Ready, Set, Go

We are just about ready to hit the road. We spent much of yesterday and today loading, cleaning and getting ready. We even mowed the lawn (weeds at least) for good measure. I think we are all exhausted but ready to go. It takes a lot to get a camper packed and checked out for a long trip.

Daniel was helping out today, putting the finishing touches on the windows and mirrors to make sure we could see well.


Its a team event when we take these long trips. Everyone was helping do something, even Alli who is not going along was helping out today. Samantha was a big help too. She made sure the headlamps would shine right since we plan to pull out before dawn!



Between all the hard work getting ready, I also had a great birthday today! Thanks for all the best wishes. We had French Toast for breakfast and went to see the last Harry Potter movie. We topped it off with a great looking Alligator cake!

Now it's time to head to bed. We will try to post at least once a day and update everyone. Tomorrow is a long 12 to 14 hour drive all the way to Indiana Dunes State Park on Lake Michigan. The park is only 30 minutes from Chicago.

If we can make good time, we may try to stop at then national RV Museum in Elkhart, Indiana, or who knows where. Stay tuned...

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Location:Lansdale, Pa

Why Michigan and the Great Lakes

When it came time to choose an RV adventure for this summer, I voted to start visiting the Canadian provinces. The rest of the family voted for Michigan.

Why Michigan? Over the years we've driven out of our way to reach States we've never visited and to get to offbeat attractions in every state except two; Michigan and Kansas.  While we have passed Michigan almost every summer on our way to other states, we have never actually spent quality time there other than a 10 minute detour over the border.  I have personally resisted visiting the state. Over the years this has become an ongoing inside family joke with Missy and the kids always trying to get me to detour through Michigan while I'm always telling them, I'm never going there.

This summer the family pulled a coup - so Michigan it is!

As we planned, the trip expanded to include Chicago and all of the Great Lakes. We are looking forward to touching, Lake Michigan, Superior, Huron and Erie. And for good measure -we visited Lake Ontario in the fall of 2010 while in Niagara Falls.

Follow us as we explore the Great Lakes by RV this summer!

The Great Lakes; Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario, and their connecting channels form the largest fresh surface water system on earth. Covering more than 94,000 square miles and draining more than twice as much land, these Freshwater Seas hold about one-fifth of the world's fresh surface water supply and nine-tenths of the U.S. supply. These lakes greatly influence who we are as Americans. This summer we plan to learn more about this region as we explore the Great Lakes by RV.

Our adventure will begin in Indiana on the shores of Lake Michigan. Staying at Indiana Dunes State Park. We'll use this as a base to explore the City of Chicago.

From here we will travel north along the coast of Lake Michigan for more than 400 miles. Up across the Mackinac Bridge - the third longest suspension bridge in the world and the longest in the Americas. The bridge is the gateway to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where we will use Tahquamenon Falls State Park as our base to discover what Lake Superior and Sault Saint Marie have to offer.

Then it's a slow drive back along the Sunrise coast to the town of Alpena, Michigan nestled along Thunder Bay on Lake Huron. Here we get to experience the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Shipwreck museum.

Finally we will wind our way down the coast through Motor City to Stirling State Park on the Shores of Lake Erie.