trip #2, the details

Good morning.
We spent part of our weekend at Muskegon State Park. Here's an early morning view from our campsite. This view is of Muskegon Lake.
Muskegon State Park has 2 campgrounds. The north campground which is on the lake, and the channel campground which is on the channel linking Muskegon Lake and Lake Michigan. Muskegon lake is the largest lake linking to Lake Michigan and is a major port for commerce.

Here is a pic of the Lake Express car ferry that runs numerous times daily between Muskegon and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

And above is a barge full of what looked like sand. Why they need to bring in sand is beyond me since this side of the state is full of sand. And below, the same barge the next day leaving empty.
But enough pictures. After an extremely busy work week, we packed up the mo-ho Saturday, and drove the 1 3/4 hour drive to Muskegon. Once we were set up, I called an old acquaintance I hadn't seen in years. He lives about 20 miles north of Muskegon. He tracked me down some years ago through the Internet and we were finally finding time to meet. We drove up to Whitehall, met him at his home, and had a nice dinner at the local Harbor View Grille. It was a very nice visit with an old friend.

On Sunday of course, it was time for Mother's Day. And over to her apartment we went. She is very happy to be back home, although not happy about not having a car and going when she wants. We discussed the various public options, and I think she'll look into that. We went out to Applebees for lunch. Mom and I had the house sirloin, and Craig had some kind of turkey wrap. It was all very good! Then over to the 'club' where we had drinks and pull-tabs, and did not hit a thing. On the way home we stopped at the store and got her some groceries. She was very tired when we got back to her apartment, but a happy tired. She knows it'll be awhile before I come back, and 2 of my brothers that live in the area, won't take her to the 'club'. They have an issue with her drinking. But anyway, on the way back to the campground, we picked up some wood and had a nice fire to end the evening, and on Monday morning, we packed and drove back to Lansing. I spent the rest of the day weeding, dividing, and working in the yard, while Craig did laundry and bookwork.

And of course, no trip of ours would be complete with out having an 'incident' and of course this trip was no different. Fortunately it was fairly minor. Saturday on the way to Muskegon, it was a very windy day. We almost cancelled the trip because driving a big box on windy days is no fun! But the wind was from the west, northwest, and I thought it would be okay since we'd be driving directly into it instead of it hitting us sideways. And really, it wasn't bad, but about 2/3 of the way there, our dryer vent cover came off and hit a car passing us. We were right near a rest area, and pulled in there with the car. She thought there would be damage from the loud noise when it hit, but couldn't find any. The vent cover is all plastic, but at 60 mph, probably did sound bad. So fortunately, it turned out okay. Now we'll need to get a replacement sometime. In the meantime, I duck taped over it to keep the rain out.

So, all in all a good trip.