Well, it was a whirlwind two weeks with our daughter, Kelly, and her now fiancé, Chris, visiting from Australia. We're just now coming up for air, but we enjoyed every minute of their visit. The best times were those we spent with the whole family together including our other daughter, Kristy, and her husband, Matt. One such instance was Mothers Day. Although the day turned out wonderful there had been some concern as Matt had been taken by ambulance to the hospital the previous day with severe pain in the kidney area. It turned out to be a kidney stone, but it was his first, so they erred on the side of caution and called the ambulance. By Saturday night he was feeling much better. The best part was that he elected to proceed with the Mothers Day lunch in typical Matt fashion and put on a magnificent spread including specially prepared 'Mattburgers'.
 |
| Took Chris back to Walled Lake. Last time here he walked on water. Yes, it was the dead of winter. |
On Saturday we drove the Jeep to Oakland Township for our great nephew Jeremy's second birthday.
 |
| The kids. Yes, Aunt Kim you are one of them. |
 |
| Julie and Sierra |
 |
| Dianne and Lisa |
 |
| No, you go first! |
 |
| Dianne's first S'more. Right! |
 |
| Toe warming caveman style |
On Tuesday, May 20th, we packed up and moved back to Camp Dearborn. However, the trip was not uneventful. We needed to top off the fuel in the motorhome, but due to poor pre-planning on my part, I decided this about 8 miles past a nice big truck stop. A billboard on the expressway showed that the next exit had Woody's Towing that advertised 'Truck Repair'. I thought 'OK, I'll get off here and try that.' A service station offering 'Truck Repair' must be big enough to accommodate me, right? Wrong!!! Anyone remember the Ford Courier? I think that was their definition of a truck. Okay, I don't fit. No big deal. Just turn around,right? Uh, where? There was no place big enough to turn around. So we drove away from the expressway looking for any opportunities as the road got rougher and the shoulders got smaller. About four miles out we came upon an intersection. Beyond the intersection to the left and straight ahead the road turned to dirt. To the right the road was paved, but who knows how far and that was in the opposite direction from Camp Dearborn. The intersection was curbed on all four corners, but I thought 'Maybe I can make it'. We swung right to take full advantage of the circle, then to the left to start the turn. We cleared the first curb with the front wheels, but as the rear came around I looked in the camera to see the Jeep jump up over the curb. Sorry Jeep! Thank god for high walled tires. Just a little scuffing on the sidewalls. We cleared the second curb, but looking left it became clear there was no way we were going to clear the third curb and complete the turn. I bailed out and pulled down the dirt road on the left far enough to straighten out the Jeep behind the motorhome. We put the four way flashers on. I got out to disconnect the Jeep and Lisa got out to say Hi to the goats in the fenced area adjacent to the road. Of course, with Lisa's camera in hand the goats had to smile. As I started to disconnect the Jeep I heard loud 'Bahhing' from the half dozen or so goats. I thought 'Oh fine! Now some farmer is going to come out with his 12 gauge and want to know who is pestering his goats.' Luckily, no one came from the farmhouse, but just as I had finished disconnecting the Jeep I turned to see a large semi with large farm equipment waiting to turn onto the road I was now pretty much blocking. Great!! I quickly kicked the Jeep transfer case out of neutral and back into gear, and told Lisa to back it around the corner. I gave a sign to the semi driver that it was my intent to similarly back around the corner and get out of his way. He put on his four ways and patiently waited along with the row of cars building up behind him as I backed around the corner. Once I was out of his way he proceeded to make a left turn onto the dirt road that I had just cleared. However, rather than continuing down the road, he stopped once he was where I had been moments before and let traffic clear the intersection. He then proceeded to back up across the intersection and make another left heading back in the direction he had just come from. It appears I wasn't the only driver fooled by Woody's sign. Lisa ended up following me back to the nice big truck stop. We topped off the fuel in both the motorhome and Jeep, and made our way to Camp Dearborn with no further issues. Moral of the story: Don't just try random exits when you're 60 feet long and can't back up. That evening we relaxed and played more marbles. It was the novices Kelly and Chris against Lisa and I, the seasoned pro's. The novices took us to school and beat us 2 out of 3 games.
