Camping - Bagley Rapids - Nicolet National Forest in NE Wisconsin

(this post is made by a solar powered computer!)

Here we are at Bagley's Rapids... a mere 45 miles northwest of our home, on the same Oconto River!  If we put in here on a rubber raft, we could possibly float all the way to our house, portaging over a couple dams and slogging through a couple sloughs.

The sites are really far apart compared to how they look on this map below.  We can not see the neighboring sites, as it is thick underbrush and tall trees separating each site.

We pulled in Friday afternoon in the rainy drizzley weather, but the tv promised to be in the high 70's on Saturday and high 80's on Sunday!  We will see... we will see....


We have not come here for years, because during the summer months, most every site is occupied early and it's hard to find one big enough for us to fit on anyhow when the pickings are slim.   We can fit on about half of the 30 sites here.   Many of the sites just have a short parking area and then a tent pad up a hill or placed further away.    Also this park has a penchant for huge boulders placed at the ends of each parking area to prevent folks from pulling too far into the site.  This can cause havoc on bumpers and undercarriages if one it not too careful in backing up. 


Steveio was feeling a bit drowsy and icky when we got here, so once we backed into our site, (with me outside guiding him)  then we just turned off the engine, and crawled into bed for a nice long afternoon nap!   That is what we like about motorhomes, no unhitching, leveling, pulling ahead tow vehicle, and crawling back into an unheated trailer (we used to do that with our travel trailer so we know whereof we speak)    With the motorhome we can pull in, turn off and stay inside cozy and warm outta the rain.  


Later we did put blocks under each of the leveling jacks and hit the button to add a bit of stability, though the site is nice and level to begin with.  We can hit our levelers with controls either up on the front dash area, or in a compartment outside near the back of the rig.  So even leveling is something we can do from inside when it's pouring rain if need be.  But we do like the put bigger blocks under each leveler foot, as a larger footprint seems to hold more stable and less likely to mush in the soft ground and become unstable again.

After a good long nap, we woke up and saw it was still raining.  So we took the Easy Bake Oven (really a Coleman Instastart oven) inside the kitchen, set it up and baked two big chicken pot pies for supper.  (from Aldi's -- our favorite)  

After an evening of some tv, some computering and some looking at freebie papers and magazines, we noticed the rain had stopped.   So we hooked up the doggers and took a walk around the campground.   There are about 6 tenters here and 2 trailers and us.   Nice and quiet, considering there are 30 sites.  They are well-spaced apart and we can barely see our neighbors to the east. 


We came back with two sets of wet and slightly dirty dogger paws... so we wiped them down a bit with a towel and put them directly into the bathroom area with the door closed till they dry off.  Another nice feature of having the side entry door in a motorhome instead of the front entry like most diesel rigs.  We are not traipsing through the living area to get to the kitchen and bathroom each time, over the carpeting and past the fabric furniture.  With our rig, as you come in the side door, you are either directly ahead into the kitchen, or left into the bathroom or further right into the livingarea.  Our last gasser rig was like this too, and I think it would be a deal breaker on any future rig, having a side entry door.


About an hour before dark, we saw a pickup truck drive around slowly, looking at sites.  They made three laps and finally backed into the site next to us to the west.  We can only see the truck, but not the tenting area pad which is located up on a hill, overlooking the rapids.  Out of the truck tumbled three little girls!  all in skirts! ewww we were thinking of the skeeters, but didn't have many bothering us on our walk, so I guess they were ok.   


We turned in early and dreamt of the weekend once it warms up and dries up around here.  The rapids on the river is right behind our campsite, and there is a split rail fence to help prevent someone from walking along in the dark and falling down the steep bank to the river below. 

Now it's Saturday morning.  I woke up early at 5:30 and started the coffee.  We use the Coleman drip coffeemaker on the stove in the motorhome.  Sure beats firing up the generator this early to make drip coffee...    we would never do that to our neighbors, especially the ones in tents!  

Once the coffee is done, I transfer it into a metal thermal carafe to keep it warm throughout the morning and for a sleepy Steveio once he gets up. 

The ATandT aircard is barely making a hookup connection here, so I am having a hard time replying to any blogs.  It seems to let me see them, sometimes taking longer to get the photos in place on each one I open, but most of the text shows up.  I can scan back later to see the photos as they appear.   I might not be able to post this blog I am writing until I get back home, so saving it on LiveWriter till I have it complete.


