Day 18 - Made it to St Ignace

We left the Odawa Casino about 9 am and headed to Magnus City Park. 

While there we dumped our tanks and filled the freshwater tank for $5, a good deal.  We walked along the shoreline and picked up a bunch of Petoskey Stones. 

Leaving there we headed to Mackinac City and visited Hunt's Pastie and Cookie Company.  We each had one, they were okay, but not great.  We thought they should have had a little more meat in them.

We then went to visit the Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw, it is a museum now, but was a very important ice breaker when in service.

We then headed to the Mackinac Bridge.  I have a fear of high bridges over water after my injury in the Coast Guard, so I took advantage of the driving service the bridge has.  We called and a driver came out and drove us over. 

We are now in St Ignace and will tour the town tomorrow.

Day 17 - Still in Petoskey

We spent the night at the Odawa Casino in Petoskey.  They have a nice section for RVs, room for about 20 RVs.

We went back to Charlevoix, MI to check out an art show in town.  After that we drove around and checked out the mushroom houses in town.  They are very unique and storybook looking.

 After driving back to Petoskey we visited the casino again and made back the little money we lost last night.

Day 16 - Made it to Petoskey

We left Platte River Campground and did some sightseeing in the area.

First stop was the little village of Empire, they were some nice art stores there.  The Masonic Temple had an interesting light on it.

From there to the Coast Guard Station Sleeping Bear Point Station.  The boat house had a couple of nice old surf board, one an original and one a reproduction.  There was some interesting items there including a Lyle line throwing cannon.

From there we stopped at the Climbing Dune, there was a lot of people there enjoying the day climbing the dune.




Leaving the Climbing Dune we headed to the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive.  The scenic overlooks had some great views.  One of the overlooks had a place where people would go down the dune towards the lake.  It is not something the parks wants people to do, it's dangerous, but people love danger.

On the road still heading north we stopped for the night in Petoskey.

Day 15 - Made it to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

We decided not to stay at the Cabela's after all, moved over to the Cracker Barrel.  We enjoyed a nice breakfast, the Big Boy breakfast which we almost always get and split.

After breakfast we headed north stopping along the way.  Way had a nice visit to Traverse City, very nice downtown shopping area.

Walked around town for a couple of hours and then headed toward Sleeping Bear Dunes.  We got lucky and booked a night there this morning for a spot in the Platte River Campground!  The campground is very wooded and has plenty of space between the camping spots.  We are in spot 309, it's right next to a bathhouse which is handy.

Deb, Spike and I took the 1.5 Mike walk to the shore of Lake Michigan.  I saw the biggest black squirrel I have ever seen as  we were walking along the trail.

It was nice to have a camping spot for the night.

Day - 14 Made it to Grandville, MI

Spent one last night at the RV,/MH Hall of Fame.  We drove over the flea market in Shipshewanna, it was huge!  Really too big to see entirely in one day.  We spent as much time there as we could stand, it was hot and a lot of walking. 

Later we stopped back at the Coachmen Class B factory in Middlebury.  Just wanted to spend a little more time there, it is an amazing place.

From there we headed north and stopped at the Gun Lake Casino.  We signed up as new members and we each received $5 free play.  We played some slot machines and cashed out $36 richer than we started.

Left there still heading north a found a Cracker Barrel to spend the night.

Day 14 - Touring Coachmen Class B factory today

We spent the night again at the RV/MH Hall of Fame, it has a large parking lot and so handy.  There were five other RVs here with us spending the night, the museum opens at 9 am.

Today we are heading to Middlebury to tour the factory where Coachmen Galleria and Beyond Class B motorhomes are built.

We had a great time at the factory!  I will be posting a video soon of our tour.  It was really interesting to see how the Beyond is built.  We actually had two tours today, one by Greg and one by Nick.

We saw the craftsmanship put into these Class B motorhomes.  Starting with an empty van we saw how the build progressed until a completed Beyond rolled off the line to head to a new owner.

I was really amazed by the effort taken to insulate the coach.

A radiant barrier is installed on the floor to block heat from hot parking lots. Another radiant barrier is applied to the ceiling to help keep heat from the sun out.  This product also helps to dampen noise to create a quieter coach.

Next layer is Rockwool R15, which both insulates and contributes to the sound reduction.  Additionally, the wheel wells are wrapped with Hushmat, an important step to help quiet the coach from road noise.  Often overlooked but not by Coachmen!

You can also opt for an optional insulation package called Phase Change.  It's a revolutionary and  propriatry product from Coachmen to even further insulate the coach.

The optional Li3 package has a 600 AH lithium battery that is UL rated!  The electrical system is designed to work in harmony with all of the components.  Solar panels and a under hood generator help keep the batteries charged.

A super quiet 12 volt AC is available, we heard it running from both inside and outside.  The sound level inside was very quiet, on 45% fan speed I could hardly hear it.  On the outside it was a little louder, but not really loud.  We were inside the factory right under an opened garage door, not the best accoustics for sound levels.  But even in that location the sound was not bad.

The cabinetry is Amish made, real wood and what you would find in nice home cabinets.

And being powered by an easy to maintain Ford gasoline engine is like the cherry on top.

If you are in the market for a Class B make sure to check out the Coachmen Beyond!

Day 13 - Toured the RV/MH Hall of Fame

We spent to night in the parking lot at RV/MH Hall of Fame along with a bunch of other RVs.  This is a place I have wanted to visit for quite awhile, glad we finally made it.  This is a nice place to some truly nice old RVs and some really unique ones.