Rendezvous!

MONDAY, JULY 8 –
I stayed at the Tawas RV Park [Tawas City, MI] another day.  A lot of the people here are seasonal (six months) and when I went to the office to pay for my second night, everybody was in the big garage for a meeting.  The lady who registered me the first time was running the meeting, so I decided to take a walk around the grounds.  It was a nice stroll and I admired the creativity of the décor and flowerbeds around many of the RVs (mostly fifth wheels and trailers).  Back at the garage the meeting was over and I got a donut.  Feeling generous myself, I shared some stale bread with the birds at my site until the bread was all gone.   



The Tawas RV Park - serene, quiet, and very green.  (Tawas City, MI)

Something I forgot about this part of the country – it’s humid.  It wasn’t that bad as I drove towards Rogers City [on Sunday 7^th] but after having become accustomed to 11 years of drier weather [in Tucson and Palm Springs], I picked up on the humidity right away.  It was going on 2:30 p.m. when I approached the P.H. Hoeft State Park, just north of Rogers City, and although this state park is right on Lake Huron, I was feeling confident I’d get a site here. 

There were plenty of available sites and the young twenty-year-old, obviously new on the job, told me I could pick my site.  I picked #23.  Drove there, eyeballed it, nope, too small.  Back to Newbie, she was all apologetic and a little bit nervous.  How about #40, she suggested?  Much better!  By the time I headed for the beach it became overcast but the water felt nice and cool.             

When you’re away from home for any length of time, sometimes you find yourself missing the convenience of immediate medical attention.  In all fairness to my truck and camper, “wear and tear” - or “age-related s**t” - applies to humans, too.  First, an irritation on my right eye.  No pain, just annoyance.  Next, and much to my surprise, my implanted crown came off!  No pain, but I can feel the post (or the screw) and now I have to remember not to chew food on that side.  And then, yesterday, I pulled a muscle in my back as I was doing what is probably considered the most dreaded but necessary of all RV chores – dumping the tanks.

Moving around this morning was slow going and the occasional twinge in my lower back made me cringe.  Walk, MAP!  Stretch!  Say a cuss word or two!  Take a pill!  Move it, girl!  Jeez, no matter how much preparation I put into a trip like this, no matter how careful I try to be, there’s just no avoiding close adventures of the undesired kind. 

A trip to a Great Lake is not complete without a visit to at least one lighthouse.  Once I got this ole bod moving this morning I felt comfortable and limber enough to visit the 40 Mile Point Lighthouse, located near the state park.  Yesterday’s overcast became today’s rain and mist, which actually made the visit to the lighthouse all the more interesting because you could get a pretty good idea why the ships of long ago needed these lighthouses and the fog horns.  There are thousands of Great Lakes shipwrecks and there are many designated “Underwater Preserves” in these waters.  A shipwreck occurred not far from the 40 Point Lighthouse – “the S.S. Joseph S. Fay, built in 1871 and shipwrecked on October 19, 1905” - and I walked to the beach to check out the 130 ft. wood and iron remains of her starboard side.  It soon started to drizzle so I left and got back on Rt. 23 N. 

 

The 40 Mile Point Lighthouse. (Rogers City, MI)

 

Fog horns, atop a building located near the lighthouse.

 

 

A photograph of the S.S. Joseph S. Fay.

 

 

Remains of the S.S. Joseph S. Fay shipwreck.

 

 

Closeup of the ship's iron and wood.

 

 

Old wood chairs, looking out to Lake Huron.

 

A Bloodhound!  I’ve never seen one before!  The long ears, the dark brown fur, the gentleness in the droopy eyes, the wisdom in the brows…

For tonight I decided to stay at the Waterways Campground in Cheboygan, MI.  As the RV Park owner was registering me I saw movement and looked over to see this dog looking at me.  At first I thought “Bassett Hound” but it was obviously too tall to be a Bassett.  I asked the question the lady must have heard a thousand times and she proudly said “She’s a Bloodhound.”  She smiled when I said I had never seen one before and was happy to answer my questions – Yes, she has AKC papers; she’s about 115 pounds; her name is Jesse and she’s five years old; her father worked for the police, doing what Bloodhounds do; she is a dear family pet and, no, she’s not being bred.  I had an opportunity later to pet her and both Jesse and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting one another!

SATURDAY, JULY 13 –
It was an extremely foggy morning [on Tuesday 9^th] and figuring that visibility would be bad on the road, I decided to scrap plans to swing by Mackinaw City and just stay at the Waterways Campground in Cheboygan for a second night.  The cable for my TV is working out great but the WIFI connection is not.  It’s frustrating because I have “rendezvous” plans with friends on Thursday and maintaining email communication with them has been rather “touch and go.”  In thinking about it, this “instant communication” via cell or text or email has certainly influenced how we live our daily lives! 

