May 19, 2008 by Tim Enright.

Minuteman campground is located in Massachusetts just outside of Boston. It is a very nice campground with lots of trees. That would normally be a plus unless a storm was heading towards you and branches kept falling out of the trees all around you. Luckily we escaped any direct hits.

The sites are large and offer full hookups including cable. They also have a very good Wi-Fi signal throughout the park. The bathrooms were clean and had a large dressing area. We highly recommend staying at this park if you are in the area. This will be one of our favorites.

The next morning my wife and I caught a train into Boston. In town we had a beer at Cheers. Afterwards we sat down for a steak at Ruth’s Chris Steak House located in the Old City Hall. This is one of the best steaks I have ever eaten. We then went by Denny Crane’s office to see if he would come out on his balcony for a cigar and scotch. We must have just missed him.

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May 17, 2008 by Tim Enright.

We made it to our first campground after two days of traveling. We stayed at Timberlane Campground located in Clarksboro, New Jersey. We chose this park for its location between Philadelphia and Atlantic City.

The campground is clean and offers sites with full hookups including cable. There were seasonal RV sites, but they were well kept. The people were extremely nice. They helped us plan our trips to both Atlantic City and Philadelphia.

The night we arrived we dropped the RV and headed to Atlantic City. When we arrived, we parked near the Hilton. We walked down the boardwalk to the Trump Plaza. We both put 5 bucks into the slot machines and both came out ahead. My wife won $8.50 while I was the winner of the largest jackpot I had ever won, $30.00 dollars! Even smarter, we both quit while we were ahead. Sorry Trump, this time you lose.

The next day we went to Philadelphia. In Philly, we did the tourist thing and saw the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall and Ben’s house. At Ben’s house (Ben Franklin to those of you not from the area) we got to see his privy (or toilet for those of you not from the time period). It really was nothing but a hole in the ground. Things have come a long way since then.

By this time it had started to rain pretty hard. But no matter how bad the weather, I was bound and determined to get my Philly Cheese Steak before we left. The people at the campground had told us about “Rick’s Philly Steaks”. This place has one of Philadelphia’s favorite Cheese Steaks if not the very best. Rick is a descendent of the creator of the Philly Cheese Steak. Rick’s is located in the Reading Terminal Market building. This building houses several businesses like you would find in an open air market.

Back at the campground we decided to go out for pizza. We found a small pizza place called Heavenly Pizza. This was my first New York style pizza. Sure wish I could find this back in the Midwest.

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May 16, 2008 by Tim Enright.

It is finally here! This is what we have been waiting for all winter. In fact, this is what we have been waiting for since we got our RV. We are on our first real road trip. We have planned for this trip for some time and the time has come to see it come true.

Today is the beginning of a 17 day well deserved vacation. We left as soon as we got out of work and made it into Ohio. We are staying at a rest area on the I-80 Ohio Turnpike. This particular rest stop has an area designed for RV’s to use that is located away from the noise of the big trucks. There is also fresh water and a dump station. The sites are paved parking spots that are wide enough for us to put our slide out. They also provide you with electrical hookups. The cost was quite reasonable and stopping here was convenient for someone traveling through.

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May 2, 2008 by Tim Enright.

Lakeport State Park, located just north of Port Huron in Michigan, is one of the nicest State Parks we have ever had the pleasure of visiting. We arrived at the park late on Friday in the off-season and were surprised to see someone there to meet us. They were very friendly and helped us to find a site.

The site we chose was directly on the shores of Lake Huron. It was one of the largest state park sites we have been in. All of the sites offer electric. There is water and a dump station in the campground. Two of the three shower houses were new. All of them were clean and very well taken care of. There is also a small general store within the park.

We enjoyed our stay here even though it rained the entire time we were here. We hope to return soon.

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April 18, 2008 by Tim Enright.

The Chippewa Indian Campground is owned and operated by the same tribe that runs the Soaring Eagle Casino in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.  Unlike most casino RV parks, this campground is not at the casino, it is a few miles down the road. There is, however, a shuttle bus that can transport you to the casino.

