Frerx Adventures: Day 5: On the Road into Michigan

As you can see, the state park was a much quieter place on a Tuesday morning, than it was over the weekend.

We decided that this site, #22, is the one we'll go for on our next visit. The only time you see sites this big in Illinois is when it's designated a handicap sites. Since they seem to have lots of little bitey bugs in the grass here, I'm expecially fond of the concrete around the firepit. My legs look like I've got measles from all the bites. Ken doesn't have any...hmmm.

We spent the morning checking around to decide where to stay next. Between the Internet, our Woodall's guide and our Trailer Life guide, we came up with 4-5 options. While Holland State Park was on the list, it is really perturbing that they charge not only for the RV site but also for every motorized vehicle, every day. Out-of-state vehicles are more expensive. This means that in a Michigan State Park we end up paying $40+ dollars a day for an electric site. I understand because of all the financial woes in Michigan they have raised rates and at the same time are also shutting down state parks. This definitely sounds like a sad downward spiral they've put themselves in, since out-of-staters like us will now opt for private RV parks that are cheaper and have full hookups.

We decided on a highly rated RV Park in Cedar Springs, MI that made this jaunt of the trip less than 140 miles.

That meant we took our time packing up and hit the road about 10:30.

Around lunch time we happened up this Dutch Farm Market,

so we dropped in to re-stock on fresh fruits and vegetables. We sampled several of the really tasty Michigan peaches and decided our favorite was the Starfire variety. These might even rate a little above our Calhoun County peaches back home. A freshly baked cherry pie just happened to jump in the bag as well.

We then stopped farther down the highway at a rest area and made lunch and kicked back for a bit...ended up turning a 2 1/2 hour drive into about a 5 hour drive...plus we changed time zones.

That meant we arrived at the Lakeside Camp Park about 6pm Michigan time. Friendly and accomodating staff. It appears that about 3/4 of the park is made up of permanent residents, however.

We were in site #32 which is the most 'on display' site in the park, right at the front gate with no privacy. However, it was the farthest away from the Interstate noise. In retrospect I don't know why I asked for full hookups since for 2-3 nights there is no advantage to that for us.

We decided to head in to Cedar Springs and ended up eating at a small restaurant in town. Ken had homemade liver and onions. I had the Fettucini Alfredo, and could only eat about half, it was so large. Nice think about the RV is that this then came home to make a side dish for tomorrow nights meal.