09/21/18
In Transit
In Transit
Drive through Illinois, Indiana, and into Michigan (who welcomed us back with cooler temps and some wind for a change), stopping for the night at the South Haven Wal-Mart. We prefer to find the quiet side of the parking lot. We find this by parking near the “closed side” entrance. Even if a Walmart is 24 hours, they still shut one set of doors overnight, usually the set nearer the garden center or auto shop.
We enjoy watching spectator drive-by gawkings. It is, apparently, THE thing to do in some towns. “Tonight’s Friday, isn’t it honey? Time to hit Wally-World for in-situ RV watching. Oh, slow down for that one, you don’t see one of THOSE everyday.”
Walk the pups, run with the pups. Thank you, Michigan and WallyWorld for having a fairly flat grassy surface to play on. The pups smellcation continues, until ... a couple strong gusts of wind blow through. “That’s enough,” the girl indicated as she dragged the boy and me back to the camper!
09/22/18
I heard or saw something about a windmill in Michigan, and it stuck in my mind. As we have been traveling, I started researching “real” windmills and found Windmill Island Gardens in Holland, MI, a real, working, transplanted Netherland windmill with a long history.
I mentioned it to Mr SMT and suggested he consider visiting. He has a postcard of a windmill in the Netherlands ... he has kept it for over 20 years. It is the only reason he wants to visit the Netherlands.
Here is a chance for him to see and tour a real windmill, before we reach the Netherlands at some future point. The De Zwaan windmill was erected in the Netherlands from various parts of other windmills in the in the 1700s, moved within the country, damaged during WWII, and considered unrepairable by the post war owner. (The Netherlands declared a ban on windmill exportation in 1752.) Sometime in the 1960s, Holland, MI decided they wanted a windmill to celebrate their Dutch heritage.
The Dutch agreed to the export of the heavily damaged windmill IF it was rebuilt onsite by a Dutch master AND the windmill was run as a working, educational tool.
Six months after the parts arrived in Michigan, the windmill was rebuilt. It opened in 1965, and mills grain in good weather during the spring and fall. Their miller, Alisa Campbell, is a certified Dutch miller, and is currently getting her US commercial milling license.
The windmill was raised upon a brick base (rather than building an earthen base) to place the windmill above the tree line to catch the winds off Lake Michigan. It rests within 36 acres of gorgeous gardens, and has a pasture with Dutch Friesian horses (I cannot see Friesians without thinking about Beekeeper Michael Bush).
We spent several hours at the gardens, dogs are allowed in most buildings on the property, but NOT the windmill itself nor the gift shop.
So Mr SMT and I toured separately.
We highly recommend the gardens ($10 per adult) as a great picnic and history and architecture experience.
Stay at a Walmart in Muskegon.
09/23/18-09/25/18
The nights have been getting chilly and the pups have been snuggling.
Mr SMT searches for bungee cords at Lowes and Walmart. No go. The bungee cords holding our chairs to the ladder will suffer premature failure due to UV exposure. The search continues.
Cartier Park Campground, City Park
Ludington, MI
Site 147A, electric only, allows truck campers
$27/night
Good showers, nice campground, clean sites. They are VERY close together. In the busy season you will definitely be living in your neighbors space!
09/25/18
The plan for today was Ben Franklin craft store and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
Ben Franklin went off pretty well, though the store was hard to find in my Texas mindset! We found some neat little build it yourself metal models.
Slept in Traverse City Walmart.
1 comment:
"Toad only"?
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