RV Park Deck in a Day- Almost

All of our kids were camping over the weekend, all in different places! Dan and Heather were at Breezy Acres down near Fond du Lac in their camping trailer with their kids. Erin and Waylen were up at their camping trailer near Wausaukee with their kids. Heather and Jesse were tenting it with Jameson and friends up near Dave's 12 Foot Falls by Amberg.  Little Whitney was with her other Grandma so she was the only one NOT camping.

Since they were all gone doing their own things, Steve had the opportunity to take a few days off work. We managed to get 5 days in a row to get away.

We loaded up the motorhome the night before, and took off on Thursday morning. We headed up to the Door County Peninsula--- you know,  the tall skinny finger on the east side of Wisconsin?

Beantown Campground was our destination! link: http://www.beantowncampground.com/  It is run by John Anderson, an old school chum of Steve's when he used to go to high school in Door County.

Our own Pops Pfundtner had secured a seasonal campsite there for his motor home. Two weeks ago we got him all set up on his site and that's what put his plan in motion for this weekend.  We rented a campsite right across from him on the right.

He had contacted Home Depot and had a shipment delivered right to his campsite. Look at this! Enough wood to build a deck and a box with 4 chairs and a patio table and umbrella.

INSTANT DECK KIT

SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

Hahaha - that's where Steve comes in.

Pops has a very nice campsite that faces out over a meadow of wildflowers, with some peaceful dairy cows that stroll along on the horizon in the next field over. Right next to his camper pad was a perfect level spot, but it would be all muddy if it rained. So that's why he thought it would be perfect idea to build a nice little deck entertainment area, complete with a patio table and chairs.

We had got up there about noon, and had a little lunch with Pops. As soon as I was putting away the lunch stuff, you know Steve.. onto the task at hand  He was leveling up and squaring the first few boards for the frameworks. We had cement paving blocks to help hold the frameworks in place. I helped, but Steve did most of the work.  The finished deck would be 10 feet wide by 16 feet long.

ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM

As soon as the framing was done with the floor joists, 

now it was time to add the flat deck boards. 

This was now about mid afternoon, and he was zooming right along.  The sun was shining, it wasn't too hot out, and the breeze was blowing in nicely across the meadow from the west.

This is the Project Supervisor, and the ever-faithful Job Boss at his side, making sure everything stayed on task and went smoothly.

By 4pm, Steve was reaching the halfway point of the deck boards.
 He better hurry up if we expected to have supper on the deck!

Ahhh here he is, placing the last deck board, while Dad P was getting everything ready to go on the grill for supper. He had brought up some wonderful fillet steaks and made grilled vegetables along with a special poppy seed cake roll for dessert.

The Project Supervisor did the final inspection and declared the deck done and fit for dinner. Time to toss the steaks on the grill!

While the food was cooking, the next project was to quickly assemble the patio table. It was so cute watching these two work together. What a wonderful memory to have both of them assembling this table and figuring it all out like two typical men. Of course, they did not read the directions, but the table managed to get put together anyhow.

There were a few leftover parts, I still haven't figured out what they were for --- because I think somebody threw away the directions???

The wind was blowing in and it was getting so cold, we decided to eat inside of Pop's motorhome.  They got in few games of cribbage while I watched some HGtv on Pop's King Dome Satellite.

We slept good that night, especially after a long day of project making by Steve. First thing Friday morning, you know Steve. He was chomping at the bit to get going.  But ... I reined him in. He decided to cook us a wonderful breakfast in the camper and had his dad come over to eat with us. The sun was peeking out and it was going to be another good day. 

Don't you know it, Steve decided now it was time to do Phase 2 of the deck. Right after breakfast he was back to work. He added on a 8x5 section in front of the doorway, that was just perfectly level with the deck and the motor home.

We took a little break for some lunch and Dad took us and the neighboring camper, Kathy, out to lunch in Baileys Harbor. We went to a cute place called DC Deli. Baileys Harbor has plenty of little places to eat, so this should keep Dad P busy for a while visiting each one. It seems everywhere he goes, he knows somebody. They lived up here in Door County for 20+ years. Heck, even going to the post office takes him an hour because he runs into so many people to talk to. LOL

Back at the campsite it was it was Mr. Zoom Zoom Zoom again for the afternoon.

