Camping in Potosi, Wisconsin

 

Today, Ginny and I start our seven-month RV journey with our first night's stop in Potosi, Wisconsin, where we'll be staying at the Potosi Brewing Co. & National Brewery Museum. The brewing company and museum is a Harvest Hosts camping location and home to the Potosi Brewing Co. Transportation Museum, National Brewery Museum, and the Potosi Brewery Restaurant. Camping at the museum requires reservations with no camping fees for Harvest Hosts camping club members, and it has parking spaces for 4 RVs.

Harvest Hosts is an RV membership camping club with overnight RV Camping at 4412+ Farms, Wineries, Breweries, Attractions, and More!

Last Day at Bewabic State Park

 

Today was our last day at Bewabic State Park. We loaded up everything, broke camp by 10 AM, and were on the road by 10:30 this morning. We arrived back in Oconto around 12:30 this afternoon.

Home Again — Oconto, WI

 

Ginny and I had a wonderful and relaxing week at J.W. Wells State Park, but it's nice to be back home again. We left the park at 9:30, making it home at 10:30 this morning.

Last Leg of our Muskegon Trip

 

Today was the last leg of our 3-day trip to Muskegon and back to pick up our trailer that had been in the shop for repairs following a tire blowout last March. We were hooked up and on the road by 7:30 this morning, stopping first at the St. Ignace Truck Stop for breakfast. Then it was a 215-mile drive home to Oconto. The weather forecast for today was rain. We did hit some rain, but it wasn't bad. We made it home around 11:30 AM. Ginny said she enjoyed her first long trip with me and looking forward to many more. That's good because our next long trip will take 6 to 7 months to complete.

Muskegon, MI

 

Yesterday was Ginny's and my first long trip together as we headed to Muskegon, MI, to pick up our trailer. The trailer had been in the shop for repairs for the last twelve weeks—mostly waiting for parts—after the door side of the trailer was damaged after a tire blowout in Colorado last March. The total bill came up to $4686, which included four new Goodyear G114 tires.

 

We left Oconto on our 490-mile trip around 5:30 AM (CDT), arriving at All Seasons RV SuperCenter around 3:30 PM (EDT). After picking up the trailer, we checked into Lake Sch-Nepp-A-Ho Campground in Muskegon. Today we will head back home, first staying at the Tiki RV Park in St Ignace, MI.

Home

 

I've made it to my house in Oconto, but I haven't made it home. It's just an empty house full of stuff now. Most of the stuff in here is something that Nancy brought in. But without Nancy here, it's just a house full of stuff. I don't know how long I'll stick around until I hook on to my trailer again and go elsewhere. I'll be here for at least a month, though.

AMVETS Door County CampOut

  

It's been quite a journey the last couple of years because of COVID. We've stayed home the last couple of winters. Except for staying In Iron Mountain, MI, during the summer of 2020, We haven't been anywhere. This weekend, we are attending an AMVETS annual campout in Brussels, WI, at the Door County KOA.

 

Our first trip in our new 5th wheel we call Château de Sallé

Château de Sallé

It's been awhile since I've posted anything on our trips, but, with our new RV I'll try to keep my posting up to date.

We were planning on leaving on our trip on Friday, but, after seeing a forecast at 6:00 this morning of a snow storm across Wisconsin for Friday, we hurried and got on the road by 8:00 this morning.  Our first destination was a little over 400 miles away at Kellogg RV Park in Kellogg, IA. We pulled in just before dark. The reason I picked this park was because it was the first one that we would come to that was still open this time of the year.

Winter Trip

Nancy and I are finely on the road again on our winter trip south for the winter. We left Oconto around 8:30 this morning and made it to our first stop where we pulled into a truck stop in Minonk, IL around 4:00 this afternoon. I've been to this truck stop many times on my way through here. Tomorrow morning we'll head towards St, Louis. MO.

