From the Monday we arrived until Friday, the campground remained almost completely empty. Since it was Mothers Day weekend, the campground filled up. I was a bit mystified as the weather was pretty terrible. Had Tammy and I made plans to camp on Mother’s Day and I saw what this forecast was, I would have cancelled. I can stay inside the house just as easy as towing somewhere and being stuck inside the camper.

Now, surprisingly, many of the campers left their awnings out during the bad weather. The odds of something bad happening when you do this is extremely high. I would highly recommend that folks do not have their awnings out unless you are outside under them. Unlike the awnings of yesteryear, which held up strong and could be tied to the ground, these can be destroyed by just one strong gust of wind.

Regardless of the weather, we were fortunate that each morning Eva and I would get a couple very long walks in before any rain started. I had hoped to make it to the Lake Michigan Overlook for a 2023 picture of Eva against a backdrop of the lake. However, on one of the few rain-free days, I tried our usual route, but a large section of the path had turned into a mud pit and blocked me. I couldn’t cross it without hip waders. On the next dry day, I took a different route and made it within 100 yards of the lake before park vehicles had rutted and muddied the path. There was no way to cross this mess to get to the lake. Well, I tried. On the bright side, Eva didn’t care at all. She just likes exploring.

Since it was Mother’s Day Weekend. The campground filled up, leaving only about five unoccupied sites. That is a full park. Saturday, we left the rain of the park to watch Trent (our Grandson) play soccer. He scored two goals, but their team ended up losing. I don’t think Trent was feeling 100%. Trent had not been feeling good two days before the game, so Tammy had spent the day with him. Meanwhile I looked for propane and purchased groceries.

ou would think finding a place to fill propane tanks would be easy. I thought so too. An Ace hardware store nearby had propane for 3.99/gallon which was about a dollar more per gallon than I paid in Texas before we left. So, I picked this spot, which was only about four miles from the campground.

In the previous post I said that I figured we would go a little over three days on one tank of propane. So it was no surprise on day 8 when I got up in the morning and found the inside temperature of the trailer at 70 degrees but the furnace pushing cool air through the registers. I went outside and pulled the tank cover to see the red empty indicator. However, then I had a surprise, I had forgotten to turn the other valve on when we left Texas, so we actually went 8 days on one tank of propane. I found that impressive, considering the weather dipped into the low 40s each night.

Anyway, back to the Ace Hardware episode. When I walked into the store, I went back to customer service, where they apparently cut keys. There were four employees doing absolutely nothing and only one that apparently managed the customer service desk. This was a Thursday, so you wouldn’t think at 1:00 PM, it would be very busy; but it was a madhouse. I waited for about ten minutes before someone asked my what I needed. When I mentioned I needed propane, they asked me to bring the tank inside. That really shocked me, because usually it is a big no-no to bring a propane tank inside a store.

After I brought the tank in, I had to wait another ten minutes for someone to fill it, which I assume was outside behind the store. The entire stop took over forty minutes. That just seems a bit too much for filling a propane cylinder, and frustrating because so many employees were doing nothing.

After that I went back to the trailer, and unloaded groceries and hooked up the propane tank. I was absolutely certain that we would have heat for the balance of the trip.

I always say that there are unusual things you may witness at an RV Park. We noticed two during this particular stay.

An owner of an older Class A was repainting his rig in the campground. I’m not sure how this was allowed given how crowded the campground was. In addition, the weather in particular wasn’t what I would call ideal for painting anything. This apparently started some controversy on-line with comments for and against what was happening at the park. All of this could have been prevented by the camp host weighing in on the matter. When we left the park, the owner had completed the painting. On a side note, none of this disturbed us, it was just unusual.

The site across from us had an “Ice Palace” Travel Trailer. This is something I have never seen before. Apparently this is a travel trailer used for ice fishing. Notice how low the clearance is to the ground. I wondered if the suspension raises the rig for travel. If you happen to be curious about this trailer, click here to read about that line of trailers. In addition, the owner had a large boat parked next to it. He was not there all week but arrived on the weekend. His trailer drew a lot of interest during the week.

Our stay was extended when we saw our departure day would be one filled with rain. I had no desire to breakdown camp the same way we had when we left Pilgrims Campground. It was a nice sunny day when we left Cliffside. Looks like it will be 2024 for our next visit, and hopefully back to site 4!

Our next stop would be the Double J Campground in Chatham Illinois. The Campground has changed hands recently and there have been some infrastructure changes, as well as some improvements. We have always liked this campground. It will be interesting to see how it changes in the future.

After Double J, it is on to Beagle Bay RV Haven and Campground – the subject of our next post.

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On Wednesday I got a lot of help from Trent with the Travel Trailer. I decided we were full enough on the grey water tanks to make a run to the dump station. I asked Trent if he would want to help drain the tanks. What followed next was a series of questions around where exactly the water was coming from. I explained that we would not be dealing with “Toilet Water” today; only shower and sink water. I asked Trent if he wanted to be the one to pull the drain handles and he said “yes”. Unfortunately he just didn’t have quite enough strength to get them open; but was happy to try anyway.

