The weather yesterday [Saturday], when I woke up and looked out the window, was rainy. Aw, this RV Park (the Silver Creek Luxury RV Resort & Campground in Silver Lake, MI) is expensive, but, I’ve got the cable TV and the WIFI, so why don’t I just stay here another night, I argued with myself. The lady yesterday said they might be full today, remember? Yeah, but she also said to check with them at 10:00 in the morning, remember? So, I walked over to the office and asked. No, they are filled up.
I left around 11:30
a.m. and, taking a road (B-15) through the vicinity, I noted not only the horde
of people, on foot and on bikes, but the stores and restaurants and the many
signs for “Dune Buggy Rides” and buggy, jeep, boat, and Jet Ski rentals. I haven’t seen these particular dunes yet and
when I happened to pass by the Silver Lake State Park and saw the “Sorry, Full”
sign, it was obvious that this is a very popular recreation area. I’ve got to check out this place!
The best thing to do,
I decided, was to go from the water to the woods to wait out the weekend…and
the wet weather. Go east, girl! And that I did, getting back on Rt. 31 S for
about five miles and then connecting to Rt. 20 E towards the White Cloud/Newaygo
area. It rained off and on but it was a
nice enough drive through farms, orchards, and woods.
Initially planning to
go to a state park, I noticed signs for the Sandy Beach County Park and decided
to try a county park this time. The lady
in the office assigned me site #63 and when she pointed it out to me through
the window she said, “Oh, there’s a car that’s not supposed to be there.” She suggested she ride with me to the site and
she’ll ask the owner of that car to move it.
To set the
scene: Sites are marked on numbered
posts. The park pass on that car’s
mirror said #64. It was, however, parked
on #63, my space. There was a second car
on #64. There were two tents on that
site. The owners of both cars were not
there. Nobody knew where they were,
including this fellow who walked over from his site. The space between that car, at the left, and
a post, at the right, was barely wide enough for me to squeeze through, but,
and with guidance from the lady from the office and the fella who walked over,
I was able to pull through and get situated where I needed to be.
After taking a walk
around the park, and checking out Hardy Pond and the nearby dam, I returned to
my camper in time to catch one of the park employees swinging by. He said he had been going around looking for
the folks on #64. He finally left a note
on the intruder car’s windshield which basically said to “move it.”
It turned out the
folks on #64 had three cars. Interestingly
enough - for me anyway, me and my sometimes outlandish imagination - there were
just four people, two men and two women.
When I saw that third car pull in, I went to my door and stood there
looking out through the screen. The
owner of the interloper car, a woman, saw me and immediately got in her car and
moved it. She didn’t even read the
note! She didn’t offer a gesture or a
word of apology! The nerve!
At this point in
time, it’s been 8 weeks since I left home and 7 weeks since I’ve officially been
traveling in my camper. Considering all
the earlier hiccups with the camper and camera, I think I’m now on good terms
with them both! The truck has been
great, too!
It was still wet and
gray and a bit cold on this Sunday morning.
I decided last night that I would relocate to a nearby private RV Park
which has WIFI and other amenities. In
no hurry to leave, I sat at the dinette table and watched a family across the
way dismantle and load up their cars with camping stuff, bags of trash, and
kids. The #64 folks had already left
earlier. I got going myself at around
11:30 a.m.
By noon I had
comfortably relocated to the Woods and Water RV Park, which is located between
White Cloud and Newaygo. Being that there’s
a small lake here, the owners picked a great name for this RV Park.
MONDAY,
JULY 29 –
Like night and day! What a huge difference today is from last
Saturday morning. Going to Michigan’s
forest for the weekend was a smart strategic decision. I won’t claim all the credit though. The relentlessly cool and rainy weather may have
been a factor as well.
It was 10:30 this morning
when I steered my truck back to the Silver Lake area, arriving there before
noon. Driving slowly on that same B-15
road, it was a good sign when I noted how light the auto and foot traffic was…compared
to last Saturday. A more hopeful sign
was the missing “Sorry, Full” proclamation at the entrance to the Silver Lake
State Park. The young lady in the office
said I had a choice of available sites and I picked one with an excellent view
of Silver Lake and the sand dunes.
Beyond those dunes, and out of sight, is Lake Michigan.
Before setting up the
camper, I drove to the nearby town of Mears, looking for the Post Office. I found that and then, spotting a coffee shop
across the street, went there to see if they had a WIFI hotspot. They didn’t, BUT they did have French
Vanilla! The only time I will drink black
coffee is if French Vanilla is available.
Cream (or milk) and sugar doesn’t do it for me. So, I bought a cup and it sure was good on
this cool day! I followed that with some
lunch back in Silver Lake and then settled down at my campsite. By late afternoon the sun peeked through the
clouds. Another good sign!
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| The sand dunes of Silver Lake, complemented by a sailboat. Silver Lake State Park, MI. |
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| My chair, my book, my cocktail, and my view of Silver Lake. |
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| A family wading to their boat for a sunset sail on Silver Lake. |
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| O'er the dunes, against the backdrop of a rain-cleared blue sky, the sun set. |
TUESDAY, JULY 30 –
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| Silver Lake on a sunny morning - as enjoyed by some ducks... |
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| ...and boaters, too! |
Curious about where the dune access was for the ORVs (off-road vehicles) I headed for that area. The parking lot wasn’t full but as I turned around to leave I noted the arrival of a caravan of ORVs, equipped with orange flags atop long poles. Sure looks like a fun thing to do!
