Bert's Musings

We left Sault Ste Marie this morning, our parking spot was such a beautiful area, and headed back to Spring Hill. We arrived here at around 1:30. Kathy helped with registration starting at 2:30 and I just hung around the RV and read. We drove a little over 600 miles on our trip up to the UP. The excursion was very enjoyable. Not really anything exciting/important happened today, just driving. Good night and may God bless you.

It was a lot warmer here today. The low last night was 57 and the high today was 86. It is only supposed to cool down to 65 tonight. There is a 40% chance of rain, and it just started misting. Kathy hung around the RV most of the day. She did some reorganizing and also sat out front and watched the activity on the river. LOTS of boats, several planes landed and took off across the river from us and a helicopter flew around a lot (probably some tourist things.) I went out and had a late, good breakfast at Frank's Restaurant downtown. After breakfast I found a hardware store that had the kind of bulbs we needed to replace in the RV. I then went to the Soo Locks and watched some vessels lock through and watched about 40 minutes of movies about the Locks. It was interesting. I didn't realize how many times the locks have been rebuilt. The first locks were built by a private company in exchange for several hundred thousand acres of land. The company turned the locks over to the Sta...

This morning we packed up and left Newberry. We first went to the Upper Tahquamenon Falls and then drove out to Whitefish point. We walked to the Falls, only a quarter of a mile from the parking lot, and then climbed down the 94 steps to get a better look. It is a pretty waterfall. What makes it more interesting is the differing shades of brown in the water. The brown color is caused by the tannic acid, from decomposing vegetation in the run-off area that feeds the river. The deeper the water, the browner the color. Even though the water appeared brown as it went over the falls, above the falls, where it was more calm, you could easily see the bottom of the riverbed. Whitefish Point was not overly impressive. They wanted $16 each for tickets to get into the shipwreck museum and we didn't think there was anything in there that we wanted to see $32 worth. We did walk out to the water and I did some wading in Lake Superior, Kathy had waded in it over in Munising the day...

We got up this morning, I had breakfast, and we headed for Munising. 65 miles of pine trees both sides of the road, with the exception of two SMALL towns. (On the way back I watched for side roads. The place I checked, chosen at random, was 17 miles between side roads.)    We arrived just after 10 AM. We bought tickets for the noon Pictured Rocks 2 hour and 40 minute boat cruise then walked around Munising for a while and finally had an early lunch before heading back down to the pier. I can’t say enough positive things about the Pictured Rocks cruise. IT WAS AWESOME! Experiencing the beautiful weather and seeing the sandstone formations made me thank God for the beautiful creation he provided for us. I didn’t take many photos because photographers much better than I have photographed the entire area. You can get an idea at http://www.picturedrocks.com/TourtheRocks.php I did take a couple of photographs. Below is Kathy enjoying the breeze. The water was amazingly calm. On a...

We walked around Petoskey’s downtown this morning. It is to “artsy” and upscale for me. It is a well maintained downtown and almost all of the buildings have tenants. There is even a J.C.Penny store. We also spent some time along the Lake but did not go to the beach looking for Petoskey stones. After exploring Petoskey we headed north. Crossing the bridge was an experience. The northbound outside lane was closed so that maintenance crews could paint the railing. The outside lanes, on both the north and south bound lanes are paved, the inner lanes are grating. I was amazed at how squirely the RV felt driving on the grating. While Michigan is a beautiful state I must admit that after the first 20 miles of pine trees on both sides of the road it gets a little boring. Tonight and tomorrow night we are staying at Clementz’s Northcountry Campground & Cabins. It is a few miles north of Newberry. We are so far from civilization that our cell phones don’t even try to work. We are just came ...

We left Spring Hill this morning and arrived at Cadillac Truck (in Cadillac, MI) right at 9 AM. We were supposed to get the front end aligned and they were to check the leaky front wheel seal installed by Raisor Ford before I left. As an afterthought I asked them to change the fuel filter. We thought it would be ready shortly after lunch. I asked them to give me directions to a restaurant where I could get a good breakfast and they sent us to Da Dawg House. The food was good. One of the entrees, some type of hash, is served in a metal dog dish and the waitresses bark when they serve it (you had to be there). We went to downtown Cadillac and walked around for awhile. Cadillac, and the surrounding metropolitan area, is built around two lakes; Lake Cadillac and Lake Mitchell. We walked down to Lake Cadillac and spent some time enjoying the view. There was a light breeze blowing in off the lake and a light jacket, or at least a long sleeve shirt, would have felt good. Where we walked a...