About 6 am the doggers decided they needed to get out and do their thing....  so I got outta my jammies and pull on some sweats and tennies.  It's up to almost 60 already out there, and drying up.  The sky is still cloudy, but promised sunshine later and warmer temps are on the way.   We snooped around a bit and then came back into the rig to find Steveio STILL snoozing.  We were as quiet as we can be, so he can get the rest he needs when he feels so ill. 


I sipped coffee, read blogs, and decided to break into a pack of donuts I bought at walmart yesterday.    Maybe tomorrow I will bake muffins, but today seems to be a Donut Day.   Shared one with the doggers too.  They were happy.


About 8 am dear Steveio started coming to life!  He said he felt good and the rest did him wonders.  We made the bed together, but usually we have a rule that the last one out has to make it.  It's not so easy getting around the king-sized bed, but if two people are making it one from each side it goes much better.   He sat up and had coffee with me, and also partook of a donut.  Ummm good decision!   But then we filled our cereal bowls, his with his heart healthy oat cereal and mine with banana nut granola.  Such a pair, huh?
I think after breakfast here, I am going to set up my sock machine and do a little cranking.  Got some orders to work on and I can't think of what a nicer thing to do but work but to work on them in such pretty surroundings!


While I cranked socks, Steve did some pretty serious contemplating about the inside of his eyelids....  

(he works so hard all week, he deserves this!)

Our solar panels are charging up the four golf cart batteries already this morning and it’s still overcast and dreary.  We were only down to 86% this morning from all yesterday afternoon and evening use.  Not too bad!   Will be fully recharged I suppose before noon.  Even with all these trees!!

A nice walk along the riverbanks led us past the rapids and down to a small waterfalls.   What a nice quiet area to sit on the rocks and think and let the afternoon pass by.

Saturday evening we cooked out chicken breasts and corn on the cob out on Steveio's newest grill.  Some day I will do a blog post of ALL the grills Steveio owns, he is a collector!

 While he did the grilling , I was cranking socks and the dogs were laying so nice and quiet, as usual.  We do not tolerate any barking from them in a campground, so it's flyswatter patrol to whap em on the nose if they deem to bark at passersby.

So after we cooked, we decided to take a little walk.  We took the trash along with us to the recycling area and once we were done with that, we went around the rest of the loop, taking note of which sites are the best suited for our rig for future reference.  Suddenly the skies opened up and we got rained on all the way back to the campsite!  The weatherman didn't predict this at all!  Where was our nice sunset? Where was our campfire?    We rushed  back to the site, and my sock machine, the lawn chairs and even the MP3 player were all wet!   Dashing around to bring things in and dry them off, including 2 wet dogggies brought into the bathroom too.

So instead of a campfire, we played a few rousing games of Yahtzee and I won 2, we tied one, and he won one.  (I let him win so he didn't feel so bad)   The rain was not letting up, we turned on the tv and watched a movie instead of our campfire.  Sigh.

Sunday morning dawned sunshiney and bright, and I got out and did some walking around and snapping pics. The woods are full of these wild flowers, called trilliums, and you can smell in the early morning dampness.

Our friends, Sharon and Fred were coming up to meet us for breakfast at the Chute Inn restaurant, a.k.a. Little Blue Restaurant (nicknamed that by our kids when they were younger).  We hopped on the scooter, getting over there about 10 minutes before they did,  and saved a table till they got there.  After a nice filling breakfast, we went back to the campsite to gab and enjoy the outdoors for a while.  We are making plans for future trips and vacations.  They are retired, we aren't - yet!

Sharon and Fred are fellow camping buddies with their fifth wheel....  and we enjoy going with them and their dog, Brandie.

By mid-afternoon, it was getting so hot out, about 92 and humid, that we finally all went inside the rig to escape the heat.   Finally later Steveio fired up the generator and we started the front AC unit up to cool the rig off.  It sure is nice to have that as an alternative, and the other travel trailer in the park was also running a generator and their AC for the afternoon.  Our neighbors to the west were packed up and gone, and the neighbors to the east still had their tents up, but their cars were gone too.  So we didn't feel too bad about using the generator in the middle of the day.

Once Sharon and Fred left, we loaded up and headed home again.  Keeping the front of the rig cool with the dash air, we drove as far as Oconto Falls where we made a pit stop for some groceries.  Steveio again fired up the generator as he waited in the parking lot, while I ran in for a cartfull of stuff.  Imainge buying tubs of sherbet on a hot humid summer day?  And going right into the parking lot to unload them directly into the freezer!  Now how cool is that???

WHEEE HEEEEEEE UPDATE on the shocks!

My stupendous wonderful smart intelligent mechanical sweet marvelous husband took one look at those shocks, and said:

" Oh gee, they are just gas filled instead of hydraulic, and just are not compressed yet!"

