Ludington, MI

Ludington Lighthouse

We've had  a nice stay here in Ludington.  We chose this place as it's relatively close to the Taylor's "cottage" just in case some Taylors stayed over.  Turns out that didn't happen, but Donna did find a Curves (gym) nearby and a House of Flavors was just close enough that it was convenient to go visit while just far enough away that we weren't there every hour eating ice cream.  We stayed at the Good Sam 10/10/10 rated Vacation Station RV park.  Really nice park with wide, concrete sites.  Ours was wide & long enough that the both truck and trailer fit on our site.

This was also a good spot to put the trailer while we took a short trip to Shipshewana for an over night at the Peaceful Acres Bed & Breakfast, and a trip to Lambrights Comfort Chairs to order new furniture.  We're replacing our two leather rocker-recliners with a narrower wall-hugging cloth recliner and a narrower cloth rocker-recliner that allows for a night stand between the two chairs.  These pieces are similar to the ones we saw in the campground in Mitchell, SD.  Donna took her knitting along to ensure everything worked as planned.  I think it's a good change for us as it'll result in more usable space in the trailer.  Furniture due September 18th

We also took the time to set up an appointment at MOR/ryde to swap out our 5th Airborne pin box for MOR/ryde's rubber pin box on August 30th.  This should give us some relief with the chucking under braking that we're experiencing.  It won't all go away, but we were real happy with the Demco pin box on our Excel 5th wheel.  The MOR/ryde rubber pin box is a similar solution (though different engineering design) as the Demco, so the thinking is that it'll help solve some our chucking problem as the Demco pin box did.  Background:  Some people on the Ford forums are noting that the 2008-2010 F450s are experiencing chucking that isn't being experienced on the other Ford trucks when towing the same trailer.   The issue has popped back up as  people are beginning to buy used F450s and experience a pretty rough ride while towing 5th wheel trailers.   We had a pretty rough time with that chucking coming up US 31 going to Manistee, and that spurred us to go ahead and change out our pin box.  Only time will tell if it is worth the money and effort.  

Well, if all goes as planned we'll move to Shipshewana, IN tomorrow.  Trailer service is scheduled for the week of September 9th in LaGrange, IN.  Then we'll hangout for the new furniture.  At least that's the plan.  Later, David

Ludington Lighthouse and harbor entrance

M&M IV @ Manistee, MI

Scottsville Clown Band

photo courtesy of Greg Bahnmiller

We've had a great time here in Manistee visiting with friends from the NuWa Owners forum.  Several of these folks winter - just as we do - in/around Gulf Shores, AL.  So we'll see many of them, again, in a few months.  Most have roots here in Michigan though the auto tags will run from Michigan, Texas, and South Dakota.  In Alabama, I believe these people are technically known as "Michibamians".  At least that's the t-shirt.

photo courtesy of Greg Bahnmiller

Highlights of the week are food and good conversation.  However, this group does get out and about.  They held a mini-golf tournament (Donna and I lost), and we went to see the Scottville, MI Clown Band.  Photos here are of the clown band - a volunteer group of men and women who get together to have fun playing music.  And they do a super job playing all types of music genre.

We also got in a short visit with Gordy Mark, Ken, Kendra, Sven, and Taylor at Ludington, MI plus taking a short walk to the lighthouse (a Taylor family tradition) and lunch at House of Flavors.  It was great to see everyone, but the visit was way too short.  And sorry, no pictures.  I've had a bad run of battery management lately, and it continued today.

Tomorrow we move to Ludington, MI for a few days before traveling on down to Shipshewana, IN to await our turn for trailer service. At least that's the plan..until it changes.  Later, David

Moving on to Michigan

Mitchell, SD

Updating the exterior of the Corn Palace

We've had a nice stay in Mitchell, SD while we updated some family documents.  Walked by the Corn Palace to get some updated photos and watched them update the decorations.  Finally got out to see the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historical Society's museum at De Smet, SD too.

We also got to see why South Dakota's so green.  For a few afternoons, thunderstorms would start

Surveyor's House - Laura Ingalls Wilder's first house in De Smet, SD 

building just northeast of Rapid City and move southeast to Sioux Falls. Light hail in almost all of 'em.  But it seemed like they lined up like aircraft preparing to land at a busy airport and moved through the area.  Hopefully, all the farmers & ranchers appreciated it.