Cana Island Lighthouse

Today we got out of camp and out of the village of Egg Harbor and drove over to Bailey's Harbor and visited the Cana Island Lighthouse. Built in 1869, it's still an active lighthouse warning mariners of the shoal that lies just north of the entrance into Bailey's Harbor for the last 146 years.
http://www.dcmm.org/cana-island-lighthouse/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peninsula State Park

Our plans for today was to go to breakfast at Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant in Sister Bay with the family. It was 11:30 AM by the time we got there and then we had to wait an hour before we could get a table. Nancy and I usually have breakfast around 6:00 AM so we were both hungry by the time we were served. It was very crowded inside and the noise level was so loud that I couldn't hear Nancy taking to me while sitting right next to me. It's hell for me to go into a place like this because of my hearing disabilities even while wearing my hearing aids so I usually avoid them. But for Nancy I went in.

Afterward Nancy and I took a trip through Peninsula State Park on our way back to the campground.

 

Nancy with Horseshoe Island in the background

 

Horseshoe Island

 

Welcker's Point Shelter

 

Eagle Bluff Lighthouse

 

 Jack Island and Pirate Island

Chamber's Island in the background

 

Adventure Island

Egg Harbor, WI

It's been a few months since we've been on the road but today we took off for a week of camping with the family at Frontier Wilderness Campground in Egg Harbor, WI. Egg Harbor is a small tourists coastal town on the Door County peninsula. The campground is overgrown with tall trees and big spaces. Spite the tall trees I was able to find a hole to get a satellite TV signal through. We are not able to get any local channels. We are traveling with a new member of the family. Nancy got a 13 week old yorkie named Charly.

Home again

We made it home around 3PM this afternoon.

On the road - Day 2

Day 2 catches me awake at 4:30 this morning. Not bad though. I went to bed at 8:30 last night and I was tired. So that's 8 hours of sleep. Well I was hoping I didn't leave anything behind, but when I started looking for my electric skillet so I could cook breakfast, that's when I realized that not only the skillet, I forgot my coffee cup too. OWFISH! I needed to get a new electric skillet anyway and I've got other coffee cups onboard.

Today promises to be a nasty day with rain, snow and winds.  I was on the road by 6:15 and at 6:16 I was crossing the Mississippi River. At 9 o'clock, I stopped at a truck stop restaurant for breakfast that Barb and I always stopped at going this direction. There was snow and ice on the ground. Afterwards, the closer I got to Des Moines, the more snow there was on the ground. At least the roads are only wet. I stopped at the Pilot Travel Center in Des Moines for fuel. $206.81 for 56.676 gallons of diesel. I'm glad I only needed half a tank.

After filling the tank, I kept heading toward Kansas City on I-35. I thought of stopping north of the city for the night, but since I was making good time, I wanted to get through that mess before the traffic got ugly. In fact I kept going until I made it to Emporia, Kansas. A total of 515 miles today. Boy was I beat fighting the winds driving this rig. I pulled into the Flying J Travel Center for the night, topped off the tank with another 41 gallons for a whopping $151.42, and $15.14 to replace the wiper blades. So far I've spent $358.23 for fuel and have drove only 784 miles. 256 miles to go. At least Flying J has WiFi... for a cost.

On the road

I was up by 5 o'clock this morning. I took the clothes the drier I had put in the night before. I watched the sun came up as I made my morning coffee. A red ball on the horizon. Then it disappeared behind the clouds. After a cup, I went in and took my morning shower before making breakfast. By then it was 7 o'clock. I knew I had to finish packing everything in the motorhome if I wanted to leave by noon.

The mail came in around 11:00 o'clock. Just a cell phone bill and a piece of junk mail. The post office will hold my mail starting tomorrow until I got back. I had everything packed up, the truck was hooked up behind the motorhome and I was ready to go. I thought I might as well stop and get some lunch before my hearing test appointment so I was on the road by 11:30. I hope I didn't leave anything behind.

Twenty miles down the road I stopped to top off the fuel tank and get a bite of lunch. Then headed over to the medical center for my hearing test. Now just to find a place to park a 60' long vehicle. I'm glad I looked at it on Google Earth the night before so I would have an idea of what the parking lot looked like. I found a place, now hope they don't give me a ticket for parking there for an hour.

It was 1 PM by then, my appointment was for 1:30. I went in and done the paperwork they wanted me to do and went into the sound chamber as scheduled. The hearing test was completed, I pass with a 92%. I needed at least a 90%. They charged $175 on my credit card and I was out of there and back on the road.

