Proving just how hard it is to break a bad habit once it gets established, I was awake by 7 a.m. yesterday morning. That’s about four hours after the time I normally get to bed. This really has to stop!

The weather report had called for scattered thunderstorms in western Michigan, and soon after I woke up, strong winds began to rock the motorhome, followed by rain.

Now we had a decision to make. Do we go ahead with our plan to drive to Elkhart, Indiana, hoping we can find a window of good weather to travel in, or do we sit tight at Fisherman’s Landing Campground in Muskegon?

Normally, we would stay put and avoid traveling in bad weather. But the storm passed by in a few minutes, and the weather report called for more of the same for all of this week. Add to that the fact that our power had been kicking off every few minutes at the campground since the night before, even though we had turned off the TV and Dish network receiver, switched our water heater and refrigerator to propane, turned off our air conditioning, shut down our computers and wireless router, and set the battery charge rate on our inverter to just 5 amps. It doesn’t do you any good to have a 30 amp RV site if the campground is crowded, their power is crappy, and everybody else is running everything they have.

We didn’t feel like paying another $25 to dry camp, and with temperatures in the mid-80s, it wouldn’t have been very comfortable anyway. So a little after 9 a.m. we pulled out, stopped at a Bob Evans Restaurant to meet Berni and Rocky for breakfast and a last goodbye, and then headed south on U.S. Highway 31.

Fortunately, we got a break in the weather, and except for a few sprinkles, we had a nice trip. Well, except for the road construction.

Michigan has two seasons; winter and road construction, and we’re smack dab in the middle of the latter. We hit a couple of construction zones on our trip south. I’ve never understood drivers who come into a construction zone and ignore signs telling them to merge right or left, instead speeding forward until the every last minute, then trying to muscle their way in. All they do is create a bottleneck and make things harder for everybody, themselves included. Just get over as soon as you see the signs and keep on rolling. At least until you have to slam on the brakes to keep from running over the idiot trying to wedge in ahead ahead of you, who didn’t.

We pulled into Elkhart Campground a few minutes before 2 p.m., and the place is packed! A lot of folks are here early, just hanging out before our Eastern Gypsy Gathering rally.

By the time we got unhooked, Greg and Jan White had come out to greet us, Jan with a batch of freshly baked cookies in her hand. What a beautiful sight! A pretty lady with a handful of goodies beats the heck out of an angry woman with a revolver, a rolling pin, or a restraining order. Trust me on this!  Several other folks came by to say hello as we were getting set up, but I was busy and didn’t get everybody’s name.

Bob and Gita Patel, owners of Elkhart Campground, have really been busy this summer, adding a lot of new 50 amp full hookup sites, and upgrading older sites. If you’re a regular here and haven’t seen all of the improvements yet, I know you’ll be impressed.

Here is our Winnebago on the right, and Greg and Jan’s American Eagle on the left. Don’t you just love a spacious RV site?

Once we were all settled in, and had time to check our e-mails and rest up a while, we went to dinner at Famous Dave’s BBQ in Mishawaka with Greg and Jan. We like Famous Dave’s because they serve huge portions, and everything on the menu is delicious. We always have fun with Greg and Jan, and the time went by fast as we talked about the upcoming birth of their second grandchild, about our mutual RV travels, and anything else that came to mind.

Back at the RV park, we visited for a while more, and then Greg and Jan called it a night. Soon after they left, Frank and Marlene Hinman stopped in to say hello and welcome us to Elkhart. We love visiting with our friends wherever we may be!

Another couple of wonderful friends of ours, Jerry and Suzy LeRoy, just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, and are spending the summer on their lot at the Escapees co-op in Benson, Arizona. This is monsoon season in Arizona, which was always my favorite time of year when I lived there.  Jerry has some awesome photos of the dramatic cloud formations that fill the sky during monsoon season in their blog. Check them out, I think you’ll be impressed.

Thought For The Day – I just got lost in thought. It was unfamiliar territory.

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We love touring small town historical sites, and we spent part of yesterday doing just that, here in Muskegon, Michigan. Rocky and Berni picked us up at the campground and took us downtown to introduce us to a little of their community’s past.

Charles H. Hackley came to Muskegon as a 20 year old man, in 1857, with just $7 to his name. Through hard work and a vision of the future, he parlayed that money into a fortune of over $12 million by the time he died in 1905. In the process, he transformed Muskegon from a sleepy little logging town into a major industrial and commerce center.

Hackley made his fortune in lumber, and built an impressive Queen Anne style mansion in Muskegon that is a showplace of opulence. 

Even his carriage horses lived in style! No simple barn or stable would do for the steeds of such a prominent citizen as Charles H. Hackley!

Inside, the house is decorated with elaborate carvings in the woodwork, paneling, and stair rails. This carving on a coat rack shows some of the intricate details.

