The Monday, June 22 - We got an early start and arrived at Raccoon Mt. RV Park & Campground about 1PM after driving 144 miles. We had one detour near Jasper due to a bad wreck involving an oversize loaded truck and a car that lost most of the drivers side. We pray no one was injured. This is a nice overnight spot, but not a destination, although there are many permanent spots. We decided to go on a cave tour they have here on the property. It was quite nice, with interesting formations. This the first one we've done together, and the 60 deg temperature was welcome on a 90+ day.
Tuesday - Today we made it 174 more miles and are sitting in Clarksville Campground, which coincidentally is in Clarksville, Tn., but only about a mile from Ky. It is still hot, so we are inside with the air on. Again, this is a nice one-nighter, but would not come here for a destination.
Wednesday - It was only 143 miles today to Marion RV Park, so we pulled in before noon. The lady who greeted us was very friendly and this seems like another good stopover place. are more shaded than yesterday. We were fully set up by 11:45. Our stomachs began growling, so we walked over to Casey's General Store a couple blocks away and shared a pepperoni pizza. Not bad. 🍕🍕
Thursday - Even though we drove a little farther today (192 miles), it was a fairly easy trip. We are at Tincup Campground in Mahomet, Il, not too far from Champaigne. The gravel roads coming in are quite rough, but the sites are not bad. The lady in the office was quite helpful and friendly. We rode our bikes to a nearby park named Lake of the Woods and enjoyed the cool breeze while sitting under trees by the lake. It was a very pretty setting. It is cooler here.
Friday - We had a good 192 mile trip here to Lehman's Lakeside RV Resort. It seems Ike a nice place with friendly and helpful staff. We are on a site with a concrete pad and full hookups. We were in, connected, and lunched by 1:30PM. We made a Walmart run, brought it back and put things away, then went to RR Steakhouse for dinner. In the evening, John took the Tenkara rod and Joan took a "cane" pole down to one of the ponds here. On her second cast, Joan brought in a nice bass, then caught a larger one later. John wore out the bluegill on a gold foam hopper, and also caught 17" inch LM Bass. What a battle. Later we walked around the big lake that has seasonal campsites, but we're not impressed. The highway noise is very loud and many of the campers and sites not cared for. We fished one area, but not much happening.
Saturday - We fished around the other smaller lake in the AM, but no bass were willing. John caught a catfish and we had numerous bluegill try to take our plastic worm. We went over to the Peskuski home and visited with the kids and grandkids. Jeff cooked up burgers and sausage which was yummy.
Sunday - We met with Corey and Henny at Willow Creek Church for an awesome service. Afterwards we went to the Onion Pub & Brewery for lunch. Thanks you two for an awesome place. When we got back to the campground, Margaret, Jeff, Jake, and Josh were here to do some fishing. The boys caught a few, but Joan led the outing with three nice bass. Soon after they left the rain started.
Monday - We met a couple, Reina and Oscar, via rvillage.com who have just started into rv'ing. We enjoyed sharing experiences and getting to know them. We drove into Rockford and met our friends Paul & Linda at Golden Corral. They have a place in our park in Florida. We had a great time getting caught up.
Tuesday - Happy Birthday John! We started our day of celebration by going fishing in the little pond here. Joan totally ignored birthday protocol by catching the first four bass before letting the birthday boy catch one. We went back after taking a break with the Tenkara rods to check out the bluegill action. We each caught several, many of which were nice sized. John had some extra excitement while landing a bluegill, having a large bass swoop in and take it. When the bass felt pressure it let it go. In the afternoon we met M&J and the G-kids at Macianos for pizza. It was great!! We then went to see Josh play baseball. All the guys did a great job, with good hitting and some great plays.
Wednesday - We braved the toll roads and visited John's sister, niece, and her two nearly grown kids. We had a great visit and lunch, and celebrated John's Birthday again with an awesome home-made apple pie.