Phase 3 was another section of a nice wide deep large step level with the bottom edge of the motorhome door.

He retracted the automatic metal step and locked it into place. Now his dad can step directly from the deck into the motorhome without any difficulty. His arms can be full of bags and he can set them down on the wide step as he negotiates the door. I think it was a pretty nifty design that they figured out.

Silly little Millie was the Job Boss
and she definitely stayed out of the way
 to not hamper any of the construction process

Yep, the final product met the approval of the Patriarch of the Pfundtner Clan

As for Beantown Campground, they have sites where people can leave their RVs year-round, there are some sites that have Park Model units, and even a few cabins that can be rented. It's not a very large park--- I think with about 90 sites total. It's close to many of the tourist attractions and restaurants and unique shopping places available in Door County. It's located a mile or so out of Bailey's Harbor in a country rural setting.

The owner, John, seems to be a big kid himself. In his family friendly campground, he has a swimming pool, gameroom, playground, and best of all ... this train! He runs around the park every couple hours taking kids for rides. What fun. No cost of course, just pure fun and family camping at its finest.

Here is a little video as they zoomed past.... 

What a fun thing to do.... 

I got out and snapped this pic as it went past our rig. 

Note our flags out on the front spare tire.

Now that the work on the deck was done, we had a couple little projects to take care of on Pop's motorhome. A little of this, a little of that, and soon he had it in spiffy shape. They did a run to the hardware store for supplies, and of course he found more people he knew there too. Pops did some carpet cleaning and window washing while Steve took care of a couple little repairs.

Of course they also got in some cribbage card playing 

and cocktails on the new deck!

We will help stain it next time we go up to visit. 

Firewood is stacked up within reach nearby 

and Steve made a little fire pit with stones.

We attended Sunday service at Steve's parents old church, the Sister Bay Moravian Church. Afterwards Pop's brought us to a wonderful restaurant way up in Gill's Rock, at the very tip of the peninsula. It is called The Shoreline Restaurant and we had a great meal courtesy of Steve's Dad. Thank you for the wonderful brunch, Pops!

Sunday afternoon, Steve's youngest sister Lynn, and her friend Mike came to visit. It was so nice to see how happy Pops was to entertain them and visit on his new deck. He was pretty pleased to have enough chairs for everyone and room for a nice visit in his extended entertainment area. I have a feeling it will be a little social hub of the campground during his visits up there. 

Sunday evening a storm started rolling in. We had originally thought about eating out on the deck again, but the wind blew in cold and temps dropped fast. Look at this amazing cloud formation that rolled in across the horizon. I have never seen a roll like this against the dark sky looking so threatening.

Here is a video clip of it 

that I took from the safety of our motorhome:

We were prepared to bugger out and get over to the large brick shower building and we had the local news and weather radio on to check the storm's progress.

Amazingly, it blew right through and we just got a little bit of rain and barely any wind at all.

Soon the sun was shining through the clouds that were breaking up. Blue sky could be seen on the horizon to the West and the sun was setting in a blaze of glory.

What a fine ending to a wonderful day

Monday morning, we awoke to sunshine and blue skies. In remembrance of Memorial Day, I would like to mention thanks to all of the men and women who gave their lives for our freedom.

Dad P had us over in the morning for breakfast at his rig. He and Millie sure make a pair. She is happiest when she is right next to him with her affectionate gaze watching what he is up to next. She is a registered therapy dog and they do nursing home visits so she can spread her gentle love to others who do not have a pet anymore . She is such a good dog.

Pops cooked us up some swedish pancakes and bacon and pure Wisconsin maple syrup. What a nice way to start out the day.  He does so well with cooking and keeping up with everything, you would never know he was over 80. Adapting after you lose your spouse is hard, but over the four years since Steve's mom passed away from cancer, he has done well.

I wanted to mention our campsite....  at Beantown they have full hookups of water, sewer, and 50 amp service. They also have Wi-Fi in the park that works pretty good, but you can tell in the evenings when all the kids get on it it becomes more sporadic and cuts down in speed. The sites all have nice grass, a fire ring, and a picnic table.

