operational. It also helps with improved fuel mileage, and better pick up and get up and go! 

So I used my GoPro to film what he was doing step by step and put it on my YouTube channel:

On Monday, we were looking at the weather report and things were looking pretty good for the entire week. 

I had it in my mind to head up north to a campground along the lake shore. It's located on the baywaters of Green Bay where they lead out into Lake Michigan. There are four really nice campgrounds in a row on M35 between Menominee and Escanaba in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. 

It's only about 45 miles from our house, so we decided to take a buzz up to Fox Park and just check out the sites. It said that there were five or six of them open on the reservable website. We thought we would also check out how bad the mosquitoes were at the same time. 

We got up there and things were pretty good. So we got online and reserved campsite number 5 for the week. Yayyyyy!!!

On our way back through Menominee Michigan, there was a sale at Ace Hardware that Steve had been keeping an eye on. It was for the Stihl brand weed wacker that operates from the same batteries that he also uses for his leaf blower and chainsaw. Happy Father's Day to Steve! 

We headed on home and loaded up the motorhome. We had reserved four nights so we were going to take a chance on the weather. Tossed in the dogs, some food, and my GoPro. Things looked pretty good on the weather app, so off we went.

My next blog will be a campground review about our waterfront site at Fox Park near Cedar River Michigan. Here is a teaser for right now....

HAPPY CAMPING!

CAMPGROUND REVIEW - Governor Thompson State Park Wisconsin, fish scales and caterpillars!!

It was the middle of the week, the best time to go camping for us. We prefer to not be out on the busy weekends. We looked online and found a campground with a couple open sites about 50 miles away from our home. Wednesday and Thursday nights are good for us.

Then we took a look at the weather report. Even though things looked horrible back here at home, it was going to get better once we got on the road.

Yep, this was about our first 10 miles...

After that, as we headed further north, the clouds opened up and we could see blue peeking through. The weathermen were right!

We headed up into North Central Wisconsin to a fairly new campground in the Wisconsin State Park system. It's called Governor Thompson State Park. It began development in 2000, and was finally ready for picnicking and other recreation about 2005 or 2006. The campgrounds weren't developed until after that. I remember we went up there one weekend and just walked around to see how well they were putting together this park. 

We could tell someone with half a brain was helping with the development, someone that actually did RVing! 

(Please note that Steve is a retired State Park Maintenance Supervisor, and had seen a LOT of the state parks that are just not constructed or developed very well)

These sites are level!!!! There are lots of woods and shrubbery in between sites. They are placed strategically so you don't see the people in the next campsite. It was also evident that traffic flow was a consideration. Beach goers and day use picnic and hiking areas are in the beginning access to the park to the south. The boat landing is up in approximately the middle, and the campground is up to the northern end. That way you don't have the daily use people driving through or even near the campground! 

The next thing that was evident was that the campground was made in three separate loops. That way you didn't have all the total amount of traffic driving past all of the campsites all of the time. You basically had one third of any campground traffic going through your own loop. 

The third thing that was evident was the big beautiful bathhouse building that was constructed somewhat in the middle of all three loops. Easy access. The bathroom building had restroom areas on each side. And then all around the perimeter were individual rooms with locking doors for showers. Inside of each shower room there is a toilet, a sink, a bench and a shower. The showers are free, no coins needed like some parks. 

Throughout the three loops are very nice heavy duty concrete buildings with pit toilets that are extremely clean. The buildings can double as a tornado shelter in the event of bad storms moving through the area. This area of Wisconsin seems to always get hit with heavy storms, straight line winds, or tornadoes. Smart to make smaller accessible shelters throughout the campground area, but also the large restroom/shower building in the middle can be used as shelter in the event of a storm.

Also throughout each loop are drinking fountains with water bottle fill taps, as well as regular faucet hydrant units for filling up water jugs or dish pans for tenters.

All of the roads are paved, and the campsite pads are graveled and level. The two handicap pads are paved. The only electric sites available are in one loop on sites 15 through 30. The rest of the 100 sites in the campground are all rustic with no electric. 

The dump station is extremely wide and easy accessible with big rigs or large fifth wheels. It can be approached from either side so two vehicles can dump at the same time. Spaced far enough away is another staging area with the freshwater. That way if you are filling your freshwater tank you are not blocking up the line for the grey water and sewer dumpers. very smart! 

Be aware, although there are some water faucets throughout the campground, you should fill at the dump station first before reaching your site if you travel with empty freshwater tanks. I think the faucets in the park are not threaded, so if you really needed to use one to fill you would need a "water thief"... which is a rubber device that clamps on over a non-threaded spigot so you are able to temporarily attach a hose in an emergency.