I left the RV at 7 this morning. I headed over to finish roller painting the Norway men's side ceiling of the bath house. First thing I noticed was that it was foggy, visibility was maybe a half mile. When I walked by the pond I noticed that all the flowers were gone. They had been so pretty that I was disappointed that I did not get to see them again (this shows how dumb I am about pond flowers). When I walked back through the area later they were out again in all their glory. If I get out early enough again I'm going to have to check out this phenomonon more closely. It was HUMID today. We got a couple of showers but no significant rainfall. Temperatures ranged from mid 60's to mid 80's again. I think it is supposed to get down to a very humid 63 tonight. I managed to finish all the painting with a roller before church. It took me about 2.5 hours. Later in the afternoon I went back over and painted around the walls, lights, etc. That took me another 3.5 hours. I wante...

It was warm and sticky most of the day today, but not as warm as a lot of you are experiencing. Mid 80's for a high and supposed to get down into the high 60's again tonight. Kathy and I were the "door men" for breakfast this morning. We were supposed to check to make sure the Family Campers had "meal ticket armbands", or actual tickets. If they didn't have either and wanted to pay for breakfast we were the cashiers. Only a few needed to pay. It was a boring hour and a half. Kathy did the same thing again at lunch. I walked over to the Norway bath house and finish painted the ceiling of the girls/women's rest room. I was there from 11 AM until 4:30 PM. The first half hour I made good progress and then the dam broke. For the next hour I waited while one, or a group, of girls/women used the facility. I got back in and painted for less than half an hour and two more girls came in to take showers. That time I was smart enough to take my equipment out wit...

Worked at replacing more screens today. We replaced 5 of them on one of the cabins at Trappers Outpost. The cabins are constructed of rough sawn lumber. The screens are a double layer. The inner layer is normal screen and the outer layer is hardware cloth (a stiff screen with larger openings). the screens are stapled to the building sheathing and rough sawn 2" material makes up the "frame." The sides, top and sill of the frame are held in place by 3" long screws. It was not all that difficult to get off the frame material but then we had to pull an average of 25 staples to get off the hardware cloth, before we could replace the damaged inner screen material. We (Joe, another volunteer, and I) did that before lunch. After lunch I (Joe took the afternoon off) made a couple of "spreaders" to strengthen the screen frames on the New Frontiers dining hall. I need to make a few more of them but ran out of time. After the spreaders I took a shower and headed over ...

This afternoon was the first time I've worn jeans this month. I've worn shorts more in the past several weeks than I did in the previous 40 years. I worked on repairing/replacing window screens again. To get to one of the bad screens that was on the upper level of the outside wall at Fort Wilderness, I had to wade through raspberry bushes, while carrying a 20' extension ladder. Long pants were definitely in order. Kathy thought she was needed in the kitchen this morning. She went over at 7 AM only to find that she wasn't needed. She made a pair of pants for one of the lady cooks today and also did some accounting/filing work. Temperatures were in 70's this morning and it was sticky. Got into the high 80's by 2 PM. It is supposed to get down to the mid 60's tonight. We may be able to turn off the AC. We finalized the paperwork for the offer on our house. The buyers financing is supposed to be pre-approved, and the financing is supposed to be in place for the ...

It was in the low 90's today, high 60's for a low last night and I think the low is supposed to be mid 70's tonight. Tomorrow is also supposed to be in the low 90's but I bet it doesn't get out of the high 80's. I spent all day (from 8 AM to 5 PM) out and the heat did not feel all that bad, most of the time. Whenever practical I did work in the shade. Kathy did accounting stuff today and I repaired screens again. Not much exciting to report today. One of the surprises here was the number of kids with physical limitations they have here. Below is a photo of one of the stretch golf carts that they use to transport the kids who are in wheelchairs. The side panel folds down for a ramp.

We have arrived back home after a good day of exploring. We wandered through the country up toward  Falmouth. On the way, totally out in the country, we came across Pineview grocery. We stopped and went in and found that it was run by Amish or maybe Mennonites. They had quite a selection of goods. One young lady was restocking shelves and cleaning existing shelves and cans as she restocked. Two young barefoot girls, barefoot but wearing their white bonnets, were helping her. They appeared to be her daughters. All light in the place was provided by skylights but they were using electric cash registers and accepted both credit and debit cars. We continued on to Falmouth, to visit Ebel's Family Center. http://www.ebelsgeneralstore.com/  It was interesting and well worth the drive. The main building is much larger than what is shown in the photo on the web site. Once we finished grocery shopping (we really didn't need anything since we eat all our meals at the Spring Hill din...

