Thinking it Over

We've been campground hosts for less than a week now.  While we like the idea of a free campsite with electricity and water, there are parts of the campground hosting we definitely don't like.

Last night, we heard from a camper that there was a party going on at the pavilion that is near the boat landing.  Gary went down to investigate in his big van and found out that there was a teenage beer party just getting started. He has lights all over the van and sat there for a while. Then he circled around the area once more and waited as the kids skedaddled. That van is very imposing and they had no idea who he was. Later we were told by the forest service that we had no right to interfere.

The problem for us as hosts is that something like that is very disturbing to the people who camp there, but the forest service says it is not our business. That part of the park where the pavilion sits is not considered to be part of the campground which is run by the separate service that hired us. Theoretically, the forest service should lock the pavilion each night, but in fact they do not. We could call the county sheriff if glass starts breaking, apparently. 

Then there are campers who never pay. There are some who come in late at night and leave early in the morning to avoid the fees, which are incredibly cheap. We have no way of knowing for sure who is paying and who isn't, yet we know that the people who employed us are losing money.

There was the fellow who didn't think he should pay because the bathrooms were filthy though we checked and cleaned them twice a day.  He also thought there should be paper towels but that's impossible because campers keep throwing them in the toilets clogging up the works.

Don't even get me started on those people who can't seem to get toilet paper from their bottoms to the toilet bowls.

One woman complained this morning that we were closing the park on the 30th while Lake Gogebic stays open another month. We hosts have no control over the closing of a national forest campground. Lake Gogebic is a state campground with a different administration.

I have long made it a rule that no matter how much money a project or job pays, if the aggravation is too much, the money is not worth it. I sat on the city council for one term and that was enough. One week of being a campground host was enough, too.

So it's back to Plan A, finding a good place to live somewhere in the north woods, a place we can live out our retirement years. We'll still camp, but without being in charge.

Who needs the aggro?

Winding Down at Lake Ottawa

This morning, we did a run to Hagerman Lake and beyond looking for fall colors and we found them. They are now beyond "peak" and on to the "Wow!!!" stage.  The reds leaves are putting on the best show.

Here's a shot from a forest road.

As we turned on to Old Beachwood Road, we looked into the valley to a farmstead. It can't be that easy farming on this stony ground, but the views would make the hard work easier.

Gary said that autumn colors are better than fireworks: not as noisy, last longer, and we don't have to go out at night to see them. These are precious days for us.

Later, at Lake Ottawa, a camper stopped by to ask the hosts (us) when the campground closes. He said that last year he wound up getting locked in the campground when the forest service closed the gates. He finally got them to open up but didn't want to make that mistake again.

Lake Ottawa campground closes on September 30. One camper has enough firewood at his site to last until November so we suspect he is unaware of the date. We decided it would be good to let campers know so Gary made up a sign on his computer and printed out several copies. (Of course he brings a printer camping!) The signs are now at the entrance and at every toilet.

On Monday morning we'll move our camper to the next spot, Laura Lake in Wisconsin's Nicolet National Forest.  That campground stays open until October 14.

Even after that, we'll be following fall colors. Gary has to go down to Illinois to work on the farmhouse there. I don't suppose we will really be back in Seymour until almost the end of October.  

Electricity

I hate to admit it, but I am enjoying having electricity at the host campsite.

There's a heated mattress pad on my bed and an electric heater in my room. No more cold nights, at least until we get to Laura Lake in a week.When I wake up in the middle of the night, I can flick a switch instead of groping for a flashlight.

There's a microwave oven, so last night we snacked on popcorn while we watched Lincoln by way of a DVD on our big screen television. Gary's happy to have his electric coffee maker. I push a button when I wake up. He wakes up to the smell of coffee.  No waiting for it to perk on the gas stove. For the first time this summer, I can use a toaster.  Breakfast is lovely.

I didn't have time to process the apples we picked on Saturday, so I brought apples and the dehydrator to the campground. I am making a batch of apple chips a day.

We have better wi fi reception.  I can type away on this computer for hours without worrying about the battery going dead. I can charge my cell phone and Nook any time.  

I am not kidding myself that this is real camping, I still love my little tent, but now that cold weather is setting in, I don't mind a few luxuries.

Autumn Color

Friends from further south asked about the autumn color show up here, thinking to drive up this weekend. The colors aren't strong here at Lake Ottawa, probably because the 500 acre lake moderates the temperatures in the area. However, I had seen quite a bit of fall color when I drove back here on Monday. Today, Gary and I took a drive to see if we could find out what was happening.

We drove into Iron River, West on Highway 2 to Sandy Lake Road which took us south.

