Ahhhh, finally in Michigan

Friday June 26th
We arrived at my Mom's house around 8:30pm last night, and got all set up, and sat around and chatted with the folks for a bit, then called it an evening.  Tonight my friend Nikki is coming over to hang out, we will make some burgers and dogs on the grill and have a fire as Taylor is here also.  So me, Shane, my mom, Ken, Taylor, and Dan, and Nikki, and Gavin all hung out and had some drinks.  It was so nice to chill and chat, and catch up with everyone.

The rest of the days we caught up on laundry, and paperwork, and we managed to squeeze in some trips to the parks for some short hikes

And we went to the quarry to do a little swimming and floating around in the water

While Taylor id here she has to go to Mathnasium for math tutoring, so I offered to help my Mom take her twice a week, while she was there (for 11/2 hours), I decided to do some shopping!!  So Jemma got a new bed





I also picked up some shirts for the Redneck Hoedown at Franca's property for the 4th of July.  We decided to brave it and take our rig to her property and stay the weekend.  Originally we had planned on seeing some sights after our rally in Escanaba (up in the U.P.) but we decided that since we would be only a couple hours away from the U.P. when we are at Franca's, we decided to just head up before our rally and see some sights. 
I also got Shane to finally hang up our TV bracket in the bedroom, so now I don't have to keep pulling it down when we travel.  He did a great job, as always, and I wrapped the wood with fabric to make it look more homey

So Friday July 4th, we headed up to Franca's property, took the rig down a dusty dirt road, and down a skinny little trail into her property.  We had a good time here, hanging with friends, and chilling, and then the official dress up day for "The HoeDown"
We spent Saturday at the lake

 Went on some quad rides

 Love my Franca!! XOXOXO

 Also Love lil Teagan Snow

 Dressed Jemma up with a scarf

 And took a couple group pictures

We had a blast, after this we will be headed across the bridge into the U.P., to Taqhamenom Falls State Park in Paradise, MI

Goshen Indiana, Fridge swap and auto leveling system

Wednesday June 25th
We have to be at All Seasons repair shop at 9;00am for our fridge swap, our fridge has had a crack in the bottom of it since we got it, so its covered under warranty, all we have to pay is the labor.  So we show up, and they get right to work

Here is the new fridge getting ready to go in, and here is the hole in our rig after they've removed the old fridge :-0



We left shortly after this pic, and headed down the street to grab some breakfast from Subway.  Then we took Jemma for a short walk, and headed back.  They had the new one in by the time we got back, and were finishing up hooking it all up, then a test run to make sure it was working correctly. 
These guys were great!!  They even threw a blanket down on the floor to ensure they didn't get any dirt or debris on our floor, that's a big plus in my book!!!

After they were all done, we paid them, and headed out to the Goshen fairgrounds, where we will stay for the night.

Thursday June 26th
We had a nice relaxing evening at the fairgrounds, and it was a good thing too since we had to be at Lippert at 7:00am, for our new automatic leveling system, YIKES!!!  So we get there right on time, and they start pulling our rig into the bay

Shane spoke to the technician, and they discussed placement of the reservoir, and the control panel

Then they brought out the new feet



After they discussed everything, we then left and headed out to Shipshewana to check some little Amish stores out. 

Then headed back to Goshen, grabbed some lunch, took Jemma to the park for a walk, and then headed back to Lippert to sit and wait for them to finish.  It took them all day to get it all done, they were done around 4:30, and then went over it all with us.  Here is the new control panel

 We are super excited about this investment, it will be so much easier to get level, I don't have to use them blasted blocks anymore!!!  Yay! 
Now we are headed up to Michigan to park at my Mom's house until our next rally in Escanaba, MI

Headed to Elkhart Indiana

Sunday June 22nd
We slowly got around and got packed up, check out is 1:00, and we are in no hurry to get to Elkhart for our parking lot camping night.  We made our short trip to Elkhart, and arrived around 3:00, and got set up in the parking lot of Mor/ryde.  We are here because we are getting upgraded axles, suspension, brakes, and king pin.  All of these things will help insure a smoother ride for our camper, and help it last longer, less jolt and impact to the body and the frame.  I am soo not excited for these next few days, as they will be EXTREMELY boring!!  Nonetheless, it will be worth it in the end.  Here we are all set up in the parking lot

We will surrender our rig first thing in the am to them so they can get started tearing things apart :-0

 

So around 8:00am we got her backed into the bay so they can start working on it

Then the first thing they do is weigh us :) we already know what we weigh but i am curious to see how they do it.  I already know it is not going to be accurate because we are on a slope, and sure enough it put about 1,000 more pounds on our front axle, on our light side, WHOA!!  But we knew this was because of the slant so it was all good



There scales are digital, which was neat but they are high, so it takes a bit to get up on them.  After that was done we left them to get to work, and headed out to run some errands, we have to go find a tire place to get our damaged tire replaced, Gary at Mor/ryde gave us a few options to check out.  We found one that could have it done by the end of the day so we paid them, $414.00!!!  Youch, but we had to have it, so it is what it is. 

