MAY 9: Off On a New Adventure!

With our annual first quarter events over and done with, it was time to head for our summer stay at  Sandy Shores Campground on the shore of Silver Lake near the famous Lake Michigan Silver Lake Sand Dunes.



 We've never been to this  part of Michigan before, so this opportunity gives us new territory to visit while we put a few coins in our pockets as workampers.

Sandy Shores Campground has been a family-owned campground for almost 40 years with  214 campsites - 147 seasonal sites and 67 overnight sites. There's a heated pool, bath house and laundry building, playground, and a private beach across the road along with boat docks. The campground is open from early May to late September. The upcoming holiday weekend will be very busy!



 The owners, Jerry & Chris, and their son Mike,  live in the campground for most of the summer.  Another son, Nick lives close by.  We are two of the seven workkampers here.

When we arrived on May 9, our first assignment was to get familiar with the area and the attractions that are nearby.  Since then, we've gotten better acquainted with our bosses and fellow workers, and started slowly on our individual jobs. Hank will be helping with campground maintenace and  and doing some nighttime security rounds. Selene will be working with reservations and check-ins at  the office.  Two days a week from 10-6,  we'll be responsible for keeping the bath house and laundry in good shape. Another couple does all of the pool work and most of the bath house work, including the heavy cleaning. We have a golf cart for our use.

Little House is parked right next to the pool and bath house/laundry with full hookups, concrete pad, and a nice side yard. We have good Verizon WiFi service, and the campground also has free WiFi which is better than most campgrounds, at least at our site. However, phone reception can be iffy,  and there's no 'over the air' TV reception.


Our campsite is on the right side of the building where the first camper is parked.






Michigan's spring has been very late in arriving, so daytime temperatures are pretty cool especially with a breeze off the lakes. Nights have been mostly in the 30's and 40's.  The natives assure us it will warm up for the summer!

We'll have more details in upcoming blog posts.  There are lots of  campground pictures here:
https://sandyshorescampground.com/the-campground/gallery/

APRIL 30 - May 8: 2019 Maintenace Session

 The Ramblin’ Pushers is an organization of Class A (DP) and Class Super C diesel motorhome owners who gather for an annual Maintenance Session, the MS, It is one of our favorite events to attend. The MS activites are done by over 200 volunteers  There are  approximately 100 seminars,  dealers/vendor/service personnel, and friendly motor home owners all providing knowledge, maintenace, and repairs in a friendly atmosphere for 6 event-filled days.  All brands under the REV ownership are welcome to attend, and this year that brought around 220 RV's to the Elkhart County Fairgrounds in Goshen, IN.

We were move involved than in the past.  Selene helped with assembling the goody bags, worked several days in the event office,


 and served as a seminar host several times.  Hank was the assistant to the leader of the seminar hosts as well as being a seminar host himself,  and served as a mentor for similar RVs to ours.  We were First Timer Guides to two couples which included phone calls before the event, meeting them as they arrived, and making sure they knew  how to find their way to  the different venues in the fairgrounds. With a large daily morning breakfast buffet,


 several lunches, two receptions and the dinner finale, along with the seminars and service appointments,  the time went by very quickly. In addition, there were  optional off-site activities including 4 factory tours, 2 Amish dinners, and one stage show.

The on-site motor home service was put to good use by most of the attendees as well as ourselves. On our way to Goshen, as we traveled the West Virginia Turnpike, the "check engine" light came on twice while climbing the steeper grades, but went off after stopping for lunch and fuel.  Cummins Sales and Service from Fort Wayne, IN is a huge sponsor of this event, and was providing many types of service for those with Cummins engines.  A tech was able to read the engine code from our pre-rally situation and determined that we needed a new crank case filter.  We also had an oil change and during that service, they found our serpentine belt was starting to show some wear.  Our Aqua-Hot also needed maintenance service as well as a replacement part which was handled by an Aqua-Hot specialist on site. Hank  bought some more interior LED lights There were other vendors changing out tires, repairing or installing satellite systems, washing and waxing coaches, and tackling many other issues that come up while moving motor homes down the road.



  There was coach-weighing available upon arriving and when departing.


 As usual, we enjoyed the event as well as seeing friends from past years, and meeting others for the first time.