 |
| Disconnecting the Jeep for the big turnaround |
 |
| One goat... |
 |
| turns into 13 goats!!! |
 |
| Mandatory preparation for travel to the home of Guinness |
 |
| Lisa experimented with the campfire setting on her new camera |
On Friday, May 23rd, during the afternoon Lisa took Kelly and Chris to some outdoor settings within Camp Dearborn to take engagement photos. Later that afternoon and evening we attended the wedding of Lauren Yanalunas (daughter of long time friends Mark and Terri Yanalunas) and Kole Morrell. The outdoor wedding conveniently took place at Mystic Creek Golf Course right on the grounds of Camp Dearborn. It was nice to see several old friends that night. Kelly and Chris had a rehearsal dinner to attend that evening for another wedding we would all attend on Sunday, so they dropped us off prior to the wedding and then picked us up around midnight after the reception. That saved us from having to crawl home a mile.
 |
| Engagement photos |
Saturday was the baby shower that Lisa threw for Kristy at Bakers of Milford. At 2 miles, this was also very convenient to the campground. The day was perfect and the shower went beautifully. After the shower the five of us (Kristy, Kelly, Chris, Lisa and I) went to the home of Kristy's lifelong friend Megan (and Kyle) Ankerson for a ride on their new boat on Middle Straits Lake where they live. That evening Kelly's long time friend, Danielle LeBlanc, and her fiancé, Alex, came over for dinner. It was a great time having all the 'kids' over. Kristy spent the night with us also making for a record of five sleeping in the RV. I drew the short straw and got the blowup bed on the floor of the kitchen. It was worth every sore muscle to have almost all of the family together. We were only missing Matt who was at the Indy 500 with his buddy Bret. Imagine that, passing up a night of camping with the family just to go to some race. I'd have done likewise Matt.
 |
| Kristy relaxing after a stressful day at the baby shower |
 |
| Kristy and Kade Ankerson |
 |
| Best buds Megan and Kristy with Kade |
 |
| Captain Kyle and his first mate Kade supported by mom |
 |
| So……...what are the poor people doing? (inside joke) |
 |
| Danielle, Alex, Kristy, Kelly & Chris |
On Monday, May 26th, we said a sad goodbye to Kelly and Chris. We brought them to Detroit Metro airport so they could fly to Europe to meet up with Chris' mum for some touring. Kelly will fly home to Australia after a few weeks in Ireland and Scotland, but Chris will continue with his mum to Prague, Rome and Paris. The motorhome is suddenly very quiet as well as the campground which had been chuck full over the Memorial Day weekend.
 |
| Off to Ireland and Scotland! |
 |
| : ( |
We golfed at Springfield Oaks in Davisburg, MI on Thurssday, May 29th. That evening we played cards with our neighbors, Joe and Vicki, two campsites over outside under their dining canopy. We had previously chatted and learned that Joe was the very same person who had sold our first house 27 years ago. So it was fun catching up on where life had taken us since 1987. We also learned through Joe that the Oakland County Sheriff that patrolled Camp Dearborn on the weekends was the very same person who had originally built the house we lived in for 26 years and sold last spring. Strange how our paths intersect with people from our past. Makes life interesting.
Friday found us at Oakland University for the high school graduation of our nephew and godson, Lance Gulliver, from Holly High. Lance finished off his high school career strong and narrowly missed (by 0.03 GPA) graduating with honors. Good Job Lance!!
 |
| Proud family and grandma |
 |
| Proud godparents |
We attended services on Sunday, June 1st, at our home church, St. Matthews Lutheran in Walled Lake. It was a good day to be there as we got to see and sit with good friends Mark and Linda Willmann whom we visited in Chattanooga last fall on our way to Florida. Mark and Linda were in town for Mark's father's memorial service up near Frankenmuth. We also got to spend a few minutes with Pastor Paul and several other friends from church. We had to tell Mike Schonscheck, one of the music leaders, that St. Matthews music ministry has really spoiled us. We have yet to find an equal in our nearly 11 months on the road. And we have managed to find a church nearly every Sunday since hitting the road thanks to the church locator on LCMS.org, so we've experience quite a variety of services. That Sunday evening friends, Mark and Tina Thurston, from our old Walled Lake gym, Balance Fitness, came over for dinner. Another good catch up session! Unfortunately, part of the conversation centered on the recent closing of our beloved gym. : (
 |
| Lisa with friends Mark and Tina Thurston former Balance Fitness members |
We made one more baby bump check on Monday, June 2nd before leaving the area for a little over a month. We picked up pizza and went over to Kristy and Matt's. We're happy to report that momma and baby to be are doing fine. Oh and dad to be is doing fine as well.
