6/28/07 (Thursday): It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood! Temperatures have dropped down to the mid-70's, probably for the rest of the week. It's clear and breezy--perfect weather for the holiday weekend! Our campground has already started to fill up, and I think we'll be pretty much at capacity for the weekend.

We went to breakfast with one of the Workamper couples, and then to the local farmer's market. It was great fun! I bought some veggies and a couple of hanging strawberry plants. Then we stopped by the local Harley store so Al could drool over the motorcycles. What do you think -- is this me, or what?!






The next day, Wiley and I went into downtown Muskegon to run some errands and do a little sightseeing. Muskegon is kind of a gritty looking city, especially along the waterfront where there's lots of old industry, but there is a beautiful historic neighborhood.



















We were walking around taking pictures of some of the Victorian mansions when we saw this one being bulldozed. That's when we realized that we were seeing live the controversial destruction of a historic mansion that had been all over the news. The family who lived in it had been cited numerous times over many years for code violations, and the city finally decided to pull it down. The last-minute rally by citizens to save it was too little too late. What a shame--it's a beautiful neighborhood.



In the late 19th century, Muskegon was a booming lumber town. Right after the great Chicago fire, there was a huge demand for wood to rebuild the city. Trees were cut north of Lake Muskegon in the winter, branded with the owner's mark, and piled on the banks. The spring thaws brought water levels up, and the wood floated down to the city of Muskegon. They were floated to the docks of the appropriate sawmill, cut and shipped to Chicago.




Two of the most famous lumber barons, Charles Hackley and Thomas Hume, built side-by-side mansions. Between the two mansions was the carriage house. The left side mimics the style of the Hackley House on the left and the right side mimics the Hume House style. They were great friends (as were their wives and children), and both families were generous with the city, donating libraries, schools and other civic entities. We had a great tour of their mansions.




The Hackley House was a few years older and much more elaborate than the Hume House. There were 37 colors of paint on the outside and over 100 on the inside, and numerous stained glass windows and lots of carved wood. Gorgeous, but not very comfortable looking!















In the same neighborhood, we walked through the Monet Gardens. They're the yard of a mansion turned into a bed and breakfast, and they're designed to look like the Monet Gardens at Givenchy (sp?). Quite lovely!

















On our second day off, we went to Muskegon State Park, about 10 miles from our campground. We just did a brief run through, but we bought an annual pass so we can go explore it in depth. It's on Lake Michigan and the canal that runs between Lake Michigan and Muskegon. It's on the opposite side of the can from Pere Marquette Beach, where I took photos of the Muskegon Light and Coast Guard station. There are gorgeous big sand dunes, some of them heavily forested, and lots of hiking trails.














That's it for another fun week. I'll blog again soon.

6/24/07 (Sunday): It's been a great week--we're still having fun. Today I worked in the store all afternoon on the cash register. So far, that's what I like the best. In my spare time, I've been playing with the reservation/registration software. It's pretty intuitive, but there are LOTS of details to remember.

Earlier this week, we went down to Pere Marquette Beach after work one evening. Wiley went out on the breakwater and fished and I sat on the beach and did some people watching. This lady was taking her blue and gold macaw for a walk!








Another guy was flying all these kites. They were all just tied in place and stayed up the whole time. Very pretty against the sky with the sun beginning to set.

Tonight was our bosses' 15th anniversary and all the workampers organized a little gathering for them. It's a great group! We had a little barbecue on the decck behind the store. Everyone brought meat to grill and a dish to share. I made potato salad. A very congenial group.

We've already worked our 5 days, but a couple of the workampers want time off next week, we we're working tomorrow, off Tues. and Wed. and then work Thurs. thru Sun. It's a little weird, but we're flexible.

That's it for tonight. Peace!

6/20/07 (Wednesday): I just realized that I forgot to post the Coast Guard station photos that I promised Julie. Here it is. That's the same lighthouse in back of it that you saw in the sunset pics.

I also just realized that I forgot to post some photos of a little trip we took with David when he was here. We went to an area where there's a canal between White Lake and Lake Michigan. There was a light house and a jetty where the guys fished. Very scenic.








We had a great day at work today. We just got our yellow KOA shirts, so we felt quite official. I worked in the store, checking out people who bought stuff. Debbie, the owner, took reservations and checking in campers while I looked over her shoulder. Then I got to ride the golf cart and show the campers to their sites and help them park their campers. It was so much fun that I didn't even feel like I was working! I really enjoyed chatting with Debbie and the campers. Wiley did string trimming, which he enjoyed, too. The weather here is so gorgeous today that getting outside was a real pleasure.

