Behold, Behemoth!

We spent much of July with family, beginning in Michigan's beautiful Upper Peninsula. We really enjoy Aune Osborn Campground, a county campground on the St Mary's river, just east of Sault Sainte Marie.  The Sault Locks are fascinating (for some of us) and we like to spend a little time there whenever we can.  This year we spent almost 10 days.  We took young John along on the adventure.  This is a short record of a ride we took on the Sault Locks tour. Heading out, we went through the American locks.   John, up close and personal with the wall, watching the water level rise. In the lock next to us was a Really Big Freighter. Cruising along after leaving the Lock. Young John being young John. Gulls hanging out on the piles of coke, warm in the morning sun. Rolled steel, waiting for transportation south.  It'll be used for appliances and cars. Heading into the Canadian Lock.  It's smaller, and older, but more understandable for those of us who aren't transportation g

John and I looked up the other day, and realized it had been a year since we started this adventure.  We weren't sure of the exact date; we had to look it up.  So, now you know.  As of today, June 25, we've been at this silliness for one year. When you meet people who are full-timing, (that's the technical term) the conversation will eventually turn to, "So what motivated you to make the big decision?"  We have told this story many times, and we don't get tired of it.  So I thought I'd share it with you. In 2019, we had a milestone birthday.  We realized we would be retirement age in 5 years, and had over $300,000 in debt.  Now, that included our mortgage, and our retirement savings is healthy, but it didn't take a financial whiz to see that our retirement would not be what we wanted it to be if we kept that debt, so we made the commitment to get rid of it.  Once the consumer portion was gone, we would work on the mortgage, with the eventual goal of be

 We stopped in Bay City, MI, the home of our oldest son, AND of the USS Edson. We were taking our youngest grandson along for part of our trip, so we had to stop for some camping essentials.  In this case, a dog flotation device, a pie iron, and some orange slices.   Then we went to the Edson, a Sherman-class destroyer, built in 1958, named after Major General Merritt Edson, USMC, awarded the Medal of Honor for commanding the First Marine Raider Battalion on Guadalcanal.  The Edson saw service in Vietnam. The guys I was hanging out with needed their pictures taken. Bells needed to be rung.   We wandered all over, and pointed out the obvious shoreline. And, next day, we headed north for adventures.  We crossed the Mackinac Bridge, AKA, Melody's Nemesis.  I hate that thing.  I've been told it's better than the wait for the ferry that was necessary before it was built, but I'm not having any of that.  Yugos have blown off this thing; why can't a taller RV?  Scares the

We’ve been moving northward. We spent a week with good friends near Chelsea, MI We released a tiny turtle, still with an egg tooth, into the lake over which their house looks.  The turtle is to the right of that thumb. Told ya it was tiny! Flora More flora.  We then visited our oldest and his family near Bay City, MI.  While we were there, we took John V shopping for camping essentials, including orange slices.  We also took him to the USS Edson. More on that another time.  Today we went further north, over the Mackinac Bridge. We’ll be in the Upper Peninsula until mid-July.

  We spent a week at Brown County State Park, near Bloomington, Indiana. John’s parents live in the area, and we had a good visit. We also did some hiking, and just plain living. Back on the road again today. 

Traveling the country doesn’t mean it’s all fun and games. We have to stop, from time to time, for general maintenance We just spent about 2 weeks near Huntsville, Alabama. John had some meetings, and that’s where his job is “housed,” and we should show up three times a year or so. While we were there, we knew it was time to check in with the doctors we saw when we lived there. So we had 2-3 medical appointments each day for a whole week, plus a couple the next week. Medical tests were done. Some were passed. Well, most. Lots of poking and prodding, and bruising from blood work. But we know we’re healthy. And our teeth are clean! Yes, they did try to engage in conversation with people who hadn't eaten or caffeinated.  Poor souls. We also realized, during late winter, that our house batteries, which allow us to boondock regularly, were dying. John uses a CPAP, and realized this when, one night, he woke up suffocating, because the batteries had failed and the power went out.  Our dri