We departed from Kathy’s house in East Greenbush, NY at 10:15AM EDT and and started our trek South to Cabela’s in Hamburg, PA (247 miles). We took I-87 South to I-287 to I-78. We stopped for fuel at the TA Travel Center in Bloomsbury, NJ.
We arrived at Cabela’s around 2:41PM EDT. We have stayed here overnight twice in 2019 and 2020. Upon arrival, we immediately dumped our tanks at the free dump station. Then we went into Cabela’s to purchase some items (ammo and targets) to thank them for our free overnight stay. While we were checking out, Beth made an online carryout purchase from the Red Robin that is about 400yds from our parking spot. We picked up our wings and then parked the camper, dropped the jacks, and put the room out. We had chamber of commerce sunny and 72 degree weather followed by an overnight low of 47. We watched Alabama vs Florida St. football via Starlink and YouTube TV.
We left Speculator, NY at 11:00AM EDT and headed down out of the Adirondacks to Beth’s sister Kathy’s house in East Greenbush, NY (near Albany). We drove 8 miles out of our way in order to fuel up at the TA Travel Center near Johnstown, NY which was well worth the $0.86/gal savings (we saved $20 on that fill up). On our fuel detour we stopped at the Taco Bell in Johnstown, NY for a couple Stackers and a Burrito. As we passed through Albany we made our usual stop at the Albany Water Treatment Facility to dump our tanks. We arrived at Beth’s sister Kathy’s house at 2:00PM EDT (103 miles). Our total distance on this trip so far is 6,665 miles and our overall fuel mileage is 14.4MPG.
Site #1
We had originally intended to head home at the end of July and then drive back up to Albany in mid September to help pet sit while three of Beth’s sisters vacationed in Scotland. Their trip got moved up to mid August so we came directly to Albany from Mom & Dad’s. Beth’s sister Kathy’s cat CeeCee had an iodine procedure done this week for a thyroid issue and arrived home today shortly after we arrived. She seems fine. We are now settling in and preparing to baby sit cats in three homes.
Before they left for Scotland, Lori, Donna, and Terry took the pet sitters out for a meal at Kay’s Pizza (possibly our favorite pizza). Kathy, Beth, and I also had an excellent meal at Tipsy Moose Tap & Tavern while we were pet sitting.
We departed from Erie, PA at 7:15AM EDT and continued East on I-90. We stopped for fuel at the Speedway in Corfu, NY and ate one of their delicious breakfast sandwiches in the parking lot. We arrived at Beth’s childhood home in Speculator, NY at 1:50PM EDT (340 miles). The campground host (Beth’s brother Dick) promptly met us at the entrance and guided us to our site. Our total distance on this trip so far is 6,559 miles and our overall fuel mileage is 14.5MPG.
SpeculatorPhoebe Enjoying the House
We have tray tables that fit in the cup holders (on the armrests) of our theater seats. I love mine for using my laptop and eating grub, but they make it difficult to climb out of the chair because they don’t really move completely out of your way. Additionally, theater seats sit on a ledge (the slide) that is about 2″ above the floor and you have to place your feet out about 4” past the ledge to stand up. I was getting out of my chair one day and lost my balance and fell back into the other seat which had it’s tray table closed and I fell right into the seat and crushed the tray table which is made out of some kind of “waffle wood”. It’s not solid. I crushed it (a lot of people on the internet forums for our RV complain about how hard it is to get out of the theater seats with these tray tables if you aren’t 19 years old). Beth’s brother, who is a master wood worker, was more than happy to build us new tray tables. We went to his favorite wood supplier and purchased a nice piece of poplar. With a harder, stronger wood he was able to modify the design to allow the tray tables to swing out further. Our access to the seats is no longer restricted by the tray tables. Beth applied several coats of polyurethane to the wood and the final product is incredible. He also noticed that we were placing a towel on the center armrest to protect the leather from the tray tables and broke out his sewing machine and created a very nice padded suede cover for the armrest to protect it. We are extremely happy with the results.
New Tray TablesPadded Suede Armrest ProtectorPhoebe Testing Armrest Strength
We departed from Mom & Dad’s at 10:00AM EDT and headed East to Lampe Campground at the Port of Erie, PA. We took the “toll avoidance” route across US-20 and OH-2 (with some connectors along the way until we reached the free portion of I-90 in Cleveland. Traffic was heavy on I-90 until we got closer to Pennsylvania. We arrived at the campground at 4:30PM EDT (322 miles).