Thursday - We fished in the morning with Joan catching four nice bass and John sticking with bluegills. Later he fished in the big lake and caught four bass. In the afternoon we went over to M,J,J,&J's to visit and go out to dinner. We had super gyros at The Village Squire South and a great visit with the kids.
Friday - We made an early Walmart run. Corey and Henny came over for dinner, which consisted of chicken and rice, salad, bread, and strawberry-rhubarb pie that M&J sent home with us which was for John's birthday. After dinner we went over to our pond here and guided Corey and Henny in our style of cane-pole and Tenkara fishing. Corey had the hot hand with three nice bass to hand, one being 13" and one of the others 18". Henny came close with two on, but she didn't quite have setting the hook mastered, so they got off. We had a great time visiting.
July 4 - Today Jacob was marching with his HS band, so we watched the parade. They did a super job. In the afternoon we went over to M&J's friends house for a pool party and cookout there was plenty of food, good conversation and babies. We had a great time. It was good to see everyone.
Sunday - This morning we met John's life-long friend Denny and his wife of 50 years Laura at Willow Creek Church. We received a special treat in that the David Crowder Band was there. Another treat was that we got to meet three of their (D&L) grandkids who were with them. We had a great morning of visiting and worship. We hung out at the campground in the afternoon and enjoyed the quiet, since most of the weekend warriors had left.
Monday - We fished the big lake in the morning and Joan caught several nice bass. John started with a hopper and caught some nice bluegill, then switched to a small plastic worm and caught a nice bass.
Tuesday - We started our trip into Wisconsin in rain, but it wasn't long before it stopped. It was about 170 miles here to Vista Royalle Campground in Bancroft, site 25. This seems like a much nicer place than where we have been for the last 10 days and is in a pine grove. We went over to their fishing lake for about an hour and each caught a 12" bass.
Wednesday - We were in and set up by 1PM after driving 134 miles, mostly on 4-lane. We are in High Pines Campground in Eagle River, Wi. It was challenge finding our site due to the really small numbers on the posts and needing to drive through other sites to get to ours. Joan had to get out and walk around to find it and then direct John in.
Thursday - Today's drive was longer than the last one, at 167 miles, but the prettiest part of our trip so far. We are in City of Munising Tourist Park Campground, site 50. The campground is quite open, but we have a nice view of Munising Bay on Lake Superior. If you ever camp here, make sure you have plenty of electric cable and hose. There is some road noise. In the afternoon we drove into Musining, walked around town, and got information about things to see and places to fish from the Chamber and National Forest Information Office. We had dinner at Dogpatch Restaurant, which was quite good. In the evening we went on a Pictured Rocks Sunset Boat Tour. It was wonderful, and a great way to see the 15 miles of gorgeous bluffs along Lake Superior. We were glad we wore warm clothes as it was quite chilly.
Friday - Today we viewed the same sites that we saw from the boat yesterday evening, but from land. This required a lot more work on our part. There was several miles of hiking and many stairs. We wanted to find some places to fish, but sadly the only places we found were in state recreation areas that require a $31 pass for entry. We have already spent $140 on licenses. Ridiculous! Also, if we were to purchase one, you have to find a park that sells them, since it takes a week to get one online.
Saturday - We drove back west and found Lake AuTrain, and put the kayaks in. We fished it for about an hour with Clousers, but got no action. We saw one northern pike caught by someone pin a bigger boat trolling, but no one else seemed to be catching anything. We are hoping for better success at our next location. The only thing biting here are flies and mosquitoes.
Sunday - In the morning we attended an interdenominational worship service at Bay Furnace on the other side of Christmas. Sadly, there were only five of us that attended. Anyway we had a nice time and God blessed us. We then got packed up and made the 67 mile trip here to Newberry. We are on site 33 at North Country Campground. There was some mixup about 30 vs 50 amp site, but it all got satisfied. We got set, had lunch, and even did two loads of laundry. Our site is grassy with a nice maple for shade and there was a beautiful breeze.