As does this China cabinet.

All told, Hackley kept sixteen woodcarvers busy for four years creating the interior of his home.

Many of the home’s windows are beautiful stained glass works.

No detail was spared, and it truly is a showplace, and an example of how the timber barons of America once lived.

Right next door is the home of Hackley’s business partner, Thomas Hume. While still very impressive, the Hume house was designed for comfort and to accommodate Hume’s large family.

While the Hackley House was more impressive, in terms of showing just how well the wealthy live, we found the Hume house more comfortable. Charles Hackley built his home to be a showplace, and it certainly is. But I could never be comfortable living in a place like that. Hume’s house just had more of a welcoming feel. You just know that kids slid down the banister and ran through the third floor rooms playing hide and seek, while no such nonsense would have been tolerated in the Hackley house.

We have enjoyed our time here with Rocky and Berni, but unfortunately, all good things must end. Today we are heading for Elkhart Campground, in Elkhart, Indiana, to get the new issue of the Gypsy Journal ready to go to press, and to get all of the last minute details ready for our upcoming Eastern Gypsy Gathering rally.

Rocky and Berni, we sure do appreciate your hospitality, and you making time for us in your busy schedules. We love you guys.

Thought For The Day – The rewards of age are not for wimps.

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We have been having a lot of fun here in Muskegon, Michigan with Berni and Rocky Frees. It is amazing how we can be apart from those two for a year, and the minute we get back together, the fun picks back up right where we left off.

Yesterday they both had to work, so Terry and I hung around the motorhome most of the day, filling a couple of orders, doing paperwork, and answering e-mails. With our Eastern Gypsy Gathering rally coming up fast, we are getting a lot of registrations in.  There is still plenty of time to get yours in too, if you want to come and join in all the fun.

In the afternoon I laid down on the couch for a short nap, and Terry woke me up a little after 5 so we could go over to Rocky and Berni’s. It’s the weekend, and Fisherman’s Landing Campground is starting to get busy. We noticed several RVs that had pulled in during the day, as well as a group of tent campers down at the far end of our lane. Hopefully they won’t be as loud and obnoxious as the tent campers who have partied here on the weekends during our past visits.

We left the van at Rocky and Berni’s and took their car to a great restaurant called Hobo’s Tavern.  We ate there once before, on a previous trip to Muskegon, and it was just as great as we remembered. I had an exceptionally tender and delicious New York strip streak, while Terry had a burrito plate with red chili sauce. We both really enjoyed our meals, and from the comments Berni made about her steak, and Rocky his half rack of ribs, they were pleased too.

Back at their place, we introduced them to a fun game we learned at our Eastern rally in Celina, Ohio last fall, called Pegs and Jokers. We had looked all over for a game of our own, and couldn’t find one, so our pal Ron Speidel made us one in the craft shop at the RV park where they stayed in Mission, Texas last winter. And then our good friends Mike and Elaine Loscher also gave us a second game, so now we have two, when we once had none! Isn’t it great having good friends who are also generous, and love you too?

On the two previous nights we had played Mexican Train, with me winning one game and Berni the other, so we needed to break that tie. Unfortunately, Rocky had to get up very early Friday morning, so by 10:30 or so, he was really beginning to droop. We stopped the game, and will probably have to pick it up tonight, just because Berni was ahead by a good margin at that point. I suggested that maybe we should start a brand new game from scratch today, but poor Berni has so few victories in her life that she insisted we continue the one we already had going. Boy, some people!

Back at the campground, even more RVs and tents had arrived, and campfire smoke filled the air. When we left, the sites on either side of us were empty, and when we returned, there was a motorhome on one side, and a popup tent trailer on the other.

We’re not sure if we’ll leave here Sunday to go on down to Elkhart, or wait until Monday morning. We’re having a lot of fun, but we also have a lot of work to get done.

Thought For The Day – When in doubt, mumble.

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In our many years on the road, we have met a lot of people who travel with pets. Most have been your run of the mill dogs and cats, with an occasional oddity thrown in, like one couple we met who fulltime with two Amazon parrots. We have also heard of RVers who travel with ferrets, and even a snake or two. I try to avoid anybody who considers a snake a pet.

I’m not a cat person, and when it comes to dogs, I prefer the medium to large sized breeds. Unfortunately, many RVers tend to go with the smaller breeds, which is understandable, given the limited space inside of an RV.  I don’t mind little dogs, though I absolutely detest yappy little dogs.

I joke about not liking French poodles, though my pals Jim and Chris Guld from Geeks on Tour actually have a poodle that I have been known to scratch behind the ears, when nobody is looking. But Odie isn’t your typical obnoxious poodle, and he ignores me most of the time, which I respect, given the comments I have made about many of his cousins in the past.

