You’re Going Where? Huh.

Thursday, June 30, 2022

Hello friends and fellow travel enthusiasts! Well, the long wait is over and camping season is once again upon us! We disappointingly did not camp until Father’s Day weekend. Why? The reasons are threefold:

1. There is exactly ONE Ford dealership within 50+ miles of us that could address our factory recall on the brakes and steering and provide the necessary repairs and also change the oil. Stupid supply chain issues held up the shipment of the parts and dumb rain delayed the oil change, as with an RV as long as ours, this needs to be done outside. Needless to say, our camper was in their possession so long, we thought we half expected a ransom note to arrive in our mailbox.
2. Baseball. It was the most fun (longest) season ever. In fact, it’s actually still going on, but we are peacing out on this summer’s adventure, so the Rebels will just have to muddle through without Kai this week;-)
3. Work was really hard this year. I mean, if you’re in education, you perpetually feel like you’re about 30 seconds away from utter implosion, but this year has been ridiculously and unexpectedly more difficult. Lots of changes coming and a lot of unknowns too. Sounds like the perfect time to ESCAPE on a road trip!

You are probably wondering about Kevin and how she fared through her first winter outdoors. (In case you’re reading this for the first time, Kevin is our 2021 Grayco Jayhawk Class C RV on a 2022 Ford E450 chassis.) She was a little green up on top and some little friends did make a bit of a nest in her engine, but it appears no real damage was done. After a good airing out, her recall updates and oil change, and a scrub-a-dub-dub, she looks A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! In fact, you might say even better than before. I mean, she also got new LED headlights so Rob and I don’t need to white-knuckle it driving down country roads in the middle of the night, and four new hubcaps. as well as some aesthetic/functional improvements on her interior. You may recall, we lost two hubcaps on our adventure to Montana and Wyoming last year. Well, these new hubcaps are bolted on and aren’t going anywhere. Whoever thought snap on hubcaps were a good idea for a long-haul recreational vehicle had obviously never traveled in one. Your teeth are practically jarred from your mouth if you hit a pothole or travel down a dirt road (God bless you!).

We took Kevin out on her maiden voyage on Father’s Day weekend. Having missed Mother’s Day camping at the Charlestown Breachway in RI due to Kevin’s unfortunate holdup at the dealership, this was a late start. We went to our traditional stomping ground, Pine Acres in Oakham, MA. Normally this is an amazing weekend of friends, fun, food, and booze. This year, we added baseball into the mix. Kai’s (13) All-Stars tournament began on Saturday and depending on the outcome, games were scheduled all throughout the rest of the weekend. I’m pretty sure Rob had fun with his girls (12, 10) which was the point since it was FATHER’S day, but for me and Kai, it was chaos. Here are the two photos I took on this camping weekend:

You might be wondering how we intend to top last year’s epic trip out west. What could possibly top the majestic Grand Tetons or the Black Hills or digging up dinosaur bones?

Were you going to say Michigan?

No?

Look, I have nothing against Michigan. To be fair, I really don’t know much about the state except it has two parts and looks like a mitten. It seems cold. And I assume it is home to Lake Michigan. That is all.

We do not even have any family in Michigan, but we do know one person in Traverse City, and that is why we are packing up Kevin and headed to UP – that’s the Upper Peninsula, for all you non-Yoopers. According to my limited research on Michigan (I mean, did you expect I wouldn’t do my research?), the Upper and Lower peninsulas of Michigan are like two completely different states, More on this as we travel…

I recently read the Facebook post of a high-school classmate’s wife whose friends and family questioned their vacation destination, which, coincidentally is Michigan. I quote, “Michgan… why?” After seeing their adventures play out, I can say that I’m coming around to the idea of Michigan. After all, seeing America from the road has been one of my greatest joys of the past few years.

So follow this blog for stories from the road. We’ll be packing up Kevin tomorrow and hitting the road on Saturday. Join us on our adventures as we discover what makes Michigan so great and also join us to see what kinds of shenanigans the five of us (only five – Amaya is staying behind to work and interview for a new job – boo) can get into.

Great Lakes State, here we come!