A WONDERFUL VISIT TO YPSILANTI AND DEARBORN MICHIGAN

 On Saturday, Sept 4th we headed to Ypsilanti to the KOA Ann Arbor, Detroit campground which was actually in Ypsilanti. Bentley served as a great hood ornament on the way.

                                             It was only a few hours drive, so not a bad one at all.

 Since it was Labor Day weekend the campground was really booked and we were lucky to get a site at all. We had to settle for a pull thru, 30 amp site with electric, water, no cable and no sewer. The weather was nice, so we really didn't need to run the A/C, but we really had to be careful with the water usage.

This was a large campground on a lake and many activates for kids the whole weekend. We had 2  good reasons to stop here 1) to visit the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village and 2) to visit Sarah Thomas who is in college here working on her degree in Orthotics and Prosthetics. She has a couple of years to go, but is super smart and one of the sweetest people we know. Her mother is Kim Thomas who owns Chattanooga Quilts. We met Sarah for breakfast Sunday morning at Bombers restaurant. The food was plentiful and delicious and we had a great time chatting and catching up with her and her college program and recent engagement..

After that huge breakfast we went back to the campground and spent some time with the kitties. Bentley loved walking around the campground and looking at the woods behind us. Even Nicholas enjoyed a stroll.

Monday was Labor Day and we decided to go to Greenfield Village at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn. It was only about 20 miles away. We had already seen so many videos and presentations on the Museum we didn't think the time would be worth it. We decided on Greenfield also because it was outside. It has 250 acres of historical buildings from various industries and inventors like Henry Ford, the Wright Brothers, Thomas Edison, etc. We grabbed a quick sandwich in the café beforehand. It was a nice café and there was plenty of room to social distance and the food was excellent..

                                                            A statue of Henry Ford--who else?

                                                         Beautiful landscaping and fountains.

                                                      Wide streets and common areas and acres and acres to walk.

.

                                                             Windmills.

                                                       Reduced replica of Ford's first Motor Company.

                                                                Model T's were every where.

                                                   The Wright Brother's Family home.

                                                         A lovely chiming clock.

                                                           The carousel.

                                                                 

  We didn't know who this guy was just riding around on his horse and with such a serious face, but we found out shortly.

           The first Forest Ranger from 1906. This guy was real in original uniform and set up. He was building a campfire pit from scratch to cook his lunch of beans and bacon in front of the crowd. We stood and watched for about 20 minutes and he could not get his fire to blaze even after fanning it with his hat. I think his twigs and wood was wet from the rain. We slowly eased out way on down the road. We felt guilty for leaving the poor guy, but at the rate he was going we would still be standing there.. His horse was having a great time talking to another horse he heard coming down the road. They kept whinnying to each other.

These pictures are in the General Store. Lots of old items, including fabric, and every day essentials and can goods.

                                                                        Hiram Sibley Seeds.

        The village had a weaving shop, a lumber yard, a hat shop, a carding mill and many other small town essentials.

It was a wonderful visit and lots of exercise to walk around the grounds. We saw many model T's driving all around and baseball players dressed in period uniforms walking over to the ball field for a game.

WE wen back to the campground to check on the kitties and then made plans to meet Sarah for dinner at Tower Café near her apt. and campus for dinner. Most other restaurants were closed on Labor Day.

 Lovely Sarah gave us a great walking tour of her campus. It was a beautiful campus with large brick buildings and large trees, a fountain, very picturesque.

Tomorrow we will be heading to Empire, MI near Traverse City,

DAY IN MIDDLEBURY, INDIANA

 We decided to just chili out in the morning and not do much of anything. We needed a day of no crises and no demands. In the afternoon we decided to go over to the RV Hall of Frame and Museum and check it out. It was a little tricky to find, because it was way out in the boonies, but we found it.

It was a beautiful building and a fun walk through.

There were lots of vintage trailers, motorhomes and house cars to walk thru. They had a nice gift area and a Hall of Fame of those that contributed so much to the RV industry.

                                                                This is a house car.

                                            This is Mae West's house car. She had it made with a rocking chair in the                                                                                              back

Some of these had some very elaborate conveniences for it's time.

It was a nice tour and back to the motorhome for a travel day to Ypsilanti, MI

WE OUT RAN HURRICAN IDA

 The weather in Berea, KY was so horrible. while they were working on the gas tank outside in the parking lot it was 90 degree (felt like 100). Then the torrential rains hit and the temperature dropped and the humidity was over whelming. We just couldn't get the A/C temperature right, freezing one minute, hot the next. When we left Berea and headed to Lebanon, Ohio we finally out ran the rain as it went east and we went north.

