Thom and Dar's Sabbatical Journal

When I last updated this journal, we were in our last few days in the U.P. of Michigan... and that was more than a week ago (longer??). About time I get caught up. Thursday the 20th of September, we took advantage of a hole in the clouds and escaped the U.P. while the gettin' was good. For much of the previous week this little corner of the country has been cold and wet... the result of a "ridge" over the eastern Pacific that was keeping the Northwest and Alaska warm, but was then diving southeast bringing all this unpleasantness to the northern Midwest. Weather satellite video was clearly showing this river of clouds and moisture. And we were there. We woke to rain (of course) which reinforced my nagging fear that we may not be able to leave... even if we wanted to. You see, we're parked on grass here at the camp. The grass grows in dirt and most people know what happens when a lot of water is mixed with dirt. But the rain eased, and the dirt and grass supported

Outside temp was 35f this morning. Expecting 28f tomorrow morning... likely the first hard freeze of the progressively advancing Fall of 2012. Our trip around the sun on the lifeboat "Earth" steadily carries us toward Winter again. As you'd expect, Fall color is really starting to "pop"... noticeably more during the past week. The forest on the hillside across the lake from our camp (the view from our picture-window/windshield) is providing the scenic images we've been longing for... and the main reason we're up here as late as we are this year. Locals are busily getting ready for Winter. Wood sheds are fully stocked... piers and docks are pulled ashore... most boats are out of the water and readied for a 7 month sleep in drydock. It's the semi-annual change-over that true Yoopers seem to live for. The original economic engine of the UP, and the reason so many people flocked to this area between the civil war and the 1930's boils down to

We're camped in the middle of Michigan's Upper Peninsula (Yooper-land) at Dar's brother's "camp", as Yoopers refer to what most other folks call a cabin. We've been here before and just love the solitude and peace that this remote location affords. It's very high on our list of favorite places to be. This past Tuesday we departed Hidden Ridge RV "Resort" near K-zoo and headed north. Our route was US-131 through Grand Rapids to Cadillac, M-56 east to US-127 north to I-75 to the big bridge over the Mackinaw Straits of Lake Michigan/Lake Huron. Conditions were fine for travel and we moved right along. Originally intending to get some U.P. miles under our belt before stopping for the night, we decided 280 miles was enough for the day and dropped anchor at Straits State Park just north of the bridge in St. Ignace Michigan. We'd camped there in the past and liked the location and atmosphere of the place. But Michigan is proud of their State

We're parked at Hidden Ridge RV "Resort" located about mid-way between Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids Michigan. The move here was made necessary by the Labor Day weekend crowd reserving every single site at Markin Glen County Park, our usual K-zoo stop (and where we were until this past Friday). We have a great spot here at Hidden Ridge, on a ridge overlooking a pond... but we're certainly paying for it. No free scenery here, that's for sure. Dar's about finished going through our stuff in her Sister's basement. She has reduced the pile by a noticeable amount, but it's still a much larger pile than I was hoping for. It amazes me how so many things we haven't used, looked at, or thought about for 5 years, still have the power to exert a "pull" on us... to manipulate us into keeping it a while longer. I've always believed that everything we have, that we own, consumes some small amount of personal freedom-robbing energy. And this experien