Behold, Behemoth!

Hopefully you won't mind a little negativity disguised as growth. When we first started planning this adventure, we were, of course, all rosy eyed and optimistic. The freedom!  The adventure! The views!   As time went on, folks kept being all negative. "Are you sure?" "You mean, you won't have a HOUSE?" "What if it gets hot/cold/rainy/snowy/nuclear?" We thought of all those things, we really did.  And we decided that we would probably go through a lovely honeymoon period, then come crashing for a bit, before hitting our groove and feeling comfortable with the whole thing.  We gave that process 6 months. We kinda did. Except we didn't make it 6 months. We learned that more people are doing this lifestyle than ever before.  This is caused by everything from Boomers aging and retiring to the road, young families priced out of housing, Covid sending everyone remote working, or afraid of group travel, so they buy RVs so that they can travel AND soci...

Walp, this almost didn't happen. I sat down to do some blogging, and got lost in the Land Of Transferring Photos From iPhone to Windows Machine. It wasn't pretty, and some photos are still AWOL.  But, they tell me, the show must go on.  (Speaking of, I had another blog, once upon a time, and quit that when someone made it a homework assignment.  "When are you gonna update your blog?"  Took all the fun RIGHT out of it.  But it's also no fun to check a blog and find something that's -ahem- 8 days old.  So.) Something about boys and ships.  John III is fascinated by the Great Lakes freighters.  They used to sail?steam?freight? right past his childhood home on Lake Superior, which was the home of the last Coast Guard station to talk to the Edmund Fitzgerald on the night it sank. John V spent many long hours watching, I am told, a video about the sea battles between Holland and England during the 16th century.  (He was 5/6)  Last summer,...

 So, a few posts back, I told you how we travel for about 300 miles, then stay about a week.  I also mentioned that we like to travel on the weekends, having found campgrounds to be crowded and noisy on the weekends. Well, where, then, do we stay on the weekend? I will say it again, because I haven't used the word enough; weekend. We have found a club of sorts, called Harvest Hosts.  (They are paying me nothing to talk about them, by the way.  This is just something I'm doing out of the goodness of my heart, and to have something to post about)  This is an organization of mostly breweries and distilleries, but also farms, museums, and other sites, that have the room to allow RVs to spend the night.  Or two.  Sometimes, 3.  The stay is free, although there is a yearly fee for access to their list of members, and they also encourage you to somehow participate in the business.  This may be by having a tasting, or buying some product, or touring ...

 Before long, we were ready for a change of scenery.  Our first stop was near the Straits of Mackinac, in a state park which I would not recommend, so I won't give it's name.  We settled in in the evening, took a hike, and saw a few things.  The Mackinac Bridge at sunset.  And with the moon, and John.  In case you're interested...  Next morning, we hopped on a ferry, and rode to Mackinac Island.  Our goal there was to take John to Fort Mackinac, which, between 1780 and 1895, was an active fort under the control of the British, then the Americans, then the British again, and, finally, the Americans.  It was important to American fur trade, for all parties, and, during the Civil War, was a prison for 3 Confederate soldiers.  John, who loves all things British, had to try on the uniform.  He then asked us to get him one, and take him to Lexington, where he plans to wear the thing.  We told him we will, but we won't stand next to...