Still up for a bit more sightseeing I took a narrow winding road to the Little Sable Point Lighthouse. The Lighthouse Keeper’s residence is gone but the lighthouse, built in 1874, has been restored and, for a $3.00 donation, you can climb the 130 spiral steps of the 108 ft.-high red brick lighthouse. I had a quick flashback, remembering two lighthouses that I climbed some years ago – the [144 ft.-high] Tybee Island Lighthouse, near Dad’s place on Tybee Island (just east of Savannah, Georgia), and the [187 ft.-high] Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Deciding that my lighthouse climbing days were pretty much over, I went down to the sandy white beach instead.
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| Little Sable Point Lighthouse, on Lake Michigan, Silver Lake Sand Dunes Area. |
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| Dune grass. |
Next stop, the Muskegon State Park (via Rt. 31 S and 120 W) in North Muskegon. A very woodsy state park, this one, with lots of trees around all the sites. Steps led down to the beach and that’s where I went, to enjoy the sunshine and to read a bit. The water was cold and it took a lot of self-prodding to suck it up and submerge myself!
WEDNESDAY, JULY 31 –
I think it’s a fair observation to note that, in addition to eating, drinking, sleeping, and crapping, looking skyward is something all humans do, the world over, every day.
It’s raining again this morning! Oh, Michigan, how fickle thou art! But…rain sustains life and it certainly has been good for the fruit orchards around here!
Okay, Mappie! You know what? The truck needs an oil change so let’s go inland and make that happen. Back on my well-travelled Rt. 31 I then turned east on Rt. 46, towards Cedar Springs, and got a site at the Lakeside Camp Park. Before setting up the camper, I went to the local Ford dealership and asked about an oil change service for the truck. The fella there, Mike was his name, said that because of the camper on the truck, they will have to do the work outside. But not when it’s raining. I gave him a little bit of my distressed oh-oh-oh look, then asked him what the weather forecast was for tomorrow. He whipped out his mobile and we both learned that it’s gonna be partly sunny. “See ya tomorrow!” I said.
Additionally, it’s the end of the month and this unplanned excursion inland to this RV Park, which has excellent WIFI connection, has prompted me to take care of my August bills ahead of time. While doing that this afternoon, I looked up often from my laptop to admire the view from my site. It’s an old barn, just a few yards away, partly covered by ivy and surrounded by high grass. I like old barns. I think debilitated old barns have a lot of character. Just think of the stories they could tell.
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| Even in inclement weather, I find things of interest...like this old barn. Cedar Springs, MI. |
THURSDAY, AUGUST 1 –
“Happy Birthday, Dad!” Had he lived, Dad would have turned 96 today. He was a swell guy and quite a character!
The sun was out this morning so I got ready to take the truck back to Ford. Having already decided to stay here another night, I first stopped at the office to pay for my site – the one with the view of the charming old barn! There’s a small fish-stocked pond behind my site, but the barn is lively, with birds flitting around and the overgrowth swaying in the breeze.
The oil change and general all-around check of the truck was finished in about an hour's time. All's good, Mike said. I was back at my site just before noon.
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| Getting the truck serviced at the Cedar Springs Ford. |
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| The old barn, at dusk. |
Before leaving Cedar Springs yesterday [Friday 2nd] I got some breakfast at a family restaurant. It got cloudy again but I didn’t particular mind because Thursday was perfect for the We-have-to-do-it-outside-oil-change and I’m not heading back to the shoreline until Sunday.
Michigan’s
countryside is beautiful and I enjoyed my drive along Routes 131 S, 57 E, and
66 S to the Ionia State Recreation Area, near Ionia. I arrived around 1:45 p.m. only to find out
that all the sites at the “modern” campground (translation: with electricity)
were full. The lady in the office said
there’s plenty of spaces at the rustic campground and I told her I was OK with
that. My only request was for something
level and her response was, no worries, the spaces are big and grassy. When she showed me my site on the map, I
said, “Horses!” She was giving me a site
at the Equestrian Campground!
Lordy, my site is
huge! You could fit three truck campers
there! Of course! They are spacious in order to accommodate horse
trailers as well as RVs and trucks. At
the rear of my site were three hitch posts and each one had a thick eye screw
near the top – to run the rope through, I figured. I took a close look around and found strands
of horse hair on one of the posts, a couple of hoof prints, and manure and hay
that had been tossed into the woods. I had
no neighbors within my immediate vicinity but, just wait and watch, and sure
enough, two teen girls came trotting by on their horses. Pretty girls I thought, but the horses were
gorgeous! This is the second time I’ve
ever camped in an area for horses. I
should do this more often!
I took a walk around
the campground before it got too dark and marveled at how large the spaces
were. There are horse trails at this SRA
and manure depository sites, complete with pitchforks, shovels, and wheelbarrows. I came upon those girls’ site and saw that
they had five horses and two horse trailers.
Now I could see the rope through those screws. The horses and their feed bags were tied to
that rope. Although there were two other
RVs at the campground, this group was the only one with horses. This morning, Saturday 3rd, I
counted four groups, including a family with young children. Lucky kids!
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| Manure depository at the Equestrian Campground, Ionia State Recreation Area. |
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| Horses tethered at their spacious campsite. |
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| Morning feeding. |
Shortly before noon
today I arrived at the Woodchip Campground in Byron Center, MI, just south of
Grand Rapids. Tomorrow I will return to
the Muskegon area, pick up where I left off, and continue my shoreline drive south. Soon I will arrive at the southernmost arc of
Lake Michigan…
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