The Minis Take Michigan - 2023 Michigan Road Trip Day One
August 19
The FROG Rally is officially over. We’ve had quite a busy and fun week, attending and presenting seminars, touring RV models, meeting up with old friends, and making new friends.
Getting Road-Ready
We spent a lot of yesterday putting the travel trailer back to road-safe mode. After 10 days in one place, we had made quite a mess that we needed to clean up. This morning, we went to the final breakfast. Then we headed back to our site to finish packing up. New friends Tony and Tina from TNT RV came by to shoot a little video with us, and we talked to our neighbors who were likewise packing up.
We got everything put in its travel place, and dumped the tanks. Including the fresh water tank, because we were heading to a KOA with full hookups so we didn’t need the extra weight.
Mike Sokol loaned us his tongue weight gadget, so we set it up and were dismayed at the reading. I’m sure we’ll be talking about that quite a bit in the near future.
We were so excited to attend the FROG rally that we showed up first!
Exploring with Friends
We are traveling in a caravan with Bill and his pup Zappo. They came by to check on our progress, and we gave Bill a walkie talkie for the road. Bill followed us, and it turns out we drive more slowly than he normally does. He was pleased, at the end of the day, at his increased gas mileage.
Back Roads are Best
We traveled east for a while, then turned north and soon entered Michigan. We stopped at a rest area/welcome center. It was a nice building with a pet area and restrooms. Sadly the coffee machine was not working. We picked up some brochures, took some photos, and got back on the road. In about half an hour, we found a little walk-up food and ice cream spot for lunch. Tony and Bill had Sloppy Joe sandwiches. Peggy had a fish sandwich. Then we had ice cream sundaes for dessert, and then got on our route to our destination.
Southern Michigan is very beautiful and green. Our route took us through some lovely back roads with tree canopies. We just love that type of road. There are a lot of small lakes, trees, and agriculture. It was very pretty - and pretty uneventful.
First Camp - KOA in Ypsilanti
We arrived at the KOA in Ypsilanti and went in together, to hopefully get sites near one another. We were successful. Just one row away from the lake, we could watch people playing in the water, using the inflated swim island, and soaring down the water slide.
We set up the Starlink, which has worked on and off all afternoon. There are a lot of trees in the campground. We got some work caught up, did some resting, and took a nice walk through the campground.
In the evening, the campground provided a karaoke party. Not everyone can sing as well as they seem to believe they can. LOL
The weather here is lovely. Today the high was 77 degrees, and overnight should be 50 degrees. Tomorrow is expected to warm up to 90 degrees.
We saw fireflies. To two people from California and now New Mexico, where such magical creatures don’t exist, it is a thrill to see each flash of light!
We sat outside until the flying things started to bite us, then headed indoors to prepare for a long overnight nap so we can be prepared for whatever comes tomorrow. Perhaps that will include setting up our new screen tent, so the buggies can’t bug us.