The park is also dog friendly and just about every campsite had a dog or two. Our two dogs, along with Millie, really enjoyed going for walks around the park.

They found lots of places to sniff and explore,
and a few other doggy butts to check out
and visit in a canine fashion

I could walk all three dogs by myself, Finney and Binney stayed on the left and Millie stayed on the right and away we would go.

It was time to pack up on Monday and head on back to home. The weather was pretty nice, and we took a different road home that avoided busy traffic around Green Bay and DePere (which was in the middle of their celebration parade). We stopped at a little parking lot at a fire station in a tiny town and made sandwiches. It was a nice little break on our way home. Although Beantown is only about a hundred miles away, the traffic for the holiday weekend is what we wanted to avoid by leaving earlier in the day.

We got home after a little incident with the Pac brake hanging up. Steve stopped the rig and added the special lube oil and it functioned fine again. Soon we were home, backed in the yard, on our parking pad. Time to unload and bring things in the house, while Steve started working on cutting the lawn.

Home again home again jiggity jig

CAMPING - High Cliff State Park - Day Four

Again, another humid hot record breaking day in Wisconsin, as is the rest of the country.  Ewwwww.   We loaded up the dogs into the Tracker and took them with us for a jaunt up the pointy finger of Wisconsin to Door County.

At least they had a nice cool ride with us in the air conditioning of the Tracker.  We didn't dare leave them in the motorhome today, even if the air conditioning was on in the motorhome.  All too often, the park's power can go out, and the poor animals trapped inside these tin cans get roasty toasty!


As I type this right now, the power is out in our whole loop of the campground!  We are fine with our batteries and inverter, but the other folks all around us are out of power.  Many are gone to the fireworks celebration in town, and don't even know their power is out.


We drove up to Door County through all those cute little touristy towns, which were jammed with people.  No thanks.  We didn't even stop or shop anywhere.  Steve had some work-related meetings to attend.  Once we got where we were going, I let the dogs out for a bit of a walk along the beach and snapped some pics.   I drove around for a while to keep the AC running in the Tracker... and keep us cool.

It sure is a pretty area of the state! Steve was done with his business and we headed on south, hoping to get back to our campground and motorhome without running into the horrible holiday traffic.  We cruised past this drive-in, once Steve took me and the kids here.  I said pull in while we ate some sub sandwiches we picked up for supper.  What a fun place... and still running today!

This is one of the last nine remaining drive in theaters in Wisconsin, the Skyway....  http://www.doorcountydrivein.com/about.html

We got home in good shape, and the dogs were happy to get back too.  We took a walk around the park tonight and ran into another couple from Oconto!  Geesh, go 80 miles away to camp and run into people from your own home town of 4,000 ....  We had a little chat and then headed on back to our motorhome for the night.

We are still waiting for the power to straighten out, they must be working on it.  It flicks on and then off, each time resetting our EMS power management system.  So we just unplugged our cord from the post totally now.  I am thinking the added strain of the newest rigs that pulled in today have lowered the available power to our section.  We think some folks are trying to run 2 air conditioners on the small 30amp hookups.   We will leave ours off and unhooked till they get it sorted out.

Glad we are self-sufficient with our batteries and inverter and solar panels.  But tomorrow is going to be in the high 90's again, and I hope we have power available.  After all, we paid for an electric site.  If not, they are gonna have to "bend the rules" here and allow us to run our generator in the park (No generator usage is in the rules)   It's pretty quiet compared to some, and we can still stay cool.  Otherwise we will pull stakes and head on home a day early.

Have a cool night, folks!
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(P.S.  added Wednesday morning---  the power is staying on steady now and we have our AC on.   It's already hot hot hot and humid and over 90 degrees already at 10am.  If the power goes out later today, I think we will turn on the generator and let them come "talk to us" if need be.  LOL) 

Camping --- at Carlson’s Island View Cherry Orchard – Door County, WI

With all of our crazy weather we have been having this past week in Wisconsin, the cherry growers are afraid of losing their crops.  If you have snow and ice on the cherry blossoms that are in bloom right now, the bees can't pollinate.  And if the bees don't do their thing, that means no cherries!

