Time to hit the road

September 3 - No cooking today, just cold cereal and fruit for breakfast.  I didn’t want more dishes as I hadn’t washed them from last night.  Once we ate and dressed, Bill said he was taking a last bike ride up the office and taking the walkie talkies and chargers back.  When he got back he prepped the bikes for loading and got all the bungee cords out.  I finished up inside and we brought the slides in and then he unhooked the water and electric.  Things were going well, no rain, although it was looking a bit dreary out.

We pulled out on the lane in front of the RV which leads to the dump station and the gate for leaving.  We got the truck all hooked up and visited a few minutes with the neighbors we’d gotten to know and said our good-byes.  By then there was a line at the dump station, and no way around them.  Luckily it went pretty quickly and we had decided not to dump until we got to our stop for the night.  Bill wanted to stop in at the office and tell Shaun good-bye as he wasn’t in there when he took the walkie talkies back.  Jean and Shaun were both there and they asked where we were headed and thanked us for our input and help and asked if we’d be back in Michigan next year.  She had a card in her hand that she gave us as we all hugged and said goodbye.

Once we got on the road Bill opened the card and in it was $500.  Wow!  Totally unexpected!  There was no extra electric bill and $500, so I told Bill I had to take back some of the things I said!  They were very gracious in the end and were under no obligation to pay us in any way.  So, we ended our summer on a good note!

We drove about 2 hours to Bear Lake, MI to the Kampvilla Campground.  It’s a very nice place with a pool and HUGE playground.  Once we parked and had lunch we headed out to see some lighthouses!

  

Manistee Pierhead

We backtracked at bit to Manistee to see the Manistee Pierhead Lighthouse.  We didn’t have an actual address so we got to River Street and just followed it to a park and then we saw the marina area and beach.  Bill parked and I walked out to the beach area and took my photos.  On the way back into town I had spotted a couple of book stores and recalled one said used books.  So we found a parking space and walked up the street and found it.   Bill always has better luck and he found 3 books and the owner

USS City of Milwaukee

recommended a new author to me, so I got one of her books to try next.  We also saw the SS City of Milwaukee barge that transported railcars in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s and is the last remaining boat of its kind.

Frankfort Breakwater

Just a bit further north along the coast was Frankfort where we went to see the Frankfort Breakwater lighthouse.  Our map wasn’t quite specific so we first viewed it from the south side of the river and then we drove over the bridge and down Main Street to see it much better. 

Last lighthouse for the day was a little further north, Point Betsie.  It’s on a dune on the coast of Lake Michigan and is beautiful!  So

Point Bestie

majestic sitting high on the dune!  We went up the lighthouse, only 34 stairs, and just 4 guests can go at a time due to the tiny space at the top.  You are not allowed to walk around the outside at the top like some others allow.  You can walk all though the downstairs of the keepers quarters.  Some of the room are set up to look like they did in the day, and others are more museum/information rooms.  The view is awesome and the light is still used to this day, although it’s all automated now.

Bill in the lighthouse

The upstairs is now a bed and breakfast and one night cost over $300 per night or $2,100 for a week.  Along the beach is one of the places Petoskey stones can be found.  They contain fossils and wash up on the shores of Lake Michigan and are made into jewelry and other items.  We picked up some rocks we liked but doubt they are fossils!

Since we had to drive back through Frankfort to get back to Bear Lake we stopped there for dinner.  Their Main St was pretty packed still.  Most of the shops were still open and parking spaces were filled.  Bill dropped me off at Coho Grill while he scouted out a spot.  Bill had trouble finding something he’d eat.  He ended up with the Chef’s special chicken but had them not put pesto on it.  He said it was really good.  I had rabbit ragout over polenta and broccolini and it was delicious.  I had trouble deciding between emu stroganoff and the rabbit dish.  Bill is sometimes amazed at what I will try.  We strolled the avenue a bit and went in a couple of shops then we had ice cream for dessert.

Our rocks for today

  It was very sad as this was their last day for the season.  Bill asked if we could have some of the leftover ice cream but she said they’re donating it to a nursing home, so that was nice. 

Time to head back to our campground.  We were just a little under the tree so no satellite tonight.  I was able to get on the WIFI so I posted a couple of days, downloaded today’s photos and started on today’s entry but I was just tired so will post this when we have WIFI.