When we woke up Wednesday morning the sky was beautiful. We were headed to Middlebury, Indiana for 3 days, Normally we would have been here for 5, but we lost 2 because of the gas tank problem. The drive was about 6 hrs. and fortunately we didn't encounter any problems. We arrived at the KOA campground about 3:30. It gave us time to unwind, and settle in before we decided where to go for dinner.

We decided to try a brew pub in Middlebury called Wedgewood Brewing company. We had their smash burgers for dinner and David has a beer called "I'm a Dreamer", one of their own brews, He said it was excellent.

We had a good might. The kitties were all settled in in their own beds and they were pretty happy not to be moving. The weather during the day was warm, buy perfect. At night the temperature dropped down to 52. YIKES. We were so cold. I guess tonight we will have to put the quilt back on the bed and leave the fireplace on in the living room.

On Thursday .we decided to go the Grandmas House of Pancakes in Middlebury. OMG this place was unbelievable. The menu was huge. They had so many things on the menu besides pancakes, eggs dishes, skillet meals, omelets, even blintzes, It was hard to decide. David had eggs, potatoes, corn beef hash & toast, It came with 4, that's 4  eggs.

I had the skillet with potatoes, bacon, onions, and it looked like 4 eggs on top and 2 fluffy pancakes. It was all so delicious and the service was good too.

We had to come back to the MH and rest up after that meal. Then we headed up to Bontrager's in White Pigeon, MI about 7 miles away. They have every part you could think of for an RV. Door handles, cabinet hardware, lights, mirrors, nuts, bolts, even furniture and upholstery. The prices were very reasonable too. We  didn't need anything, but David was like a kid in a candy shop. This place was huge and there was room after room after room of RV parts. 

Then we headed to Shipshewana. You have to be careful on the roads here because there is a high number of Amish that drive buggies on the road. Not nearly as many as in Intercourse, PA, but a lot just the same.

We were here many years ago and I know there are a couple of places that sell fabric. One is Lolly's in Davis Mercantile building. So we went there first. It is a nice shop, selling current collections. I didn't need any fabric, but I did buy some Valdani thread for the wool applique I'm working on. They also have a shop that sells gifts and nothing else, but minky fabric.

 Then we went around the corner to Yoder's. Yoder's' is a dept. store, but also has a quilt shop that sells Bernina sewing machines. The also sell fabric, but it was 90% batiks with Judy Niemeyer patterns.

The outside of the building was decorated with quilt blocks.

We went for an ice cream cone and back to the MH to spend time with the kitties. No lunch for us today.

SAFE AND SOUND IN OHIO

 We spent 2 nights in a hotel in Berea, KY while our gas tank was being repaired. They towed the MH to the shop, removed the gas tank, took it to a welder to repair the hole. We decided even though it was fixed by Monday at 3pm to leave the next morning. The rain from hurricane Ida was catching up with us, so at least we could get a good night's sleep before we headed out the next day.

We didn't sleep at all Sunday night. The kitties were in a strange hotel and wouldn't eat. On top of that Finnegan, our very nervous kitty found his way underneath the bed frame where we couldn't get to him and stayed there until we took the bed apart at 1:30 in the morning to drag him out. He hadn't been to the bathroom since 1PM that day since he was in the carrier for 4.5 hours and now too afraid to get in his litter box. When I got him from under the bed and took him to the litter box in the bathroom he peed all over me and the bathroom. Poor baby. His bladder must have been so full. He kept hearing noises' and voices in the hallway and was afraid to go near the bathroom or door.

The next night was much better and he slept with us much of the night, but kept staring at the door.

On Tuesday we went over to pick up the MH. All was good except when we tried to drive away it wouldn't move. They forgot to hook the drive shaft back up after they towed it. Once that was hooked up we were good to go.

I had to drive the car behind the mh since we needed to go a little out of our way to Batavia, Ohio to get a replacement brake cable from the Blue OX dealer there.

We were only about an hour away from our next campground, Lebanon, Ohio. We were supposed to be here 2  days ago, but luckily the stop after this one was for 5 nights, so we will be back on schedule after this stop.

Sorry , no pictures to share, but the kitties are happy to be back in their own space in their own beds. We are too. Hopefully, no more problems.

 

KENTUCKY IS BAD LUCK

 We left Clinton, TN headed north on I-75 just past Rocky Top.

And straight on into Kentucky.

                                                    

The roads weren't the best, a bit bumpy. As we went over a bridge we heard a thump and away we went.

