We couldn't get the power jack to work due to the steep angle of our site so Bob had to do the manual crank. We had to dig it out of one of the storage compartments. He really worked up a sweat cranking that thing. We're glad we don't have to resort to that every time we move. To get out we had to make a left turn out of our 90-degree back-in site and then go left at the corner of our row. A cedar fence was ticking out that Bob had to make a second attempt to get around. There was barely room for our 30 foot rig to get through there. At last we made a hairy left on to State Road 2, over uneven road construction and were on our way. We took 31 north to I-94 east to 51 south to George St. in Decatur and then finally to CR 669. We missed George Street but Bob made a bat-turn in a church lot and we finally arrived at Leisure Valley Campground in Van Buren County, 40851 CR 669, Decatur, MI 49045, (269)-423-7122. Our total journey was only 80 miles.
Phil, the owner of the campground, from NJ got off of his mower to come in and sign us in. We paid $365.00 for 15 nights which gets us through July 5th and the holiday. We were very happy he wasn't already full for the 4th or we would have had to move on in one or two days and try to find another place to stay for the busy holiday. They have a six-month seasonal rate (open 4/15-10/15) for $1500.00 which a lot of people seem to be taking advantage of. There are 108 sites here and two fishing ponds. We were able to pull through site #54 to our site #77 since the place is mostly empty except for the 'seasonal' campers. There are nice shade trees and this is a well-kept place. We're glad to be out of that last site that was kind of trashy. We set up quickly and drove in to Decatur for lunch. The only place open at 3:00 (2:00 by this morning’s Indiana time, but now we're in Michigan and lost an hours) was Saylor's Pizza. Monday and Tuesday they have 2 for 1 pizzas so we got two medium, 3-topping pizzas for $12.60. It was quite good, hand made pizza. We took one home with us. On the way back we stopped at Village Market, the local grocery (it was a tad larger than the corner market of the same name just up Perry Street from the house I grew up in , in St. Charles, MO.)
Back home we stowed the groceries, read some local brochures that we picked up in the office, and then walked down to check out the laundry and take a turn around the ponds. We came home, packed up two loads of laundry and drove down to the office. Bob took his fly rod across the road to the pond. I read my book on a bench by the water. The laundry was done by 8:00 but it was till completely light and still hot outside.
Bob saw a guy waling two red long-haired dachshunds and carrying two brand new puppies. He says there's big fish in the pond. We stashed the laundry and had a snack. At 9:55 p.m. it is still light out! We're in the land of the midnight sun I guess; today we had 15 hours and 21 minutes of daylight according to the weatherman.
It's 10:20 p.m. and 64.8 degrees.