The RV Sabbatical Journal

Monday, July 30, 2007 — Still at Sleepy Bear

I made contact this morning with a local mechanic in nearby Traverse City that I found on the internet. The fact that a mechanic has a web site at all is something. But I liked the website… very simple and to the point, with some business philosophy I liked, and photos of himself, his wife, and an employee mechanic. It sounded genuine to me so I called him. I talked with the owner himself and he sounded real too. He had a full day today, but agreed to look at the toad tomorrow morning. I may be wrong, but I’m thinking (and hoping) the toad issue will be resolved tomorrow. So, our stay here at Sleepy Bear needed to be extended, and our arrival at Mill Creek in Mackinaw City delayed. Both campgrounds were accommodating. We added two nights here and cut two nights off the Mill Creek visit. If all goes well with the toad tomorrow, we’ll leave for Mackinaw City on Wednesday.

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Tuesday, July 31, 2007 — Sleepy Bear and Traverse City

Toad’s fixed! The problem was a front wheel bearing and hub assembly that was starting to make noise — not the pinion bearing or universal joint I thought (proof I’m not a mechanic!). They checked the rest of the drive line and found no problems. The repair shop was as good as I hoped it would be. They were professional, good-natured people who worked quickly and had me back on the road by noon. I was able to pick up a few things on our shopping list, wash the toad, and fill it with gas before heading for home. And the noise… the hum… is now gone. There are plenty of other noises, creaks, and squeaks, but the hum was gone. The toad is now recommissioned and is back in service. Dar’s smilin’ because she’s still ridin’.

It’s getting warm up here this afternoon, with temps in the mid-90’s. We thought about going to the beach but canned that idea as it’d just be too hot to really enjoy. The winds are very light and sitting on hot sand with the sun glaring down just doesn’t sound like the greatest idea. So the afternoon will be spent reading and getting ready for our move tomorrow.

That’s it for now…

T

Sunday, July 29, 2007 — supposed to be our last full day at Sleepy Bear Campground near Empire, MI

After towing the toad almost 110 miles on the way to Sleepy Bear, we began noticing, while driving it normally on our excursions around here, a drive-line hum or gear noise that wasn’t there before. I tapped a good resource through our son, JT, and found that this could be a pinion bearing that’s in the process of self-destruction. We’re advised to not tow the vehicle until it’s rectified. Don’t know yet if this is in some way caused by towing, or just exacerbated by it — remember, the toad has 127,000 miles on it. It’s like a 56 year old human… a few aches and pains and, occasionally, something goes wrong that needs to be fixed. But we’re not ones to give up on a car just because it’s got a little age or a few miles on it. Tomorrow, Monday, we’re planning to drive it into Traverse City and see what can be diagnosed and/or fixed. Our move to Mackinaw City may have to be delayed as well, but in that case we’ll just extend here at Sleepy Bear and readjust our plans. Anything is possible when you’re not tied to a schedule.

I’ve been slow to keep things updated on the web the last two days mostly due to a slow internet connection. I just got tired of waiting for downloads to download and uploads to upload. We’ve also been trying to take full advantage of the two days we thought we had here before moving north. Tonight, however, the connection seems to be better. So here’s a rundown of what we’ve been up to:

The move to Sleepy Bear was uneventful. The heavy rain that was forecast for the area Friday didn’t happen… well, not only didn’t it happen, we awoke on Friday morning to sunny clear skies. So we hooked up the car and drove the 107 miles north to the Leelanau Peninsula of Michigan, where Sleepy Bear Campground is located, and didn’t experience a drop of rain the entire way. Well, so much for relying on weather forecasts.

The campground gets it’s name from the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore near here. This National Park was authorized by congress in 1970 and encompasses a 35 mile stretch of Lake Michigan’s eastern shoreline, as well as two nearby islands, North and South Manitou Islands. It was created “to preserve the outstanding natural features including forests, beaches, dune formations, and ancient glacial phenomena… for the benefit, inspiration, recreation, and enjoyment of the public.” In other words, to keep it safe from developers and well-heeled condo buyers. I think most of us could agree it’s important to preserve large areas like this in a natural state and open to everyone, not just for the privileged or lucky.

We’ve been doing a lot of beach-walking, hiking in the park, visiting shoreline communities (often rich in history) and winery-touring (often rich in flavor). That’s right, not only are there wineries in the extreme southwest of Michigan, there’s another grouping of them around the Leelanau Peninsula. Despite what you’re thinking, we didn’t plan our route with wineries in mind. But we feel that since we’re here, and since they’re here… we have a responsibility to visit as many as possible! We’re also enjoying a campfire almost every night, often sharing with neighbors here in the campground.

Today, Sunday, we enjoyed Traverse City and the Old Mission Peninsula… an 18 mile long spit of land that separates the East Bay and the West Bay. Despite the gear-humming toad, we made it all the way to the northern tip of the peninsula which happens to be exactly where the 45th parallel runs through. We stood there for some time but never saw the parallel itself… I guess it runs underground. Everyone we asked looked at us like we were crazy.

