Platte river

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Geo: 44.6639, -86.0181

Today, we packed up to go back to the LP. We really enjoyed the UP. We met our neighbor campers the night before. Turns out they live a 1/2 mile from us and go to Harlan. How crazy. It was two dads (one divorced and the other not sure) and their kids, a boy and a girl. The girl loved Elizabeth. The boy stayed with his dad. He had a traumatic experience the night before. They were on the sunset cruise that returned around ten PM in the dark. The boy was on the dock with his uncle looking up at his dad on the second level and fell off the dock between the boat and the dock (IN LAKE SUPERIOR). The uncle dove in after him and found him six feet below. Others had to pull him out by his feet while he pulled out the boy. WTFlip! I'd say that's traumatic. In the dark!! OMG!

Anyway, this morning we said goodbye to them as they were leaving too. We were both on our way to some hard core non electric camping. We have a non electric site at Platte River and...they were driving further North to the Porcupine Mountains (3 hours), then hiking 5 more hours, finding a spot to pitch a tent and hang their food from a tree, spend the night in the wilderness, wake up and hike another 5 hours to another campsite. All with threats of thunderstorms. Makes our camping sound like the Waldorf Estoria. They are normal people too...at least from the outside. And they are taking these two little NORMAL kids who may well be less than normal after this trip. I told them to text me when they get back.

So we packed up, dumped the "black" water and the "grey" water and filled the "fresh" water. Must use the proper terminology. As we were leaving, a bunch of vkids were yelling, "Bye Ben, " from the Gaga pit. Big kids and little kids and maybe some girls. How cute. We set off for the LP. Before braving the Big Mack Bridge again, we surprised the kids with their favorite pizza spot in St. Ignace, BC's Pizza. I think it stands for Big Crack pizza if you know what I mean. The pizza buffet is a draw for everyone. I had the salad bar because I can't eat the gluten and dairy. Humph. I'd love to eat it but I don't want to feel sick. The kids shrieked with delight when we got there. After, we grabbed some fudge across the street. And on to the bridge. It wasn't as scary the second time. We have gotten a feel for this rig. We tried to hook up with our friends/neighbors for a quick ice cream in Traverse City but we couldn't pull it off and we had to get to our site at a reasonable time. Their kids and our would have loved it.

We are staying at the Platte River campground which is super hard to get into. We could only get a non electric even though I signed up at the exact moment I was allowed. We are fine though. We have propane and back up battery for the fridge and stove and some plugs. We mostly cook on the fire anyway. I was happy about the fridge. We have water too. We are across from the bathroom and showers too which is convenient.

We decided to take a bike ride to Lake Michigan (1 mile) on a bike path from the park. It was gorgeous. I love the sandy dunes and beautiful blue waters. They all swam of course. I went in up to my thighs like in Superior. They had a blast playing chicken on each other's shoulders. Dad is a good sport. Tomorrow night we might build a fire on the beach and watch the sunset. A bunch of people do it. Make some s'mores. We got back and got to dinner. A late dinner. A 10 PM dinner to be exact. It tasted amazing. We marinated chicken all day, We bought some fresh fingerling potatoes and onions and garlic at roadside farm and fried them up on the fire. And, we fried up some zucchini. It was delish.

We cleaned up well so we don't have any bears snooping around. they saw a couple in a campsite a few days ago. Glad we are in a tin can. I hope the bear doesn't have a can opener. Tonight is a little warm. We have normally been comfortable or a little chilly at night. Tonight it's warm and we don't have the electricity for the air or fans. It's not terrible but I'm not asleep yet. Good night and some Platte River exploring tomorrow.

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Comments

[Gramps]

Love it.