Roadrunner at Winnebago factory

We had an uneventful night at the WalMart in Sparta, WI. We left yesterday morning and had a beautiful drive through Wisconsin, into Minnesota and to Forest City, Iowa. I didn't realize Minnesota had so many beautiful rolling hills and valleys.We crossed the Mississippi River which looks a lot different than it does in Memphis, TN where I have crossed many times over the years.

We arrived in the Roadrunner at Forest City in time to register for the 1:00 Winnebago factory tour. It was a very interesting place. In fact, Winnebago has the largest motor home manufactoring facility in the world. It kind of reminded me of large (8 football fields large) aircraft assembly plants.
I also thought of the Corvette Assembly Plant tour we took years ago with Kirk & Susan in Bowling Green Kentucky.

Sadly, there were no pictures allowed in the factory. But I was able to take some of the Visitor Center and some of the Winnebago grounds.
We were able to park the Roadrunner overnite at the Visitor Center along with all the Winnebago's and Itascas.

What impressed me most about our time here was the history. The man who was the driving force behind it all (John Hanson) worked with some other men in town in 1957 to bring a trailer plant to Forest City. They were concerned that young people were leaving the area so they found a way to bring work to the area. Years later they are still at it and the largest motorhome maker in the world.

We have also been to other motor home factories: Newmar, Monica and Tiffin.

It was an interesting day. That's all for this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles. Be safe and enjoy your summer.

Empty air bags & the Green Bay Packers

It was a memorable travel day yesterday but it started out innocent enough: We got up about 7:00ish and had breakfast. Next as I was reeling in the power cord a fellow camper came over and we chatted for a few minutes.

He was on his maiden trip in a beautiful new Winnebago Itasca. Turns out his wife is an author and he helps her (LL Foster). He retired from Kroger's a little while ago.

After that he headed toward the showers and we pulled up in front of the KOA office to hitch up the Honda. Man - it seemed like a bouncy ride around the loop through the campground!
Then when we got on Highway 2 West, it took us about 150 yards before we realized--something is wrong!

The air bags had not inflated. Now what do we do?

My first thoughts were, how much is this going to cost, I am glad we have CoachNet. The Roadrunner was hanging pretty low to the ground so we kept going slow and pulled over. We were in a narrow place to pull over but we had to stop.

I called Brent Bullard (sp?) at Tiffin Motor Homes/Service Dept and he said it sounded like the air bags had not inflated. (Confirmed our suspicion). We checked the air pressure gauges (at 105 -115) and that seemed to be ok. Next we looked at the HWH buttons and pressed the 'STORE' button again and they seemed to check out fine. Apparently the air bags did not inflate all the way in the campground when we raised the jacks.

He said we may have to pull out the generator and crawl under the Roadrunner to press the Passenger Side (PS) rectangle release button on the crossmember bar behind the generator. (We learn something new every time we call those guys.) He said to be careful I didn't press the other one because it deflates the air bags.

We inched up the highway another 100 yards and found a place where I could crawl under the front end of the motorhome. But as we went through the big parking lot we noticed the ride was back to normal--the airbags had re-inflated. Yeah!

When I pressed the 'STORE' button again it must have been like rebooting a computer when it locks up. We drove a few miles and kept an eye on the air pressure and all was fine. Problem one solved!

As we were traveling down scenic Highway 2 West I noticed the DS front bay door was raised up. Yikes! Not good at 58 mph! I immediately was able to pull over and shut that bad boy and lock it.

Wow -- that was close. Problem two solved.

Now back to our scenic drive along the Upper Peninsula and Lake Huron. Beautiful country and this side of the Lake has sandy beaches. The highway was a very good one for only being a two laner most of the way.

We headed around the top of Lake Huron and travled down the western shoreline Lake Michigan. Beautiful country (did I just say that). Our mission was to stop in Green Bay and see Lambeaux Field.

That is what we did and we arrived about 2:30. It was pretty exciting. We saw some statutes and pictures of the great personnalities in the Green Bay history.

They have a first class, new looking stadium with great facilities.The Packers were practicing on the field near Don Hudson Stadium so we got to seem them for a while. That was cool.After Green Bay we decided to head on down the road since it was a nice afternoon and the weather was good. We made it as far as Sparta, WI and parked in WalMart where we spent the night.
While en route to Sparta, Pam fixed a delicious dinner of chicken cordon bleu and tater tots. We had to run the generator and microwave but it was the first time we had dinner while rolling down the road!

That's it this time for the Roadrunner Chronicles. We'd love to hear from you.