Also at the end of the loop of the dump station area are three large dumpsters. They are for garbage and for recycling. Spaced nicely far away from the campground as to not attract bears or coons or other wildlife. Great to not have them stink in the hot summer sun of they were closer to the campground. 

The boat landing has a wide swing for launching boats plus an area set to the side for tying off and cleaning your boat of any noxious weeds. Then the parking area for the boat landing has huge pull-through spots for trucks and trailers. Again, a well thought out setup.

There's a camp host on duty at site number 2, and there are the presence of maintenance workers and rangers from the main office near the entrance as well as the maintenance area near the picnic and beach. 

I would like to mention that the cell phone signal was very strong with five bars and many times 5G. That is sometimes hard to find a northern Wisconsin. The broadcast TV stations on the antenna brought in all of the major networks from Green Bay. We didn't even bother setting up our Starlink, because we had plenty of data and antenna access.

Reservations can be made using the website below, and is highly recommended because this is a high use park. For Wisconsin residents the rate is $28 a night. If you reserve online there's a $7.95 reservation fee. A daily or seasonal vehicle sticker is also required. 

Here is a link to the website:

https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/parks/govthompson

The park covers 2,800 acres! There are many trails and natural areas to enjoy. Because it's so large you don't hear any nearby road noise or cottage folks or ATVs which are not allowed within the park.

Here's the map of the campsites. The East Loop is the only one with electrical sites, and take note that it's only half of the loop with electricity. It starts at site 15 and runs to site 30. We were on site 28 for two nights during the middle of the week. I would say 3/4 of the electric sites were occupied. The rest of the park was pretty quiet with maybe 10 to 15 other campers on the rustic sites throughout the park.

Okay, that's enough information about the park itself. Now let's get down to the nitty gritty about our actual individual campsite.

Check in and check out time is 3:00 p.m. because there had been heavy rain the night before and all morning, we were hoping maybe our site was open already. We arrived at the park about 1:30. 

Nope, there were still people in our site which they had every right to be until 3:00 p.m. So we drove around the park a bit and made this YouTube: 

Here is a video of our actual time spent in the campsite and setting up and some stuff with walking the dogs. There are segments on here where you can view the restroom building and showers: 

I'm attempting to start up a YouTube channel with just my camping videos featured on it. My other YouTube channel has weaving and spinning and knitting and grandchildren and dogs etc--- so this one is known as "What-A-View"

Just like my blog:

https://youtube.com/@what-a-view-ml2uq?si=TftWubbxZl_uCMi7

If you enjoy watching my videos, 

please like and subscribe!

By about 2:30 p.m., the people had moved on. We could back into our campsite now.

It's a very pretty site, number 28, with electric, located in the east loop. We backed right in and set up and it was very quiet and peaceful. We were only a tiny bit tilted and put leveler blocks on one side.

Here is where I get a little irritated. The previous people had decided to clean fish on the picnic table!!!

And they left behind piles of dried fish scales!!!!!  They were in piles on the ground....

And scattered on the picnic table!!!!

I guess gone are the days of people buying newspapers anymore. So they don't have them to roll out on a table to clean their fish? 

What really bothers me is that these little pieces of fish scale are like little pieces of bones. They are very sharp and are horrible in a dog's digestion tract. Our dogs could easily lick them up because they are stinky and delightfully tasty to a dog. Then we would be going back to the emergency vet located way down in Appleton which is 100 plus miles away!!!!

We did the best we could with our little camping shovel to dig up what we could and bury it out further in the woods. I carefully swept off the picnic table with a damp paper towel to catch each little one that was stuck on there. 

Because of these inconsiderate people, it changed the way we could use our campsite.  For the rest of our two and a half days here, we had to keep our dogs only secured up close to the camper where they could be nowhere near the picnic table or the ground where these little flecks of fish scale were all over the place. Not to mention, they attracted flies!!! 

We didn't use the picnic table at all. 

I hope the next people don't think it was from us????

We unhooked the cargo trailer and tried to get a little more level on our campsite. We did the best we could with our leveler blocks and it was good.  We set out our camping mat and chairs, and it felt just like home.

It doesn't take us long to get set up. A few people had walked by to chat. Many were commenting on the invasion of the "tent caterpillars"...

Which are actually the Gypsy moth larvae.

We knew that they were all over in Northern Oconto County, as they have been for years. 

They cover everything with little specks of caterpillar poop as they defoliate all of the oak trees. Back in the early 1990s, they were horrible to the point of being a complete invasion. You could not walk through the woods without swinging your hands from side to side moving veils of them hanging down on their silken cords. 

