Shipshewana, Otisville, and Manistique - July 16 - 29

Our travels over the last couple of weeks took us to the Crossroad's Factory Rally in Shipshewana, IN; Otisville, MI, where we connected up with our son, Aaron, and his wife, Sheridan, and our special friends, Lou and Lorraine; and finally to Manistique, MI (in the Upper Peninsula) before we head for Wisconsin tomorrow.

The rally in Shipshewana was great where we connected with friends we met last year and met new friends this year.  We didn't take any pictures here - we were too busy visiting with friends and meeting with Crossroad reps.  It was a fantastic few days with lots of food, friends and fun.  And, our meeting with the Crossroad reps turned out very well - we are getting a new couch to replace the one currently in our camper.  This one is actually three recliners put together but when you go to lay on the couch - which all of us do at one time or another - the lever for the middle section hits you right in the back.  Rather than fix it, they are sending a new couch to our dealer free of charge.  The new one will also be a sofa bed instead of the recliner set up so it will work out better for us when the kids want to visit.  Already signed up for next year's rally.

From Shipshewana, we drove to a campground in Otisville, MI, which is close to where Aaron and Sheridan live.  Sheridan came over to go out to dinner with us on Monday night; Aaron was working until 10:00 so he was unable to join us.  Tuesday and Wednesday, we spent the day with Lou & Lorraine - the guys did their "golf" thing and Lorraine and I did our "shopping" thing.  It's tradition.  We have such a special friendship with them it was great to get together again - next year we need to make the visit a little longer. 

And after all the pictures we took with the "fake Aaron," it was great to see the real one again.   Jim and Aaron enjoyed a day of golfing while Sheridan and I checked out a winery in Frankenmuth.  They took us to "Joe's Garage", their favorite place to get great food and meet up with friends.  Because this is a busy time for Nike, Aaron managed to get Thursday off but worked the rest of the time we were there.  We had a wonderful dinner with them Saturday night at their place and on Sunday night, they came over after work and Aaron saw the camper for the first time.  He was impressed that he could stand up in it and his head did not touch the ceiling.



Sunset on Indian Lake

We said our goodbyes to Lou & Lorraine and Aaron & Sheridan on Sunday and left early Monday morning for Manistique, MI.  After the six hour drive, we were pleasantly surprised to drive into the most beautiful campground we've been at on this entire 3 month trip - Indian Lake State Campground.  The sites are large and the views beautiful. 





Yesterday we took a drive to Big Springs at Palms Book State Park just a few miles away and saw one of Mother Nature's most amazing creations.  It's a pond fed by natural springs bubbling out of the ground.  The pond is crystal clear - approx. 25 feet deep - 10,000 gallons a minute pumping into the pond - loaded with trout.  We have never seen anything like it.  Jim made a video of it - not sure I can post it but will try.  I know that our grandkids would love it and Val has already requested that she and the boys hitch a ride with us and come back here.  Those plans are already in the works.

The raft as it goes out into the pond.

Looking into the bottom of the pond from the raft -

the springs are bubbling and the trout are swimming.

We leave here early tomorrow morning and head to Minocqua to drop the camper off for next week's camping adventure and then drive south and finally back to Shalyn's for the weekend.  We will camp in Minocqua next week with Val and the boys.  

Life continues to be good.