We're getting ready to go out to eat (2nd time this week--we're ba-a-a-a-d!) and grocery shop. Life is so good!

6/20/07 (Wednesday): Greetings! We're enjoying a beautiful, cool morning. We got back last night from taking David to the Detroit Airport (Monday) and a short stay with Tom's family. Thanks for letting us stay the night and do our laundry, Tom and Kristin! That was above and beyond, seeing as how you were just back from your vacation!

We stopped in Battle Creek on the drive home. We'd hoped to tour one of the cereal factories, which we could smell all over town, but apparently none of them give tours!










In fact, even the big, new looking visitor attraction called Cereal City is closed. It's a real shame, because from the outside it looks really neat.
















There's a very nice linear park all along Battle Creek River. There are a number of historic markers. I'd always wondered what battle gave Battle Creek its name. It turns out, there never was a battle. It got its name due to a disagreement between a government land surveyor and two Native Americans.







At one point in our walk on the trail, these geese were very reluctant to let us pass. They'd left their calling cards everywhere, too!











Battle Creek began as a mill town because two rivers (the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek) ran through it to power the mills. It was also a market town for the nearby prairie farmers.
In the 1820's it became a major manufacturer of pumps and farming machinery.








The town welcomed social and religious nonconformists, including Quakers and abolitionists. It was also a major station on the Underground Railroad. I thought this statue was extremely moving.









In 1855, a small group of Seventh Day Adventists made Battle Creek their home. They were really into living healthy. They were a major force in Battle Creek, and their healthy initiative attracted Dr. John Henry Kellogg, who started a sanitorium to teach people how to live a more healthy life. The "San" became famous around the world. It was visited by presidents, kings, movie stars and corporate giants. Dr. Kellogg invented Granose, a ready-to-eat cereal. C.W. Post visited the spa, and eventually opened his own spa. With a great advertising campaign, he turned Postum and Grape-Nuts into a giant industry. Eventually, Battle Creek became the home of a worldwide cereal boom.

Dr. Kellogg's brother, W.K. Kellogg, was inspired by his brother's health initiative and dietary reform, and started his own cereal manufacturing company. This is his home, Kellogg House. We thought it was a fairly modest place. We didn't go inside.








We were sorry we'd eaten a big breakfast, because at the end of our walk, we discovered that the train station had been turned into a very attractive restaurant.

We only spent about two hours in Battle Creek, and we'd like to go back to explore some more. We took a back road from Battle Creek and stopped in Grand Rapids for lunch. It looked like another place we'd like to explore--lots of Victorian homes and a historic downtown area.



Wiley had an upset stomach when we got home and went to bed at 4 PM. He slept until 5 this morning and says he feels better. We go to work at 1 this afternoon. That's it for another "living large" day. Peace!

6/16/07 (Saturday): We've finally got some warm weather here, and the campground is bustling. Everyone seems to be having a great time. The kids were in the water and riding bikes all day. Now there are campfires popping up everywhere. On Saturday nights, there's a hay ride--kids are free, grown ups are $1. Steve, the owner, pulls the wagon with a shiney green tractor that has a horn that makes animal noises. The kids were eating it up!

Yesterday and today, I worked from 1-5 PM greeting campers. It's pretty simple--I sit in the golf cart until they drive up, then I say "Welcome to KOA, do you have a reservation?" I direct them to pull into the appropriate part of the parking lot so they can go and register. Wiley cleaned algae out of the lake yesterday, and today he and I sprayed the dirt roads with a salt water solution to keep the dust down (it's very dry here). It was fun!

David seems to be having fun, too, although all he wants to do is fish! Wiley has taken him out to Lake Michigan every morning, and every evening he fishes in the two lakes here. He's had pretty good luck! Here's the proof:














We work tomorrow afternoon, and then Monday we take David to the airport. We'll stay overnight with Tom and Kristin and head back Tuesday.

6/14/07 (Thursday): I almost forgot to mention: today is my granddaughter, Margo's, birthday! Happy birthday, sweetheart.

I'll also post a link here to a site about Pere Marquette Beach (where I took yesterday's sunset pictures). It really is a lovely spot. Pere Marquette Beach Site.

6/14/07 (Thursday): Just a quick post--got to go back to work in 15 minutes. If you didn't view it yet, I also posted yesterday--read that one before you read this one!