The is the first time that we've stayed at R&R campground in Mitchell and people just sat.  Few people were leaving in the mornings and arriving

The eventual Ingalls house in De Smet, SD

in the late afternoons.  Then bike week at Sturgis ended and it was just like you pulled the drain plug in an overfilled sink.  Almost everyone started moving as the RV parks around Rapid City started emptying out.  By the time we started traveling east yesterday, most bikers were long gone.

Also unusual for us, we ran across chatty Mobile Suites owners in a park.   The first couple were members of the

Original chalkboards in one of the school houses in De Smet, SD

SOITC and were just checking up on us which we really appreciated. The second couple had the same trailer floor plan as ours and bought it from the same dealer (RV's for Less in Knoxville, TN).  Come to find out, they bought it the month before ours arrived from the factory.  As they bought it off the dealer's lot, we're pretty confident it's one of the ones we looked at as we made the decisions on what to order.  Then came the "God" part.

We've been wanting to upgrade the recliners and had picked up a brochure last year from one of the "Amish" furniture builders in Topeka, IN.  Turns out this couple has replaced their recliners from the same company plus got an additional end-table to fit between the two recliners.   Nothing like getting to see first hand the furniture you want in the same trailer as yours and seeing that it fits. And they told us the style & type of light shade to change out over the dining table to provide more light.   (Hey, I can see the keyboard on the computer at night now!)  Talk about your "fruitful" chance meetings.

So that's it for this week.  We've stopped for the evening at the KOA in Oakdale, WI.  Plan to watch some football tonight and move on toward Manistee, MI tomorrow.  That's the plan, anyways.  David

Checking in at the Flying Goose Campground, Fairmont, MN

Mitchell, SD

Balloon send off at Billings, MT

After a nice layover in Billings, MT we took three days to travel over to Mitchell, SD for our next layover.  I can't recall seeing South Dakota so green as we have on this trip along I-90.  We're here to update some family documents plus it's just a cheap stop - especially if you've spent the last winter and spring along the west coast and great northwest!  Not a lot of restaurant choices, but the town's got some history, shopping, repair facilities, etc.  Even a Cabelas.  Unfortunately, our favorite BBQ stop has gone out of business.

We timed this leg of the trip to go by Sturgis while the bike week was in full fling thinking we wouldn't be in the way of people traveling to/from the event.  It was fun to drive by Sturgis Monday as Bike Week was kicking off.  While it's not advertised as such, this is Harley Davidson mecca week at Sturgis.  All bikes are welcomed, but by & far Harley's rule the week.   And it didn't bother us that a  B-1B leaving Rapid City flew over while we were stopped at a rest area for lunch just outside Sturgis. What surprised us was 1) how many bikes are just running up and down the roads (we guess sightseeing) as festivities are underway, and 2) how many people were leaving just as it was kicking off.  Oh, and while I'd read about it, it also surprised us as to how many pastures were turned into campgrounds, too.  And we continue to see bikers pull into the campground and motels each evening even though we're now a half-day's drive east from Sturgis.

As we have in the past, we're staying in R&R Campground - a Passport America campground.  It stays pretty busy as an overnighter and big rigs fit.  Donna's even found time when the kids are gone & she can swim in the pool all to herself.  And to my surprise, we even got satellite TV signals between the trees!  That's good for football viewing, plus we're really hooked on the program guide.  Really miss that feature when we're back on cable or using the over-the-air antenna.

Back to Mitchell: If you were to go way back in our blogs, you'll also see that Mitchell is home to the great corn palace.  We'll get current pictures before we leave and post them next week.  Plus we've got time to drive up to one of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum's historic homes over in De Smet, SD.  Otherwise, we're here enjoying our site, restocking and Donna's testing new recipes.  May even get a truck & trailer wash in while we're here, too.

For future planning & if all goes well, we leave for Manistee, MI Wednesday to meet up with friends from the NuWa Owners Forum.  (They let us in even though we don't have a NuWa product.)  Anyway, that's the plan.  Unless it changes.

Later, David