A Very Busy Week

Because we had an appointment for the trailer at Lime Lake Marina, we left Michigan on July 30th at 7:00AM. We opted to come across Canada again. This time our entrance/exit from the country was less time consuming. We were afraid we would be held up in Buffalo, NY with lots of traffic, but it only took about 15 minutes.

This was coming across bridge near Hamilton, ON.
Back in the States, we are greeting by Bronze Buffalo near the Thruway area. Almost like being in Oklahoma!
We arrived at Lime Lake Marina at 3PM. Our good mechanic, Jay, tried the things the company wanted him to do before they would replace the motor & wind sensor for the awning. Didn't work. We all knew it wouldn't, but you just can't tell those manufacturers anything. They never believe you. So now we have to wait for the parts for that. While we were there, we told him about the motor for the front jacks not working just right again. He thought they would just tell us we had too much weight in the front end especially with the generator. Well, we got back to Hidden Valley & sure enough, they didn't work & we couldn't unhitch the truck from the trailer. So we had to depend on others for transportation over the weekend & then take it back out to Lime Lake on Monday.

The weekend was a busy one at the campground. It was Wild West Weekend. Here are some pictures of all the activities.

Outside of pavilion.
I helped with the crafts. Made sure everyone had a name for their project & their name & age was on their card. Judging would take place after the BBQ on Sat. night.

Shirley & Wendie working on their veggie crafts.
Joshua working on his "The Mad Man". This was a joint effort with him, his mom & myself. Sometimes it takes more than one person's imagination.
This was Brodie's John Deere Tractor & wagon. It really was done by his grandma though.
A couple of teens worked on this "Hidden Valley Ranch". Cute idea & loved the name!
When the grandsons were camping with us they played with a little guy named Devin (Joshua's brother). This was his creation of "Mike".
Denny is WANTED!
After crafts a wagon load of "gold diggers" made their way to the creek to pan for gold. Everyone had a great time. I think the adults had as much fun as the kids! It sure was a beautiful day!
There's gold in them there pans!
Devin & Jared
Devin is working hard at getting rid of that dirt to find his nuggets.
See, I told you there was gold in them there pans!
Oh, Oh! Here comes "Black Bart" & his partner. Black Bart said to "get out of my creek". We had to hurry up & get our gold back to camp before he came to steel it. Nice job Dee & Jerry!
Becky is checking out the gold in the pouches that the kids had made in the morning. Looks like she's impressed with what Devin found! Each claim had to be weighed.
This was the scenery that Becky had painted within approx. 1-1/2 hrs. during the time the kids were doing crafts. She does a great job. Art talent that needs to be used somewhere besides a campground!

Black Bart & Elixir Dr. Jerry made it over to the camp.
Black Bart & Dr. Jr. waiting for the horse to come & give them a stagecoach ride. Oh, later on in the evening, that darn Black Bart held up the stage!
Corn was soaking for the evening meal.
The food was great! More than beans & biscuits too. Pulled Pork sandwiches (BBQ or plain), beans, tomato sauce macaroni with corn, corn on the cob, & cupcakes for dessert.
In the afternoon this little miniature pony (Easter Lily) did several tricks for us. Isn't she cute?
Trained just like a dog. Easter Lily sitting up. (That's the Cardinal Homestead in the background behind the pool).
Easter Lily jumping the hurdle.
Cute Little Brodie watching the show.
I think only one guy out of 3 is working!!! Randy & Leon look like they are just waiting to eat! Linda's making sure Mel's husband cooks the corn right.
Dick & Evelyn got into the mood with their Wild West Costumes.
Now so did Becky! What a fashion model!!! Nice mustache Becky!
The horses have arrived, now we can have a real stagecoach ride. The line continued all evening long.
Teens enjoyed the games. Texas Becky gets them lined up for the sack race.
Now this was a different one! They had to race down, build a fire, put down their blanket, put on pj bottoms, lay down to sleep, get up & reverse the action, put it all back in the wheelbarrow & see who one the relay. The guy on the right made us all laugh when he went to remove his pj bottoms. Got more than the pj's!!!
The judges are ready. Have you ever ridden a "noodle" pony??? The kids had to deliver a pony express letter without getting it wet. If the judge couldn't read it, you were disqualified.
This was a gold rush with gold balloons across the pool without using hands or feet. Just as a side note..................the water temperature was only about 70 degrees!!!
Stagecoach traveling through the park.
Cowboy Brodie on the tractor.
Times have changed in travel!!!! From stagecoach to The Traveling Cardinal's Rig. Oh the comforts of RVing!
Well as you can tell from the above picture, we are still hooked up! Monday, the 3rd, we left for Lime Lake Marina to have the trailer fixed. Jay said he couldn't get to ours for about 2 hrs. so we unhitched & took a tour around the area. We started out to go to Letchworth State Park. On our way we saw tons of wind turbines. I think they are so neat to watch & see out over the country side. Great to see us using natural resources too. These were located in & around the Wyoming Co. area of NY State.
Look at the size of the silos compared to the wind turbine!
Had to take some pictures of barns for Deb. This was a neat one. Pretty blue roof.
For a minute I thought we had topped the hill & come to the country of Holland (The Netherlands).
Well, needless to say, we spent the afternoon traveling around using a 1/2 tank of fuel & gaining nothing. After deciding we didn't want to pay to go into Letchworth State Park just to drive around for a little while, we headed to Mumford, NY to Genessee Country Museum. Got there & they are closed on Monday! We had stopped in a town to eat lunch so we headed back to Lime Lake. The news was not good. The gear box had to be rebuilt & Jay was going to have to talk to the manufacturer of the front jacks to see if they had a bigger motor or what might be causing the problem. They run okay manually. He thought one might be bent, but guess that wasn't the problem. We had them remove the generator. They are going to sell it for us. We have carried approx. 250# around for 2 years & only used it 1.7 hrs. Nice Onan generator. Anyone want one?? We have not done any boondocking & it doesn't look like we will be, so no use in hauling it back & forth across the country with us. Well...........when they took it out, unbeknown to us, there are 2 big holes in the bottom of the front compartment! Now we have to have someone get us a piece of metal to install in the bottom & caulk around the holes so we don't get water up inside & have it rust. Always something!! I'm beginning to think it's worse than owning a permanent home! Not really, I wouldn't go back to that for anything. I love the RVing lifestyle!

