Terri and Peter's RV Adventures

Hot and steamy. That was what this morning delivered. The overnight temperature was 72 degrees and God only knows what the humidity was. We had a fairly short drive to Interlochen (a little over 100 miles and just under two hours). The tricky part was seeing if we could arrive just around the 3 pm admission time into the park so we could drop the trailer and I could take off to Traverse City for my monthly hair refresher.

En route, the terrain was familiar and yet uniquely northern Michigan. I was surprised by the rolling hills and in some cases what could pass for foothills in the distance. Mostly, we drove through very healthy, deep green, thick forests made up of primarily pines but also maples, birches and oaks. There were times where it felt like we were cruising down a Christmas tree aisle, for miles. Then, the views would open up to farmland dotted with round bales of hay ready for plucking, or corn fields and a few unidentifiable row crops. Occasionally, there were the typical red barns and grazing horses but very few other grazing animals.

Our trip took us south west of Petoskey where I think we’re more mid-state now. We pulled over into a community park and made a quick lunch before heading to Interlochen State Park. It is the oldest state park in Michigan, founded in 1919. I love the convenience of pulling our home with us. Lunches and bathroom breaks are quick and easy and in Fiona 2.0 (our trailer vs. our drivable van), we have the comfort of eating at a dinette table. Quite civilized.

Last night as we realized it was not going to cool down, I took a chance and just turned on the fan, knowing that at 30 amps we could do that but not run the AC. I don’t know what happened but the fan sent out cool air! It was a miracle!

Today, when we arrived at our campsite, it was like we were on a pit team during a car race. We dropped the trailer in maybe ten minutes and off I went to my hair appointment in Traverse City. My hair person was a real trip. She started out by saying, “So, tell me all about yourself.” Then she proceeded to talk the entire hour about herself. Being an introvert, that was fine with me. She was very generous and sweet and I was grateful she made time for me on her day off.

I found a small organic produce market on the way back to camp and restocked the fridge. Returning to camp, we fired up the grill and had salmon, brown rice and green beans. But the best part was that Peter figured out how to hook us up as a 50 amp site and we had the luxury of a cool respite from the 90 degree heat. It was awesome. After dinner, we walked the dogs over to Duck Lake and Lily had another chance to air out her swimming skills. The heat had drained both dogs (it reached 94), so the swim rejuvenated her.

This campground has many fine qualities, including being situated between two lakes: Duck Lake and Green Lake. If we had been able to score a perimeter camp site, the camping would be perfect. But as it is, we have an interior site where one side is a bit of a forested buffer but on two sides, we are surrounded by three campsites in such close proximity that we know what each one is having for dinner.

This campground’s pretty evenly split between RVs and tents. The tent vs. RV camping style can be quite different. When you have a comfortable RV it’s very tempting to stay inside. No bugs, no heat, no discomforts. In defense of that, when we open all our windows, we very much feel like we’re outside, kind of like a screened in porch. I still have all of my tent camping gear but I’m not going to lie. I revel in the comforts of RV travel.

It’s supposed to rain overnight and tomorrow morning. We’ll see what happens but I’d like to try some of the hikes I saw when I was driving to Traverse City. We have four nights here so we will hopefully be able to become familiar with the area and maybe catch a concert or two at the Interlochen Arts Camp.