Terri and Peter's RV Adventures

It was quite a night. We learned today that six inches fell in five hours last night. We’ve never seen sheets of nonstop rain like that. There was no tornado and the wind didn’t seem too strong although there was no way to find out. Peter braved the outside and Lily jumped back into the trailer. He was soaked in less than a minute. I tried to capture it on camera (first photo of tree) but it doesn’t come close to showing how it felt.

The power went out for a little while so off to bed we went to see what would happen. The rain pelted the aluminum in an incessant percussion and we had to close all the windows. The thunder was a steady low rumble. Nothing too scary. We did feel isolated. The park seemed almost empty and we hoped that if we needed to evacuate, the Ranger would tell us. Turns out, this ground is unbelievably porous. There was no standing water at all on our site or on the roads in the morning. It’s a crushed gravel but I’m not sure what the rock is.

On my morning hike to Lake Michigan, there were ponds in gullies on the side of the trail that hadn’t been there before but it was almost like marshland; absorbing the excess water very easily.

The lake was roaring like an ocean. The waves were large and rapid fire. No wonder I thought it was an ocean when I was growing up.

We made our way over to our new (and final for this leg of the trip) campground, a mere 4 miles away, just outside of Two Rivers, Sheffield RV Campground. It’s adjacent to the Point Beach State Forest where we had been camping so even in our new campground we could easily access those trails to take us to a different part of the long stretch of beach.

This campground is definitely more congested than the state park, but we have a water hook up and I’m glad to be out of the woods. It’s fine for three nights. With blue skies and fewer trees around us, we could open up the trailer and dry everything out. It may take a couple of days.

This afternoon, after setting up camp, the four of us headed out to the state forest trails, through the woods, across some ponds and marsh and eventually to Lake Michigan’s beach. The bugs were annoying but it was otherwise a beautiful three mile hike and the final view of a river flowing into the lake and two herons were worth it. The other thing that completely lifted our spirits was Cali’s unbelievable vigor. She was actually galloping (if dogs can do that) like she was Lily’s age. Just last night I thought I’d have to give her last rites and was pleading with her to last four more weeks so Daniel (my son) could see her. And today she motored the three miles, running ahead of us, looking back to check on us and simply amazing us. It was a thrill.

Tonight, we ate out at a nearby place: fish fry (for Peter) and gluten free pizza for me. This is a bar restaurant combination and it is a winning one for this area. You could easily imagine what it’s like on a Packers game day.

I know this won’t be politically correct, but it’s my observation. I’m struck by the differences between what we’ve seen so far in Michigan versus Wisconsin (and I’m a big Wisconsin fan having gone to school here for three years). Wisconsin seems very white (of course we’ve just been to the northern, rural part and Door County, and I know the cities are different). In Michigan, we saw a notable number of families with mixed ethnicities, specifically white parents with African American children or mixed race parents. I’ve seen very few Asian or South Asian people. Yes, we’re camping and we’re going to vacation spots but it’s merely an observation. I’m not coming to any conclusions or judgements. Just observing.

Tomorrow it’s a full day in Two Rivers. I’m enjoying the slower pace and having time to read and I’m grateful to be out of the woods and drying off.

(Funny what constitutes a “steep hill” in Wisconsin!)