Escanaba Fairgrounds- Escanaba, Michigan (July 2017)

The Michigan Upper Peninsular State Fairgounds in Escanaba was the site for the Wally Byam Caravan Club's 60th International Rally. Rosie, our 25 foot trailer, was one of more than 600 Airstream trailers and motor homes at the Rally.

The Fairgrounds

Sign at the Upper Peninsula Fairgrounds in Escanaba

When you arrive at a WBCCI International Rally, the check-in crew asks you to follow a "parker" in a golf cart who leads you to your camping site. Our site ended up being next to the fairground's Antique Village.

What was the Antique Village? It was a representation of an early American community. It had a saw mill, a wood working shop, a glass blower and a general store along with several other interesting buildings. The building I enjoyed visiting was the railroad telegraph, which was the local amateur radio club's station.

Rosie's camping site

The Railroad Telegraph office and Ham Radio Station

Inside the Ham Radio station

The local Escanaba ham club provided the WBCCI Amateur Radio Club with access to their building and radios during the WBCCI International Rally. I ended up having less than 100 feet to walk to get to the telegraph office. That turned out to be very fortunate because the WBCCI Amateur Radio Club asked me to open up the telegraph office every morning and to check into the RV Service Net.
That task turned out to be fun as four or five hams usually joined me in the radio room. The local radio club's antennas and 75 foot tall tower made it easy to check in to the Eastern RV Service Net, sponsored by the WBCCI Amateur Radio Club.

Looking at several hams working on the antenna at the top of the tower

You always learn from fellow Airstreamers when you participate in a WBCCI event. The best tips we took away dealt with the maintenance of the awnings on Airstream trailers and propane gas safety. I learned that I need to be very generous with the silicone when I lubricate our awning supports and that there is a small relief valve on the propane tanks that may emit small, but detectable amounts of gas, that may be picked up during a safety check.

Here are some specifics about this park:

• They were able to pack more than 600 trailers on the fairgrounds for the Rally. In order to reach that number, some trailers were creatively packed in where few would have imagined one could fit.
• Our site had 30 amp electrical service. It was evident that the fairgrounds rarely had 600+ trailers because the voltage hovered around 110 and occasionally dropped lower.
• Our site had a water connection.
• Our site did not have a sewer connection, but the WBCCI provided two pump outs.
• We had a grass site that was easy to correct for level.
• Utility connections were shared between two trailers. That meant one trailer had to face north and the other south. It also meant that you were parked very close to your neighbor.
• We were fortunate in that we were parked near the Antique Village. Some trailers were parked along the fence near the highway. That group could give you an accurate count of the number of trucks passing through Escanaba every night.
• The fairgrounds had Wi-Fi near several buildings. The problem was that it was very slow and ineffective.
• AT&T provided good 4G service for both voice and data over the park.
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS and FOX using Rosie's TV antenna. We occasionally saw NBC and PBS signals.

A popular option at any WBCCI International Rally are the local excursions that you can sign up for. We had already seen most of these sites while on the WBCCI Upper Peninsula Caravan last year, so we opted out at this time. Instead, we enjoyed exploring the area on our own.

The lighthouse in Escanaba

Sunset over the Airstream trailers in Escanaba

An old fire boat from Chicago

A view of some Airstream trailers parked at the Escanaba International Rally

Downtown Escanaba

We see Bevo at the Pet Show

Suzy ready for the Pet Show

Suzy and Becky at the top of the Escanaba lighthouse

Steve had a similar radio when he was a teenager!

Lakeshore Park Campground - St Ignace, Michigan

We parked Rosie, our 25 foot Airstream trailer, about two weeks earlier at a park along Lake Huron that overlooked the Mackinaw Bridge from the south side. We noticed as we were parking Rosie in the Lakeshore Park Campground that we were once again looking at the Mackinac Bridge. This time our view was from the north side of the bridge and along the shoreline of Lake Michigan.

Sign at the entrance of the park

It doesn't matter if you are looking at the Mackinaw bridge from the north or south sides, it is an impressive sight to see. It is also impressive at night when it is lit up with colored lights.

The bridge as seen from the campground

There is a road behind the campground separating it from Lake Michigan's shore. The road wasn't busy and didn't impair our view of the bridge or of Lake Michigan.

We searched for a geocache hidden near the park along the lake's shore. We knew that someone found it earlier that day, but we could not locate it and gave up our search.

The camping sites were closer together than we would have liked. Out site was deep enough that we could hitch up the night before we left and the truck was not protruding on the road.