The campground is nothing special. The sites have water and electric. They also tend to be quite unlevel. There is a pool which looks as if it hadn’t been used in quite some time. Local residents zip through the campground on golf carts and ATVs. The place has potential and for the price is an OK value.

Check out Mr. Tree……

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April 5, 2008 by Tim Enright.

The long cold winter has gone and it is once again time to go camping. This is our first trip of the year, so we do not like to go too far from home. This was a wise decision since when we got to our site at the Valley Plaza RV Resort we noticed that we had forgotten to load the TV. We had just purchased a new Samsung LCD TV and a LG home theater-in-a-box.  I was anxious to try them out, so I had to return home to get the TV. By the way, it is awesome!

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November 19, 2007 by Tim Enright.

Following Deer Camp this year we stopped at Outdoor Adventures- Saginaw Bay Resort. Since we needed to clean out our tanks and winterize the trailer anyway, we decided that we would squeeze in one more week of camping. This is Thanksgiving week so my wife will only be working 3 days. I on the other only get the holiday off of work. We will both be driving to work from the park. It is not that much further than normal and mostly expressway.

The park is now setup for winter camping. There is no on-site water, but the bath houses are open. The general store is open a couple days a week. There are also security people around if you need help with anything.  This came in handy when we ran out of propane one day. Heat is not something you want to be without on nights when it gets down to 10 degrees outside.

For an extra fee you can leave your trailer right on a site and store it for the winter. This is handy if you want a place to go and get away for the weekend. We did not leave our trailer at the park this year but we thought about it. There were a lot of trailers on sites, however not many of them were occupied.  I figured there were only about ½ dozen people in the entire park. I am sure more visit on the weekends.

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November 11, 2007 by Tim Enright.

It is that time again. It’s time to gather up food for the long cold Michigan winter. It’s time to go huntin’!

At Deer Camp this year we had a full house. Besides my wife and me, we had both of the boys and their girlfriends… OH and don’t forget Mo (our dog). My dad camped along side of us in his 5th wheel. He was joined by my youngest brother.

My dad and brother both had successful hunts this year. My father got his first buck in quite some time. He must have decided that he didn’t want anyone taking deer from his hunting spot anymore. As you recall my oldest son, Jason got 2 deer there last year.

As for our group, guess we are going to go hungry this year. It’s going to be a LONG winter.

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November 2, 2007 by Tim Enright.

We are currently staying at the last of the five RV parks that are associated with Outdoor Adventures. This one is called Lake Shore. It is located in Davison, Michigan. This park is one of the busiest of all the parks, so we waited until late in the season to visit it. Lake Shore and Saginaw Bay are the only two parks open all year.

Upon arriving we were greeted at the gate by an employee who in my opinion did not want to be there that evening. As this is our first trip here, we did not know our way around and this guy did not want to make it any easier for us. His instructions were unclear and we were not even provided a map of the place. We entered the park quite confused as to where to go. Luckily we ran into someone out walking their dog, she was kind enough to show us were to go.

Lake Shore RV Park has indoor and outdoor pools, a beach, putt-putt golf, shuffleboard, game room and plenty of other activities to keep you and the younger ones in your family entertained. The majority of the sites are full hookups except for a section, which does not have sewer connections. We were told that the newer north shore section also provides cable TV but we were unable to verify this as this section was closed for construction. On the downside, the sites are all somewhat small and some are quite unleveled. There is no WiFi although cell phones did work quite well.

Lake Shore is the main park for Outdoor Adventures. We witnessed countless tours of perspective buyers by the sales people. We were impressed by how many people were visiting the park this late in the season. The owners do promote the place quite heavily.

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October 6, 2007 by Tim Enright.

This weekend we went to Outdoor Adventures Lake of the North, It is located in West Branch, Michigan. The weather was exceptional for this time of year. The temperature was in the upper 80’s with sunny skies and a mild breeze.

The park is the smallest of the Outdoor Adventure parks. It only has 101 sites. It is the newest park acquired by the company and is being highly renovated. A pool was recently added and several new sites are in the plans. This is not too popular to the people that have been coming here to get away from the “hustle and bustle” of the other parks. The atmosphere here was calm and quiet. This is a nice place to go, relax and get away from it all.

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