'25/#41 Tick Tock

 The last time I blogged we had two days off and four more to work. Now we have two days to work and then we will have the Upper Peninsula in our rear view mirror. Our check list is done and as always every time we check something off we find some thing to add. It's usually just little things that we overlooked or something new we should have added to the original list but it still needs to be done. 

The weather has turned the corner towards winter with highs only about 50 degrees and lows in the upper 30's and just plummeting from there. We are looking forward to temperatures a little bit warmer as we trek south. The heat we have in the RV works well but we still have to go outside. Brrrrrrr!

Today should be an easy day at work but tomorrow is another story. Sunday is the last day of the season here at the KOA. The last guest will be leaving or kicked out and the final steps to winterize and close everything will be completed. Early Monday morning the wheels will be rolling and the next stage of our adventure will begin.

The next blog will probably be from the road, so I will sign off for the last time from our home in St Ignace Michigan because.....

Home is where we park it,

Frank and Mary

'25/#40 And The Countdown Begins

 One week from today we will be on the road again. Lots of "places to go, people to see, and things to do" are in our future and we need to set our priorities and get through the list as well as we can. Yes we are headed back to Florida but will take a circuitous route. That seems to be the theme of our adventures this summer.

We have two days off and then four more days of work and then we depart Northern Michigan. This last week of work is going to be busy getting the campground shut down for the winter. Everything needs to be stowed and prepped for the freezing temperatures so the park can open smoothly in the spring. Four days of busy, busy, busy.

Our two days off we will be getting the rig road ready for our departure. Again things need to be stowed and prepped for travel so we will have smooth traveling over the next couple of weeks. During this time we we will also be making our reservations at RV parks on our route south. We have already done the research to find the parks that are still open this time of year. When we left Maine a few years back we couldn't find open campgrounds along our east coast route until we hit North Carolina. Lesson learned!

We will also try to spend some quality personal time with the few workers that are still here before we say goodbye. Once again we have made friends that I am sure we will keep in touch with. But right now I am starting my third cup of coffee and it is time to wake Mary so we can get started on our "to-do" list. 

The countdown has begun and time will run out soon here, in our home in St Ignace Michigan because.....

Home is where we park it,

Frank and Mary

'24/#39 Moving Day

 No, we aren't leaving Michigan yet. As workcampers we get our RV site free therefore the site is not a premium one that will produce more revenue during the season. Our site was a water and electric site which means no sewer hook-up. To get rid of our waste water we used a pump and an auxiliary tank to take our black and grey water to a dump station and dispose of it. It wasn't a big deal but once a week it took about an hour of our time. We did do it on the clock so we were getting paid to get rid of our poop!

Now that the season is winding down more sites have become available and we have moved to a full hook-up sit with sewer. This will give me the opportunity to back flush all the waste water tanks and have them clean and ready when we hit the road. We are also closer to the office so our commute to work is three minutes instead of five.

In addition to taking care of our tanks we are starting to stow things away so when "D" day arrives we will be ready. "D" is for departure. The next two weeks will be spent shutting things down in the campground and trying to stay warm. This mornings temperature was about 30 degrees and the high will not reach the 50's. 

Gotta get ready for work so I will sign off now from our home in St Ignace because......

Home is where we park it, 

FRank and Mary

'24/#38 Time For Introspection

 It has been almost two months since my last blog. This summer is just one of those periods of time when the excitement of travel wanes. In the last blog I mentioned that coming back might have been a mistake because of our "one and done" rule of not going back to the same place twice. Looking back ( introspection...wink, wink) it turns out we may have been wrong. This summer has not turned out as bad as it seemed.

The disappointment we were feeling turned out to be caused by one particular couple that was working here. They were the type that tries to make everyone around them look bad so they look better than they actualy are. This created dischord an animosity amongst the workcamping group. As the only returning workcampers we were in a unique position to compare and share our experiences of last season to this year. Most of the people here realized that things could and should be better if we all just did our jobs and didn't interfere with anyone else. Eventualy the managers (first year managers at that) were able to get everyone to just work and ignore the disruptive personalities. 

Shortly thereafter the offending couple left and everyone was getting along and doing their jobs. We became a good social working group which is the goal of most workcamping crews. We work together, we live together, we have to get along together. Since things have gotten better and we have become closer with the new managers we have decided that we may come back for a third season!

YES! Three time is definitely a break from only visiting the same place more than once. If you follow us at all you know that this year was different from any of our past adventures. It turns out that sometimes hum-drum can work. We have been able to pad our nest egg a little since we did most of our exploring in this area last year and the new managers want us back in a new capacity. The new jobs will be easier for us old folks and we will be able to help them bring some of the good things that were done this year over into the next.

Well back to hum-drum or what we now call comfortable. The season is winding down and it's nice to watch the nest egg grow in anticipation of our next adventure. So I will sign off now, with a promise to start blogging more, from our home in Michigan because.....

Home is where we park it,

Frank and Mary