Three Weeks…Still Married…
Hello from the KOA Campground in Coloma / St. , Michigan where, in addition to still being happily married…after three weeks it is still chilly, dreary and rain is in the forecast. But hey, this is our first campground with full hookups as the prior two included 50 AMP electric, but no water or sewer…so we’ve got that going for us – which is nice. Somewhere under the mud-caked sidewalls of the rig and Jeep is black rubber and hopefully we’ll warm up and dry out soon.
Leaving Indiana Dunes State Park yesterday, we had a 55 mile drive to this KOA. Apparently Michigan wants travelers to recognize its presence, so in case the big blue “Welcome To Michigan” sign did not make appropriate announcement, the sudden transition from the smooth Indiana road surface on I 94 North to something that felt like driving on an old wooden suspension bridge could not go un-noticed. We slogged over this road surface at about 62MPH in the right hand lane for miles, causing Lynn to suggest I simply pretend we were on the Al-Can Highway, headed to Alaska. Clever attempt, but it provided short lived relief. After miles of construction zones, convoys of passing semi-tractors us, at our speed of 60 – 62 MPH, we started closing in on a sweet 90’s era Trans Am, towing some sort of metal fabrication in a utility trailer driving at about 50 MPH. I was going to have to pass our first vehicle.
Finding a sufficient level of courage and more importantly a particularly long break in the traffic, I eased into the middle lane, virgin turf for Julie, and at 65MPH passed Hasselhoff and his Trans-Am, watched the rear view camera until the Jeep safely passed the curiosity it just passed and eased back into familiar right lane turf. And exhaled. The KOA was only a few miles off the highway…Lynn checked us in, then we eased through the mud into our pull through spot.
Our choice was an interesting one…park close to the water and electric connection but step out of the coach into mud…or pull forward so we could step out onto gravel and be far from the connections. As muddy water seeped familiarly into my Merrell shoes we chose dry ground and further from the connections. We were happy campers putting out the slides, leveling on the site and then pulling out our fresh water hose…realized that it was about five feet short from reaching the spigot. Out comes the 50 foot spare hose which did a wonderful job with those remaining five feet and now is somewhat of a curious sight and topic for a side conversation with neighbors. As the sewer connection was covered with 3-5 inches of what we keep telling ourselves is nice mid-West rainwater, our choice was to not yet hook up to the sewer as both grey and black tanks were completely empty. (Lesson Learned…Zaik’s need to WALK THE SITE first)
After four loads of laundry, a dish washer cycle and two human showers, the grey tank this morning is at 75% (65 gallon capacity), so with more rain in the forecast tonight, (Lynn) is currently connecting us for the first time to a campground sewer. A few moments after she left, she came back inside shaking her head to say that about 10 feet away from sewer connection is the next sites’ camper eating lunch at their picnic table. Then, off to shop for this weeks’ groceries, mail a remote control to our Charleston friends that we sold a TV to (less remote that we couldn’t find) and perhaps explore the area. And then, back home for more GOT and Sneaky Pete binging as the rain arrives. Not much yet planned for this week other than a visit to Bell’s Brewing in Kalamazoo – 45 minutes away.
Side Note – Finally, it was my plan to write some memories from 15 years of intense business travel and include them on this blog….sort of a blog within a blog. I wrote the first one “Once A Pelican” but found that unless I pinned it to the front page, email notifications would not be sent out to followers. I’m torn as what to do, as I think toggling between current-event camping / traveling blogs and then memories from business travel would become confusing. So, for the moment, I’ll put the business travel stories on separate pages. These can be found on the main page, under the page “Jim’s View From 2A”. While no notifications can go out, I’ll announce them on our Facebook page Get Out Z Map. Ultimately, if enough people like them, i’ll probably have to start a new blog…stay tuned.
That’s it for now..thanks for following us!
GetOutZMap 
Just today I said to John I was going to post on Facebook where oh where are Lynn and Jim in the United States and low and behold you appeared!
I’m glad to hear that we aren’t the only ones having one rainy day after the other but today the sun is out and more rain predicted for the upcoming week!
Safe Travels!
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We love your blogs. Keep them coming.
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I remember when my first husband and I would go “camping” years ago. You will figure it out and have fun along the way. Love your blog.
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Enjoying the blog as well as Lynn’s social media posts. We are slogging through continuous days of rain too, though today was a gorgeous respite. Hope Spangler is adapting as well as you both are.
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Love your blog and can’t wait to read more because I’m sure your going to have some really exciting travels.
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Glad to see that you are off and running. I’ll be curious to see has the mileage, fees and other expenses match up with forecasts. The rig is absolutely beautiful! Safe travels, always a hookup for you in Colorado!
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Oh the joy of hooking up that sewer line. How’d you assign that job to Lynn ?? Ed tells me that’s not her responsibility. Keep posting your adventures. Looking forward to getting The Funny Farm back and getting out camping.
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No assignments from me…The partnership agreement was I drive it and she does the hoses. It’s arguable who has the worst assignment – just depends on the moment.
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Can’t wait for next post! And btw glad ur still married 😂
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Love following your travels!! Hang in there. We left 85 degrees in FL and are freezing here in MA 43 and rainy!!! Will u get to mackinaw island? Justin has been
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Yes – in about 11 days we arrive at Petosky RV Resort for two weeks. From here we will visit the island and all sorts of fun stuff.
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