Big Ol' Bug Smacker

Immediately following our nearly 2 week stay in Standish we arrived in Mackinaw City to enjoy an extended weekend. We arrived around 10 o’clock with no reservations anywhere. I did take the time to call ahead to a few campgrounds and found spots available but, there was one place in particular that I could not find any information on. I knew right where it was in fact I had seen it several times as I passed through the area on the expressway. I even found it on Google maps but there seems to be nothing on the internet about this campground.  In the Google maps street view you can even read the name on the sign “Mackinaw City Camp Ground”. I just did not know what it had to offer.

When we pulled off the expressway we first headed towards Mill Creek. This is the big resort up here and I knew that they in fact had room for us. For some reason we chose to turn around and go out to check out the Mackinaw City Camp Ground. I am glad we did, this place was exactly what we were looking for. Now I know I may be letting the cat out of the bag. I actually hope not too many people read this post; it would be nice to keep this little gem a secret. This campground is not very big and is not anything special. It does however have everything we needed for our trip to visit the area. It offers electric, water, restrooms, a dump station and even a grill & fire pit. Better yet, the price is only $15.00 per night. After all we were here to visit the area not the campground.

Friday we took a drive out to Lake Michigan. We discovered some free camping spots near French Farm Lake. Then we headed across the bridge for a scenic trip down US-2 along the north shore of Lake Michigan. We returned home for a nice dinner at Dixie Saloon in Mackinaw City.

Saturday was when we went over to Mackinac Island. The bridge and the island are the two reasons people come up here. The island does not allow any motorized vehicles. The moment I stepped off the ferry I immediately noticed that the place smelled like a big ol’ horse farm.

On the island we rented a couple of bicycles. We started out for the 8 mile trip around the island. Then we rode up to the top of Arch Rock and back down to town past the Grand Hotel to town. All in all we were gone 4 hours and rode over 10 miles. It was great. Made us both feel like kids again.

We returned to Mackinaw City in time to watch 342 Corvettes parade through town on their way across the Mackinaw Bridge to St Ignace. This wrapped up a very nice weekend. I am sorry that after being away from home for over 2 weeks it is now “Go Home Day”.

We arrived at Outdoor Adventures Saginaw Bay Resort for a little mini vacation. For this vacation we were not home but we still had to go to work. We would just come home from work to our home away from home. This is a great way to wind down after work without all the household chores to haunt you.

When we arrived at the park we noticed a new fifth wheel and pickup stopped in the road at the very first campsite in the park. A woman motioned for us to go around it. As we pass by the side of the rig, we noticed the fifth wheel had slid off the hitch in the truck and smashed the back of the pickup box. The RV had dropped down on the front landing jacks which were in the fully retracted position. Maybe that is why they call these jacks “Landing Gear”.  Not to make light of the situation. It really was sad.

We were informed that 117 rigs were leaving today however there were not too many full hookup spots available as we drove through the park. We chose one near the rear exit gate and proceeded to setup camp.

After we leveled, plugged in, hooked up and setup we took a quick drive through the park to look if anyone else had left. We found a spot we would rather have so I ran back and rushed to lift camp and relocate to the new spot. I am glad I did for this spot ended up being much better for our extended stay here.

I will let you know up front, last weekend was a very eventful weekend so let me start from the top.

On Thursday I had a couple of free passes for the Pig Gig. So after we set up camp at the Bay City State Park,  I ran inside the event to grab a rack of ribs from Aussom Aussie. These have been my favorites several times in the past so I knew I couldn’t go wrong. My niece Ashley and I pigged out on these on the way to Grandpa Tony’s to join the family for pizza. I didn’t know it then but these were the best ribs I had all weekend.

We went back out to the Pig Gig on Friday at noon for the annual Special Celebrity Rib Cook-off. We were sitting at a picnic table in the State Farm tent. We were finishing up a rack of ribs when all of a sudden my wife begins to slouch in her chair and gasp for air. She is having some type of heart problem. I called out for help and a woman with a State Farm volunteer shirt on came over. I informed her of our situation and that we needed to call 911. She said she would get help.