Monday - We drove about 20 miles to the Tahquamenon Falls. This is a beautiful area and they have built awesome boardwalks and stairs for viewing. There is an upper falls and about four miles down river a lower falls. There are several smaller falls at the lower. We then drove to where the river empties into Whitefish Bay, where we had a picnic lunch. We fished at River Mouth, without any action. We checked out an area about 15 miles south where a fishing guide book said there was access, but it was wrong. Finally, we went back to the Upper Falls and had dinner at the Brewery. We had whitefish sandwiches which were ok, but not as good as grouper. We had occasional rain today.
Tuesday - We wanted to check out an area that was in a book on fishing Michigan, but couldn't find it. We looked at and fished a couple of boat launches, but nothing. We also found a real pretty area by the Dollarville Dam than had a nice fishing pier, but not a bite. It was too windy to put the kayaks in and quite cool. On of the launches had Mosquitos that swarmed us as soon as we got out of the truck.
Wednesday - We drove 168 miles and pulled into River Park Campground without incident. We got the same site (31) we had three years ago. We got set up and drove back to Gaylord and had lunch at Applebee's and did a Walmart run. Later we fished the AuSable here in the campground but caught nothing.
Thursday - Our outing on the South Branch of the AuSable was disappointing. We fished hard for three hours, but only had two chubs and a couple of swipes at a fly to show for it. It was a beautiful day wading in the water, though.
Friday - It was a short trip today to Evart, Mi, where we stayed at River Country Campground on site 117 on the Muskeegan River. There was much less shade because many of their trees have died.
Saturday - We picked up John's twin boys who live nearby, and brought them back for chicken and rice on the cast iron Dutch oven. We had a very nice visit with them.
Sunday We drove 180 miles and pulled into Potowatome Recreation Area on site 29. It is warmer here at 84 deg but feels like 95. The air is on. We braved the heat and fished the lake here from shore. Joan caught a small bass. That sums up our Michigan fishing, which was disappointing.
Monday - We skipped a stop and made it to Oak Creek Campground, site 14, after driving 292 miles. This was about 100 miles farther than our usual limit. They have had a lot of rain, so the rivers are all full. We will be watching the weather closely, because we are on a creek and don't want any surprises. We had a great dinner at a family restaurant, but they allow smoking, which lessened its enjoyment. It is very humid here, but is supposed to cool down some.
Tuesday - we had dinner with good friends from Trackrock and went with them to watch the kids practice football and cheerleading.
Wednesday - We have been wanting to visit the Creation Museum for a long time and really enjoyed our time there today. The exhibits are very clear and impressive and do a great job of presenting a scientific argument of the Bible's account of creation. Of course we were already convinced before we came. We spent the afternoon at Alexandria Community Park and sat in the shade watching people fish. A couple were caught. We then met a small contingent of our friends at City BBQ and enjoyed really good BBQ. Not quite Jim's, but good.
Thursday - We met our friends at Alexandria Comm. Park and took a hike, kids played on the playground and took turns fishing. A few fish were lost and Graham was the only one to catch a fish. We enjoyed getting to know Katlyn and Haley. Everyone had a great time, especially us.
Friday - We spent a quiet day at the campground only going out to Krogers to pick up some necessities. We also did some cleaning.
Saturday - It was a quick trip to Kentucky Horse Park Campground. We got set up, had lunch, and took a campground shuttle over to the park. We went to the Horse Museum and several other exhibits. It is very nice here. We then went over to Rolex Stadium to watch a jumping competition. Sadly, there would be none until 7:30, and it was only 6:00 and we had not eaten yet, so we went back ate, showered and had a relaxing evening.
Sunday - We attended a worship service in one of the pavilions and met some nice folks. We then went back to the stadium and watched jumping. This is not well attended, but should be.
Monday - We drove more than our usual limit of 200 miles and are staying at Best Holiday TRAVEL/PARK outside Chattanooga. We have a nice pull-through site, so we didn't have to disconnect the Envoy. It is hot and quite humid, like it has been for the last several days.
