Brevoort Lake National Forest Campground

 

 

 

 

On Friday around 11 we crossed the bridge and headed West to the campground. We arrived and all the "good" sites were occupied. The first 12 sites or so at this campground are on the lake and have nice beaches. We got a site further down, still have access to the lake, just no sandy beach here. Still a nice site. Large sites, trees in-between the sites for privacy. This campground has flush toilets (but no showers) and also has a fill and dump station which was nice for the camper. We had great weather, on Friday we went and explored the area, got some smoked fish and pasties. Gathered some wood and enjoyed ourselves. On Saturday we went to Castle Rock and explored some of the National Forest roads and did some challenging geocaches. Also went over to Lake Michigan which is only 2 miles away and swam there. back to dinner in the dutch oven. On Sunday we just relaxed and enjoyed the weather.. and watched everybody leave. On Friday night there were only a few sites open.. but Sunday there were only a few that were filled. There are a few sites you can reserve here, but most are first come, first server. That is why we arrived early. I think we may have been too early, as check out time is 2pm and several people left after we arrived... so if we had been about 1hr or 1.5hr later I think we could have gotten one of the nicer sites, but I was still pleased with the site and I love this campground... Large beautiful sites for $16 per night. Fresh water fillup is free, but $8 to dump. Well worth the money!

Kneff Lake National Forest Campground - Grayling

 
 
This was the beginning of our U.P. trip. We left Howell around 6pm and headed North. We made it to Grayling a little before 9. Missed the turn for the campground... watching the GPS rather than the road signs... But got there without too much problems. There were only a few other people at the campground on a Thursday night. With quickly fading light, we found a spot and set up for the evening. Seems like a nice enough place. It is primitive, there are out houses and there must be a water pump somewere, but I don't recall seeing it. There are steps... lots of them that go down to a small lake. I went there early in the morning as the sun was coming up.. it was small but pretty.. not sure about fishing, but it did not look like a swimming lake.
We got up the next morning and continued on our way. We were only there about 12 hours, but for $15 it was a great place to stop for the night. It is less than 10 miles from I-75 which makes it a convient stop for trips further North.

N Higgins Lake June 20

 
 
We returned to N Higgins Lake Campground for our first real 'camping' trip of the summer. We have been using the camper a lot at Taylor Beach, but this time we hooked it up and traveled with it. I took Friday off and went to the camper Thursday night, and took off Friday morning for Roscommon. Trip up was good and set up was quick and easy. It is SO much easier to back up this bigger camper, none of the problems and frustrations of the popup.
This is a beautiful campground with trees and a big clear lake. Enjoyed swimming for the first time this year. Nice weather warm in the day and cool evenings. There are trails near by and the lake, wood is avaialble at the site or near by. Everything you can want from a campground.

Sleepy Hollow -- First Trip of 2008

 
 
