Heading to Lake Michigan

Monday, July 23,  2012

I called Collier RV in the morning to see if the slide topper we ordered had arrived.  The topper arrived, but the brackets did not.   The topper was promised to arrive last week and we were leaving the area.  So, I told them to cancel the order.

We packed up the 5th wheel in short order.  The weather was getting hotter by the minute and we wanted to head somewhere reasonably close that might provide some relief.  Kitty had some errands to run, so I dumped the holding tanks and Kallie and I headed to Illinois Beach State Park about 70 miles from Rockford, Illinois. Kitty was about 15 minutes behind us in the car.

Our camping spot looks like a converted parking lot.  But, the roads are all paved (no dust) and we are about 100 yards from Lake Michigan.  There is a sand dune and protected area between our site and the shore line.  But, we get a nice breeze from the lake and the temperature at our site is somewhat lower because of the lake effect.  The temperature on the beach feels at least ten to fifteen degrees cooler and provides a nice relief from the heat.

Here,s our site.

We love to walk the beach, feel that cool breeze from the water and listen to the surf.  Here Kallie and I are on the beach trail.

Here's Kitty with the sunset in the background.

Here's another wild animal showing us her backside.  First the turkeys at Rock Cut, then Kallie, now this.  Sheesh!

She wasn't one bit afraid of us.

There was a nice breeze and the water was calm today.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Our plan was to get up early and have our morning coffee on the beach.  But, the weather man had other ideas, and we woke up to rain and thunder.  Even though it spoiled our plans, we were glad for the rain.  This area is so dry the campground has a fire ban.  You can not have a campfire or use a gas grill.  So, we had to change some of our cooking plans.

Here's a shot of the swimming beach area.

We drove a few miles to the far northern end of the park and took this shot at a Marina.

I'll take the one on the left...Kitty, not the boat, silly!

Hopefully, we'll have our coffee on the beach in the morning.  Stay tuned.