If you sat still and quiet in the woods it would sound like little bits of rain as their little specks of poop would fall down from the air above. It would hit down on the fallen dried leaves on the woods floor. It sounded like little teeny bits of sleet or hail. Tick tick tick tick from the caterpillars overhead. Eating and pooping eating and pooping!!! Ewwwww

Back then, if you drove a car or an ATV on pavement through the woods with tent caterpillars, it would be awful. The sounds ofsplit splat splat splat under your tires, and you could literally skid on them if you hit the brakes when going too fast. I'm not kidding. The entire ground would be moving with motion of crawling caterpillars. 

They are not nearly as bad now as they were back then!

The worst part is they are able to defoliate an entire tree in no time flat. They seem to prefer the oak trees. See the photo below? That's what they do... Until the leaves all curl up and fall off dried and destroyed. 

After a year or two or three of having all of its foliage eaten off, a mature tree cannot manage to survive without its photosynthesis and chlorophyll process. The trees begin to rot from the inside out. What looks like a normal tree trunk can be pushed over sometimes by hand as it collapses to the ground from being rotted out. My father's cabin is located nearby and he lost near 80 oak trees on his property due to these caterpillars. Most of the trees around the cabin had to be taken down before they fell down. Others just fell over during high winds and as they hit the ground they exploded wide open with rotted centers. 

The maintenance staff in this park has very carefully removed any of the dangerous trees in the high use areas. We noticed that everything around our campsite was fairly young new growth or of other species than oak.

This is the funny part about the tent caterpillars, they totally freaked out our little dog Nicholas!  If he laid down on our camping mat, they kept crawling towards him! Oh horrors! He couldn't figure out why these little things kept coming after him....

Honestly he was totally afraid of them! I did make a video clip of him being scared. I am putting that together into another YouTube that I will add the link on here later. I'm not finished yet putting the scenes together and editing. We never laughed so hard! 

He then came up on my lap where it was safe and sound away from the caterpillars. Just look at that face?

We could deal with the caterpillars, because we have been doing that for over 20 years. We enjoyed walking around the park, and the weather decided to change almost hourly. It would be pouring rain. Then it would stop in the sun would come out. And we will go for another walk or a bike ride.

Then it would cloud up again and get really windy. We will get more rain. But that was okay. We stayed inside and watched some TV.

Again, the sun would pop out and everything would be nice. We really enjoyed the peaceful park and quiet surroundings.

I think these blossoms are from flowering dogwood. They smelt so great after the rain freshened up the air.

Overnight, the weather continued with intermittent rain and wind. It was too windy and wet to do a campfire. So we curled up and watch TV and went to bed. 

The next morning was absolutely beautiful. The sunshine coming in through the trees is such a great way to start the day.

We saw some whitetail deer go through the park, and a couple little turtles here and there. Chipmunks and squirrels were abundant. And the birds were amazingly loud with their springtime calls to each other. The woods were alive!

We really enjoyed our stay at Governor Thompson State Park. We had only been here once before on one of the rustic sites. I know at times it's hard to get in on the weekends, but all I can say is keep trying back on their reservation list. I think they have a notification system that will let you know if there's an opening. During the week I think it's a little easier to get in on a rustic site. They do have little scan codes on each post that you can drive through, choose a site, and then scan to make sure it's available. Then you can pay directly online and not have to do the reservation fee.

So that's a wrap on another campground review!

Sold Our Saturn Vue - 8th Grade Recognition ceremony

For the last 3 years or so, we have been towing along this Saturn Vue behind our motorhomes. First it was towed behind our Safari. More recently we did tow it behind our littler Winnebago View.  We decided that we enjoyed the e-bikes and the little cargo trailer much more than just towing along our Saturn. It was time to let it go...

Since it was all set up and ready for towing, including the baseplate, extra wiring and the battery kill switch, we decided to sell it as a tow package. Along with it we sold the toolbar and safety chains and electric auxiliary braking system. 

I wrote up an ad and put it on Marketplace. Within 3 minutes, I kid you not, some friends of ours from Lower Michigan contacted us. They wanted it, SOLD! Yep, I sold it in 3 minutes!!!

They were already planning to come to Wisconsin for a concert down in Madison. So it just made sense for them to stop along the way, and hook up and take it right along with them. 

Incidentally, they have a Winnebago View just like ours!

It looked pretty cool to have two Winnebagos parked in our driveway! 

We had offered for them to stay overnight in our driveway. The term for that is called "moochdocking". It's when you offer your driveway to someone where they could plug in, top off their water, hook to our free Wi-Fi, and enjoy a visit. 

Our special honor guest was Miss Sophie! A beautiful Great Pyrenees who came to give our pups a little visit. She was extremely gentle, and granddaughter Claire took to her right away.

