We have enjoyed our week in Muskegon, Michigan but sadly, it’s time to leave and get on down the road. But we sure have had a wonderful time in this friendly lakeside community.

We stayed at Fisherman’s Landing, a city owned marina and campground, where our back-in RV site had a concrete pad with picnic table, water and 30 amp electric, and a dump station, all for $25 a night. Actually two of those nights were only $12.50, with our Passport America discount, which is good for two nights in any 30 day period. The campground has 70 RV sites, and is located on a lake that connects to the Muskegon River. We did not need them in our self-contained bus conversion, but Fisherman’s Landing also has restrooms with showers and flush toilets.

How friendly is Muskegon? When we returned to our bus late last night after spending our last evening with my cousin Berni and her husband Rocky, we found a business card stuck in our door from city commissioner Steven Wisneski, along with a stack of goodies he had left for us that included two folding chairs in cloth bags, and two goodie bags packed with gifts like water bottles, can cozies, and keychain flashlights, along with a big collection of brochures about local attractions. You can bet we’ll be returning to Muskegon again! It’s one of our favorite places to visit, and I can certainly understand why Rocky and Berni chose this area to live in when they stopped fulltiming.

The city and surrounding area have a lot to offer visitors, from fishing and water sports, to neat museums, great restaurants (we ate out six of the seven nights we were in town, at a different  restaurant each time, and never had a bad meal), a wonderful farmer’s market, and some of the nicest people we have met anywhere.

And the fun doesn’t stop at the end of summer! The Muskegon area is a year round playground, with a winter sports complex, cross country skiing, snow shoeing, and ice fishing. At least Rocky tells me so. I hope to be in Key West by the time the first snow falls!

I wrote in yesterday’s blog that we hoped to do some more paddling before we left town, so yesterday after Berni and Rocky got off work we put our kayaks in the Muskegon River and paddled for a couple of hours. This time we were smart and paddled upriver against the current starting out, while we were still fresh, and allowed the current to carry us back to our launch point when we were done.

We poked into a couple of channels that led off the river and up into some small islands. At one point the channel we were paddling wasn’t more than a few feet wide, and the water under us was choked with weeds. Our kayaks did fine, but a regular boat would have had a hard time of it.

I was in the lead, and as I rounded one bend in the waterway a beaver or muskrat swam across and disappeared into the cattails on the bank as I approached, and soon after that I drifted around another curve and startled three great blue heron, who took flight at my intrusion into their little sanctuary.

Now that’s why we love kayaking! You can have your motor boats and jet skis. We much prefer the slower, quiet ride that allows us to get up close and personal with Mother Nature. As much as I love our life on the open road, I have to admit that I am just a little bit jealous of Rocky and Berni for having this wonderful place only a minute or two from their front door.

We’re heading back to Elkhart Campground in Elkhart, Indiana today, and we’ll be there for a few days before we head over to Bowling Green, Ohio for the FMCA rally, if they have an open vendor booth for us. It’s been a fun mini-vacation.

Thought For The Day – Wisdom consists of the anticipation of consequences.

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That’s not a typo in the headline, folks. A common concern for new RVers is how they can handle life together in a cramped RV. Being together can be wonderful, but how much is too much?

I cover this in depth in my The Reluctant RVer seminar. It is a real issue for some couples, and not a problem at all for others. A lot depends on how your relationship is going in. If you can’t get along together in a 2,000 square foot house, you’ll hate it in a 300 square foot RV. There is no shop in the garage or sewing room to escape to.

It’s one thing to love each other, but if you plan to live together long term in an RV, you really have to like each other as well. You have to learn to rely on each other, because there are times when one or the other of you has to be the strong one and carry the load for both of you.

You must each have your own space. Maybe that is when one goes into the bedroom to watch TV alone or read a book. Maybe one goes for an occasional walk alone. In our case, I hate shopping, and Terry enjoys taking her time at the grocery store looking for bargains. So she usually goes alone, and I have the bus to myself for a while.

It is also important to be able to communicate and to compromise. If the husband enjoys baseball and wants to go to every baseball stadium in America to see a major league game, that is fine. But what if the wife wants to visit museums or Presidential homes? Is there time for her interests too? There must be if you will have a successful RVing experience.

Another thing us guys are guilty of, all too often, is wanting to cover too many miles, never stopping to smell the roses along the way. We talked to one couple that had been on the road for a year, and had never spent two nights in the same place, nor had they ever spent a night in an RV park. It was all Wal-Mart parking lots, truck stops, and rest areas. The wife was absolutely miserable, but the husband was proud of how much they had “seen” in their travels. 

Many times little things can be a problem in the close confines of an RV. If one party wants to sleep in, and the other one is an early bird, a loud TV or radio can become a major point of contention. This is where headphones come in handy, as well as basic courtesy.

Terry and I are best friends and very comfortable together. We may go two or three hours without speaking a word. I’ll be busy writing and she’ll be doing bookwork or something else, and we don’t feel the need to say much. But, by the same token, one or the other will be passing by and just lay a gentle hand on the other’s shoulder, or say “I love you” as we go by. Of course, there are times we’ll lay in bed in the morning and talk for an hour or two before we get up to face the day. It’s our time to be together.

Thought For The Day – Men are from earth. Women are from earth. Deal with it!

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