-85 Longitude and Pecans Part II

Ok, so you need an explanation…Why did it take so long to get these posts up? Well… lets see. While traveling we want to see and do, so there is no real time there. Then when arriving in our new destination, establishing a home base is pretty key for the kids, and one of us pretty much takes off to start a new job that next Monday. With my current status of full-time at home with the kids, I really feel it is my responsibility to pour into them, so the only “down time” is when I give them an hour of tablet time, in which dinner is made. I’m rockin the dinners by the way. Oh, and then there is this: the inevitable happened, with the best possible outcomes for our family. Where Leah has been working tests employees for Covid regularly. Well, after around 3-4 days of the kids feeling a bit down and snotty, she and I started to feel it too. Nothing bad, just a cold. Well, the positive test came, and we are just now finishing up our “quarantine time” before she heads back to work after the recommended time off. But it was just a cold… for all of us. The kids were still for around 30 minutes and then back to their normal shennanigans. Leah and I took some time feeling fatigued with aches, yet we have been much more ill with other seasonal colds, etc.

So there’s the update (you’ll still have wait for the title’s namesake explanation towards the end of this post).

Alright, back to September 10th, leaving the “Porkies” en route to Fayette State Park on Big Bay de Noc. Dang… two for two with the awesome state parks! This place was a hidden gem that included a very well preserved and restored abandoned steel town from way back when. A piece of history to walk through at your own leisure. The bay off Lake Michigan is surrounded by gorgeous limestone cliffs disappearing into the aqua blue of the lake. While there, we had the opportunity to take a drive up to Lake Kitch-iti-kipi. An extremely unique state park with featuring a crystal clear natural spring with a self-guided, man-powered “cable ferry” to peer deep into the water. Totally worth it. That same day, upon arriving back at our campsite, we recognized it was the first calm day we had on the lake in what had been nearly a week. We took the opportunity and inflated the paddle board and kayak and got up close and personal with the pristine backdrop. The feeling of being small on such a massive lake next to towering sheer limestone was well… totally cool!

Lake Kitch-iti-kipi was way cool!

Fayette State Park and the bay were brilliantly fantastic!

To get all the action that we do in a year/month/week/day/hour, many pieces need to happen, all of which are done with the ever present needs of two young children. One of my admitted shortcomings is not asking for help, and “just doing it myself”. When I get in these modes, frustration follows, and work becomes hasty. This was one of those times. In effort to have everything packed up for departure, I took it upon myself to jam the deflated paddle board into it’s place in the underground storage (not an easy task), and this time seemed a bit harder, but “Hulk make it fit”, and it went in. So the next morning after prepping the rig for departure… the front driver side jack would not retract. Yep… I had busted off a piece of the main control board for the jack and leveling system. I was able to “jerry-rig” the connections enough to electrically get the jacks up in order to hit the road – another project to correct…when I get the chance!

Our next stop was in Germfask, MI. We chose this location as it was close to the famed Taquamenon Falls (found out it is pronounced like “phenomenon”). While staying with my mother-in-law, Leah had the opportunity to help by sorting through all the “collectibles” a mother hangs on to. Within the mounds of stuff found, we came across two classically horrible Taquamenon Falls souvenir hats from a trip the Hoses took when Leah was only a little girl. It was fun to make our kids wear the hats while at the same waterfall lookouts.

After a recovery day, we headed back down to the lower peninsula where the reality of increased population set in. Anxious may be an understatement when driving such a big rig through dense traffic and city streets, but alas it has to happen. We decided to find a Walmart in Traverse City to restock our grocery supply. And guess what happened! I caught a curb with the rear wheel and the back landing jack again, causing a nice little bend again…Hurray!

We safely made it to the next RV park in Elk Rapids, MI where we proceeded to unhitch. Remember the “jerry-rig” yeah not so “jerry” any more. It created a short, so we had to figure out how to manually lower the front jack using a screw-gun, and go through the ordeal of manual leveling with our carpenters level. Really makes us glad to have technology when it works! So, after much problem solving and several calls, I was able to locate a new control box (not even close to cheap!) online and have it delivered to my brother, Aaron’s, house – we would be crashing nearby in around a week. Here’s the real cool part: Lippert who manufactures these parts offered to cover the cost even though we were a bit over the year warranty, I (not a certified mechanic) was going to do the work, and it was completely my fault! Blessings through struggles are real!

While in Elk rapids we were able to drive to the massive Sleeping Bear Dunes and exhaust ourselves running up and down the sand dunes with the kids. What fun, yet sand in places sand shouldn’t be kind of evening! If you have spent any time in this area of Lake Michigan, you might be familiar with Petoskey (like the Michigan town) stones. They are round, smooth stones that are actually fossilized corral with a distinct tight hexagonal pattern and a dark spot in the middle of each hexagon (actually the eye of the corral). Travel blogs will try to guide you to rocky beaches where you might be lucky enough to find one. Feeling the fatigue of travel, we decided to stay local and have some fun at local parks, kind of disappointing as we both like to beach comb for unique things. While walking on the rocky shoreline as a part of the “Walk of Art” in Elk Rapids, Leah flippantly stated, “Maybe we’ll find some Petoskey Stones here”. Wait a sec…look at this…It’s a Petoskey stone…and so is this…oh, here’s another one! And so went the hunt. We ended up with a good two handfuls worth. Very fun!

