July 18 Wolverine Campground, Otisville (Flint)

Marge and her family went out fishing before breakfast, we decided to stay back and get a few things organized, and were ready to hit the road when they returned with quite a few fish. Sad saying goodbye to Marge, but will look forward to seeing her at the end of this trip. Finally found a good pair of walking sandals at the Outlet store near St George, and better still the were on special.
We decided to get some miles under our belt, so headed north on the I69 and visited the Welcome Centre just through the border into Michigan. These Information Centres are on all the interstates just as you enter a State, and provide a wealth of info on what is to see, and have good maps. After speaking with one of the chaps, decided to head north along the Eastern Shores of Lake Huron, on what they call the Sunrise Coast. Had a lunch break just off the interstate in a wayside rest area, then north again, and pulled off at a small town called Owosso for a coffee and wifi stop. It had been a 2 hour drive, and Ian was over ready to stop! Discovered the only place available was…McDonalds!! What we do to get our mail, and load the Blog!
It was after 6 before we finally got to a camp on a lake near Flint…but not one of the better ones. . Very strict re “No Alcohol”, but we couldn’t read…drank wine out of coffee cups!
Have named the GPS “Jilly”……I have great battles with her…and Ian reckons I lose most of them! You can choose what nationality you would like to speak..there is male or female in American, British, Australian or many foreign languages..There is Karen or Lee from Australia…and Ian said he wasn’t going to listen to an Aussie tell him what to do, or Daniel and Emily from UK, or Jack or Jill from USA…..so we are stuck with Jilly!


July 19 Oscoda KOA Campground

Much earlier start, we were on the road by 8.30, and it was great being out and about early, lovely light. We took a 2 laner (local lingo – 4 laners are Intersates or freeways), and passed through huge areas of cropping land. There were small oil wells in the middle of some of the fields, must ask some locals about them.
Stopped in a smallish town called Vassar, got a coffee and walked to the farmers market…only 4 stalls, but got chatting to some interesting locals…this is what we enjoy doing the best.
Very hazy and in some areas and we hit sea fog. The temperatures are a little lower, in fact tonight we don’t even have the aircon on.
Filled up with fuel ..the prices vary a lot, have seen it from $3.99 though to $4.19 a gallon, and amazed to see the garage store filled with rifles…evidently this is a big hunting area, in fact saw a sign near by advertising “Bear Food”!
Decided we would like to camp where there was Wifi, so went to a KOA (Kamp of America) ground, $41 for the night…much more than the State Parks, but excellent facilities, and it was so good to be able to use Skype in the RV and catch up with everyone. This is a real family camp with a pool, huge games area, and camp store. There was a hayroad around the wild area surrounding the camp, and the tractor had about 5 trailers on behind, with everyone sitting on them….OSH would not be happy! Then they gave all the kids a ride on the fire engine, sirens going.

We met a very friendly family in the neighbouring campsite, Julie and Ben, and sat around the campfire with them after tea.

Camping tradition is to toast marshmallows over the fire, then sandwich them with a piece of chocolate between Graham Crackers…..they call them “smores”…because you want more! I sampled and they were divine. They were celebrating mid year xmas in the camp and a number of campers had xmas lights outside, Americans love celebrations, and decorating.