Well, we loaded up our toys and left southern Indiana headed north on the 20th of June and are having a great time seeing new places, making new friends, and kayaking and riding our ATVs.
After a stop in northern Indiana to order a new couch for the bus we drove north to a wonderful National Forest campground near Hesperia, MI. Pines Point campground is a very popular spot for a lot of the locals to bring their families and cool off in the White River. They float on innertubes, kayak, paddle canoes and swim.
Our first day in Pines Point we met Mike Wambaugh and his great family and the next day we all loaded up in his truck and ours and hauled 9 kayaks and one innertube up river a few miles and floated back down to our campground. What a neat float! The river was fast enough with just enough ripples to keep it interesting!It was a great day spending time with new friends.The Wambaughs are a friendly and fun loving family and welcomed us into their group. We sure hope our paths will cross again.
The Wambaughs had to leave after a few days and new people were arriving daily. Most of them had tubes and kayaks and were there for a long 4th of July week-end. Jay and Sue were one such couple and they settled in the camp site next to ours. Right away Sue came over to introduce themselves and before you knew it we were making plans to paddle the White River with them! Only this time we went even further up river and had a great 4 hour trip on the water. Sue has been coming to this campground for years and years and knows the river pretty well and was a great guide. The next day we even went on a portion of the river she hadn't been on before but knew people who had. They told her it would take us 2 hours to get to the take out where her friend's truck was parked that would take us all and all of our kayaks back to camp. That didn't turn out to be the case but we had fun anyway! The good news is that we made it to the truck but... it took 6 hours to do it! It was an adventure that included having to portage our kayaks around log jams and shallow water. Our arms were sure tired though!
We spent 12 days at Pines Point and enjoyed every minute of it. We had no TV, no cell service and no internet and it was very relaxing. Terry cooked breakfast every day outside and we had campfires at night. What a great way to start our summer trip.
The next leg of our trip found us near my family in Cadillac, MI. We stayed in a campground near some ATV trails near Luther, MI in Lake County. We rode the trails and explored the area on our ATVs. All the county roads were open to the ATVers and we really hadn't been anywhere that friendly to the ATVers. If we wanted to go to town for icecream we just jumped on the quads and rode to town! But the best thing about the area was that we got to see my family a lot.
Before we left lower Michigan we stopped in Frederic, MI near Grayling at the Happi Days Diner and campground.This was about an hour north of Cadillac and near some awesome ATV trails. The owner,Todd was very friendly and helpful telling us everything we needed to see and do in the area. We stayed at Happi Days 7 days and played every day! We rode the trails and kayaked the rivers that Todd suggested. Since we didn't know anyone else that were going to kayak these rivers we found outfitters to take us up river with our kayaks and then we floated down to our truck.
Our favorite river was the Sturgeon, touted to be the fastest river in lower Michigan and that it was! It was a blast! It was hard work to get around the bends (and it was VERY winding!) without getting swept into the bank or a log jam and to keep from getting dumped. The outfitter told us it has an 85% dump rate and we were proud to announce that we made it without dumping even though we came close!
We wrapped up our time in lower MI with a visit from my stepbrother Larry and my sister-in-law Lynda, my stepsister Donna and her hubby Bruce and my stepmother Dorothy. We all went out to eat and say our good byes. We were so glad they came up to see us off!
We left the next day for more adventures in the U.P. of Michigan.
