Terri and Peter's RV Adventures

Talk about freedom. Being on the road means, in part, that there’s little routine or obligation. If you want to stay in a rut, you can, but it takes more effort. This year, we could have gone into Harbor Springs or Petoskey to see how they celebrate July 4th with parades and other events. But we chose to hang out at our campsite, making a delicious veggie scramble, running Lily on a new section of this enormous campground and eventually walking down to nearby Pickerel Lake to read, dunk in the lake and of course, run Lily. It was a relief not to feel the pull to attend our local town’s celebration. It was freeing not to wear red, white and blue. I was grateful we exercised our personal freedoms this year to celebrate, or not, the way we wanted.

I’ve been curious about summertime in northern Michigan and northern Wisconsin. I’m truly enjoying these simple experiences and taking in the natural beauty of green, an abundance of lakes and streams, and yes, even woods. I very much appreciated the shade today as while the days start out in the upper 50’s they quickly heat up to the mid-80s.

We haven’t had as much interaction with other campers as we have had in the past but everyone has been pleasant enough and respectful of space and noise levels. While I’m ready to move out of the woods, I learned to appreciate the spaciousness of our campsite, the fact that one side of us remained empty the whole time we were here and the natural woods behind us that allowed the dogs to roam and do their thing with no interference with neighbors. That’s a treat.

After a relaxing afternoon at the lake, we returned to camp, fired up the grill and had marinated grilled chicken thighs, grilled asparagus and rice. Peter’s becoming a master grill chef which is great for both of us. Then, we celebrated Shabbat by singing the blessings over the candles, juice and bread and holding our ritual of reciting a gratitude list. It’s a lovely way to wind down the week, even if it’s a week of vacation. Tomorrow, we head down to Interlochen, the oldest Michigan state park, adjacent to the famous music camp and close to Traverse City. I’m very much looking forward to our four nights there.

Wishing everyone a peaceful weekend and a Happy 4th.