MANCELONA, MI: Another Week Goes By

Monday: It was time to move further north.  When Hank disconnected the water, there was an immediate flow of water as something inside the panel gave way.  We decided to move on to our next location before he tackled the repair.

Our trip was only 91 miles northeast through mostly rural areas to Whispering Pines RV Resort in Mancelona, MI.  We're only a mile from town, but it feels like we're further away with the rolling terrain and many evergreen trees all around.  After we got set up, Hank removed the panel in the water bay that covers  the water connection layout and found the problem was a disintegrated rubber compression ring.  A quick trip to the local hardware store produced the needed replacement, and after putting the bay components back in service, the leak was stopped although our water pressure seems low

 Tuesday: It was another beautiful, though very windy, day here n northern Michigan.  The WiFi signal reception on Hank's laptop, which he bought in April, has been getting worse as time goes on.  Today he spent over an hour on the phone with Toshiba regarding this matter.  We'll write more about their solution when we decide exactly how to proceed.

Wednesday: We took a 40 mile road trip to Traverse City, located on the southern edge of Traverse bay which goes into Lake Michigan.  It was a beautiful day for a drive.  We got a new MIFI at Verizon, a network card from Best Buy, and ate lunch at Chili's (they have a great lunch deal on endless soup, salad and chips & salsa).  We then drove north on M 37 through acres of cherry orchards, vineyards, and hops fields.  This area is on a  peninsula that ends at the Mission Point Lighthouse Park.  The light is no longer in use, but there's the usual gift shop, and you can go up to the light room for $4 per person.  There's also a refurbished log cabin, originally built in the 1800's, that's set up in the original fashion. (click on picture to enlarge).

This lighthouse is not as impressive as many others, but it served its purpose in warning of the shallows in the bay.

The different levels of the lake make for different colors in the water.  We took some back roads on the return trip, including a stop for a quart of freshly picked tart red cherries.


Thursday was spent in the campground.  Hank had several computer projects to take care of so it was nice to once again enjoy our country surroundings as we did everyday chores.


Friday:  We took a trip to Gaylord, MI about 18 miles to the northeast.  Hank wants to get a more exact 'fix' for the water connection issue that we had on Monday. A phone call to American Coach produced a diagram of the water bay setup, but that isn't exactly like ours.  After visits to Lowe's, a plumbing company and a RV dealership, he still couldn't find what he needs.  He may order the parts from American Coach if he doesn't come up with something else soon.  We made our first Walmart visit in quite a while, and also shopped at Meijer's before coming back home.  Our fine weather continued although it was more humid with a high temperature in the mid-80's.

Saturday:  There was a brief rain shower around 9:30 A.M. then blue skies returned.  The day was spent inside Little House doing computer 'stuff'.  After our evening walk to the dumpster, we visited with our next door neighbors Vince and Diana, full-timers for 2 years.  We had seen their post on RVillage.com so it was nice to meet them and get acquainted.  Cooling temperatures finally drove us inside about 10 P.M.

Today ( Sunday):  Today is another relaxing day. Summer weather has finally reached this area with temperatures near 90, but we still have the constant breeze so it's not bad sitting in the shade.  Our stay at  Whispering Pines as been a good one.  We'll be heading to the upper peninsula of Michigan tomorrow.