Several minutes passed which seemed like an eternity. I then asked her again if 911 had been called. She replied that they were. I thought to myself that even if they had been called, I was calling them again. I got them on the phone only to discover I was the first to contact them. I was shocked.

When someone is having heart problems every minute counts. These people didn’t seem to understand this. The State Farm woman had lied to me. Someone had gone to the stage to make an announcement for a doctor in the crowd and never bothered to call 911. All the time she informed me otherwise. As you can see the workers at the Pig Gig truly had no game plan ready for emergencies.

After the ambulance arrived, my wife and I got a ride to the hospital. By the time we arrived she was doing better. The episode had passed. They ran a bunch of tests and sent us home. Hopefully that is the end of that story.

The Navel Sea Cadets were managing the parking at the Pig Gig this year (I use the term “managing” very loosely). I hope they manage better out on the water than they do on dry land. Their only job was to keep track of how many spots were available for parking. After the parking lot was full all they had to do is let one car in for every one that left. When we arrived back at the Pig Gig on Saturday we were stopped at the gate by the Navel Sea Cadets and informed that we could not come in.  We were told that they had lost count and were just turning everyone away until they could figure out what was going on and how many spaces were available for parking.

Once we got into the Pig Gig we ran into Wendy Dore who runs the event. She was with her dad, Art. Wendy had heard of our situation the day before. We explained how dissatisfied we were with how everything was handled. We went on to tell her how unorganized the event has become. She apologized. Her dad then asked how my wife was doing and said”I guess we should have asked that to begin with”.

Back at the Bay City State Park we had several tents come in on Friday and setup on a couple of sites behind us. It was quite a large crowd of people. They took up a large area. A few of their tents were actually on our site.

Throughout the day these people would travel across our site to get water, use the rest rooms or shower. They would come within a few feet of our awning as they passed by. They had no respect for our privacy at all. Though we really didn’t like this, we didn’t want to make a fuss about it. I was not sure if they would even understand me. They were not speaking English. They spoke whatever language people from India speak.

The next morning I woke to find a large pile of trash was placed on our site during the night. I thought to myself that even if these people don’t know the rules of camping in a State Park they should have some sort of idea about what is to be just plain rude.

Once again I just let it slide. That was until one of them in an automobile decided to drive right through our site to get to their site behind us instead of going around on the road. I was sitting outside with my wife and parents when all four of us in unison yelled out “Hey, Stop right there!” Every big brown eye in the bunch was wide open, just like a deer in the headlights. They quickly apologized for causing problems.

You would think that would have been the end of it but, ten minutes later they were back to crossing through our site again.

To top it off we went down to Mussel Beach for a couple of cones of our favorite ice cream. It cost us over $8.00 for two cones where the ice cream barely crested the top of the cone. But it is somewhat hard to complain because Ashby’s Sterling Ice Cream is really good.

I want to write this while I still have the passion in my belly. Let me begin by saying that we did not end up where we intended to. Nor does it look like we will be doing what we had planned for the weekend.

With a last minute change of plans we decided to find a site close to the Chippewa River so we could go kayaking on the Chippewa River on Saturday. So last night after work we packed up the kayaks, hitched up the RV and headed for the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe Campground. My wife had made several attempts to make a reservation at this place only to get an answering machine that told her to leave a message and they would call back. You guessed it, they never did.

 We arrived at the campground to find the office door locked and nobody around. I saw a white truck with a campground sign on it and flagged the guy down. I had to leap out of the way as he nearly ran me over turning into me as I was waving to him. Then the guy informed us that there was no room for us here.  He said that it was the weekend of the Annual Saginaw Chippewa Pow Wow.

NOTE:  As I am writing this I checked the campground website and it says that the 26th Annual Saginaw Chippewa Pow Wow is actually on August 6-8, 2010. That happens to be not until next weekend. You would think this guy would have known that. After all it has been going on for 26 years.