Yesterday I think I met the strangest animal I have ever come across in an RV park; Randy, the traveling tortoise. Jay and Gwen McMichael are parked a few sites down from us here at Fisherman’s Landing in Muskegon, Michigan, killing time before they go down to Elkhart for our Eastern Gypsy Gathering rally the end of this month. I wandered down to chat with them yesterday morning, and they introduced me to their African Leopard Tortoise, Randy.

He was busy munching on grass under a picnic table, and when Jay picked him up to show him to me, I swear the critter actually had a personality! Instead of withdrawing into his shell like most turtles I have ever seen, Randy was happy to have his head rubbed.

Jay said he got Randy when he wasn’t much more than a hatchling, and that he makes a great pet, because he doesn’t bark, doesn’t shed, doesn’t claw the furniture, and is very low maintenance overall. Randy lives in the shower stall of their Pace Arrow motorhome, and seems to be very happy in his role as probably the world’s only RVing tortoise.

So what’s the difference between a tortoise and a turtle, you ask? Well, a tortoise is a kind of a turtle, but not all turtles are tortoises. Turtles have flatter backs than tortoises, they can swim well, and different types may spend all or part of their lives underwater. Turtles are often omnivorous, eating plants, insects, and fish.

In the natural world, tortoises live entirely above water, only going into water to drink. They are not good swimmers, and often drown if caught in deep water or swift currents. Tortoises are mostly herbivorous, eating cactus, shrubs, and other plants that have a lot of moisture. Their shell forms a rounded dome, allowing the tortoise’s limbs and head to withdraw for protection. Okay, end of biology lesson.

I’m glad I met Randy. He’s a pretty cool creature, and as reptiles go, he’s a lot more socially acceptable than a snake, or even a lizard. But tortoises don’t have ears to scratch behind, and when a tortoise wags his tail at you, it just isn’t the same as a friendly mutt doing the same thing. On the other hand, in all the time I was visiting with Jay and Gwen, I never heard him yap or bark!

I guess if you’re going to travel with your house, having a pet that travels with his own house too kind of makes sense, doesn’t it? What are some of the stranger pets you have seen in RV parks?

Bad Nick doesn’t like any critter that weighs less than 50 pounds, or won’t occasionally give his hand a friendly lick. So while I was out meeting Randy, he stayed home yesterday to post a new Bad Nick Blog titled The Lesser of Two Evils. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – Life is sexually transmitted.

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Thanks to all of you who e-mailed or posted comments wishing Miss Terry good luck with her doctor’s appointment yesterday. I’m happy to tell you that she got a good report, and continues to be cancer free after over ten years. And she feels much better now that her yearly ordeal is over.

We were talking a bit with the oncology nurse before the doctor came in, and I mentioned that I strongly believe that Terry’s willpower and attitude had a lot to do with her recovery. When she was first diagnosed and they told us she had Stage 4 cancer, I asked her first doctor what that meant, and his casual reply is “Stage 5 is when they bury you. You folks probably need to be talking about funeral plans.”

Talk about a lack of bedside manner! He could just as easily have been a mechanic telling us that we probably should think about trading in our old clunker, because it was past saving. Terry promptly fired that SOB, and we found a wonderful doctor who was just as committed to saving her life as she was to surviving, and her being here today is living proof of the power of positive thinking, in every aspect of our lives.

One thing that Terry always says is that, if the worst would have happened, she was glad that at least we had that first eighteen months on the road to live our dream. Over the years, we have met too many people who waited too long, waiting on the perfect “someday” that never arrived.

Today we’re headed south to Muskegon, Michigan for a few days with Rocky and Berni Frees. While it has been pretty comfortable here in Traverse City during our stay, and we have gotten along just fine on 20 amp electric, yesterday it really warmed up and we would have liked to run our basement air conditioner.

I’m also looking forward to a clear shot at the sky for my automatic rooftop TV dish. The thick trees in my cousin’s driveway prevented us from getting a satellite signal, and I don’t have a portable dish any more. I jokingly told Miss Terry last night that we have turned into “those people” – the ones who really enjoy their full hookup RV sites that we used to sneer about when we spent weeks, even months boondocking. We still boondock for an occasional night or two, and are quite comfortable doing so. But, there is something to be said for creature comforts on a long term basis.

We have enjoyed our stay here in Traverse City, and very much appreciate my cousin Terry Cook and his family’s hospitality. They always treat us like, well, family. We appreciate you guys, and look forward to getting back up here again next year.

Today will be an easy run, about 140 miles. After our 440 and 480 mile mad dashes to get here from Iowa last week, we’re looking forward to much shorter trips in the foreseeable future. Yes, we have turned into “those people.”

Thought For The Day – Failure seldom stops you. What stops you is the fear of failure.

Click Here To Register For Our Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally!