Thursday, June 29, 2006
Into the arms of America
June 28 2006
First off, let me give you the definition to yesterday’s word-of-the-day:
emolument \ih-MOL-yuh-muhnt\,
noun: The wages or perquisites arising from office, employment, or labor; gain; compensation.
Stay tuned as I’ll do the same the day after each time I use a new word.
Today is a lazy day. Since we have all the facilities we could ask for here we decided to take full advantage. Chantal and the kids are enjoying the pool and hot tub as we speak and the whole family got lots of email and blog entries taken care of while we still had the wireless connection. Now it is off to Manistique, MI to hopefully a lovely campground by the banks of Lake Michgan.
Today will mark our first entry in to the good old US of A so we have to make sure we have all our Canadian issues taken care of before we head out. It will be out last chance to buy “bags” of milk which fit so much more easily into our MoHo fridge. We will manage with cartons and bottles somehow I am sure. And with any luck, the gas will be less expensive although I am not holding my breathe for that.
Alright, we are now aliens in America. Our introduction to the US started
with some customs guys boarding the MoHo and raiding our fridge. We lost some ground beef, some eggs, some leftover spaghetti sauce (which, by the way, was just fabulous) and some sausages. I guess the US customs officals weren’t in the mood for any fruits for dinner tonight as they were happy to leave all our apples behind. Note to self, don’t bring any beef or chicken when crossing the US border.
We ended up heading down what I am affectionately calling the “crappy shack highway”, based on the lovely scenery we were enjoying, before getting to the more picturesque part of Michigan’s upper peninsula. We were sailing toward a campsite in Manistique on the northern shore of Lake Michigan. On our way we decided that it might be prudent to fill up the propane tank given that we have never filled it and we did not know how much gas was in the tank when we bought it. Well that ended up being an interesting journey. We pulled in to the first place we saw with a propane filling area. As luck would have it, the power was out so he couldn’t give us any propane. He did suggest another place however, when we arrived there, they didn’t actually have a propane filling station after all. We then saw another location further down the road with propane facilities so we pulled in only to find that they were out of propane! Did we give up? Not a chance. We asked for a recommendation and were given two options. Of course, when we arrived at the first place she recommended, it turns out that they only fill BBQ
propane tanks, not RV propane tanks. However, when we visited the final suggested location we not only found that they were open, but they had the power working, they still had some propane and they actually did have the ability to fill RV propane tanks! The only catch was they usually do transport trucks not RVs so they weren’t sure they could do it. But they were successful and we now have a full tank of propane. There is something to be said for perseverance. I’ll let you decide exactly what.
About 2 miles from our final destination we realized that our campsite was not going to be on Lake Michigan. Just at the point were we started to turn north away from the lake we saw a sign that showed campsites to the right stating that they not only were on Lake Michigan but had a sandy beach. A quick ... OK, not so quick u-turn (you try that with a 31' truck and a car attached behind!) and we were heading toward the lake with the hopes of a reasonable site. Once again Chantal did not disappoint. This time she got us a site right on the shores of Lake Michigan. It is the perfect combination of firm, level, grass-covered ground for the MoHo which then blends into sand dunes for the fire pit and on down to the water. It is even nicely wooded to make for an idyllic setting. We cooked our burgers in the fire and had supper at the picnic table while the sun
set over the trees and a warm breeze kept us comfortable and bug free. I then looked at my watch to discover it was after 9:00pm! A combination of northern lattitudes and being at the western most edge of a time zone. So we got the kids to bed and then returned to enjoy the ambiance. Sipping a glass of red wine and sitting by the fire whilst overlooking the calm waters of Lake Michigan and listening to the gentle susurration of the waves in concert with the snapping and popping of the hot coals and contemplating life. It was a good day
First off, let me give you the definition to yesterday’s word-of-the-day:
emolument \ih-MOL-yuh-muhnt\,
noun: The wages or perquisites arising from office, employment, or labor; gain; compensation.
Stay tuned as I’ll do the same the day after each time I use a new word.
Today is a lazy day. Since we have all the facilities we could ask for here we decided to take full advantage. Chantal and the kids are enjoying the pool and hot tub as we speak and the whole family got lots of email and blog entries taken care of while we still had the wireless connection. Now it is off to Manistique, MI to hopefully a lovely campground by the banks of Lake Michgan.Today will mark our first entry in to the good old US of A so we have to make sure we have all our Canadian issues taken care of before we head out. It will be out last chance to buy “bags” of milk which fit so much more easily into our MoHo fridge. We will manage with cartons and bottles somehow I am sure. And with any luck, the gas will be less expensive although I am not holding my breathe for that.
Alright, we are now aliens in America. Our introduction to the US started
with some customs guys boarding the MoHo and raiding our fridge. We lost some ground beef, some eggs, some leftover spaghetti sauce (which, by the way, was just fabulous) and some sausages. I guess the US customs officals weren’t in the mood for any fruits for dinner tonight as they were happy to leave all our apples behind. Note to self, don’t bring any beef or chicken when crossing the US border.We ended up heading down what I am affectionately calling the “crappy shack highway”, based on the lovely scenery we were enjoying, before getting to the more picturesque part of Michigan’s upper peninsula. We were sailing toward a campsite in Manistique on the northern shore of Lake Michigan. On our way we decided that it might be prudent to fill up the propane tank given that we have never filled it and we did not know how much gas was in the tank when we bought it. Well that ended up being an interesting journey. We pulled in to the first place we saw with a propane filling area. As luck would have it, the power was out so he couldn’t give us any propane. He did suggest another place however, when we arrived there, they didn’t actually have a propane filling station after all. We then saw another location further down the road with propane facilities so we pulled in only to find that they were out of propane! Did we give up? Not a chance. We asked for a recommendation and were given two options. Of course, when we arrived at the first place she recommended, it turns out that they only fill BBQ
propane tanks, not RV propane tanks. However, when we visited the final suggested location we not only found that they were open, but they had the power working, they still had some propane and they actually did have the ability to fill RV propane tanks! The only catch was they usually do transport trucks not RVs so they weren’t sure they could do it. But they were successful and we now have a full tank of propane. There is something to be said for perseverance. I’ll let you decide exactly what.
About 2 miles from our final destination we realized that our campsite was not going to be on Lake Michigan. Just at the point were we started to turn north away from the lake we saw a sign that showed campsites to the right stating that they not only were on Lake Michigan but had a sandy beach. A quick ... OK, not so quick u-turn (you try that with a 31' truck and a car attached behind!) and we were heading toward the lake with the hopes of a reasonable site. Once again Chantal did not disappoint. This time she got us a site right on the shores of Lake Michigan. It is the perfect combination of firm, level, grass-covered ground for the MoHo which then blends into sand dunes for the fire pit and on down to the water. It is even nicely wooded to make for an idyllic setting. We cooked our burgers in the fire and had supper at the picnic table while the sun
set over the trees and a warm breeze kept us comfortable and bug free. I then looked at my watch to discover it was after 9:00pm! A combination of northern lattitudes and being at the western most edge of a time zone. So we got the kids to bed and then returned to enjoy the ambiance. Sipping a glass of red wine and sitting by the fire whilst overlooking the calm waters of Lake Michigan and listening to the gentle susurration of the waves in concert with the snapping and popping of the hot coals and contemplating life. It was a good day