After hauling the grey water to the dump station, we headed back to the trailer for some sanitation. This was the second and last time I would need to dump the tanks before leaving. So, next I stored the “Poop Wagon” in the bed of the truck and I spent some of the afternoon trying to organize the growing mess I had in there. I knew at some point we were going to be loading everything from the travel trailer into the truck so I could leave it empty in Indiana. Between all the grills, storage containers for different hoses, clothing, dishes, etc..; that is a lot of stuff to fit in under the topper. With Eva in the back seat, there really is not any room there I can use. She completely occupies that rear seat, and if not belted in would occupy ours as well.

The storm that was predicted for Thursday night never came. It actually went well north of us. It did however leave 7″ of rain in the area it traveled. So once again we got very lucky. What we did get from the storm was a cold front, and that was a welcome relief.

On Friday we got some great news that Tammy and Brad were coming to the campground on Saturday. That would be a two hour drive for them, which we really appreciated. Eva is not to the point where we can just up and leave her for the whole day. Both Brad and Tammy are dog people, so they more than understand.

Friday was another day with Trent at the camper. We made a donut stop on the way from Jennifer’s’ house to camp. Then the rest of the day was spent playing a variety of games and spending time at the play ground.

Bob came in the afternoon to pick up Trent and we made a plan for getting together on Sunday with both kids and their spouses for a picnic at the campground. Bob has a new weber grill he is dying to try out so he is hauling that here on Sunday.

Saturday arrived and Brad and Tammy got a bit of a late start so they arrived about noon. Brad brought a bunch of hamburgers and brats to grill. They were seasoned with a recipe that he found on line, and it was great. He sent me a link so I can make the seasoning blend at home.

Brad and Tammy are like family. Whenever we get together it is like we have never been apart. We just pick up where we left off. There is nothing they wouldn’t do for us and vise versa.

All too quickly our Saturday came to a close and Brad and Tammy left for their home in Sun Prairie. As a result, Eva, exhausted from the activity, collapsed on the floor next to the couch.

Our visit was nearing its end with only four days left. However, tomorrow would be a great day with the kids coming to the camp to BBQ. As a side benefit, Eva will love the attention.

As Sunday came, there was a new arrival in the campground. You just never know what cool trailer you might run into on the road. I talked to the owner and he had restored the car and built the teardrop trailer over 25 years ago. Needless to say, it’s a real head turner!

The next post will be the finale in this series.

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Eva has taken to camping just fine but presents certain issues that you would expect with most seven month old high drive puppies. She is fine inside the trailer and has adopted our home routine to camping. Every morning we go out while it’s still dark, she does her morning business, and then we return to the trailer. Next she has her breakfast and then I have my coffee. Once it’s light out, but before everyone is outside their campers, we go for a long walk.

Eva has been a bit of a struggle on the walks. At home she does great, here she is stubborn and pulls on the leash a lot. In addition, she always looking for some half-rotted stick to chew on. Eva for the most part, barks less now, but that’s just a Shepherd trait. Every rabbit, squirrel, dog, or fellow camper gives her an opportunity to either voice her disapproval or pull hard to go in that direction. She is wearing me down.

On our first full day at Cliffside, heavy thunderstorms greeted us. The forecast had originally predicted them from 1:00 to 2:00 AM. However, they arrived late and then lasted from about 5:00AM to Noon. This was a bad storm with high winds and a lot of lightening.

Eva and I went out of the camper at one point to try and sneak in a potty break. The trees were blowing around to the point where I just didn’t feel safe; so we retreated back into the camper. After the storm passed the hot muggy weather and misquitoes returned.

The campground is pretty much empty at this point and I spend a lot of time trying to get satellite reception for TV, but site 1 is just not a good site for that. Almost any other site would probably have a decent view of the southern sky. So unfortunately it will be air TV for us and that’s fine. A quick search netted 58 air tv channels, so that’s plenty.

We were lucky to have some really nice neighbors through Wednesday, Steve and Karen.  They are a full-time RV couple, that are based out of South Dakota but originally from Illinois.  They are Shepherd people so they understand Eva.  We had a lot in common; Steve is as obsessive over his camper in the same way I am.  I was hoping they’d be here longer but they were heading to another campground with a return to Cliffside after we are gone.  It’s always great to meet nice folks.

Our Grandson Trent is visiting us during the week. My daughter has started teaching and Trent still has a few weeks before he goes back to school. We have a lot of games in the trailer and they have some decent playgrounds here at the park.

The temperatures are still predicted to be hot until Thursday afternoon. Then apparently some very strong winds, hail, and tornadoes are possible. There’s a tree over the travel trailer that looks almost dead so I’m not thrilled about any forecast that might predict damaging winds. When I get back to Texas I’m going to call the campground office and tell them that they should remove that tree.

In the meantime we will just hope for the best with any storms.

more fun to come…..

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