It's not that I didn't come close by and it's not...
that I didn't think about it. My wife and I zipped by your neck of the woods around 2:30 PM on Tuesday the 6th having started in Cadillac (Wm Mitchell State Park) down US-131 and ended in Monroe on Lake Erie (Wm Sterling SP). It was a workday for you, I had no idea if there was a place to park a 27 ft. vehicle, I did not come prepared with address or phone number (can be easily solved, of course). But it really came down to it not being fair to pop-up out of the blue without warning. Poor Mike Moffitt had days of warning and I fear felt frenzied.
This was the most unplanned trip I've ever had. Only the first few days were planned. The purpose of the trip was to get hydraulic levelers installed on my rig at the factory that makes the levelers in White Pigeon, MI. You can throw rocks at Indiana from there. This being located in Michiana (a new name to me) I made the arrangements to stop by to see Mike.
After the installation of levelers, we decided to do some "field testing" before heading home. If we ran into problems, we could get them resolved at the factory. Anyway, we first camped at the Van Buren SP near South Haven. There, while walking the dog around the campground, we discovered another rig made by the same company that made ours. You have to understand that Lazy Daze, the company that makes the rig, is family owned, small, and makes around 250 rigs a year. New rigs are only bought directly from the factory. Most of the rigs remain where they are made in California. The owners of the rigs joke about being part of a cult. That being so, I did what I would not do under most any other circumstances, I knock on the door and introduce myself. They were a retired couple from Kalamazoo. We had a nice chat then and then again when they came by to see our rig. Anyway, these folks raved about Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and got us interested in it. So, we trekked up Michigan's pinkie stopping overnight at Holland SP and then Ludington SP and then 4 days at Sleeping Bear Dunes.
The days at Sleeping Bear Dunes were over the Labor Day weekend. Some of the thinking was to avoid travel during heavy traffic days. But the trip was getting longer than I packed for and quicker retreat home was in order. Having run out of underwear, I have to confess to wearing my wife's panties on the last day. LRPD deprivation was in the mix as well.
Michigan exceeded my expectations and is a fine place to visit. This license plate, which is better looking than this image,
[image|http://www.michigan.gov/images/graphic_16606_7.jpg|0|Image||]
does not do justice to sunsets over Lake Michigan. I will want to visit it again and will do better at making it point to visit friends.
Finally, when I do stop by, it will not be to see any machine. :)
Alex
The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. -- Bertrand Russell
