This year we took a 2 month RV trip to Michigan to visit our childhood stomping grounds and connect with family. It took us about a week to drive from AZ to MI. We alternated between boondocking and paying for full-hook up campgrounds while on the road. We did have one little snag on the drive - one of our windows shattered! We have no idea why. I went in to open the windows after we stopped for the evening and it broke into a million pieces. We had to figure out a solution that would work...this is what the "patch" looks like. We were lucky this happened on the first day of the trip. We were able to stop near our homestead, run out to the land to get tools and parts and complete the repair in one evening. We didn't have to buy anything - we accomplished this with things we had laying around at the homestead. This paneling worked well as replacement window for the drive to Michigan, for our entire stay, and for the drive back. We have yet to schedule a time for a new window to be installed. We did add some duck tape around the molding to ensure the water didn't settle into the window track. This kept the panel board from getting wet where it would swell.
Our primary destination was the Hideaway RV Park in Grass Lake, MI . We had a reservation for a month. It was a lovely place to stay (although it started out rather cool and wet). My parents, siblings, nieces and nephews all live in the area. We were able to visit with various families each day. The nieces and nephews were still in school and my siblings were working, so we met for dinners and had some fun gatherings on the weekends. The campground has a pond for swimming and paddleboats - we enjoyed both.
There were a number of personal reasons why we stayed in Michigan and didn't do any National Park sight-seeing this year. I mentioned in a previous post that my grandma passed away in November - in addition to collecting items handed down to me, I assisted with an estate sale. Secondly, and more importantly, my mom was diagnosed with cancer in April - weeks of testing followed to determine the stage. On the day we arrive we learned that it is stage IV and had spread from the initial site. I was present for the first five weeks of her initial six week treatment of radiation and chemotherapy. As I write she is on a week break from treatment and will soon begin a four-month chemo regime where she will receive treatment every other week. At the end of those four months more tests will be completed to see how the cancer responded to the treatment in order to determine next steps. I am glad I was able to be present during her initial treatment.
We were also able to connect with Husband's family. His parents passed away years ago, but his nephews live in the state and we were able to meet up with them one afternoon for a very nice visit. We also took our kids to Frankenmuth, MI and Bronner's (trip down memory lane for the two of us).
We decided to extend our initial one-month visit by a couple of weeks. We stayed at the Somerset Beach Campground for five nights. This is where my parents full-time RV and we have stayed at this location in the past. The sites have electric only. You can run a hose from the bib to fill your RV tank. There is no on-site sewer - you have to schedule a pump dump or move to the dump station. The public restrooms and showers are very nice and allowed us to stretch one tank of fresh water for our entire stay.
Our last week was spent at Camp Turkeyville - my parents moved here to better accommodate my mom's treatment and so we followed. This place was expensive, but had some nice amenities (pools & restaurant were most appreciated). Yes, there are turkeys and the restaurant serves a variety of turkey dishes.
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