The RV Gods were Smiling Down on Us

[ArkRVHog]

Just returned from a nearly 3000 mile trip exploring the Lake Superior coast in MN, WI, and finally MI. A beautiful area of the country if you visit during their warmer months. We saw so many beautiful waterfalls, quaint towns, historic lighthouses, ate great food (whitefish and pasties!) and met nice people. (Our southern drawl stood out amongst our northern friends always eliciting some great conversation.)

We were on the road for 31 days, changed campsite locations 14 times, and did not have ONE failure in our unit. Slides went out and back in (always a concern with Schwintek's), water pump pumped when needed, never blew a breaker while on shore power, and our A/C (when needed) blew cold air keeping us comfortable. I am still amazed I didn't come back with a punch list.

Thanks to Don N. of Minnesota who follows this forum and reached out with a lot of great tips and POI's...we experienced many of them based on his recommendations.

Though I continue to be a bit envious of my Class A/DP friends, my 30' Class C (with TOAD) got me in and out of every campsite, gas station and small town parking lot I needed to traverse. Love my Forester Model 2801QSF.

[Reverse_snowbird]

It's nice to hear that someone has had a positive and successful trip with their rig. We have friends with a Sunseeker with a similar layout and it's very practical for travel and camping.

Glad you're home and have many memories to share.

[LittleBill]

Originally Posted by Reverse_snowbird

It's nice to hear that someone has had a positive and successful trip with their rig. We have friends with a Sunseeker with a similar layout and it's very practical for travel and camping.

Glad you're home and have many memories to share.

X2 - Sounds like you had a great trip!

Stay safe -

[sherman12]

Beautiful area of the country. DW and I had a similar trip planned for this past July with our camping friends. However, after a two-month cross-country trip from May to early July that we started planning when diesel fuel was $3.04 a gallon, and our friends two month Carolina's trip starting in January, the cost of fuel gods took hold of both our finances forcing us to postpone the trip to a more favorable economic time.

[Dan_Frisbie]

It’s amazing what proper maintenance and operation will accomplish…
Although I have only been an RV owner(2 different ones) for three years, I have never had a serious problem. My worst incident was a blown tire on the 5th wheel…

[kenandterry]

Yeah…..I forgot to post a completely positive summary of our trip to the Canadian Maritime provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

5 weeks of virtually perfect camping weather. Only had 1 day of heavy rains, but it was a travel day, and did manage to wash off a lot of bugs…..not all, but a lot.
Every campground and stay over with Boondockers Welcome was perfect. The facilities and scenery were above and beyond expectations. We were fortunate enough to camp literally within inches of some of the highest tide locations in the world……Bay of Fundy in both provinces. The weather was especially warm enough to enjoy the waters wherever we camped.

The Sunseeker, starting out at nearly 45,000 miles, performed perfectly for the 5,000 miles of dual lane highways and all the scenic secondary roads we travelled. The Ford did its job and never missed a beat. The house part…..considering some of the terrible back roads we sometimes took, held together without fault. Every appliance and accessory worked flawlessly.

In summary…….I can’t wait to get out again, albeit more locally, before sadly, it’s time to winterize for another winter.

[BarabooBob]

Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin have some great areas for camping. We are lucky to live in Wisconsin and travel the area frequently.
I love the fact that we are centrally located for the entire country. It is 1000 miles for the east coast, the Gulf (of Mexico) and the eastern Rockies.
Did I mention that we love to brag ab out Wisconsin?

[sherman12]

BarabooBob we can't wait to take in the many splendors of Wisconsin, a state we have not yet had the pleasure to visit.

Being from Buffalo we have a saying "Go Bills"!, but I am also a Pack Fan going back to Bart Starr so to you, "Go Packers!", except when they play each other in a few weeks.

[slammer]

We just returned from a 3000 mile trip ourselves through Niagra Falls, around lake Erie, up into Michigan. I found the folks in Michigan to be really nice and the land though flat was just gorgeous with the endless green fields of Corn and Soy. We just skimmed that place but we were impressed enough we want to come back and do a more extensive tour of Michigan.

We were originally going to go into Canada but being accosted and our vehicle searched at the border just because we wanted to go look at the other side of the falls was uncalled for, those plans were scrapped. I don't know what their problem is up there. if they hate Americans, we can take our tourist dollars elsewhere.

[Nick Danger]

Originally Posted by slammer

We were originally going to go into Canada but being accosted and our vehicle searched at the border just because we wanted to go look at the other side of the falls was uncalled for, those plans were scrapped. I don't know what their problem is up there. if they hate Americans, we can take our tourist dollars elsewhere.

Being originally from Michigan - I can attest that Canadians don't hate all Americans or our tourist $$. But remember the old saying - "It only takes one bad apple to spoil the basket." Border Agents have a job to do and they take it seriously. Drugs are everywhere, still illegal and travel by all modes of transport.

[kenandterry]

Originally Posted by slammer

We just returned from a 3000 mile trip ourselves through Niagra Falls, around lake Erie, up into Michigan. I found the folks in Michigan to be really nice and the land though flat was just gorgeous with the endless green fields of Corn and Soy. We just skimmed that place but we were impressed enough we want to come back and do a more extensive tour of Michigan.

We were originally going to go into Canada but being accosted and our vehicle searched at the border just because we wanted to go look at the other side of the falls was uncalled for, those plans were scrapped. I don't know what their problem is up there. if they hate Americans, we can take our tourist dollars elsewhere.

So…..we’re you actually accosted and did they truly search your vehicle?
Once you made it through…..why not just enjoy the view? The worst was behind.

[mokershner]

ArkRVHog, congrats on a great and safe trip! This is a big, beautiful country we live in and I can't wait to take a long road trip myself.

[slammer]

Originally Posted by kenandterry

So…..we’re you actually accosted and did they truly search your vehicle?
Once you made it through…..why not just enjoy the view? The worst was behind.

They asked me to get out of the vehicle, and by "ask" I mean, it was not a choice, so I did. They proceeded to toss everything in the car, wife's purse contents dumped in the seat. if it was in there they dug through it. It took about an hour all together. I'm an American and this is Canada, I realize I have zero rights. But they had no cause to do any of it. I do not have a criminal record at all, they knew this before they even started the search (they admitted that much, they had my passport inside the office). How many Alabama gun runners with no criminal record have they come across posing as tourists coming to see Niagra Falls. I mean seriously if I wanted to run guns I'd have an 18 wheeler with a Canadian national driving the rig and I'd go across the commercial crossing, not the tourist trap.

I did enjoy the Canadian side of the falls, bought 60 dollars worth of maple syrup. But the experience makes me not ever want to go back.

[sherman12]

Slammer, for what it's worth, and not to stick up for the Canadian side of the border but I had the exact same thing happen to me and my DW "coming back into the states" at the Peace Bridge in Buffalo. I live outside of Buffalo!

The difference was we were detained for 3 1/2 hours! Tore through my car, separated my wife and me like we were criminals. CBP would not talk to me, I probably would have been arrested, but funneled all questions to my wife, as I mentioned away from me When they were "done", of what I never found out, they handed my keys to my wife and told her we can leave. She had to come to get me to tell me we were "free" to go! All my electronics in the car were disconnected and had to be reset.

All we could figure out is that we were the only white people in the CBP facility and they needed to balance things out so some other detained folks could not claim discrimanation.