#8. Headin' South

When you are RV-ing, you have to improvise pretty often, and this trip was no exception. One of the first issues we had was when we realized that we forgot to bring the battery charger for the camera! It turns out that you can charge one battery with another - from the rechargable drill in this case. Why do we have a drill on board? Don’t ask……..

Leaving Sleeping Bear Dunes, we drove through the countryside, and saw some great color.  However, only about 25% of the woodland trees have colored up, and the farther south we drive, the less color is evident.   From the road we were able to see a great number of orchards, some having already been harvested and others with trees overloaded with bright red apples.  There were many small roadside fruit stands, unmanned, with payment on the honor system.

  

Camping in Manistee at the Little River Casino Campground, we were able to make our donation to the native Americans in the area. The campground was convenient to the town, and had all the amenities, including a great internet connection! The town of Manistee prides itself for its Victorian architecture, and a surprising number of older buildings are scattered throughout the town. In addition to a farmer’s market we went to a neat little museum housed in a former hardware / drugstore building. They had preserved an amazing number of artifacts and old photos of the area in their relatively small space. 

A drive through the hilly countryside was a nice way to spend the afternoon. In one small town, we found the "bottle house" The pic may not show it well, but the exterior is all bottles - the bottom facing outward!

We are camped in a state park in Muskegon now, and and are mostly recovered from shock of paying $41 for an out of stater’s night camping in a state park – camping fee + RV fee + car fee! Pretty pricey for a mostly plane jane camping spot, but the summer beach activities warrant the cost, probably.