Sunday at Mackinac Island

I can see why Mackinaw Island is the top tourist attraction in Michigan. This is one of the best places we have seen since we have started full timing!

No motorized vehicles are allowed on the island, but it is a great place to see on bikes. So we decided to load ours up give it a try.We drove from our KOA site to the Arnold Ferry dock in downtown St. Ignace. The roundtrip cost of the ferry ticket and admission to the island($30 each) was a bit pricey but it was definitely worth it.

The ride across the Straits took about 15 minutes and it was a beautiful, breezy day.Once we got there, it was crowded with people and bikes and horse carriages. I have never seen so many bikes in one place. A few like us took their own, but hundreds rented bikes on the island.
Our plan worked well: we packed a lunch, stopped for a picnic and took the 8 mile bike trail around the island, saw the fort and called it a day.

One of the highlights was a stop at the Arches. We had to walk about 200 yards up a series of steps to get to the overlook, but it was a very beautiful and scenic spot.Another one was a stop on the north side beach. We took off our shoes for a refreshing little wade into the crystal clear waters of Lake Huron.
It took us about two hours to get around the island. We ended where we began, back in town. ext, we went up the top of the hill near town to see the fort overlooking the city.
Fort Mackinac (now on Mackinac Island) was established by the French and later occupied by the British and Americans, exchanging control until after the War of 1812. It remained occupied until 1895. Mackinac Island was a strategic center for fur trading during the latter part of the 1800's and now is a major tourist attraction.

It was a great day on the island and time well spent. That wraps up another entry of the Roadrunner Chronicles. See you next time.

Roadrunner Financials - July 2009

Here is a look at how things went for the month of July, our second full month as full-timers. We have a ways to go to manage our money better, but we are getting better at tracking it.

Once again, we are under budget (barely - by $63). Give us a couple more months and we'll see if we can hit our 'best case' goal of $2500 instead of our budget of $352o.

Specifics:
We were significantly under budget on diesel fuel because we spent three weeks parked in Pontiac IL volunteering with NOMADS.

Likewise, we spent very little on campground fees because those three weeks were paid for by the sponsoring agency - Evenglow Lodge.

On the other hand, we spent $216 on a Blue Boy portable tank and another $258 getting our a/c, windshield, and toilet fixed at American RV in Burton MI, so our RV maintenance budget for the month went sky high.

The areas we need to work on are food (groceries and eating out). We went way over budget in those categories as well as Misc Items.

NOTE: I have not included our giving/charitable contributions nor have listed our income. That might come at a later date but hopefully the information above will be interesting and/or useful.

So ends another financial entry of the Roadrunner Chronicles. Stay tuned for pictures of our time at Mackinaw Island. Until next time, thanks for stopping by.

Near Mackinac Island

We had another great time at Talon Lake with Jeff & Tiffany. They are such gracious hosts and good friends. We enjoyed seeing them and their family again. We also enjoyed Ann, John & Amy and Jeff & Cheryl who also have a cabin on the lake.

The last couple of days before we left they put us to work replacing a water heater in the cabin and then on Wed we put water sealer on the cabins and buildings nearby. We had a good time with it. It was a big work party followed by some great food and photos on Jeff & Cheryl's deck. It was another beautiful evening on lake.
We were up early and on the road by 7:30 but not before we had freshly baked scones delivered. Tiffany outdid herself on this one! What a great send off! She traveled across the lake and surprised us while we were running through the departure checklist lowering the hydraulic jacks.

We left Rutherglen/Lake Talon on highway 17 and headed west. We crossed the Canadian/US border at Saulte Ste Marie. We made it to the KOA at St Ignace, MI about 3:30 yesterday afternoon. We'll be here to see Mackinac Island and the surrounding area.

I am impressed with the campground. It has a variety of spaces for tents, trailers, 5th Wheels, Motorhomes etc. It also has a lot of sites so we had a pretty good selection to chose from. We found a level spot and set up and enjoyed of the rest of the nice day.

Glad to be back online and will be looking forward to posting more updates of the Roadrunner Chronicles.

We made it to Talon Lake

We arrived at Talon Lake, 20 miles east of North Bay, on Thursday afternoon. Gladly, Adam and Meghan joined us. They will be here until Monday morning. The drive was beautiful. I love the seeing the small communities (10,000 - 12,200 population) that lie along the way. North Bay was the exception with 54,000 people.

We are in the midst of the highway construction months, so the going was slow. We went about 230 miles in 6 hours. But we arrived at Talon Lake Campground and Marina just fine about 3:30 in the afternoon.

