Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Michigan my Michigan

Great news ... for us us anyway. No water, no raccoons, no nothing wrong with the house on our arrival.  After our winter hiatus, we'd almost grown accustomed to dealing with some problem at the house ... but not this year.  A welcome change.

I'll need to double check the numbers but I think we put around 4,000 miles on the coach this trip and an additional 11,000 on the old Trail Blazer.  And mostly without any mechanical problems.  Another welcomed change.  As each year goes by we appreciate more and more the quality of our Monaco coach.  Sure we have an occasional repair issue but these older rigs were certainly built to a different, and I argue, higher standard.  They are simple, yet elegant with materials and craftsmanship but few coaches being built today, can match. Our 11 litre, 400hp Cummins engine pushes us around with little effort and does it with a not too thirsty attitude. On average of over 9 miles per gallon, it may sound like it's pretty thirsty but considering our total weight of over 40,000lbs it's really not bad.  Besides ... in what else can you spend the night in a WalMart parking lot (but we seldom do), sleep in your own bed, don't have to pack and unpack a suitcase, and spend most of our time wandering around this great country?

Just prior to arriving home, our final four day stop at Camp Turkeyville RV Resort near Marshall Michigan (www.campturkeyville.com) was uneventful though a little lonely in the empty park.  We certainly enjoyed the visits with family and friends in the area.  Our hometown Battle Creek, is still our hometown ... even though we've lived away for many years, the family and friends will always make it so.

So after some much needed yard work, thanks to a rather rough winter here, and the effort of cleaning up my junk clogged garage, we'll be heading off to our summer retreat in South Haven Michigan. 

We've got some interesting plans for this summer so stay with us and enjoy the ride.

Still livin' the dream in Spring-like Michigan.

Phil

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