We left PA around 7 AM on Tuesday, July 5 with a 1 night stop near Streetsboro Ohio. The Woodland RV Park was located right off of the Ohio turnpike and an easy place to spend 1 night. We were greeted by one of the owners of this private campground and were amazed with his friendliness and genuine interest in our destinations for this trip. He was originally from Michigan so gave us some places to check out during our trip. The four of us headed out on Wednesday morning around 9:30 for our next location, St. Clair, Michigan. Kathy and Sam decided to take a slight "detour" and head to Cleveland to tour the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Ken was not interested in trying to drive our 5th wheel near Cleveland and try to park it to go to the Hall of Fame. Not in our "comfort zone"!
We arrived at the Thousand Trail Campground right off of Interstate 94 near St. Clair around 3:30. It is a very quiet park and we loved the shaded sites. Only downfall when we arrived was that the park had been out of electric for 4 days following a strong electrical storm. They said they hoped power would be restored by dark, but they couldn't be sure. Fortunately we were in a shaded area, for it was a warm evening. Sam and Kathy were set up by 6:45. We had an easy supper of leftovers from home and then had s'mores over an open fire. The mesquitos became a nuisance and we had to go in our rigs by 10:15 after getting bitten many times, especially Kathy. For some reason, they seem to love her!!!! But, the electric did come on at 9:00 and we had air-conditioning to cool down Willie for sleeping! Yeah!!!!
This morning began another exciting day. Ken and I were excited that there was no traveling planned for today. Sounded good until we realized we did not have hot water when we got up! We had to use gas for the water heater when we had arrived and then switched it over to electric when power was restored. But, we could not get the water heater to light with gas or electric in the morning. Fortunately, one of the "female rangers" at the CG's husband worked at the General RV dealership about 25 miles away and she put us in touch with him. Imagine this - that dealership sells Open Range. What are the odds???? They said we should bring it in and they would look at it right away. So much for no driving Willie today! Instead of riding with Sam and Kathy into St. Clair to ride bike (the 4 bikes were already loaded on his Jeep) we went back to our site and got Willie ready for traveling. We got to General at 12:00 and by 2:30 we were back at the CG with the repair completed! Hallelujah!!!! They were so helpful and friendly. Best part - it was under warranty and didn't cost us a dime!!!!! Life is good!!!
We got Willie back into the campground and met Kathy and Sam at St. Clair. We rode our bikes from St. Clair to Marine City and back - 20 miles. What a great ride and what great friends that just walked and drove around the area while we were getting repairs so that we could ride bike together later. We really appreciated it! We ate supper at Pepper Joe's right on the water in St. Clair and probably had some of the best onion rings ever!!!! (At least that was Sam's opinion!) Then we strolled the boardwalk and headed back to the CG by 9:30. Decided to call it a night to avoid the mesquito population!
This is a nice area. Tomorrow we plan to take the ferry from Marine City over to Canada - probably only a 10 to 15 minute ride. We will take our bikes with us to enjoy riding around a quaint Canadian village on the other side. It was recommended to us by "Rowdy", a local who is the captain of a 34' sailboat that will be in a major race that leaves Port Huron and sails to Mackinaw Island. They leave in about 2 weeks and it will take about 44 hours to complete the voyage. He won the race in 2008 that has participants from as far away as New Zealand. Wish we could be here to see it!
Love the sculpture of bikers. Riding around in the Canadian village sounds wonderful. Enjoy!
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