After our errands we went back to see the progress, and here is what it is looking like

They start by tearing everything out, axles and all, here's our old axles

 

Then they start welding onto the frame, new pieces of metal to hold all the new gear, so tonight we will have to stay in our camper, inside the warehouse, with nothing but jacks holding us up :-0  A bit creepy I know, but it ended up being fine.  Until 5:00am when they start up the air compressor and start working!!  No biggie though as we had to be out of our rig by 6am so they could finish working on it.

We went out and got some breakfast, and took Jemma to a park for a bit of walking before the rain started again, its been raining non stop.  Then we headed back to check on the progress

Pretty huh??  I cant really say much about the logistics of this all, that's Shane's department, but basically we no longer have "axles" per say, its all just rubber now, that moves independently, and disc brakes that will help stop us way better than the old ones.  And a new king pin to help with the "chugging" when pulling down the road

And then tires go back on, and its done!! Voila!!  We will stay the night in the parking lot tonight, because tomorrow we have go about 10 miles to a service repair shop to have our refrigerator replaced.

 

Still moving on....

Wednesday June 18th
We are headed to Mill Creek Campground, in Berlin Center, Ohio, another COE campground, and we are hoping this will be a nice place we can stay a few nights at.  It has 3 different campground loops, so something should have the "IT" factor, you would think anyways.  When we get there, we find that the campgrounds are small, only a few have electric, and the place is flooded in almost every open spot, they had a ton of rain in this area and it is taking its toll on these campgrounds. 
We got set up just in time before the rain started, and hunkered down inside, and started looking for our next stop, UGH, another one nighter.

Thursday June 19th
Next stop... Harrison lake campground, in Fayette Ohio.  beings that we are coming into a weekend, we are going to have to just stay here through the weekend, and then head into Elkhart on Sunday.  They only had about a half of dozen sights available for us to choose from, but we found one that we thought to be suitable for our 3 night stay.

Jemma settled in and started chewing on our firewood ;)  That's how we know she finds it to be a suitable spot.  Nice campground with some trails, and even a little doggie beach for the dogs to swim and run off leash, that was a bonus!! 

we caught up on some work we had been putting off due to all the driving, had a campfire, and started preparing ourselves for the "weekenders" to come rolling in on Friday.  So we decided Friday was a good day to walk a few of the trails.  They are on a Lake called Harrison lake, a pretty big lake, and most of the trails were around it, so they were decent trails. 

They have a Dam here, and a trail that walks you over the top of it, and by another part of the dam

Then we realized that there is a whole other campground on the other side of the lake!!  Way less crowded, and had an awesome site that we could of had, dang, they never mentioned this to us when we checked in!!!  But we will keep it in mind for next time, this side had about 60 sites, and i think maybe 8 people over here.  Oh well, not worth packing up and moving now. 
Saturday we made a run into town to grab a few groceries, came back, and walked some more trails, had a fire, and went to to bed.  Sunday we head out to Elkhart :(



Moving on.....

Tuesday June 17th
Since we are headed to Elkhart, Indiana, there is no real good direct route to get there, so we decided while sitting at the campfire last night that we would head north into Pennsylvania next, so next stop... Confluence, PA.  We found a COE that looked good enough.  We really don't care for one nighters but we are still searching for a good place to hunker down in for a few nights before we have to be stuck in Elkhart.  So another 4 hour drive, UGH....  but we did get to cross through West Virginia, and Maryland

I missed the West Virgina one, but caught the Maryland, and we also this oddly unique motorcycle along the way, I laughed



And some beautiful scenery along the way too

And then into Pennsylvania

and as we get near the campground... no cell signal, BAHHH, and the campground is really small, and crowded, so I guess it will be another one nighter.  But it was next to a nice river, so we did some walking and exploring, and tried to walk to a higher point to see if we could get enough signal to find our next stop.  The river is called Youghiogheny River Lake and it spans the Mason-Dixon Line between Pennsylvania and Maryland.

As we ventured further down the river, we found the dam

 

 

While here, we noticed we were getting one bar bouncing in and out, so we decided to walk up the road to the top of the dam to see if we can get better signal to find our next stop.

Nice views from up here

We managed to get just enough signal to find our next stop in Berlin center Ohio