It started to rain and I was hoping my wipers were going to work. Several  things haven't been working right on this rig since I parked it two years ago after our last trip. Good they work but I'll need to change the blades first chance I get. Not everyone carries wiper blades big enough for a bus. I got into Madison a little before 5 PM so I hit the city before the traffic rush. I still have to get to the south side of the city though to beat the traffic. No, didn't make it. Not to bad though. Only about 5 miles of traffic before I turn off the freeway.

I made my exit onto US-151S going out of Madison, got in the left lane and continued out of the city heading to Dubuque, IA. Everything is going okay... I thought.  About 20 miles south of Madison I notice the volt meter surging. Now what I thought. My destination for the night was a rest area on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River at Dubuque. If I can make it there I'll check things out.

I got to the rest area at about 6:35, turned off my headlights and the meter is still surging. I get out, open the engine hatch. Everything looks okay. I was hoping may be the belt was loose but it wasn't. I grab my volt meter out of my electrical tool kit and check the voltages at the battery with the engine running. The voltage is surging between 13 to 15 volts. I turned my headlights back on and watch them. They are fluctuating along with the alternator surging.  Well all I can do is shut down and spend the night here. I'll call the alternator shop tomorrow and see what they think.

Hot water

A mobile RV technician came out to the cottage and fixed the hot water heater on the motorhome. It would try to ignite but wouldn't stay lit. Cost: $151.80.

Rebuild alternator

I done some more work on the motor home this morning. I put the new battery in yesterday but the alternator wasn't charging. So I took the alternator off and took it into an alternator shop in Green Bay where they rebuild starters and alternators. That was at noon today. About 3 o'clock they called and told me the alternator was ready. Green Bay from where I was working on the boat this afternoon is about 25 miles so I told them I'd pick it up on Monday since they are closed on weekends. The technician told me he lives only about 5 miles from where I was so he'd just bring it home with him and I could pick it up there. I told him I'd meet his at his house in about a half hour. Darn I thought I was going to get the weekend off. lol Last time I had alternator problems with the motor home was in May 2005. We were down in Florida. For a rebuilt alternator plus labor to pull it and put it back on the bill come a little over $700. Today's bill was $116. But then I'm doing the labor myself of pulling it off and putting it back on.

New mattress bag

A few years ago we had a custom mattress made for our motor home while in Oklahoma. It was something that Barb just had to have after laying on one down in Florida. It had to be custom made because it's a non-standard size. It's made with a layer memory foam over a thick layer of latex rubber. We paid $1300 for that mattress. A couple of years ago, I noticed the bottom of the mattress bag had rotted after getting wet and not being able to dry out completely. I couldn't remember when or where we bought it but we were in Norman, Oklahoma at the time. I was able to go back through my travel blog and found the month we were there, then was able to go back through my computerized finance records and found the day and name of the company who made the mattress. A search on the Internet and I found their phone number. I was able to order a new $260 bag for the mattress. I'll make sure next time it will be able to dry out by placing an anti-moisture layer under the mattress called DryMesh.

New starting battery

Started working on the motor home to get it ready to go to Oklahoma with it the end of April or 1st week of May. It's been off the road since Barb & I moved into this house in October 2011. $195 to replace the starting battery. Also got with the service manager of a local RV dealer about doing some needed work on it. At 1st they didn't want to because it's a big Class A Diesel Pusher and the only RVs they handle are small Jayco travel trailers. But what I need fixed would be items that would also be on their trailers. So whenever the snow melts enough so I can get it out, they're going to take care of me.

It's emotional just thinking about going on a trip without Barb. Barb and I lived and traveled through most the United States for 8 years in this motor home before we had to stop because of her health. Last summer she told me she really missed living in it. I did too, but my health was getting bad because of the stress I was going through because of her health.

Marquette, MI

We got on the road at 8:00 this morning heading first the Da Yoopers Tourist Trap & Museum in Ishpeming, MI. This is a must stop for anyone coming to Yooperland. Then on to Marquette where we found a picnic table along the shore of Lake Superior for a picnic lunch. We opted to stay at the Americas Best Value Inn in Marquette. Tomorrow we'll continue our road trip to Sault Sainte Marie in Ontario, Canada.