Our first camping trip of 2008! The kids are on Spring Break, and I had planned to spend it at Taylor Beach Campground, but the water does not turn on until April 15, so we dedided to hook up the camper and go! I was over the week before to flush the water system, and check everything. Good thing I did, because the safety chains were too short.
We decided to go to Sleepy Hollow North of Lansing, the water was on there, and it was close enough Amy could visit.
Amy and the kids went over to the camper Sunday afternoon.. a beautiful sunny day. I came over after work, and we spent the first night in the camper. So far so good! It was really nice to have room to move and all the conviences of home. Next morning we woke up early and had breakfast. It was suppose to rain that day, but it turned out great. Got the trailer hooked up and took off. Stopped to put some air in the tires and got on I-96. The GPS took a different route up M52, and that saved about 20 - 30 miles over going to Lansing and heading North. So we arrived at the campground by 11am. Mitchell and I filled up the water tanks and Amy scouted for agood site. Not too hard as there were only a few people there. She found a site at the end of a loop where I could pull around and basically back straight into the spot. It worked great and with her direction got it backed in without problems. A few minutes of setting everything up and we were in business! Monday was a perfect day, warm, sunny. The wind picked up in the afternoon, and by evening it was cooler. We spend the night inside and that was great... XM radio playing, heat on. The kids played for a while and then went to bed, and I stayed up for a while reading.
Tue morning it was cold outside.. we had breakfast and just hung out.. the kids played and I laid in bed until after 10 reading. In the afternoon it cleared up a bit and we went for a walk around the Island. In the evening we had dinner in the dutch oven and the first campfire of the year.
The Campground had just opened on Friday and there were only a few people there including people in tents (first night was 38 degrees, second night RAIN.. gotta hand it to people in tents). Everything was gray, and did not see any DNR people around. The campground was fine, the bathrooms were open... and while I saw workers here, I am still not sure if they have been cleaned since last year. The campground is only 1/2 open. The ground is still quite wet, but not too muddy.. just soft.
Tue night/Wed AM we had RAIN.. thunder lightening and LOTS of rain. I got up at one point and realized we had no power.. went back to bed but got up at 4am to went out and reset the breaker and we were in business again. The rain stopped but then became very windy. We got up and got our stuff packed up. Hooked up the trailer with minimal problems and headed back to Taylor Beach. This was the part I was worried about.. pulling in throught the trees and backing up with only the kids to help. But it went fine... took about 20 minutes.. but no problems. I just went slow at it to make sure I didn't run into any trees.
Over all we are very pleased with the new camper. Everything took longer than it should.. but it is a learning process.. Sunday I realized the fridge was running on gas.. after about 30 minutes of trouble shooting.. trying to figure out why that outlet had not power and most of the rest was fine.. I discovered the GFCI breaker in the bath was tripped. Little things like that, which took some time (and instructions) to figure out, but next time we will know.
Very pleased with the truck.. we finally got to use it to tow a camper which was the reason we bought it. It performed great. The brake controler I wired the week before was great! Mirrors were helpful, but still trying to get the passenger one adjusted just right.. and the Swift Hitch camera system I bought was great... highly recommended!
This was the first in what I am sure will be many adventures in the new camper.

New Toys for 2008

 
 

On to 2008!

Our quick trip to Ionia turned out to be our last camping trip of 2007. Although we didn't realize it... it would also be out last time in the pop-up.
We had a good camping season for 2007, starting on the first weekend of Spring back in March and going up to October. We camped over 40 nights and traveled over 2000 miles. It was a lot of fun but also a lot of work.
We had talked about getting a larger camper but there were lots of problems with that idea. We would need a larger vehicle and a place to put it. But we did like the idea... the popup was great but for the amount we use it there was a lot of work involved.... packing, unpacking, and constantly moving things in the camper while we are out. The table folds down to be one of the beds, and we need to put our bags somewhere. It would be nice to find something where everybody had their own bed and a place for all our stuff.
In January we bought a 2002 Avalanche... Four doors of leathered luxury, and most important 7100 pounds of tow capacity. We started looking at campgrounds last fall and didn't find anything we liked. We had also started looking at campers last fall, and went to the camper show in Jan. But nothing really grabbed us... they were too big or too small or over weight. It seems most campers are set up with only 1 bed. Then there are couches or tables that fold down. But I wanted everybody to have their own bed.
My wife found something on Craigslist that looked promising, a 2005 Zeppelin. We went to see it and it was just what we needed. Bunks in the back, bed, bath, couch.. not too big... not over our tow limit.. and not too expensive. It was just what we needed. Then as a huge bonus the campground it was at was perfect. Taylor Beach Campground near Howell. Nice layout by a lake, with trees. It is family oriented with lots of activities for the kids. It has been family owned for 50 years and the people we bought the camper from had nothing but good to say about it! I have since spoke with the owner Alan Taylor and he impressed me as someone who really wants to make sure people enjoy themselves, in a fun safe environment. The campground is accessible year 'round, so we have been over several times to take stuff to the camper and learn more about how everything works. The water will be on April 1, so that is when the camping will begin. This will be a slightly different type of camping this year. More like a cabin you drive to and enjoy. That will have a lot of appeal to all of us. But there will be times when I will want to go "camping" and I can still hook it up to the truck and head North!
We are looking forward to new adventures and new fun in 2008!