Tomorrow we hope we’ll learn more about where we’re at with the old toad. Will it be deemed safe enough to continue on?? Will it have to be hospitalized and repaired?? Does it have something wrong that’s even worse than we’re thinking?… maybe even terminal?? [Gasp!]

Tune in tomorrow and find out.

Life’s an adventure.

T

Thursday, July 26, 2007 — Last full day at Silver Lake State Park, MI

It looked like rain all morning so we stayed close to home. I did yesterdays blog post and we made reservations to stay a couple different places during the next two weeks. This time of the year, reservations aren’t really needed during the week… it’s possible to get a place almost anywhere. Weekends are a different story. Without a reservation there’s a serious chance we’d be staying in a strip mall parking lot — at least around here. By mid-August vacationers will be wrapping it up as the kids head back to school and the pressure on camping sites will start to ease.

Around noon we finally got going and headed for the dunes, specifically, the pedestrian access point near the north end of Silver Lake. Here, the dune is advancing into the forest, and doing so with drama. The picture below shows the sand advancing from some distance away.

The next two photos show some detail, at the margin, where the sand meets the forest floor.

It’s a scene from a science fiction film, but it’s real. I don’t know how fast it’s moving, but the photos leave one with the impression that it’s advancing inches or more each day. Just a fascinating place to see.

We climbed to the top of some of the highest dunes where we heard a small kid, maybe 8 or 10, say, “it’s like I’m in an endless video game, there’s sand wherever I go.” And there is, for miles around in every direction. Dunes like this fascinate while grass covered hills of the same size don’t. Is it the novelty of it? The uncommon nature of it all? The thought that it’s almost alive… moving… growing here… shrinking there? I don’t know. But I do know that it’s a kick being on top of one. I may actually, now, better understand the dune-machine gear heads that have a passion for driving machinery around these piles of sand. It’s an environment that’s unique, challenging, and, probably, just plain fun.

We took a few pictures of a selection of dune-machines. It’s a wide range of stuff, but don’t let these pictures narrow your thinking about what a dune-machine is. Almost anything on wheels can (and probably has) be modified to work. Check out the photos we took in a new photo album called Dune-Machines.

With rain and clouds around, we scratched going to the beach (like we needed more sand anyway), and drove to the next town north, Pentwater. After a walk around town and a quick beer at one of the local establishments, we headed back home for a fire and some preparation for moving tomorrow.

T

Wednesday, July 25, 2007 — Silver Lake State Park, MI

Occasionally, as thunderstorms pass over dune country, lightning strikes the dune itself. The result is something called a “fulgurite” — a long, slender, glassy tube produced when lightning travels through the sand seeking solid ground, melting the particles into glass as it travels. Thousands of these fulgurites have been found over the years. Also referred to as petrified lightning or thunder tubes, most range from a few inches to a foot or two in length. One of the largest ever found, which we saw on display, is over 9 feet long. They’re very fragile and almost always break into smaller pieces as they’re retrieved. Around here, if you’re not hanging out at the beach or running fat-tired vehicles all over the dunes, you might be walking through the dunes searching for fulgurites.

Wednesday was a full day for us. First on the agenda was a ride through the dunes. Since the old Blazer isn’t dune-ready (tall mast on front bumper with red flag at the top, big low pressure sand tires, doors ripped off, top cut off, muffler removed), we did a Mac Wood Dune Tour. Mac Wood is an institution around here as he’s been doing this for over 75 years. Back then he used modified Model A Fords, today a slightly newer and heavily modified Ford Truck. Of course old Mac isn’t around anymore, but the business is still in the family. It was fun and got us into a part of the dune you can only see on this ride, as Mac Wood leases 600 acres of dunes from the State Park for exclusive use. Originally, before 1872 or so, these dunes were here and covered with large stands of white and red pine trees. After the Chicago fire, lumber barons bought up these stands of timber, cut it down, and shipped the lumber to Chicago for the massive rebuilding effort. After the trees were gone, wind action and blowing sand prevented re-establishment of the forest. So, all these dune-riding gear-heads have Mrs. O’Leary’s cow to thank for their kicks and the sand in their underwear.

After the dune ride, and a big breakfast at a local diner, we headed for the Hart-Montague Trail State Park. This 22 mile long bike trail follows the path of an abandoned railroad right-of-way. We did a little over 16 miles through mostly wooded country-side and stopped half-way for an ice cream cone at the Country Dairy Farm Store. This little operation raises and milks their own cows (over a thousand) and operates their own dairy making organic drinking milk, cheeses, and ice cream — about as vertically integrated as possible. It couldn’t have been more perfectly placed for our ride.

Sore muscles and all, we headed for the Little Sable Point Lighthouse, very close to where we’re camping. If you’d glance at a map of Lake Michigan, you’d see two “bumps” along the eastern shore where the land projects out into the lake 20 or 30 miles further than the rest. The lower of these two points is called Little Sable Point, and is only a mile or two from our campsite. The lighthouse was built in 1873, which should ring a bell with you, if you’ve been paying attention: recall the logging operations that started about this time to help rebuild Chicago. As ships were plying these waters at night or in bad weather, too many of them were hitting these points of land jutting into the lake. The lighthouse reduced the problem.

Roasting hotdogs over a small campfire, we toasted the end of one more day along the trail.

T