The morning’s fog cleared up during the day and it became a tad humid.  I looked at the AC and thought “Why not?”  It’s there and I’m on shore power.  So, and for the first time ever, in all my travels in the camper, I turned it on.  It worked great!

Still struggling with the internet at my site, I decided to walk over to the vicinity of the office where I knew the signal would be stronger.  Sitting at a nearby picnic table with my iPad, I noticed dark clouds approaching.  Returning to my camper the dark clouds were just about overhead.  Back inside the camper I glanced at the TV and became engrossed in an old movie that had a very young Bette Davis in it.  I was so mesmerized by Bette Davis’ unusual beauty that I didn’t notice it was raining.  By the time I found that out, my bed sheets were wet, right in the middle!  I had left open the vent cover above the bed!  I removed everything from the bed, including the foam pad, and tossed them aside.  The coverlet for the mattress was dry, as were my pillows, and I slept just fine.

Wednesday morning [10th] I took a route diversion away from the shoreline and drove [via Rt. 27 S, I-75 S, Rt. 68 W, and Rt. 131 S] to the Kalkaska RV Park and Campground in Kalkaska, MI.  My first order of business after I got the camper set up was to launder my bed sheets and air out the slightly damp blankets.  The RV Park is nice – it’s surrounded by woods – and I again have cable and a much better internet connection.  A good place to wait for…tomorrow!

Around 12:30 p.m. [Thursday 11th] I saw their truck camper and a waving hand told me it was them!  They pulled in next to my site – Donna and Clyde, and Nutmeg, their Golden Retriever.  Our rendezvous is successful!

Lifelong residents of Pennsylvania, Donna and Clyde lived for a brief time in Maryland around 1972-73.  We were neighbors, Donna & Clyde and Frank & me.  When they moved back to Pennsylvania, we stayed in touch and I visited them up there a few times.  Those were fun times and then, as often happens when family and career obligations intensify, we lost touch.  Their son, Dylan, was a baby when I last saw them.  It’s been 35 years.       

Donna found me through Facebook and when we discovered that we both had truck campers and would be traveling this summer – me around the Great Lakes and they are heading for British Columbia – we agreed to try to rendezvous.  We spent all that Thursday afternoon catching up on the past 35 years.  They also have a daughter, Emily, and an 8-month old grandson.  I asked, but Clyde’s mother had passed on.  She was such an interesting woman, very outdoorsy – the very first, and only, person to offer me goat’s milk and to show me how to skin a squirrel. 

We took a walk on a trail through the woods.  We went inside each other’s campers.  We hopped in Clyde’s truck and went to town to walk around there and get some supper.  I invited them AND Nutmeg inside my camper for a few more minutes before we said our good-nights.  It was so cool to see and have a dog lounging comfortably on my camper floor.  We had a long day.  It has been quite awhile since I spent so many hours lip reading two non-signing hearing people.  Donna had brushed up on her fingerspelling and that helped a lot every time I got stumped on a word. 

Nutmeg’s sweet face and doggy grin greeted me first thing on Friday morning [12th].  There’s no rush, we agreed, so we went to a café for breakfast and visited a store that specializes in handmade and crafted wood furniture.  Back at our sites, we took pictures and then it was time to say good-bye.  Donna and Clyde are wonderful folks, a super terrific couple.  I sincerely hope, as do they, it won’t be too many years before we meet again.  There is THAT to look forward to!  And so, my dear Donna and Clyde, it was wonderful, truly wonderful, to see you both once again!
 

Me and Clyde, going over our maps and sharing camper experiences.  
(Photo taken by Donna.)

Our truck campers at the RV Park in Kalkaska, MI. 
 (Photo taken by Donna.)

 

 

Donna, me, Clyde, and Nutmeg. 
(Photo taken with Donna's mobile.)

 

 

Donna and Clyde. 
(Photo taken by MAP.)

 

From Kalkaska I took Rt. 72 E and I-75 N back towards the shoreline.  Rather than head all the way back to the “tip of the mitt,” in view of the fact that this is the beginning of the weekend, I stopped at the Otsego Lake State Park in Gaylord to see if they might have an available site.  They did and I got one.  The lake here is a beautiful blue/green and they have a long sandy beach.  There I went with my book, reading and reminiscing, swimming and getting sunburnt. 

Sunset through the trees, Otsego Lake State Park, Gaylord, MI.

Today, Saturday 13^th, I didn’t drive far – about 45 minutes on I-75 N – to the Indian River RV Resort in Indian River, MI.  It’s a nice place – with a swimming pool and a store – and a good spot for me to catch up on my writing and to review my travel materials.