So now that we have to wait for more parts, we may as well leave the trailer at the Marina & find some place to stay. Since I had dr. appts. this week we needed to get back to our base. Bill called his brother, Bobbie, & we are staying with them until all the work on the trailer is finished. We are hoping & praying for the work to be finished today or tomorrow. Friday at the latest I hope. I want my home back!!!!!

We stopped at Hidden Valley Campground to tell them the situation & take care of a couple things we left at our site then headed for Warren. When we got to the Russell, PA intersection, we came across them moving the oversize load that had been setting at the state line for a week or so. This is part of the column of a wind turbine. You can see it covering almost the whole road in front of the line of traffic. Bill thought he would be smart & take the old road & beat it. Wrong! We didn't see it anywhere & here it was way ahead of us. So they move along pretty good.
This is where we caught up to it in front of the Warren Commons (by Wal-Mart).
So we are caught up again. Spending our time running to doctor's, dentist, etc. Hoping we will get the trailer back soon so we can get back to the campground & put our feet up & enjoy our friends at Hidden Valley. This week we have Bill's family reunion on Sunday. My families was last Sunday. A chance to visit & catch up on the past year.

Until next time...............The Traveling Cardinal's

Last Days in Michigan

On the last couple of days in Michigan, I took Bill around to some of the places my oldest sister, Arlene, had lived in Michigan. It doesn't seem possible that she has been gone 3 years already. When I was around 12 years old, I visited for several weeks with her while she lived in this town, Bad Axe, MI. I only remember a few things about the town & since we all know that in 50 years buildings are torn down & more modern ones are built, things change drastically. The A & W I remember was gone. I remember getting the little glass mugs from there. I think you used to get them when you got a float. Souvenirs gone by!

View of Downtown Bad Axe going toward N. Van Dyke St.
This is the motel that was right beside where she lived. My mom & dad stayed at this motel when they would visit the boys & her. It used to be called the Hacienda Motel. I can't believe that it still looks the same though. My sister lived in a trailer out behind the building next door. Nothing there today except trees & grass.
Bill & I ate here in Bad Axe. We also have a Peppermill Restaurant in Warren, PA. Thought we'd try it out to see if they were similar. Good food in both places.
Michigan finally had some dry days that they could get their wheat crops harvested. Some of the fields have lots of water sitting in them.
Lots of Big John Deere equipment in this area.
We then took a ride to Lake Huron & Harbor Beach. This was another town my sister had lived in. I was only about 7 or 8 when I visited here.
This is the same beach (and it might even be the same playground equipment!) that we played at. After all, the equipment was metal & it still had the old metal slide!

A picture just for you Denise. Have you been to this one??
After leaving Harbor Beach, we traveled back along Lake Huron until we got to the road to Sandusky, MI. There are many, many homes for sale along the lake. Times are hard. It's a wonder they didn't run out of "For Sale" signs in the area.

We had a fun day of looking at various campgrounds & just riding around reminiscing. Back to Deb & Gary's in time to make it for Pizza Buffet night in Marlette. Tomorrow (the 30th) we will be heading back to New York State for a stop at the trailer dealer for testing on our awning before more repairs can be done.

Tune in for another update coming soon..............The Traveling Cardinal's