Soooo---  in thinking about this, I thought I would do a blog post about our friends, Mark and MaryPat Carlson who own Carlson's Island View Cherry Orchard in Door County, WI    Steve has helped them harvest cherries from wayyy back in his highschool days when Mark's dad owned the orchard.  The orchard has been in their family for over 100 years.  So sometimes even now, if they need help, we head around the loop in our motorhome to go help with the harvest.    We joke that we should put pontoons on the motorhome and float across and save on time and fuel!   LOL

And THIS is the bumper crop of cherries waiting to be harvested!  These are called Mount Morcency cherries and are of the tart variety.  Great for baking and making wine! 

Here is some more information on the orchard from a tourist website:

Carlson's Island View Cherry Orchard

This photo was from a few years back when we took our older motorhome, the Coachmen gasser, up to the orchard.

Mark and MaryPat also have a travel trailer parked in the orchard to stay in during the harvest season.  After the work is done, we light up a big campfire and cook out and relax with a few beverages, well into the night.

The orchard is quite large with many older trees.  

As each tree stops bearing fruit, they plant in a new tree to take it's place.

When it's time to harvest, it takes three or four guys to keep the process going.   MaryPat (along with some college students)  hand-pick cherries for all the local stores with stems still on, and then big flats are brought to the local restaurants and bakeries and farmer's markets.  Some years I would help in the booth at the road.  I would rinse bins of cherries and help sell them to folks who wanted to buy some already picked or hand out buckets to folks who want to pick their own and pay by the pound. 

Sorry, this is such a dark photo...  it was cloudy day and storms were rolling in, so they had to work fast.




Steve and the guys were running all the equipment that shakes each tree's cherries into a huge upsidedown canvas umbrella...  and then a conveyor belt dumps them into big vats of icy cold water.  The vats are hauled to the processors building where they are flash frozen with stones (pits)  in them or they get run through machinery to remove the stones inside and then frozen, ready for baking or eating, or making wine!

The machinery is moved from tree to tree, each time wrapping that huge umbrella device around under the tree,  attaching a big hammer drill like thing that clamps to the trunk and shaken till all the cherriess fall off.   Too much shaking can break a tree, too little and you don't get the cherries off.

Ducky, the bottomless pit chow hound always finds something to eat.... they also grow other vegetables, flowers and berries on the property that are sold in the road side stand.

It's quite a process and needs to be done in a matter of a few days for the bulk of the crop to get processed in time. Weather can cause a lot of problems, and high winds can ruin a whole harvest.

Their daughter, Anna, enjoys it when I come along.  We did a run to a local bead store and we worked on some projects together, staying outta the way when the guys were working.  

Anna brought out a neato puppet that drove our dogs bonkers.  

They could not get over the huge bird that kept walking around and trying to peck them! LOL 

We also made these wreaths and dried them in the sunshine. 

 I still have mine, hanging over our bed in the loft of our home.

I just love the textured slab wood logs used to build this shed.  The texture was just amazing and the weathering in the rugged Door County climate just adds to the flavor of the building.... 

Now those pics above were all taken back a few years ago.   The ones below are from this past summer, 2009 when we took a ride up thataway.      Steve had helped with the wiring and work on this migrant workers shack, which is now the bigger store, housing a lot more items than just cherries.  It took quite a long process to be allowed to move this historical building from one part of their land to another.  Door County and the township in this district take any changes very seriously.  And the hoops that the Carlson's had to jump through to be able to do this was just unbelievable.   See how nice it looks now?

THIS is what they were improving it from: 

(why would they fight the Carlson's from making such an improvement along the road side? I guess it was considered "charming" in it's original state????)

Steveio says:  "Let's Go Shopping!"

The new interior with all their lovely products for sale to the tourists

They put the bathrooms and a drinking fountain at the far back section, so folks who wanted to use the facilities just HAD to pass by all the temping treats and goods....

Now... why does Steve go to such trouble to harvest these wonderful cherries??? 

Steveio making cherry wine - previous blog post




As I typed this blog post today, we are windy, whipping trees back and forth like mad, cold and icy and rainy... sigh... this does not look good for the cherry and apple blossoms.   Not good at all.   Sigh.



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