He got out his tools, put them on, and they WORK!!!!


We just got back from a test drive, and it's smooth as velvet, of course, but no more rattling sound under my feet and it glided along like a swan on a smooth glass lake!

(the dogs got to go along too, or else they never forgive us for leaving the yard with their motorhome!)

Now to go start loading up for a weekend of camping!!!

and yes... I gave him a huge KISS!

DANG!!! The Shocks Are HERE! plus carpet cleaning and around the yard photos

(please see the post following this one for an update... 

the shocks DO work!) 

Yes, they are here!  and they look to be TWICE as long and twice as lightweight as the originals!   I have NO idea how Steveio will deal with this now.  ACK!

I didn't really explain before, but a few folks emailed and asked me WHY is it such a big deal about the shocks?  Well, it is because the mid 90's Safari motorhomes were constructed on their own exclusive chassis that Safari made themselves, with a sub company called Magnum.  Both of which are no longer in business.  It's not like a common Roadmaster or Freightliner, where parts are readily available.

The suspension is a specially developed style called Torsilastic developed by the BF Goodrich company and is called Velvetride.  It is comprised of a series of rubber wedges and big rubber bushings.  No springs, no air bags.  Just shocks.  (and it does ride like velvet!)  Not many repair places even heard of it, much less able to do any alignment or repairs on it.  Some of the larger coaches/buses like Foretravel used this suspension too.

The trouble with the shock replacement on this chassis is that the original shocks (now 14 years old)  were made exclusively by Koni as a special configuration for the Magnum chassis and not available on the open market as replacements.    They are adjustable, but one shock on one side of ours will still adjust, the other side won't hold anymore, so the seal must be blown inside.  No leaking hydraulic fluid, but if Steve grabs one end and I grab the other, we can pull it apart too easily.

The only other alternative for us vintage Safari owners is to buy a special bracket made by a guy out in Washington for the Safari rigs that will let a person install pairs of smaller more common Koni FSD shocks-- 2 together on each side.  Just the brackets are $295.00 for a pair,  and the 4 shocks just for the front would be another $145.00 each, which is a total of almost $900.00  !!!!

 So THAT is why we were excited to locate a company that has a single larger shock that will fit the original configuration at a great price of $75.00 each.   Compare $150 to $900 ?  The rig rides just fine with the original configuration, so why change it?  We prefer to just replace the shocks with what was there before.

I have NO idea now what we are going to do.  ARG!


Went out this morning to the motorhome to check on the carpet cleaning and drying.  We left the windows open all night as rain wasn't forecast and the sky was clear.   But I slept with one ear open in case I heard any rain, prepared to rush out and shut windows.

Well, it looks GREAT!   I used a couple glug-glugs of a cleaning product called Nature's Miracle Stain Remover and a packet of Oxyclean in the hot water compartment of our Bissel upright steam cleaner.     Nature's Miracle is available at our local Piggly Wiggly grocery store in the pet aisle or also at the Petco chain stores.       http://www.naturemakesitwork.com/home/index.php

Although we didn't have any pet stains, I find it to be a great all around cleaner and stain remover.  It works great on clothes too so I keep a bottle with a sprayer by the washing machine and use it as a pretreatment. Takes out old stains that normal detergent or Shout won't even touch.

With such light colored carpeting in our rig, we try hard to keep it nice and never wear shoes inside.  Even for Steve when he is driving, he removes his shoes as he comes in the door and puts on hard soled moccasins that are never worn outside at fuel stations etc.  Otherwise spilled diesel fuel in the truckers lanes at stations get tracked in on carpeting and will never come off.  He wears leather gloves too when fueling up, so he never has oily diesel fuel on his hands when coming back in or touching the steering wheel.

Here is a pic from the side entry door facing to the front of the rig....

Even the couch came out nice... it wasn't too dirty but needed a freshening up.  I put all the furniture back into place and snapped a few more pics.  Since we took out the second couch and added the euro chair, we have a lot more floor room for sprawled out lazy lounging doggies. That is when they are not hogging the couch too!  LOL    But when we removed the second couch, you could see where it had been and where the main aisle had accumulated dirt over the last four years that we have owned the rig.   We vacuum often, but it's hard to keep up with two sassy doggies armed with 8 dirty doggie paws. 