The hardest part of most travel days is leaving the old campground spot without incident. We had a pretty bad fiberglass bang on the botton of the driver side (DS) when we arrived. I was making a right severe right hand turn and the nose dipped and hit a rock. Ugh! I hate that sound! I was surprised there wasn't more damage.

With that awful sound firmly in my mind, I was thinking about avoiding any more scrapes or bruises when leaving the campground. Pam did a masterful job of giving me hand signals as she walked backwards in front of me from our site through the campground gate. I had 1 left turn, 2 left turns, 1 more left turn and a final right turn --- all among big trees. Yikes, it is still a bit nerve wracking-- but we made it slowly through it all without incident.

We are at Talon Lake Campground and Marina. The accommodations are sparse: 110v and water. The area for large rigs is an open field with hrydo outlets and fire rings. We had a campfire on Friday night at the Roadrunner and last night at Royce's cabin on the lake.

They have had family at the cabin for a few days and it was great to see Jeff's mom, his brother and wife (John and Amy) again. We took their boat and Waverunner out to a sandy beach for the afternoon. Their four kids (and some of the big kids) got on the kneeboard and gave it a try. For some reason those things work best with the younger folks... Amy caught a 16" bass while we were out there too.

We returned to the cabin for a great dinner of ham, macaroni & cheese and beer and then enjoyed some time around the campfire. It was late when we got back to the Roadrunner but it was a fun day.

I was hoping to have Autonet Mobile service but it doesnt work. Jeff was kind enough to let me use his dial up so I could get a quick post out. Access to there cabin is by motorboat or pontoon boat only. Next time I'll have pictures.

Thanks for checking out the Roadrunner Chronicles.

Leaving Miller Lake and Tobermory

We have had a very good 7 days here at Miller Lake. Yesterday we were able to go into Tobermory again and get some last food supplies. We also got some coffee and walked along the pier again.

Summer House Park Campground has been good. We have been here a week now and heading out later this morning. The campground has a lot of interesting facilities on site. It has a restaurant, frog pond, horseshoe pits, beach and boathouse plus nice paths through the woods.
We were able to go out to the Bradley cottage again. It such a beautiful place. We loved the geese, butterflies and serene waters along the lakeshore outside the back door. Adam and Meghan took one of the canoes for an evening paddle.

Pam wanted me to be sure and note the Orchid Blossom and record with a photo.We may or may not have internet access from Lake Talon near Rutherglen. So we may be offline for as much as 7 days. (Hopefully not...)

It is about 408 KM to Lake Talon and is estimated to take about 5 hours. We probably will get underway about 0845 this morning.
We conclude this post of the Roadrunner Chronicles with a photo of the raccoons who bid us adieu as we depart Summer House Park campground. Thanks again for checking in!

Biking & Hiking on the Bruce Peninsula

Pam and I decided to go for a bike ride around the campground. The first issue was a front flat tire. Since we have a professional bike mechanic onboard (Adam) I consulted with him. He swapped out the front tire from his bike for Pam's. Problem solved.

After going through the Summerhouse Park Campground, we ventured out a couple of miles down the road past the Miller Family Campground. It was a nice day for biking.We returned to the Roadrunner, had lunch and decided to go for a hike on the Bruce Peninsula. We headed back to the Visitor Center in Tobermory, paid our $7.80 (Canadian) and hit the a side trail to the Bruce Trail. Near the start we climbed the observation tower overlooking the peninsula. Beautiful.

Then we went back to the trail in the Fathom Five National Marine Park and hiked through the cedar woods. The 3.5 km Burnt Point Loop Trail took us to three different observation points near Little Dunks Bay and Georgian Bay.

The water is crystal clear. One side of the bay is very calm, but the other was more windy and the water was a little choppy.
We saw no fish. As clear as the water was, we notice not a fish in sight. That was curious but we forgot to go back to the park rangers at the visitors center and ask how that happened. Other references cited the arrival of an eel into the area in the 1930's that wiped out the fishing business but you'd think that after a few decades, the fish would reappear?

Afterwards we went back to Tobermory and saw the town holiday traffic has thinned out a bit since the Civic Holiday, but it is still a quaint town to hang out in.

We returned to the Roadrunner, had BBQ chicken on the grill and went down to the lake beach to watch some kids still in the water (and it was chilly!). We brewed some coffee, retired to do some reading and called it a night.

From the editor's desk of the Roadrunner Chronicles, hope you are having a good week. Please check in again.

Good times in Canada

The last few days have been great.