It seems to be hot everywhere, and it is certainly hot and humid here. Today's high was a very humid 86. Last nights low was 68 degrees with 100% humidity. It is supposed to be in the 90's for at least the next 6 days. We had rain last night and a pretty good shower this afternoon. I think everything around here is dry enough that the rain was needed. I just lazed around after church yesterday. Kathy spent several hour helping register the new wave of guests. I thought I was going back to painting today but instead they had me work on replacing damaged screens again. Today I worked with Joe, a Ford tool & die maker. Joe, his wife (she is a nurse) and their daughter are here volunteering for two weeks. I think the daughter is in the TST program. She works in the morning and does guest stuff in the afternoon. Kathy spent 6.5 hours typing in comments from last weeks guests. Barb, the volunteer coordinator, told us we have to take tomorrow of...

Today was a day off for us. We drove down to Ionia, looked around, and then wandered back up to Spring Hill via Big Rapids. Ionia was interesting. I was surprised at the hills. There are streets that are as steep as those in San Francisco. Kathy wondered how in the world people negotiated slippery streets during the winter. One of the highlights was the John C. Blanchard house. Unfortunately it is only open for tours on Sunday. We would have loved to have been able to tour the inside. Mr. Blanchard (1822-1905) left Cayuga County New York when he was 14. He worked as a laborer in Detroit, Livingston and Shiawassee counties; and saved his money. He walked 60 miles to the U.S. Land Office at Ionia and paid $50, of his $53 savings, for 40 acres of land. Two years later he began "reading the law" as a student in a local law office. In 1850 he was appointed as Ionia County prosecuting attorney. His home is brick with a sandstone veneer. He selected the sandstone from the Ionia Sand...

Yesterday, Friday, I took a break from painting and repaired screens. There are a LOT of screens on site. I "surveyed" the screens at Freedom Hall, in New Frontiers, the Farm Village and Fire Stations in Storybrook and Norway in Copper Country. Another volunteer and I, Jeff - a corporate attorney from Houston, TX (more on that later), replaced the damaged screens with new fiberglass screen material; except for Norway, we ran out of time. Kathy worked on payroll and filing. Jeff and his wife are here as volunteers while their children are "guest" here this week. This is the first time Jeff has been here but his wife, and her sisters, used to come here as "guests". Jeff is a partner in a law firm that specializes in energy. We had a great discussion about "alternative" energy. His take is that ALL current forms of alternative energy (wind, solar, ethanol, biodiesel, etc) are government sponsored boondoggles of epic proportion. You would be absolute...

2.5 hours of painting this morning and I finished the Norway bath house ceilings. I spent a couple of hours this afternoon walking (and walking and walking, this is a BIG place) around looking for window screens that needed repairs. Tomorrow I will start replacing the bad screens. I will probably go back to painting after that because they really do need someone to finish paint the Norway bath house ceiling and prime and finish paint the Meadowlands bath house ceiling. (Those are the two bath houses where I washed the ceilings.) Kathy did more accounting today. I think she is close to working herself out of a job. I am sure that the folks here can't believe how much she can do. Phil Woods, Phil and his wife have volunteered at Spring Hill, for the entire summer, for the past several years, offered us their golf car tonight. We took advantage of the offer and drove around most of the camp. It is nothing short of incredible. I wished I had a movie camera so that you could see all the...

Severe thunderstorms were forecast for this morning but all we got was a little rain. We got enough to settle the dust, which was good, but I think more would have been better. It was supposed to be in the high 80's todya but only got to 82. That was enough, with the humidity, to make me sweat up a storm. It is supposed to get down to 62 tonight with a high of 80 and low of 54 for tomorrow. The 54 will feel good. I almost finished priming the ceiling in the mens side of the "Norway" bath house today. I still have one shower stall and changing area to go. Kathy worked on data entry. I worked 7 hours and I think she worked 5. Tomorrow I finish the last shower stall and move to the womens side. Working on the womens side is a real pain. On the mens side the guys just keep using the facility while I'm painting. On the womens side I will have to periodically stop and let them use the toilets and showers. It will ...

Today is the warmest and most humid day we have experienced since arriving. Tomorrow is supposed ot be more of the same and then it is supposed to cool off again. There is enough of a breeze so that it is not to uncomfortable when outside in the shade, but it is pretty dusty. ALL the roads at the camp are sand/gravel and there is a lot of loose, fine sand to blow around when the wind picks up a little. Not horrible, but dusty. We shut up the RV and turned on the AC around lunch time. We attended the on site church service this morning. We didn't find out about it until late so we missed the music at the beginning, probably a good thing for me <grin>. There were a couple of songs at the end. The bass was loud enough that it vibrated my bones. The Christian rapp was so loud that it was more easily understandable after I plugged my good ear, trying to protect it <grin>. The young people enjoyed it a...