 

The morning sunshine coming in sure makes it feel good!   We keep the 2 chairs to the one side of the table, which leaves more room at the side entrance doorway, and the basket with our shoes and dog leashes etc.   We just move one chair over to the other side if we are eating inside.  Usually we eat outdoors at the picnic table.  The tiny speakers at the head of the table are for my MP3 player.  They require no power other than the battery on the MP3 player, and we use them often.  Great for boondocking and conserving power. 

The table can pull out longer with one more section of a leaf put in, or we can remove the first leaf that is there now and have it even shorter.  I like having the choice instead of one fixed table size like in our Sierra Travel Trailer.   In the Coachmen gasser motorhome we had, the table could fold down or completely remove and store under the bed.   That was nice too.  This table is attached to the wall cabinet, but at least is adjustable.


Seeing as I had the camera outside, I snapped a few pics around the yard.  The weatherman said it will go over 80 degrees again today, which is very strange for us in May in Wisconsin.


We only put the fabric top cover on the gazebo frame when we are out there on a hot summer afternoon, otherwise it will become tattered and weathered if left on all the time.  I like these new hanging green bags for flowers, and put one on each corner of the gazebo frame.   My huge fuchsia plant from  Mother's Day is hanging up in the center section.  It's getting ready to burst out in new blooms any day now.  Hard to see against the green trees.

The back deck stretches all across the south side of the house and around to the east side.  Then on the west side we have another deck too.  We spend more time outside than in! Here is a pic I found with the fabric top on the gazebo, taken from down below.  The two sets of lower patio doors face into my studio, and I have more chairs down there to sit one too.

This is our view from the back deck and that is the Oconto River in the background.  We are fortunate to live on a section of the river that is sandy, shallow (about waist deep in the middle) and slow flowing.   Our kids and dogs enjoyed all the years of dipping in and cooling off. We kept our woods natural between the house and the river, and just make a walking path through the trees each year.    Those tiny white dots here and there along the ground are the wild Trillium flowers that pop up each year for a week or two, then gone again till next year.  We also get wild roses all summer, and bright brilliant sumac bushes in the autumn.

Here are my 21 tomato plants all in a row behind the garage.  This side faces south so it's like a hothouse here with the sunshine and heat coming off the logs of the garage.   Won't be long and those plants will be crawling all over above the cages and a bountiful crop of tomatoes will last till fall.  Yummmmmmmm    If we get frost warnings, (very common here till June)  I just cover the whole works with cloths over the cages and hope they make it through the night.   I have the cages nailed right to the log wall, so they don't tip over from the weight of the tomato bushes as they grow.  4 Early Girl, 8 Better Boy, 8 Beefsteak, and 1 Cherry Tomato plant.

These coleus plants are from some starter plants from my friend Connie, from her home back in Green Bay in about 1995 or 96.  I keep them all winter in pots in the house and keep splitting them, re-rooting snips and sharing them with friends.   They get darker purple if kept shady, and brighter green and pink if kept sunny.  I will transplant these three pots on the bench into the flower bed along side the garage, perhaps this evening.

After I was done with my picture taking this morning, a little princess arrived.... 

complete in a cute outfit with a picture postcard that says:  

SEND ME TO GRANDMA'S! 

Now, what can be cuter than that????

.

Steamcleaned the Motorhome carpeting and update on shocks

It is such a nice day (hit 81 degrees)  and no sign of rain tonight.... so I had Steveio carry my carpet steamer out into the motorhome.  I did up all the carpeting but it didn't seem to be sucking up the water quite as well as it should have been.  So we tore it apart and found a tiny hole in the hose inside!   After a bit of repair work, we put it together and worked like charm!  

This is the first time cleaning the carpeting since we bought the rig in 2006... and it was pretty nice when we got it.  We always take our shoes off when coming in, and try to wipe the dogs feet if they are muddy.  But after time, the light cream, grey and beige nubby berber was showing some signs of dirt.  

Looks pretty spiffy now and we opened all the windows to let it dry overnight  and into tomorrow.  I also used the upholstery tool and did the couch too where some certain couch potato dogs end up!

(here is a pic of all three of my messy kids on the couch) 

Being a light soft pale blue, it really needed a good cleaning too.

So once we finished the steam cleaning, Steveio hauled the machine back into the house for me.  Whew, that was a hot project to work on and I am not yet *up to snuff* here with my breathing.   I was pooped and took a little nap in the sunshine in the motorhome on the bed... right in the driveway!

He made us some nice tacos for supper....  so I didn't even have to cook tonight.

Then later  I gave all the new tomatoes plants a little drink for the night too....  Yesterday I got 21 tomato plants all in behind the garage and then tomorrow I plan to finish doing my coleus plants into the flower beds.  Will take pics once they are all done.