The Dunes and our Petoskey Stones after figuring out how to preserve the wet look with casting epoxy.

We had to make Ludington, MI part of our adventure and decided to put it at the end of our trip. It was a must include as it was a favorite childhood vacation spot for me and my family. You see, my grandmother spent a good portion of her childhood her, so my dad’s family would come to visit and vacation through his childhood as well. We arranged the this particular trip with my folks to meet us there! It was superbly special for me to share this memorable place with my family alongside my parents. We were able to celebrate Dad with his recent 60th birthday, visit the famed Ludington lighthouse and watch the USS Badger ferry come in, spend a day at the state park playing by the inlet, and rented a pontoon boat to cross Lake Hamlin and play on the dunes there. It was all the places that I am so fond of when I think of Ludington. Wonderful trip.

When leaving Ludington, we decided to make a long day of it and get to our favorite home base when in Noblesville: White River Campground. This would give me two days to get some repairs done! I was able to make the repair by switching out the busted leveling control box as the new one had arrived on time to my brother’s house, which meant no more manual leveling!! Yes! We were also able to spend most of a day with the cousins at Aaron and Jenny’s house as a “one last time” get together before heading south for the winter.

While at White River Campground, I had noticed the rear passenger tire wearing dangerously thin. And only that one – not good on a couple levels, but decided I would change out to the spare (which is actually just the same tire I already had on there), and deal with new tires in Alabama. First, we had to get that tire off the ground, not always easy with a 40ft 5th wheel, but we did, got the spare ready to put on…and again with a bit too much haste, as the next camper was waiting for our spot, I tossed on the spare. PSSHHHHHH! Uh, I put the tire on backwards, that was the tire stem that snapped off! Ok, on goes the original tire! We limped to a very helpful tire shop in Shelbyville, IN, and for a couple bucks, put a new stem on the good tire and switched the tires to the original rim. Good as new! Will need new tires eventually, but no sooner than normal! Great problem solving.

So on we went with a stop that would allow us to spend one day at The Creation Museum as well as The Ark. These places are totally worth a visit. Not only spectacular attraction, but chalk full of Biblical truth with the center always leading to Jesus Christ as a real person, and The real Savior. Just as the Bible states. Both the Ark and The Creation museum give scientific explanations and evidence to refute a billion year old earth, and actually a young earth based on the Bibles account. Honestly, this shook Leah and I. Not our faith, but just our perspective on this topic of creation. I have come to resolve that it does not break down my belief in God and more importantly Jesus as my Savior, therefore, I’ll let others increase their blood pressure arguing about it, allowing God to explain it all to me when I meet Him!

Yep…that’s right. They had a zorse and a zonkey – bet you haven’t seen one of those!

Our next planned stop was a nice handful of nights in the Smokies, and believe it or not, we were just wrapping up Leah’s contract to be in Alabama. We thankfully decided to stay outside Townsend, TN “the quite side of the Smokies”. As we tried to explore some of the more popular areas near Gatlinburg…one day was enough. Unfortunately, this beautiful National Park is now overcrowded. That pace is just not us, especially in such a cool, natural setting. We decided to keep to ourselves and enjoy the campsite in Townsend by using their tubes and taking a float down the Little River, doing a cave tour, checking out the unique animals living on the farm’s property, and taking some local hikes. One of which included another pretty cool waterfall.

From Townsend, we made one quick stop just outside Atlanta to break up the driving, and ended up at our current location in Dothan, AL. Which…just happens to be an hour and 40 minute drive from another favorite vacation spot…St. George Island. Well before we knew where we would be stationed, Aaron and Jenny had planned a fall break trip with his family there. So what a surprise it was for the cousins when we pulled up to there rental ready for a day on the beach. While driving down, I casually said…”You know what? I’ll bet somewhere around Munising, and then Dothan and St. George Island are all around the same longitude.” Of course Leah had to look it up, and yep, sure enough, pretty darn close. Right around the -85 longitude. So that means on this trip we visited the most northern and southern point of the US at this specific latitude. Does it mean something? Maybe… the only significance I could find with 85 was actually in the Bible. Psalm 85. Wow, in the middle of the pandemic, sheer outrageousness in the election…Psalm 85 is now my prayer for all of us. It’d be cool if you read it.

Oh yeah, the pecans… the hundreds of pecans falling around our campsite, especially when a hurricane passes within a couple miles. Well, when life gives you Pecans, you make homemade pecan pie with your kids. Then you find out locals will actually pay for pecans and you turn it into a small business and ministry for your kids! We filled quart sized bags with pecans and inserted a kid made picture and encouraging word and Bible verse. Leah sold them at work for $1 a bag, so the kids made $10 plus $2 in tips!

I think 9/10 bags were sold before Leah brought the bags into work just by showing her coworkers the cuteness.

Sure things are stressful in the world, and we have our moments of stress and irritation with each other. But, shoot are we having some awesome moments together. And more importantly, finding ways to positivity impact our children and others around us. I probably haven’t been in the south long enough to say this, but I feel like I should: Y’all come back soon, ya hear?”

PS – I was able to straighten and raise the landing gear! Thanks for worrying!