There was a terrible storm and a down pour and then that let up. A few miles later David noticed the light was on indicating the cable from the MH to the car was not working. We decided to stop at the  Kentucky Artisan Center in Berea, KY.to check it out. We saw that the  blue cable was disconnected from the MH and it was damaged . When we looked down gasoline was pouring from the gas tank. We had just filled up the tank.

David called 911 for the fire dept and we started taking things out of the MH and putting them in the car. First the kitties, our money, the computers, and other things of importance in case there was a fire. The haz mat fire dept arrived and tried soaking up the gas from the parking lot. Then the police. The kitties were in their carriers an sitting in an air conditioned car while we were outside in 90 degree heat.

The firemen didn't think the MH would catch on fire, so we were relieved about that.

Then the tow truck arrived, but it was too small. Had to get a bigger one.

                   The big tow truck showed up with their own haz mat team since they had to empty out the remainder of the $170 worth of gas we had just put in.

Time to hook up the MH.

Thank you to the wonderful firemen that stayed there through the whole mess to clean up the gas.

And away we go. 

They towed it to the repair facility. There is no telling what this will cost. Just the tow alone is going to be a fortune. We couldn't believe there was a place open in this little town on a SUNDAY.

We were so lucky after all this bad luck. We got a room in a nearby hotel and the kitties were so happy to get out of their carriers. We'll see what happens tomorrow and how soon they might be able to repair the gas tank. It was a small hole, but it will have to take off the gas tank and weld the hole shut.

ON OUR LASTEST ADVENTURE TO MICHIGAN, WISCONSIN, IOWA, NEBRAKSA AND MISSOURI

 We left yesterday, headed north on I-75, to Clinton, TN. It's our first stop on our 41 day trip.

And as I have posted before we are just a hop, skip and a jump from Rocky Top Tennessee, so I got to do it.

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq94Q0APkgM

Nothing much to post this trip as yet, but I will try to do a better job this time in keeping up with my posts as long as there is internet available.

AN OLD POST FROM JUNE 2021

 I totally forgot to post about our trip to St Augustine. But better late than never. 

We decided to go to St Augustine in June to visit the Meyers. We usually go around Christmas, but thought it might be fun to go when it wasn't cold and rainy. It definitely was not cold, but Florida is always rainy and humid. We had a great time anyway.

We always stop in Tifton, Ga area on the way down to break up the trip. As usual Nickie has to ride up front, either in the bed on the dash, in David's lap or on the floor in front of my chair. He is a great little traveler.

                                                  

                                   Bentley and Nickie waiting patiently for their nightly brushing. 

                                     For a quick Father's Day meal we went to Osprey Tacos for street tacos and beer.

                                     The food was good and it provided shelter from the rain.

                                 Finnegan is the one that loves the cabinet over the bed, but this is Nickie, not to be out done has to get up there too. The problem is he has to be lifted up because he's too fat to jump.

                  We got the kitties new water fountains which they love and I made a little placemat to keep the water dripping off the floor..

        We had such a good time with the Meyers while we were there. Ryan and Najla were both working and her brother and his family were visiting from Colorado, so we saw them when they were available and did our own thing too. We decided to go to one of our favorite spots, Sea Life for lunch and get a bowl of NE clam chowder. As I was stepping up to the entry I fell on my Lt shoulder and injured it and possibly a torn rotator cuff. It just doesn't pay to get old.

The Meyers had a business meeting while we were there and asked if we could pick up the kids after school. So we did and went home and played video games with them. They have limits on when and how often they can play and they had to teach us how to play. We weren't very good at it, but had lots of fun any way.

Due to the rain we cooked cheesesteaks  on the Blackstone on their back porch. This is Ellie, the Meyers dog. She is part pit bull and WHITE. Crystal, their groomer did a little art work on her and did a zebra look and then colors. Quilt a change in her looks

                 When we made campground reservations we could only get a few nights at the KOA close to the Meyers and had to reserve the rest of the time at Coastal RV which is one of our favorites, If we are lucky to get a space in the newer area it has spacious sites and nice brick pavers. We were lucky and had a great spot.

                 The Meyers and Najla's Dad came over for a cookout of chicken fried rice and egg rolls. We had a great time spending time with them. This is one of Trevor's favorite meals. I can't believe how big Emma and Trevor are. Wish we could see them more often.

                                                   

Finnegan actually enjoyed sitting outside with us. There were no people or dogs nearby to make him nervous. We were leaving in the morning to head home.

  We arrived home safely and I was back at work in no time. Nickie decided he needed to help.