We found plenty of color though not always a good place to pull of the road to take photos. Another problem is that when the color in the hills is at 100 percent, the photos come out as blobs of yellow and orange unless punctuated with some deep green conifers. And then there was the time of day. The best fall photos are taken early in the morning or later in the evening when the sun is close to setting.

Still, it was a drive into Autumn with bright colors everywhere.  We stopped at little Wisconsin lakes and rivers, some we had never seen. We stopped along the Brule River, which forms part of the border between Wisconsin and the UP.

Then this evening I walked down to the boat landing and beach and took more photos which were more colorful than the ones I took around noon.

I

I'll try to take better photos as the the week goes on. 

Apples

Last night Paul and Leanne, two campers, stopped by for apple pie, chocolate almond ice cream and hot lemonade. I made the apple pie from the Winesap's apple tree in the back yard.  It was pronounced delicious. Leanne even knew about Winesap's. She, too, ate them when she was a child. I talked about climbing the tree in the orchard at our farm, hiding from the world under its branches, and reading books. From time to time, I reached out to pick a tart apple to munch on in my retreat.

Paul and Leanne are avid campers who have been all over the United States in their little camper. They used to camp in tents but the grizzlies out West made them nervous after a while.  They travel with four cats they've rescued. Our favorite is Matey, who is blind in one eye. His full name is Arrggghhh Matey, because he looks like a pirate. They would never leave any of them behind. They've been abandoned before.

We swapped camping stories until late.

I began this morning with a big Honey Crisp apple, which I got at an orchard with Chris, Evan, and Tisha.  It is everyone's favorite with just the right combination of crunch and sweetness. I counted the apples and found I should have just enough to be my morning fruit for the rest of our camping season.

Gary had to go to Iron River to do his laundry but I stayed at the campground with the Cortland apples we picked. The dehydrator was in the cook tent plugged into the host site's electricity, so all I had to do was process the apples with the corer/peeler/slicer. It is a nifty gadget we picked up at a rummage sale a couple of years ago.  In ten minutes, I had the apples slices arranged on the dehydrator. Then it was a matter of waiting 4-1/2 hours. I now have six snack bags of apple chips. I'll be doing this every day while we are on the campsite. By the time we leave for Laura Lake on September 30, I should have enough apple chips to last the winter.

The only worry about processing apples is the fear of attracting critters, so I cleared the apples trimmings and put them in the dumpster at the park entrance. I washed all the utensils thoroughly when I was done. No bears so far, but I admit the chipmunks and red squirrels were mighty interested. 

We'll be Your Hosts Today

I returned to Lake Ottawa to find Gary already moved into the host site, our name signs already in place.

I found Gary getting a good fire going, necessary since he had already asked other campers to join us for hot beverages and apple pie. It is what Anita would do.It also meant that he now would have a use for all those chairs he insists on bringing along. Meanwhile, he rests beside the fire, getting up occasionally to chop wood.

We  now have electricity and water on our site, which makes posting this blog so much easier. We are right next to the best toilets in the campground. We have our own beach down the hill.  Across the lake the trees are changing color but the big lake moderates temperatures so the process is slower here than it would be in the middle of the forest.

As the sun goes down, the lake shimmers. Looks like we'll love being camp hosts, even for this short time.

Bumper Crop

I planted the apple tree when Aaron Bloedorn, who lived next door, was fourteen and being confirmed. I told him I would make a pie for his wedding.

Well, over the years, the tree grew and after a few years, I had apples, but they were all wormy. It never got any better.  Last year, with drought, there weren't even all that many apples, wormy or not. This year, Aaron's mother told me he is getting married in November. Too bad, I said, I can't make that apple pie I promised.

As we all know, the rains came this spring. The apple tree blossomed, and the bees got busy.  The result was a bumper crop of apples.  All wormy, I thought, what a waste.  But my friend Susan, who has many apple trees and like me, doesn't spray them with insecticides, told me that the highest apples often are fine. Today, I decided to start picking. Sure enough, the apples at the center of the tree were very wormy but the ones at the farthest end of each branch were fine.  For every ten apples, only one was any good, but with hundreds of apples, I soon had a bag full.

Tonight, there's an apple pie in the oven and soon, a couple of loaves of apple bread will join it.  Because I picked apples with Chris, Tisha and Evan yesterday, I have more apples that need to be dealt with but now that we have electricity in our new camp site, I will be able to run the dehydrator to make apple chips. Because it is cold in the camper at this time of year, I can use the oven there and make even more tasty treats.

As for Aarons's wedding, I may get that pie made after all.