Most people at this point would probably just high-tail it back home. But not hard core campers like us. We continued up the road to Pettit Park located 20 miles north in Clare, Michigan. This is a favorite backup spot for us.

For dinner we went downtown to a place called the Doherty Hotel. By the prices on the menu we figured that it was a finer place to eat. We both had the salad bar and I also ordered their Famous Reuben sandwich. The food seemed good at the time but, now is where I start my belly aching. Shortly after we ate my wife and I started feeling VERY sick. I swear it always has to do with the salad. I still feel a bit queasy today.   

As for the kayaks, I still hope to get them off the roof sometime before we head home tomorrow but on top of everything else it has been raining since we arrived at our site. The next post will tell you if that happened or not.

We are camping this weekend at Gladwin City Park and Campground. When we pulled into the park we found only 3 available sites. The first spot was barely big enough to pitch a pup tent on.  Luckily enough the other two sites were actually quite large when compared to the others at this park. There is an upper and lower section. The upper is less level. The sites offer water and electric. The electrical service is only 20 amps.

After we setup camp, we headed over to the Riverwalk Grill which is located inside of the Riverwalk Place.   We were seated at a table overlooking the Riverwalk.  The grounds are nicely landscaped and from our seat we could watch people floating down the Cedar River. For dinner we enjoyed a couple of very good sandwiches. My wife had the “Philly Roast Beef Sandwich” and I enjoyed the “Riverwalk Reuben”.  Both came with homemade chips. This is a very good place to grab a bite to eat while in Gladwin.

The park has partnered with Gladwin Boat Rental which offers canoe, kayak and tubing right from the park. The Cedar River flows right through the campground. The river is fairly shallow and only about 20 feet wide. The current is quite swift.

We did not bring our kayaks this trip. The Cedar River looks like a nice ride. We will be returning sometime soon to give it a try.

I’ll Tell You Where You Can Go!

Tim R. Enright

Have we finally gotten to the point where we are letting computers tell us all where we can go? I do have to admit that when it comes to mapping out a RV road trip, there isn’t a handier gadget than a GPS device. Gone are the days of laying maps out on the hood of our cars and stopping at gas stations for directions only to forget if the guy at the station told us to turn right or left at the red house with the little white picket fence in the front yard.

The GPS device has changed the way we travel. You may, however, want to take the machine’s advice with a grain of salt. They have been known to outright lie. We once ended up on a small winding dirt road towing our 5th wheel through the hills of Vermont because the GPS told us it was the way to go. I think these little map-in-a-box devices get some sort of thrill getting us to drive down roads that we would otherwise never go down on our own.

My wife and I usually map out our trip in advance using a software program like Microsoft Streets and Trips. This allows us to map out where we travel on each leg of our journey and how long we will be staying at each site. From this we can create a traveling timeline of places. The software also gives us an idea of the fuel costs, road construction and times of the day we may be traveling though large towns with heavy traffic.

As we are traveling we put the points we are heading to into our GPS unit. The GPS shows us turn by turn how to get to our destination. We can also find gas, food and rest stops along the way. With our unit we can also find campground information. This allows us to pull over for the night when we find an unscheduled area where we would like to stay.

Love ‘em or leave ‘em, GPS is here to stay. I could never go back to unfolding a street map again. I certainly don’t know anyone who can fold those maps back up the way they were when they were purchased anyway.

Article Courtesy of : www.BugSmacker.com : Copyright © 2010

Good thing we decided to stop at Outdoor Adventures on the way home from the State Park because the traffic on I-75 was literally stopped. We tried to get gas just before the exit onto the expressway only to find the station had none. When we got to the ramp we noticed that the traffic was horrible. We found a way around it and made our way to the park.

Even though the expressway was like a parking lot, it is good to see people camping again. The last few years here in Michigan have been quite slow.