Beth discovered a Chick-fil-A just before we got off US-20 and onto I-475 in Toledo, OH and dialed up an order on her phone. I was a bit nervous about the parking lot situation at lunch hour based on every other Chick-fil-A we’ve ever tried to visit, but this one had a real nice setup to route the drive-thru commandos (who drive 30MPH minimum through the parking lot to beat any competitors to the front of the line) away from the parking spots. We managed to snag a parallel parking spot near the entrance and the food was ready when Beth arrived inside. We were chomping on chicken nuggets within about two minutes. We also decided to try the chicken strips for the first time. The meat was excellent and perfectly cooked (as you would expect), but the batter was thicker and sweeter than the nuggets. Although the strips were great, we didn’t care for the sweet taste and will stick to the nuggets in the future.
We stopped for fuel at the Loves Travel Stop in Madison, OH. That was a quick stop. We saved about $0.80/gal with our diesel fuel card.
This campground is a part of the Port of Erie and is directly on a canal that comes in to a harbor from Lake Erie. It’s very nice and very full with Water and 50Amp Electric at each site.
We took Phoebe in for her annual checkup and required vaccines on Wednesday (7/23) and the Vet noticed that the root was exposed on one of her molars. We had originally planned to head East on Sunday (7/27/2025), but decided to stay two extra days to accommodate dental surgery for Phoebe. The surgery went well and we had her back home in the camper by 1:30PM (after dropping her off at 8:30AM). The Vet discovered that the molar in question had broken in half and all he did was remove the remaining half. So no pain killer required and no major impact. She wasn’t even very groggy when we got her (they tried to limit the anesthetic due to her age). She wasn’t interested in food the day of the surgery, but otherwise seemed just fine.
Fence Row Clean-up
Back in 2019, Beth and I cleaned up the fence row. Mom & Dad’s neighbors don’t care to trim their landscaping. In fact, the lady of the house thinks that the jungle look is beautiful. So, all of their plants grow through the fence and overtake Mom & Dad’s yard. Plus, in the front yard where there have been hedges my entire life (and all previous neighbors trimmed the hedges nicely), these neighbors have never trimmed the hedges (well over 10 years). Some of the hedge infrastructure is well over 3″ in diameter. Anyway, over the last 6 years we have not managed to keep up with it and now that I have a shiny new hip we decided it was time to clean it up again. We took our time and didn’t overwork ourselves. It ended up taking about four days working a few hours each day and hauling at least six trailer loads of debris to the street on the back side of our block (because we can’t dump it on US-20). It’s all cleaned up now and we hope to stay ahead of it in the future.
Progress after Day #1Weed Whacking the FenceProgress after Day #2Progress after Day #3Hedges Trimmed BackDumping the Debris
7/22/2025 – Dinner at Monument Pizza and Pub
This afternoon we went to Angola to shop at Menards (an annual ritual with Mom & Dad). We went in the late afternoon, so we started out by eating supper at Monument Pizza Pub which is on the Angola roundabout which is anchored by the Civil War Soldiers’ Monument (Angola had a roundabout LONG before roundabouts were cool). We enjoyed our meals and were all glad we gave the establishment a try, but didn’t feel we needed to frequent it. The biggest disappointment was that several of the items from their online menu (chicken wings, cheese-steak, etc.) were not available on the restaurant menu.
Buffalo Chicken Sandwich (no bun)Chicken Tenders Tossed in Buffalo Sauce
7/15/2025 – Arrival
We departed from Camp Petosega at 9:30AM EDT and headed South to my parents house in LaGrange, IN (317 miles). Due to construction on US-131 we took I-75 South to US-121 to I-69 just North of Lansing, MI. After refueling at the Speedway in DeWitt, MI, we then took I-69 to Angola, IN and stopped off at the local Walmart. After purchasing some kitty supplies (litter) we headed over to Mr. Meatz on the West side of Angola and picked up some sweet Italian sausage to smoke. That store had the biggest selection of Bratwurst flavors we’ve ever seen. Then we headed West on US-20 to Camp Land of Troy arriving at 4:00PM EDT.
We departed from Tourist Park at 10:00AM EDT and headed Southeast to Camp Petosega in Alanson, MI near Petoskey and the North end of lower Michigan (200 miles). We left Marquette heading South on US-41 and then took MI-28 East along the Lake Superior coastline. We had a lot of beautiful scenery. We then took MI-77 South to US-2 and stopped for fuel at a very busy BP station at that intersection. Traffic was heavy from that point on, but once again we had a lot of beautiful scenery along Lake Michigan.
