Morning Walk, Afternoon Roadtrip and Fishing

Yesterday was such a beautiful day with cool morning temperatures that we took the two four-legged children on a long walk around the campground and park.  What wonderful weather we have had in Southwestern Michigan--lows in the lower 60's or even the 50's and highs in the 80's.  This is my kind of weather!!!

Later in the afternoon, we met Mike and Joanne (Pat's brother and his wife) and we took a road trip to Lagrange, IN.  Mike's Mobile Suite RV has a problem with its suspension and also had a broken spring so he needed to pick up some parts from Indiana Interstate Enterprise run by Paul Cross.  Paul is our expert on RV and does all our repairs at a reasonable cost and also allows RV owners to spend nights in his parking lot with electric and water service. 

After picking up the parts, we headed to Shipshewana and had a wonderful and fun dinner at the Blue Gate.  Pat and I shared the Country Sampler which consists of chicken, ham, beef, mashed potatoes, green beans, and dressing.  It is a lot of food and plenty for two people.  Of course, we had to have a piece of pie to finish off the meal--Pat had no-sugar apple pie and I had lemon meringue--YUM!

Today was another beautiful and cool morning, so we decided to go fishing at one of the ponds.  We did not have any plans to keep any fish that we might catch and it's a good thing.  Pat caught one small fish and I caught one small perch after I got caught on a underwater log.  I have an excellent talent for catching trees and seaweed! :-)

The rest of the day was spent grocery shopping and then planning our itinerary when we leave Kalamazoo on August 9.  You'll have to come back and see where we go from here. 

Easy Living!!!

Survived storms (Markin Glen County Park, Kalamazoo, MI)

Yesterday was quite a stormy day--lots of thunderstorms rolled through the area in the morning.  It didn't seem too bad for us at the campground just north of Kalamazoo.  However, south of Kalamazoo in Portage and Schoolcraft, there were possible sightings of tornadoes followed by widespread power outages from trees falling.  For those not familiar with the Kalamazoo area, there are lots and lots of trees!  Today there are a few less.  In the afternoon, we heard from Pat's brother who had no power and he was heading over to retrieve a generator so that they could at least have water (the joys of having your own well--no water during power outage).  To help the other Cronin's, we put the four-legged kids in their crates and headed down to Schoolcraft.  It only took three men to start the generator-Ha ha.  After they finally got it working, we decided to go and get a bite to eat since Mike and Joanne didn't have power to cook, etc.  It was a very enjoyable meal at Applebees.

By the way, for my Louisville friends, I do feel bad for you with the 95+ temperatures and record heat index.  If I could send some of the 80 degree coolness to you, I would! 

Hope you all have a good day and come back to visit.  We are enjoying "easy living"!!

Errands and Air Zoo (Kalamazoo, MI)

We started out the day enjoying our coffee outside while listening to the various birds.  Before the dogs and I got up, Pat said he heard some coyotes and wild turkeys.  He didn't see them, thank goodness, since we would have to be very careful with Duke and Abby if coyotes were in the campground.  After breakfast we headed out to do some errands and grocery shopping.
As we headed down Portage Ave. in Kalamazoo, we approached the Air Zoo (http://www.airzoo.org/) and decided to stop and see it.  We paid the basic admission and went in to the exhibit hall through a wall of clouds.  The entire exhibit hall has a huge hand-painted mural the covers the perimeter of the hall and traces the history of aviation from balloons to space travel.  There are lots of planes on display including planes from World War I, World War II all the way to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.  Pat and I went on one ride where the cars were balloons and it was a sort of circular roller coaster type of ride.  For someone who doesn't like roller coasters this was just right!

Notice in the pictures that the background is part of the painted mural.

Pat was hoping to be able to see a former Tecumseh Products Company plane on which he had been a passenger.  However, that particular plane was not in the display open to the public.  Nevertheless the tour of the museum was interesting and enjoyable. 

We finished our errands and spent a relaxing afternoon at our home on wheels.