We have had the chance to visit with the Bakers at their cottage on Johnson Harbor not far (7-8 miles?) from our campground on Miller Lake.

Their cottage is 'Bradley on the Rocks' - named after Meghan's grandparents, the Bradley's. They bought the land in the 50's, cleared it, leveled it and built the cottage.

Every year they spend a lot of time here. It is about 4 1/2 hours from Petrolia, Canada where they live.
We can see why they love it up here. The scenery is great and the cottage is on the waterfront. The rocky lakeshore and big waves are something one could watch for hours.We enjoyed a walk around to the harbor and sat on the dock cooling our tootsies for a while.Later, Pam ventured out down to the shore line about 20 yards from the Bradley cottage back door to check out the water. Meanwhile, Bill was grilling potatoes wrapped in foil. He was also cooking hot dogs and dinner for Meghan & Adam: tofu. Marg was in the kitchen frying up some catfish -- so we all ate very well.

Ed entertained us for a time chasing squirrels and got one treed.

Yesterday we took a short drive over to Lion's Head. The rock formations on the sea coast along the harbor used to look like a Lion's Head, hence the name (I could not see it but that's me...).

We drove along the coast road for a bit looking at the coastal cottages and the great scenery before we went back to town for some groceries and sandwiches Pam packed.
In the afternoon we returned to the Roadrunner, picked up some dinner fixings and went over to the Bradley cottage. It was blustery again and a good late afternoon to do some reading. Pam cooked some sausage-tomato based soup and we had vegetables, bread, coffee, tea along with brownies and butter tarts for desert.

I took some photos of the inside of the Bradley cottage. It is in very good repair and maintained very well. With the kitchen and dining room along one end, it has two big picture windows toward the water from the living room, plus four bedrooms and a washroom. Very comfortable and a wonderful place.
After dinner we watched Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, then played a game of UNO. I got sufficiently whupped--coming in dead last. Pam beat everybody.

So that is what we have been up to and it brings this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles to a close. Thanks for taking a look.

Tobermory, Canada

Tobermory is a little town that sits on the tip of the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario, Canada. It is about 15 miles from our campsite at Miller Lake, Canada. Pam and I decided to go check it out and play tourist for a while.

Some history:
Europeans began living on the peninsula in the mid-1800's. The area was wooded and very rocky and therefore not good location for agricultural development. It had very good fishing and forest lands which settlers liked. The land at that time was known as the 'Indian or Saugeen Peninsula'.

In 1881 the first sawmill appeared on the peninsula in Tobermory. In less than 20 years most of the good timber was harvested. Rapid logging and huge piles of waster from land clearances enabled intense forest fires to sweep the peninsula. By the mid 1920's, the beautiful growth of forests on the peninsula was nearly depleted.

The lamprey eel was introduced to the Great Lakes in 1932 and it devastated the fish supply in the region. The peninsula became less attractive to settlers and many left. The populaton in the area continued to decline until the 1970's when the cottager arrived. Today, seasonal residents outnumber permanent residents.

In our campground (Summer House Park Campground), seasonal residents make up 70% of the populaton.

On the way to Tobermory, we stopped at the Bruce Peninsula Visitor Center along the Bruce Trail. It opened in 1967 and is Ontario's most popular hiking trail. It reminds me of the Appalachian Trail since it is very popular and quite long (780 kilometers). It extends from the Niagra Falls to Tobermory. Once in Tobermory, we checked out the ferry in Tobermory: the MS Chee-Chemaun Ferry.
It must have been busy that day because the first guy in line for the next one said he had been waiting about 5 hours. We walked around the dock a while and waited for Adam and Meghan to arrive.

They joined us down near the water and saw some ducks weaving in and around the boats. We walked around the dock and looked at the people and the interesting vessels. One futuristic looking yacht caught our attention. We passed for some coffee at the Coffee Shop overlooking the harbor and enjoyed some time watching boats and people.
The ferry finally returned and we caught some shots of it as it arrived and unloaded.
It was quite big. We were quick to note one of the first vehicles off was a pair of Class C motorhomes. If we were to use the ferry with the Roadrunner, we figured it would cost upwards of $200. Yikes! Instead it was better for us to watch the proceedings from a distance and enjoy our coffee.

It was a nice day to be walking around Tobermory and we enjoyed it. It reminded me a little bit of Sausalito. --- OK, well not exactly but it is a nice tourist town and it was a beautiful day.

We'll be here for a few more days enjoying the cooler than normal early August weather on the Bruce Peninsula. Thanks for checking out the Roadrunner Chronicles!