Bye Onsted...hello Manistee & the M&M rally

I still can't get Blogger to work with IE9 but it does with Chrome.  Looks like Google want us to use only their browser and not Microsoft!  But....I'm back!

We left Onsted 8/18 for Manistee and Little River Casino for the HitchHiker M&M (Michigan Mini( rally.  We have 20 HHs attending this year.  We spent time relaxing, chowing down at the casino (they give us $10/day/person), doing a little gambling (they give each person $50 in free money) and making a few trips to explore the local area.  

Visit with Bev and her family

Today we went to Evans Lake Resort to visit with Bev and one granddaughter, Hannah. Bev has rented a cottage for a vacation and Hannah went with her for a couple days. After going out to lunch we stopped at our place and Hannah enjoyed driving the Gator and exploring Randy & Kristi's property. On Tuesday we returned to visit with Bev, Jason, Sharon & Clare.
I'm having some troubles with the pictures and will post as I can.

It took 25 days but we finally got our home back today.  No more decals chipping off or discolored and cracked.  We now have a one of a kind!  We sure did miss it!  

New pool!

It was a very hot day when randy had rented a trencher & trenched about 150 feet from the barn to the pool for the electricity. Not that he needed more but while trenching he did discover a few more rocks.

But as you can see below the end result was very well appreciated!

Paint booth, painted Devyn, friends, & a pool

Devyn & her mom were on a 5K color run and during the run various colors were thrown on them, her she is after changing her clothes.

Randy & Kristi are getting Devyn a pool, a family has to have a good activity to stay involved with each other & Devyn loves the water.  It's been a very hot summer so we are sure this will be well used.  Here's a picture of the pool, doesn't look like much huh?

 The excavation work to level a spot for the 24' wide above ground pool.

Construction of the pool base.

We made another trip to Bremen, IN to see our HitchHiker in the paint booth, here's a preview of what she will look like.  We will get our home back this Friday!

After that we wandered around the countryside and moteled it for the night, then last Sunday we went to Wauseon, OH to meet Paul & Dottie on their way to Elkhart; we were also joined by Ron & Roberta and Harold & Karen then we all went out to chow down.

Living in Michigan

                                    

 

We stopped at MorRyde in Elkhart, IN to have some routine suspension maintenance then went to Bremen, IN and dropped off our home to get it painted.  The decals were looking really bad.  So we are now living with Randy, Kristi & Devyn for at least 3 weeks while the HitchHiker is getting painted.  We stopped in Bremen several days latter to see her sanded & taped up. 

Our favorite granddaughter, Devyn!

We have spotted, in Onsted, an illegal alien & managed to get a photo.

One day we went to Sturbridge Village's Barn restuarant in Ohio to meet and have a late lunch with Ron & Roberta and Karen & Harold, good HitchHiker friends.  We also went to Turkeyville to meet with Harold & Karen again and Ron & Lois who we haven't seen since last year, my CRS was working well and & forgot to take a picture.

  Judy & friend, cold beer and good burgers too.

One evening we spotted a pair of turkeys in the front yard, one is white.  A couple days latter we learned that the turkeys were Ma & Pa with 11 youngsters following them!

Back in the Onsted pasture

After 421 miles yesterday we were up early and on the road at 7:30 this morning.  We had lunch & a break at a rest area just north of Indy.  We arrived in Onsted at 4:30 after driving the final 417 miles.  Judy drove both yesterday and today.  After Randy & Devyn arrived home they made a great supper, steak, corn, salad & pumpernickle bread.  Everyone is pretty tired tonight so we are all hitting the sack.  We really wanted to see Devyn!