Wiley and David went fishing today and I decided to stay here and start work. Learning to work in the office/store takes a little longer than learning the jobs Wiley will be doing. I put in a couple of hours this morning and learned how to use the computer (as opposed to a cash register) to sell items in the store. It's easy and fun. I practiced with a number of items in the store and made one real sale (a tub of fishing worms). I also got an overview of taking reservations over the phone (also done on the computer).

I forgot to post a picture of the fish David caught the night before we left Betsie River. He was pretty pleased!

















We took the scenic route to get to the KOA. This picture was taken at a rest stop along Lake Michigan. It's on top of some high dunes--probably 500' above the water surface. The water was so clear that we could see some big fish swimming in the lake.









After meeting and greeting our new employers and briefly exploring the campground, we took a little drive into town and Wiley and David went fishing where the Muskegon Canal dumps into Lake Michigan. They had some good bites, but didn't land anything. I walked around and took sunset pictures of the lighthouse, coast guard station and Pere Marquette Beach. It's a beautiful area. Lots of people were out enjoying the beach, walking on the jetty, fishing and taking pictures of the sunset.

As promised, here's a quick tour of our campground. It's almost as attractive as the one in Maine. We love having a view of the lake and nice trails to walk.

The office and store are attractively decorated and stocked with souveniers and necessities--the prices seem quite reasonable to me, and we get a 15% discount


There's a nice laundry room in the right side of the building, and we get a $10 laundry allowance.

There's also a game room--I think David's going to check it out tonight. We have free WiFi. Life is good!











The campsites all have a view of the lake and all have at least one large tree on the site.












There are lots of cabins (all on the lake), some are one room, some two. They're really cute.




The facilities are very clean and well kept, and the campers seem to be really enjoying themselves. The swimming beach is very safe and the kids seem to enjoy it.





It's been quite warm for the past couple of days, so swimming and a cool breeze off the lake are a nice addition to the camping experience.

So all is well with this branch of the Dykes family. I don't see any comments on the last blog--didn't anyone enjoy those sunset photos? I'm feeling neglected here! POST A COMMENT!

6/13/07 (Wednesday): We made it to our new campground today. We love it! Our camper is right on a little lake and sheltered under some cottonwood and maple trees. The ground is covered with fluffy, white cottonwood seeds--it looks like somebody had a pillow fight! The owners are very friendly and helpful. We have tomorrow off to do something with our nephew, David, and we start work on Friday. We offered to take David to a nearby amusement park, but he says he'd rather go fishing! We just finished dinner (tacos) and now we're going to set off to find the lake and explore our new surroundings a little. I'll post some pictures of the new campground tomorrow.

Here are a few pictures we took right after David arrived. We came straight from the airport to the Frankfort beach and did a little fishing (didn't catch anything). Isn't the sunset gorgeous?!














It's hard to tell in this photo, but these two ducks were leaving a molten gold wake behind them!

That's all for now--Wiley finished the dishes and we're off to explore. More tomorrow (if David let's me near the computer!).

6/8/07 (Friday): Not much to blog about today, and no pictures, but I'll give all my blog addicted buddies a brief blog fix!

Yesterday I took Wiley to the Detroit airport for a visit with his family. It's about a 4-1/2 hour drive, but there's a lot of construction, so we allowed an extra hour. We left here at 6:30 AM and arrived at 11:30 AM for his 1:30 PM flight (that included a couple of stops, including one for an early lunch--probably only 4-1/2 hours actual driving). Wiley arrived safely, a full two hours before I arrived back at the campground! And he arrived during Orlando's rush hour, so the trip from the Orlando airport to the house had to take at least an hour! I had originally hoped to stay overnight at Tom and Kristin's, but it was nice of our bosses to let Wiley have off over a weekend, so I wanted to head back to work a full day Friday through Sunday. So I headed straight back to camp.

I took a slightly different (longer) route home, both for the sake of variety and to allow me to swing by and take a peek at the new campground in Muskegon. The area around Muskegon is nice. It's more developed than this area (which has some advantages, but means it's not as quaint as where we are now). It's also much flatter than this area. But the campground is pretty spectacular! It's heavily wooded, and the lakes are a nice size. I didn't actually go in (didn't want to bother our new bosses), but I drove down the dirt road to the entrance and looked in. It looks very well maintained and all the RV's that I could see looked new and nice. I think we're going to like it!