Update on the motorhome shocks...according to UPS tracking,  they are in Oak Creek, Wi  awaiting UPS delivery tomorrow.  Let's keep the fingers crossed that they are the right ones and fit!!!

Motorhome shocks, backup camera, and fridge prop

Well... update (kinda sorta) on the motorhome shocks.   If you read my other post from Sunday:

Crazy Customer Service when trying to order motorhome parts

you will see that we have been trying to spend some money and get some shocks since May 5.  Today is the 18th.   The not-so-helpful sales guy at the other end of the phone finally promised that his supplier would have the shocks to him by Mon or Tues and then he would ship them on to us toot sweet.  

Welllllll  I wanna go camping this weekend!  

It's already Tuesday, so I figured a call to double check might help.   After being on hold while the same sales guy (by the name of Dan)  he had to call his supplier to double check my order again, he finally came back to me and *said* that the shocks were shipped from his supplier yesterday and would be there at his place today.  And then he in turn would ship them to me overnight to my house and they should arrive by tomorrow.  

WE WILL SEE.  

(and now, watch, I am tempting the Monkey Motorhome Gods by saying they won't be the right ones?!?) 

These Bilstein shocks run in the $120-140 range a piece, and this place has them on a special for $75.75 each with free shipping.   The other guys on the Safari list said it was a good place to buy from.  hmmmmmm?

Now, being the *Cover My Bases* kinda gal, I decided to call a few truck supply places in Green Bay to see what they can do for us, in the event that the shocks do arrive tomorrow and are wrong.    Batting ZERO.... one place suggested their books show a cross reference to a Monroe gas-filled shock for $38 each.  I don't think that is a match??  They said we could bring in our shock and physically match it up, so I think we will send Steveio to work tomorrow with a shock in the car trunk, and he can run over on his lunch hour if need be.

I guess we will see what shows up tomorrow with UPS?  Otherwise I might make Steveio put the old ones back on just so we can go camping.  LOL  One is ok, the other isn't holding firm even after taking it off and adjusting it.   The rig rides fine, we just hear a loose rattly sound when going over some bumps.

If the shocks come, and fit and are good, then I will praise the company and we will order some rear shocks too.  The rears could probably use replacement too, as one seems to have some oil seepage.  Steve is going to have to torch them off because even with 2 weeks of daily squirts of anti-rust spray on them, nothing is budging on the nuts.   The front ones came off easy, so that was half the battle right there.


On to the next thing... our backup camera.    It is housed in a little extruded bump on the rear top cap, with a scratchy plexiglass cover over the opening.  It had yellowed over the years, and really needed to be changed.  Steveio put in a nice piece of strong safety glass, and sealed it in from the inside (accessible from a cabinet in the bedroom)   He used some leftover black butyl tape from when we replaced our window last summer.

 It was a quick repair, but made a big difference on the view~! 

I like using the backup camera when I am doing the driving, especially to keep track of what vehicles are around me.  It's always some stupid little car that is tailgating me and who will inadvertently whip around my right side as I am trying to make a wide turn!  They never seem to see my turn signals either.  At least then then I can prevent damaging my side of my rig because they are impatient or too dumb to know that motorhomes need a wider turn and don't *bend* in the middle.   It happens so often that we learn to drive very defensively and keep track of all motorists around us, even in the rear.



Speaking of the back of the motorhome,  did you see our white tigers? They are right below the camera on the back of the rig.   Jameson was over and doing a little nature walk with his Granfaddah Pfun last weekend.

I have mentioned it before, but the Safari murals are hand painted and airbrushed on individually each personally by the Dame family out in Oregon.  And each one is different and interesting.   Here is a website with more information:   http://www.arcatapet.net/travel/murals.cfm

I am not a tiger fanatic, but it came that way to us, and it's kinda cool.   Often they hide a small animal somewhere on the mural, here is out little mouse.  Makes a great conversation starter in a campground! 

So after Jameson checked out our tigers, he finished his little walk around our yard....  the grape vines are just starting to bud out with tiny leaves, and the lilacs behind are all in full bloom.

The other day on the RVnet forum,   www.rvnet.com , someone was asking about ordering a fancy replacement lever device for keeping their RV fridge door propped open when not in use.   I mentioned we used folded up dishtowels.  I happened to snap a pic this morning when I was in the motorhome taking the photos of the television, so here is a handy RV Hint for the Day:  

  

Well, the sun is shining here, and the sweet baby Chelsea is here for the afternoon.  Might take her out on a nature walk around the yard too.  Never too young to start them enjoying the woods????

.