Our caravan in the park

Rosie among the Airstream trailers

Here are some specifics about this park:

• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp power.
• Our site had both water and sewer connections.
• Our site was a back-in with a view of Lake Michigan.
• Our site was grass and close to level.
• Our site had a picnic table, but it was in a difficult to use location and too heavy to move.
• Restrooms and showers were in the center of the park. They were clean and functional.
• The park provided reasonable Wi-Fi service.
• AT&T placed two bars of 4G voice and data service over our site.
• We were able to watch CBS, Fox, NBC and PBS TV stations using Rosie's antenna. We also saw the COMET digital TV signal.
• This was a pet friendly park.

Visiting a museum in St Ignace

A lighthouse

The bridge in the background

The path from the campground to Lake Michigan

Our caravan as seen from Lake Michigan

A sunset picture over Lake Michigan

We visited a farm where they raised sheep  

Suzy on a hayride

Sunset on Lake Michigan

Ludington State Park - Michigan

Ludington was our first time visiting a Michigan State Park. The entrance was our first clue that this park was different from any other state park we had visited. There were four or five dump stations parallel to each other heading into the park. These had drinking water hoses so that you could top off your fresh water tanks before heading to your campsite. We followed our other camper's leads and filled Rosie's, our 25 foot Airstream trailer, fresh water tanks while draining her grey and black water tanks.

The sign entering the park

Topping off Rosie's fresh water tanks as we enter the park

It was a good thing we took care of Rosie's tank because Ludington's sites are electric only. You need to bring in all the water you intend to use because there are no water connections at each campsite.
We learned from talking to other campers that Michigan isn't the only state offering electric only sites. Several other "northern" states do the same. Maybe it is too hard to protect water spigots from the brutal cold northern winters.

There are multiple camping loops in this park. We reserved a site in the Pines area, which is closest to the shoreline. A 30 foot high dune separated Rosie from Lake Michigan.

The Pines Camping Area

The downside to the Pines loop is that we couldn't see any reliable voice or data service from AT&T. We noticed that the Beachwood camping area had a good 4G signal on our iPhones.

The tradeoff may be TV. We were able to watch TV signals from Green Bay and Milwaukee from the other side of the lake. I don't know if those signals were able to make it inland to the Beachwood and Cedar camping loops.

Looking at Rosie from the dune behind our camping site.

Lake Michigan as seen from the dune behind Rosie

It appeared to me that the Pines camping area had more shade than the others. Of course, that also means more things will fall from the trees onto your camper during rain or wind storms. Yes, it did rain while we were in this park and yes, we heard every acorn that fell onto Rosie.

There are some great biking and hiking trails in this park. One of the popular trails leads to the Big Sable Point Lighthouse. This was a great destination while riding our bikes. We had a flat one day about halfway to the lighthouse. I walked the bike back to Rosie and successfully changed the tire's inner tube.

The path to the lighthouse

The lighthouse

The stairs leading to the top of the lighthouse

Becky on the top platform at Ludington's lighthouse

The view from the top of the lighthouse

We also enjoyed seeing some different types of trees than what we normally see in the south while camping at Ludington State Park. We were probably there no more than three weeks before the fall colors started showing up in the trees.

Here are some specifics about this park:

• Our site had 20 and 30 amp electrical service. Some sites near us had 20 and 50 amp service. You need to check on the power available at a site before reserving it.
• Our site did not have a water connection. You need to bring in a full fresh water tank to your site.
• There are a couple of fresh water taps in each camping loop. These allow campers to refill small water containers.
• Our site did not have a sewer connection. There are dump pads next to most restrooms allowing you to empty your sewage totes.
• We had no service from AT&T at our campsite. We discovered that the other camping loops had better voice and data service.
• Our site was dirt and not level. The soft dirt guaranteed that our leveler would sink into the ground and our unlevel status would only get worse during our stay.
• The left-to-right lean wasn't our only problem. There was a strong front-to-rear slant. This made hitching up our Hensley type hitch an hour-long nightmare instead of our normal five minute deal.
• It rained while we were camping here and that turned our dirt camping pad into a muddy mess.
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC most of the time. NBC from Green Bay would drift out for a minute or two then fade back in for a while.
• The restrooms and showers were well maintained.
• This was a pet friendly park.

We really enjoyed camping in this park and we look forward to returning there one day.

One of the trails in Ludington State Park

We found Lost Lake

Lost Lake trail

Steve and Suzy in Ludington State Park

A small lighthouse in Ludington, Michigan

In Ludington, Michigan

We found a place serving ice cream in Ludington

Sunset over Lake Michigan

Becky and Suzy in front of the dunes

Art in the park

Pen and Ink drawing by Becky

Becky was able to visit with her cousin in Michigan