On the way up to Interlochen we stopped in Cadillac, MI. Since I use diesel, I don’t know if I can find it in rural areas so I tend to top off when I can. The diesel pump was off to the side, which isn’t totally unusual. However, it was super freaking old. I didn’t see the button to start the pump. It also wouldn’t accept my rewards card. Since I was there for a while, the attendant came out to help. He looked at me like I was an idiot because it was taking so long to start pumping. No big deal.
We rented a cabin, a few sites down the path, for my dad for the first two nights. It turned out to be a good decision. We set up our 4-person Big Agnes again and my sister stayed in the cabin with my dad. After that, he had her old tent and she use a gigantic tent that Mike brought. It must have been a six person family tent. Unfortunately it leaked the last night.
We noticed float planes landing in Duck Lake. We guess that there was some type of school for float planes. They kept landing and taking off right behind our campsite.
My sister convinced my dad to try kayaking this time. My stepmother stayed home this time. After getting chigger bites, she’s had enough with camping. The Platte River is super calm, so it was a good place to let my dad get his feet wet as they say. He was nervous at first but relaxed after we adjusted his seat. He made it about 2/3 across Loon Lake when I suggested we tow him a bit to give his shoulder a rest. He did great for a first time at 79 years old.
While we were paddling on the Platte River, a little boy yelled to his mom, “look they have a coyote on their kayak”. We got a kick out of that.
The second outing was on the Betsie River. None of us had paddled the Betsie River before. The first exit site we went to had private property signs all over. So we back tracked to the previous bridge. Sadly we didn’t investigate it well enough.
There was a bit of drizzle at the start. We didn’t pay attention and put my dad in first, not realizing that there was a dam right at the start. So we got better organized and all portaged our kayaks. The rest of the Betsie was super peaceful and pleasant. When it was time to get out, our lack of scouting the area bit us. We all crashed, including my dad and Ana. The bridge had large, culvert pipes. The problem with culvert pipes is that they tend to erode the ground on the downstream side, which makes for a tricky exit. So none of us made it to the side of the river without tipping over or crashing. We still had fun and no one was seriously hurt.
Food
As with previous car camping trips, we packed foil packets for the first three nights, with French bread pizza the fourth night. Hot dogs and sausages were planned for the fifth night. We did a dill and lemon version of “catch of the day” foil packet using tilapia again.
My sister was tired of the hobo dinner foil packet so that was axed last year and this year. My sister was responsible for preparing the shrimp boil and the hamburger & potato packets. My mom ended up preparing the shrimp boil packets (again).
Last year we burned one of the six French bread pizza packs. This year, the ziplock bags didn’t work and most of them were soggy from ice melting in the cooler.
Pretty much every foil packet meal failed this time. Last year the tilapia was really good. This year it wasn’t thawed enough. We salvaged it by using the microwave in the cabin. On the second night, the potatoes in the shrimp boil didn’t cook. My mom used little red potatoes and didn’t cut them up. They just don’t cook in foil if they aren’t cut up or at least poked with a fork. We had the opposite problem with the hamburger patty meals. They were supposed to be frozen so that the potato and beef cook at the same rate, so to speak. Since the hamburger was thawed, it burned. It burned bad. The summer squash, couscous, hot dogs, and sausages were fine though. We definitely need a campfire tripod for next year.
We forgot the sardine can this year so no cheese and sardine sandwich with my dad. My wife had not tried Moon Pies before so I grabbed two mini ones at the commissary, along with a Vernor’s which is hard to find outside of Michigan.
Equipment
I borrowed my cousin’s son’s bike to get around the campground. I thought I might need it for the bathrooms but the bathroom/shower was across the street. Anyway, I need a bike rack to get my wife’s bike and the borrowed bike up to Interlochen. So I bought a bike rack from 1 Up.
It was super easy to install and it’s super easy to load and unload the bikes. They are made in Wisconsin so I feel like I’m supporting manufacturing in the Midwest.
We bought a Exped MegaMat Duo 10 sleeping pad during REI’s anniversary sale. It’s inflatable with memory foam. Inflatable alone means you are affected when your partner moves. It’s more like a water bed. Foam alone is often not supportive enough or too thin. The MegaMat is the best of both.
We forgot to bring a bed sheet for the new mattress so the first night we used my old Coleman sleeping bag as a sheet and shared my wife’s new REI camping blanket, that we got on sale. As the nights got colder we realized that wasn’t going to work. So we decided to support the campground commissary and purchased a fleece blanket. We ended up using that as a sheet for half the mattress and I used zipped my sleeping bag back up.
As a side note, the lady at the commissary told us disturbing story. While making our purchase she asked if we would mind a delay if we used our credit card because their credit card machine uses old fashioned dial up. We said no problem, we’er camping. There’s no rush. She said that not all campers feel the same way, i.e., not happy campers. She said a customer complained because she accidentally got another flavor of ice cream in his scoop of ice cream. She offered a second scoop for free to “make things right”. He argued that wasn’t good enough and eventually got mad enough to throw his ice cream at her. Who does that, especially while camping? I love camping because it’s at time to unwind and relax. What a jerk.
Loading the tandem kayak is a bit of a pain on the J-hooks. So I switched to the Thule Dockglide 896 from Rack Attack. It’s so much easier to load and unload the kayak. You just set the front of the kayak on a piece of foam or towel, push until it hits the back brackets. The back brackets have felt lining so the kayak glides until it hits the front grippy brackets. You tip the kayak up to push forward and adjust the overall positioning.
Critters
The squirrels were dropping acorns the first morning. You could hear them bounce off of my cousin’s camper. There were plenty of squirrels and chipmunks for Ana to get excited about. The birds seemed to like to make a lot of noise around 5:30 AM. I was able to get a few good photos of the woodpeckers.
More photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/KFqGkuMymNw8Dv2f8