I was absolutely exhausted when I got back, but there were reports of severe weather on the way, so I had to put away all our chairs, the trash can, and take down the awning. Neither Wiley nor I have ever done this all by ourselves, and when we've done it before it's involved ladders and lots of team work. There was no one around to give me a hand, so I had to re-invent the process. Amazingly enough, we've been making a huge deal over nothing! Wiley will be pleased to learn that if you just release the awning and pull it all the way down, you can reach all the release levers and undo the tie-downs without a ladder! It was a snap!

We had a doozy of a storm overnight, so I was really glad I'd taken the precautions. I was awakened about 1 AM by lightning flashes so bright that it was like a strobe light was flashing visibly through my skylights. There wasn't much rain, but the winds were very high. The whole camper was shaking. I was really tempted to move into the bath house for the rest of the night, but I was so tired that I kept falling back asleep.

This morning I got up early, put some chicken stew in the crock pot, and took a walk (about 2 miles) on the bike path. There's a whole new batch of wildflowers in bloom. It was quite cool (50's) and the fog was rolling in off the lake. It's a great way to start the day, and I hope we'll find a good place to walk at the new campground. We got a couple of bikes from my son, but haven't had a chance to try them out yet. I'm looking forward to getting back into some biking.

When I got back, Wilbur wanted me and Stephanie (the other workamper) to clear up some of the debris from last night's storm. He also trimmed some trees. We loaded the trailer up and pulled it with the golf cart and dumped about 20 loads across the street on some property they own. It was fun working with Stephanie. Then she helped me empty my gray water tanks, which Wiley forgot to do before he left, so I invited her to come eat with me. I made biscuits and brown rice and a pea salad to eat with the chicken stew. Yum!

Tomorrow I'm going to make some banana bread for breakfast. I bought bananas earlier this week and then forgot them. The convection oven we gave each other for Christmas has gotten quite a workout. We like it a lot.

I hope that's enough trivia for all you blog buffs. I'll post some more interesting stuff as soon as we get some free time to do some fun stuff. Have a good week!

6/6/07 (Wednesday): We came really close to selling our house earlier this week. The real estate agent had actually emailed us the contract to sign. But then he called and said the buyer had gotten cold feet and withdrawn his offer. Bummer!

We gardened all day yesterday. Boy, was I sore last night! I dug up lots of plants (which I'll probably be transplanting today) and put down edging. Wiley finished the brick path he'd been working on. We wanted to finish up what we'd started before we left this campground. The owners are such nice people, we feel bad about misunderstanding their needs. We notified our new bosses that we will arrive on 6/13 and start work on 6/15. On the 14th, we'll take our nephew, David, to the nearby amusement/water park for the day.

Got to go get ready for work. I have a few pictures to download, so the next post should be a little more interesting.

6/4/07 (Monday): We've got another very cool, rainy day here. We're still sleeping under a blanket and often need a sweatshirt during the day here! It's really hard to believe that our Florida friends and family are sweltering and in a drought!

Nothing much to say today. We did laundry this morning and are back at camp now (on call). Nothing much going on. We still have lots of birds at the feeder. Right now I have goldfinches and a rose breasted grosbeak. The resident campground chipmunk has also discovered a bonanza of seeds fallen to the ground and spends a lot of time in our front yard.

Here's a link to the site for our new campground. You can click on the different tabs and links and get a pretty good idea of what it looks like. We might stop and see it on the way to taking Wiley to the airport on Thursday. Link to Muskegon KOA.

6/3/07 (Sunday): I just returned from a short visit with my son,, Tom, and his family. I had a great time--even got to go back to school for a day (Anna's preschool). My grands are the greatest!

Just before I left for Ypsilanti, I had a troubling conversation with our boss. It seems he believed we'd signed up to be on call 7 days a week. I told him that we had requested to work part time. He thought that being on call and only performing tasks part of the time wasn't the same as working. I suggested a compromise where we'd be on call five days a week and off two. He accepted the compromise reluctantly, and I felt like we'd both be unhappy all summer, so I told him we'd leave if he'd rather, with no hard feelings. He said it was our choice, so I started looking for another place on Saturday. This morning I got a call from the KOA in Muskegon (about an hour south of here), and we accepted the job! We've given two weeks notice. I think we'll be even happier at the KOA than we were here in Frankfort. It's right on a lake and has lots of amenities we don't have here. We're sorry to leave and don't blame the owners. Their previous workampers have been happy to work like that.

So, it's a big change in some ways, but we think it was the best decision. We'll keep you posted.