As I was plotting our route yesterday I noticed a restaurant called Clyde’s Drive-in and just felt like we ought to stop there, especially after reading the reviews. Entire family ancestries in the reviews have been stopping there after crossing on to the Upper Peninsula since it opened in 1949. Who knows, maybe my Grandpa (Dad’s side) stopped there after crossing on the ferry on his fishing trips back in the day? The reviews warned us to plan on waiting at least 30 minutes for our burgers. We couldn’t pull up to the 9′ high drive-in spots with our 11′ 6″ RV, but we did find a sweet spot right up front and Beth went in and fought the 40 minute battle for our food (she’s the best!) It was well worth the wait. Definitely the best burger of this trip. I had a delicious Bacon Cheeseburger with onion rings and Beth had a delicious Bison Cheeseburger with cheese curds. We both ate our burgers and about three each of the onion rings and cheese curds (no mas!)
Bacon CheeseburgerBison BurgerCheese Curds & Onion RingsBeen There, Done That, Got the T-Shirt!Clyde’s Drive-In – Established 1949
When we arrived at Clyde’s Drive-in, the line for the toll booth on I-75 for the Mackinac Bridge was well back before Clyde’s. Fortunately for us, by the time we left Clyde’s the line had shrunk and we were able to pull out onto US-2 (left turn) and immediately jump on I-75 (right turn). The line at the toll booth wasn’t too long and NO, they don’t take SunPass, EZ-Pass, or any pass. Give us cash ($10 for our rig).
We arrived at Camp Petosega around 3:30PM EDT. This is a county park campground and our “Premier” site has full hookups for $41/night. The sewer hookup will give us the opportunity to give our black tank a good back flush before arriving at Camp Land of Troy in LaGrange.
We departed fromKreher RV Park at 11:00AM CDT and headed East to Tourist Park Campground in Marquette, MI (183 miles). We continued East on US-2 and then picked up MI-28 and took it to US-41. We took US-41 all the way to the Walmart in Marquette. The roads were all good. We stopped for lunch at a nice shady Rest Area along MI-28 because there’s zero fast food between Ashland, WI and Ishpeming, MI (168 miles). There are, however, lots of trees. We also saw lots of campers throughout the drive. It’s definitely a Friday in the Upper Peninsula and the Yoopers were all heading out camping for the weekend. This campground is completely full (all 110 sites).
We arrived at Tourst Park Campground around 3:30PM CDT. This is another city campground and the sites are Electric only. However, they do provide Wi-Fi and so far it appears to be fairly strong (we’ll see what happens when everyone is streaming this evening). It’s a little hot (pronounced “hawt”) for the Yoopers as the temperature got up to 82 today.
We departed from Trails RV Park at 8:00AM CDT and headed East to Kreher RV Park in Ashland, WI (206 miles). We headed East on MN-200 until it ended at US-2. It was a very rough road. US-2 was much better for most of the drive (but not all of it). We arrived at the RV Park at 11:50AM CDT and were pleased to see that there were several spots available (none directly on the water, but ours is close enough).
When I paid the campground host I asked if we could wash the bugs off of the RV and he said, “I don’t care what you do, as long as you don’t make a big mess”. Needless to say, we started washing another couple thousand miles of grime off the RV immediately after lunch. She’s beautiful again.
Site #23Site #23View from Theater SeatingChill’n Along the LakeSunset Under/Over Neighbor’s 5th Wheel
When we were here in 2021, Wendell and Linda took us to dinner at Shingobee on the Bay and we definitely enjoyed our meal, especially the cheese curds. So today, we drove directly there for lunch. Even though it was just past Noon on a Monday, the restaurant was packed so we knew it was still top notch. We ordered Cheese Curds for an appetizer because at the time we considered them the best we ever had. We ordered them again today and they were just as good if not better. Beth had chicken wings for her main course and I ordered their chicken fingers tossed in Buffalo sauce. Both were incredible. My “fingers” were more like full chicken breasts (three of them) cooked perfectly. I ate one. The rest will make great leftovers along with Beth’s wings.
Site #41Site #41Shingobee Chicken Cheese CurdsShingobee WingsShingobee Chicken FingersLove Being Able to Park Just About AnywhereSite #41
We arrived at Lindenwood Campground just after 2:40PM MDT. This is another city campground with water and electric hookups. The site I originally selected was down along the river, #18, which it turns out is in the B-Loop. Somehow in the process of purchasing the site, it switched to A-18 (even though I picked the site off of a map). So we were disappointed to arrive and find out that we aren’t along the river. Oh well. The price is right, but we’re packed in like sardines, which I was wiling to accept for a site along the river. On a positive note, the staff did allow us to wash all the bugs off of the front of the RV.