The low was in the 50’s last night. Today’s high was in the low 80’s with around 35% humidity. I’m sitting outside typing this and, with the gentle breeze blowing, it is really pleasant. A batch of weekend “guests/campers” came in yesterday from Goshen, IN, after the weekday ones left. They appear to be middle school age. We arrived early for breakfast and we were about finished when we saw them “marching” towards the dining hall, between 50 and 100 of them. They were lined up outside and given “orders.” After they were inside and seated I heard one of their chaperones tell them that they would be walking to the buffet lines. He told them the consequences for running but I didn’t hear what he said. While we were there they were a very well behaved group. After breakfast Kathy did a load of laundry and I did some odds and ends around the RV then we headed out. First we stopped at the Farmers Market, at the Evart airport. We only bought a pepper, for salsa, and a loaf of spelt bread from...

Last night it dipped down into the high 40's or low 50's, depends on which thermometer/weather station. Today the high was in the mid 70's and the humidity was relatively low. I think it is supposed to be in the low 80's tomorrow. It has been sunny every day so far. I just thought I was tired last night. After I published my post we ended up going for at least a mile long walk and I didn't manage to get to be until 10 PM. Kathy started work at 7 AM, in the kitchen, this morning. She worked there several hours and then did more data entry in the afternoon. I "mopped" another bath house ceiling. Tomorrow I think I supposed to paint the ceiling in the one I "mopped" yesterday. The one today should have some work done on it before it gets painted. "Joe", the guy who is head of "Accommodations" (anything that is a building or that is attached to a building is under his control) has been on vacation the past two days. He will be in ...

Kathy started in the kitchen at 7 AM. She took one 5 min break and another 10 min break during the morning. Other than that she was constantly busy. In the afternoon she was sitting outside the RV when Barb (the Volunteer Coordinator) walked by. They chatted a few minutes and Kathy asked Barb if there was anything she could be doing. She spent the next 2 hours deciphering kids handwriting, on evaluation forms, and inputting the data. My day was not as hectic, although I am POOPED. I met Doug (Barb’s husband) for breakfast, actually I was done eating by the time he arrived, around 8 AM. He had been told that someone was picking up paint for me to use and that they would not arrive on site until around 9 AM. After he ate a quick breakfast we went to the “secret” coffee machine over in Storybrook (one of the 3 areas of the camp). The trials involved in getting the secret coffee machine to make coffee would take to long to tell. After coffee we went to “Site”, which is the facilities manag...

We arrived at Spring Hill around 3 PM and things have been non-stop since then. Actually I did have time to take a shower between the time we got set up and supper. Upon arrival we met Nate, one of the full time staff. He told us to follow his golf cart to our campsite. When we turned to go back into the area where we are camped I thought, "Does he really want me to go there?". We are in the woods. I think we will have to back out of our spot when we leave because there is no way we can make the turn if we drive through. That will be fun since we had at least 12" of clearance when driving in. <grin> We went to the staff dining hall for supper, taco's. We were supposed to meet a person there and she was to give us a tour of the place after supper. We weren't told specifically that she would eat with us so I dove in and got myself a couple of tacos. They were edible. She came in before I was halfway through and  basically said throw those away...

We had lunch at Mom's, out by the pond. My sister Jackie is on the left, then Kathy, my Mom (Beverly) is getting something off the table and my brother David has his back to us. Later in the day we went to Hamilton Lake, IN, to Kathy's Dad's cottage, for a get together with her nephew Elliot. Elliot just got home from school in OK. The fellows are stirring up ice cream in the photo below. Mid-morning tomorrow we will leave for Evart and Spring Hill Camp. It is about a 200 mile drive.

Derek said our trip is now official since we have crossed a state line. We are parked at Mom's pond near Coldwater Lake, MI. Had no problems on the way here but did have a couple of interesting events occur. We left Lebanon around 1 PM. We went down to 465 then started up 69. We stopped at exit 14 and had Subway for lunch. We hit a stretch of road that made Kathy ask if we were back in Lebanon (referring to the absolutely terrible stretch of I65 through Lebanon). A few miles later some people passed us and the guy had his arm stuck out the drivers window, like he was going to make a left hand turn. We figured they weren't running the AC and he was just trying to cool off. A couple of vehicles later another car passed us and the driver was doing the same thing. We thought this to be quite strange, until I took a good look in the drivers side mirror and saw that one of our bay doors had popped open and was sticking out like a wing. No harm, nothing lost, I just stopped and closed...

We had a great send off party last evening at Jenny and Sheri's house. We got to see their new kitchen and enjoy an evening with friends. I am POOPED this evening. Doug, Kelsey & Andy came and helped us today and for that I am SO THANKFUL. We are almost ready to leave. Still have a few odds and ends to do, but only the stuff that was on my Saturday morning list.  Tomorrow, Saturday, is lift off for us; lifting off to an entirely new lifestyle. 3 nights at Mom's near Coldwater Lake and then on to Evart and the camp. Time to get in and get a shower, then head down to look at the house Doug will be remodeling before they move in.