We arrived in Nappanee, IN on Tuesday afternoon, June 3rd in preparation for our 6 AM knock on the door the following morning to start a few days of warranty work. A great surprise was waiting for us when we arrived. A familiar Kona colored 2014 Dutch Star and black Cadillac SUV were parked in the lot on Delaware street. Bob and Karrie Letich, another one of our Newmar Hoots couples, and our gracious hosts in Tampa this past January during the RV Super Show, were already there for warranty service on their coach. They had been there since Monday and would likely be leaving the next day after some final loose ends were tied up. However, that left us almost a day to spend together. We made the most of it by heading right out to dinner. We followed that up with a trip to our beloved Rocket Science ice cream shop. It was Bob and Karrie's first trip to Rocket Science, so they got a kick out of seeing the ice cream prep process. Oh, and the ice cream wasn't bad either. The next morning our service technician, Mark, got to our coach about 6:40. This was a little late by Newmar standards, but things were hectic as his supervisor was out due to the death of his father, so Mark was filling both his supervisor's and his own shoes. Mark was the typical very personable and competent Newmar technician. The next two mornings he was there at 6:00 sharp (actually a little before). We spent the morning with Bob and Karrie, and then went to lunch with them. Some time after lunch with all of the work on their coach complete they hooked up the toad and headed for Minnesota. Over the three days we were there Mark and other technicians managed to fix our list of mostly minor issues to our complete satisfaction. We are once again Happy Campers! We spent Friday afternoon washing both the BBB and the Jeep. Saturday I took some time and copied a water bay modification that Bob Letich had done on his Dutch Star. I removed the virtually useless outdoor shower in our water bay and replaced it with an outside faucet setup. I'm excited about this mod as it'll allow me to wash the coach and Jeep anywhere even when we don't have water available.
 |
| Mandatory trip to Rocket Science Ice Cream in Nappanee |
 |
| 14% cream mixture prior to freezing |
 |
| Liquid nitrogen freezing operation |
 |
| Bob & Karrie had a rainy departure |
 |
| Useless shower removal operation |
 |
| New hot and cold exterior faucet |
 |
| Bring on the dirt! Not really. |
We drove from Nappanee to the Grand Rapids area Sunday, June 8th, in anticipation of an annual maintenance visit to Midway to service our Oasis hydronic heating system on Tuesday. We set up camp in what appears to be a very nice Sun RV Resort in Hopkins, MI called Hidden Ridge with all paved roads with plenty of room to maneuver. They take our Passport America discount on Sunday thru Thursday nights, so our full hookup pull through cement pad site is only $26.50 per night. On a side note: Lisa just finished washing a few loads of clothes. I must say it sure is nice having functioning leak free rear jacks. The coach doesn't shake nearly as much with the rear jacks down when the washer goes into its spin cycle. More thanks to Mark at Newmar!
 |
| Our site at Hidden Ridge |
 |
| Just enough room to leave the Jeep hooked up and use our favorite 5 foot sewer hose |
On Tuesday, after our stop at Midway, it will be on to Traverse City for work on our dash air which is no longer blowing cold. Newmar diagnosed it as a Freightliner issue. The Freightliner service center local to Nappanee couldn't see us until Wednesday, June 11th, and that was too late. Grand Traverse Diesel Service in Traverse City will see us Thursday, June 12th. From there we head up to Hearthside Grove in Petoskey to meet up with Phil and JoEllen Essman, two more in our Newmar Hoots network of friends. We're also looking forward to getting to know a very nice couple we just met at Newmar this afternoon as we were leaving. Jim and Carol Wallace actually own a lot at Hearthside and they'll be there for about 3 months this summer as long as life doesn't throw them any more curves like last year.
Until next time….Take Care and Blessings on your day!
Posts
