Monday, November 14, 2011

Proud Owners

As Brian and I have been talking about our land and the upcoming building project, we've been talking about the best ideas for a living arrangement during the process. Our dear friends have offered us their "retreat" on the river which we are unbelievably thankful for, however it is a prime location and it may sell by the time we need it. In that case, we need a back-up plan. Brian thinks we should just be in a tent while we build for 4 months. You might think he was joking while he said it, but no....he was serious. I think we all know my answer to that. However, being on-site does seem like a good idea so we settled on the possibility of purchasing a cheap camper of some sort to leave on the land and "live in" while we build. I'm putting live in in quotes because I can be real enough to say that I will also be staying at various people's houses and using the YMCA for more than just their cardio equipment.

Anyway, we've been looking on Craig's list and have had my dad keeping his eyes open for trailers for sale. We went to look at one a few weeks ago (a truck/trailer all in one kind of deal) for $500 and it was in major disrepair. We told the guy that it would be fine if we had the time/money to fix it up but we needed a camper that was ready to live in cause we'd be building our house. He told us that it was good to take breaks from building your house. He then added that that's what he did.....and oh yeah, he's been divorced twice.

But then came our big break. This past Sunday I met Dad in Ashland and we went out to look at another possibility. And there she was.....a 23 foot 1971 Coachman travel trailer. Totally vintage (and I don't mean it was junky trashed, just looked like it was from 1971) and everything works in it. The guy took it to Sturgis this year so I know that it can be moved safely. And best of all, I got it for $500! Sweet. Brian is going to pick it up and take it to Hayward for the winter (since we don't have a driveway in yet, we can't put it on the land) and that way Dad can putz with it too. I'll put some pictures on when we get it situated at Dad's. So there you have it. We are the proud owners of a camper/temporary home. One more step in the right direction.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Porcupine Mountains Trip

Last weekend Brian and I (and Foxy) went to the Porcupine Mountains State Wilderness in Michigan to do some "luxury" camping. By luxury I mean that we got to forgo the tent and rented a rustic cabin for two nights. The cabins are basically just shelters that have some bunk beds, a table and chairs, a woodstove, and some pots and pans. Considering that it was in the 30's at night and rained one of the nights, it was definitely a luxury staying dry and warm in those cabins. For light, we had our headlamps and a lantern and yes, you did have to go outside to use the outhouse. It is a beautiful area and we only saw one other family there the entire three days we were in the park.

The first night we stayed at Speakers Cabin which is right on Lake Superior. It was awesome. It did some sprinkling/hailing as we walked in (oh yeah, you have to backpack your stuff in a mile to the cabins) but when we arrived at the cabin the clouds were starting to break and there was an amazing sunset to see. The cabin was super cute and stocked with wood. Quite cozy. The only complaints were that the mattresses were only a smidge better than sleeping on the ground and there were a ton of flies that had been caught by various strips of hanging fly paper. This wasn't a big deal until we made a fire in the stove and as the cabin heated up, the flies started to come back to life. Like really....as the temp went up, you heard more buzzing and saw little stuck flies starting to wiggle where they were silent and lifeless before. Creepy. I put those strips outside and in the morning there were no flies left, so I'm guessing some little critter got a midnight snack.





The second night we stayed at Greenstone Falls Cabin. This was a nice cabin on the river, however there was a very big problem. There was NO WOOD. And let me just say if it were just me on this adventure I would have left. But my strapping lumberjack husband went out and hauled in wet wood and used a sucky axe that they provide at the cabin to basically beat the wood into pieces so we could stay warm for the night. What a man. My hero. Even more so because at this point in the trip, my cold that I had started getting our first night had taken over my whole head and throat by the second night and there was no way I could even help with the wood bludgeoning.




We could have stayed a third night but I was feeling like crap so we went to Hayward on Saturday afternoon to be pampered by my Dad (aka he made us lots of good food and we watched a movie). Then Sunday we finished harvesting the last of the veggies - kale, chard, lettuce, and parsnips - and changed the oil on my car and headed back home. A really great mini-vacation. I highly recommend staying in those cabins. Really relaxing and cozy, especially when it is chilly outside.