She is one big fluff bucket for sure. Great Pyrenees are known for their loyalty, and their dedication as a stock dog. Watching out for everything and making sure nothing harms their flock or herd.

Nicholas wasn't quite sure about playing with her. When she would bounce up and down and dodge to initiate play, he was a little perplexed.

We invited them to dinner on the grill. They brought us this very interesting type of pickle that is only available in the lower Peninsula of Michigan. It is made without vinegar and is a refrigerated type of pickle. They are very crunchy and have an extremely good taste.

We looked online and found out they are not available for shipping. You can only buy them in local stores down in Central Lower Michigan. So next time we go through, we are going to have to stock up!

The guys putzed around between both motorhomes, and Mark needed to top off his DEF fluid. In the meantime, Tracie and I were busy with hints and ideas and storage and modifications on the inside of our motorhomes.

Theirs is a 2016 G model just like ours. But ours has the upper bunk over the front and theirs has the large skylight window on the front. That's really the only difference. Everything else inside is about the same. It was kind of fun to go through each other's motorhomes...

The next morning, Mark finally got in the Saturn and drove it the full distance of our driveway out to the street! Now that is a trusting buyer. He didn't even take it for a test ride...lol! 

We got them all hooked up step by step. Tracie video filmed the entire process, so they could refer to it again and again until they become familiar with each step. Sometimes it can get rather complicated for towing, and the last thing you want to do is forget a step. Not only can it ruin your own equipment, but it could endanger the life of somebody behind you if things aren't hooked up properly.

IT'S A VIEW WITH A VUE!!

We said our goodbyes, and soon they were on their way headed towards Madison. I'm sure we will see them down the road somewhere and say hello again to our Saturn Vue.

~~~~~~~~

On Monday, we had the honor to attend our granddaughter Chelsea's 8th grade recognition for graduating. Next year she will be a freshman in high school. Where has the time gone?

We were very proud of her, as she was recognized for a number of special achievements, including citizenship and an essay on patriotism.  We were proud when she received her award. I was filming and taking pictures, so Grandpa and her parents had to clap double loud to make up for me.

One by one they got to walk across in front of the audience, receiving a certificate as well as a school T-shirt to keep as a memory of their time at Oconto Middle School.

~~~~~~~~~

I will finish up this blog with a little bit of flowers around the yard. We wait all year for these beautiful yellow irises to pop up around our flagpole. Last year we barely had any, for some strange reason. But this year they were back in full force!

I love my little kissing Dutch boy and girl. We bought them when we lived down in Chilton and we were sure to take them up to Oconto when we moved. They are very heavy, made out of solid concrete. Every year I touch up their paint a little bit as needed.

I am pleased to see my clematis vines are coming back as well. They took a while to get started. The last two years I've left the old growth on the trellises. It seems it gives the new growth something to grab onto.

This one on the right side is already blooming this gorgeous burgundy red bloom!  They continue to bloom on and off throughout the entire summer until fall. I have a mixture of the burgundy ones and the white ones on both sides of the pergola.

~~~~~~~~

It is also the anniversary of a raid upon a horrible nightmare of a place in Midland, Michigan. This awful woman had entrapped 38 breeding shelties in a mobile home. She would only meet with people in public places to sell them puppies, citing that she was an elderly lady and was just being cautious. She didn't want to have people at her own property. She was hoarding them and they were in awful health. She didn't have any food left or running water. One of the neighbors reported her to the sheriff. The Michigan Sheltie Rescue, along a partnership with the Wisconsin Sheltie Rescue, took in the 38 decrepid diseased and awful conditioned dogs. Soon they became 72 dogs with all the new puppies that were born. It was horrible! They had volunteers around the clock as well as veterinarians and staff helping aid all of the deliveries. Many of the new puppies were born with health issues.  The mature dogs were in horrible shape.

Why do I say this? Because this is the 11th anniversary of when our darling little Binney was rescued!!

Here are the before and after photos....

Binney was heartworm positive, she was skin and bones, and her hair was falling out in clumps. Her genetics are awful, as well as her dental situation. She barely has any teeth left now at 11 years old. It took a long time to nurse her back to health. Not to mention overcoming all of the emotional damage that these dogs suffered from such a rough start in life.

Also, at that same time, our little Finnegan was born to a litter mate of Binney's, by the name of Daisy. We were fortunate to have Finnegan in our lives for 7 years. He passed away from multiple cancer tumors, as have so many of the other dogs that came out of this mess. 

I guess we have to enjoy each and every day that we can with our furry family friends.

As for now, 

we are on the road. 

Heading out camping 

somewhere up north.

 I will blog about it later...