Deckerville, Michigan

Lake Huron Campground

August 6th through August 8th, 2010

Friday, August 6th, 2010 - 73/52°, Partly Cloudy

    I left work early today with the intention of coming home, running to the grocery store to pick up a few items, and then returning home to finish packing the trailer so that we could leave when Tara got home from work. As is typical for us, it didn’t exactly happen that way. Oh, I came home and got the kids to run to the store like I planned. I didn’t plan on being there for so long. Nor did I plan to forget to use every one of the coupons that Tara had so carefully matched to the sales ad and that I dutifully carried with me the entire way through the store. Nor did we plan on Tara getting out of work late, going to put diesel in the truck, and having the station tanks be almost empty so that they pumped at an incredibly slow rate (she ran out of time and patience and never did get it full). We both did manage to return home, where we worked together on packing the final items into the camper.

    By the time we actually hit the road it was close to 3:45pm, much later than the 1:30-2:00pm range than we were hoping to leave by. Since none of us had eaten lunch today (well, the kids did go sample crazy at Sam’s Club when we were out shopping) we decided to swing in to the McDonalds at North Holly Road and I-75 for a quick snack. We got some French fries and an assortment of beverages to tide us over. The remainder of our trip was nothing but smooth sailing. Well, that isn’t entirely true. The kids seem to have “proximity issues” in the truck. I guess they aren’t used to sitting next to each other (they have space between each other in the van), so they tend to pick on each other and fight a lot. Tara & I can handle some of their playing around, but sometimes it gets really loud and they start to drive us bonkers!

    We arrived at Lake Huron Campground a little before 6:00pm. Tara went to the office to check in while I waited in the truck with the kids and the dog. From where I was parked I was fairly certain that I could see Dad & Mom’s camper, and once Tara returned with directions to our site my thoughts were confirmed. We made the short drive to site #347 to begin our leveling and setup process.

    We had previously alerted Dad & Mom (who had checked in a couple of hours earlier) of our imminent arrival, so they had already started making dinner for us to enjoy. We were going to feast on tacos this evening, since there were fresh tomatoes coming in from their garden. As we were preparing to sit down to eat, our friends Jeff & Becky checked in with their boys, Thomas and Andrew. I felt guilty sitting down to eat while they set up their campsite. If things had gone according to plan we would have arrived and ate earlier and this wouldn’t have been an issue. We had previously made our dinner plans based on the assumption that we would be leaving much earlier than they would be, so it wasn’t like we were intentionally excluding them or anything, but still…

    After everybody had gotten enough to eat we decided that it was time to get ready to head in to Deckerville to watch the truck and tractor pull. We have taken our kids every year for the past few years, and we knew that Thomas and Andrew really liked John Deere tractors, so we kind of thought that they might enjoy it too. We loaded in to our three trucks (no more vanpooling for us!) and made the drive to Wilson Park in town. It seemed to me that the prices were up this year from the last few, but I guess I can’t recall with 100% certainty. They were charging $7 for adults and $5 for kids, so our total was $24 (the little two were free, but this is probably Drew’s last year of that benefit). We followed my Uncle David in to the parking lot, and spent a moment talking to him before finding a parking spot of our own.

    We made our way in to the bleacher area and found a place to sit down to enjoy the festivities. We watched several classifications of tractors and trucks take their turns going down the track. Our kids were interested in the goings on, but they tend to bore quickly (except Drew, anything automotive still seems to hold his interest). Tara bought three elephant ears to help pacify them and we also allowed Tyler and Samantha to go and purchase some bottled water to rinse them down with. Shortly after 10:00pm the fireworks were set off from near the high school, and for the first time that I can remember they were clearly visible from the park.

    We ran into a few people that we knew during the course of the evening, including my Aunt Karen. We discussed the wedding date of her son (and my cousin) John, who is getting married next May to a nice young lady named Jessica.

    As the evening grew later the kids began to tire. We decided to call it a night at around 11:15pm. Since Drew wanted to stick around to see one of the highly modified trucks take their turn, he hung around with Grandpa Gary, Grandma Terry, Jayden, and myself while the others all walked back to the trucks. When we finally walked out Jeff & Becky had left for the campground and Sam had fallen asleep in the back seat of our truck. We managed to get her moved and everyone buckled up before we left for the campground as well. By the time we made it back, made the beds, got our pajamas on (except me, more about that in a moment), and crawled in to bed it was close to midnight.

    I was looking for my pajamas when I suddenly had a vision of all of my clothes sitting at home on our bed, neatly laid out in piles just as I had left them when I was picking them out for this trip. Unfortunately I had forgotten to grab them when I was making sure everything else made it into the trailer. That left me pajama, sock, and underwear free for the entire weekend (I did have some jeans and t-shirts left over from our prior trips). I guess that leaves me with a shopping trip to complete tomorrow!

Saturday, August 7th, 2010 - 79/45°, Mostly Sunny

    We woke up around 9:00am this morning, and Tara quickly jumped at the chance to take a shower first. The kids immediately headed outside to find things to do. Tyler and Samantha decided that they wanted to go fishing. Since it would be a while before breakfast was ready and they had their phone with them, we decided that it would be ok. Drew, Jayden, Thomas, and Andrew spent most of this time riding their bikes in a circle along the road and through the parking lot across from us.

    We knew we wouldn’t be eating lunch anytime soon due to the Homecoming parade starting at noon, so we planned to have a big breakfast this morning. We took care of the turkey bacon and eggs while Dad & Mom made regular bacon and Jeff & Becky made pancakes and waffles. We must be slow movers though, because by the time we actually sat down to eat it was already 10:30am. We called Tyler and Sam on their phone several times, but they weren’t answering. Mom finally got in the truck to see if she could find them (none of the adults brought bikes with them this trip). She found them fishing from a dock and brought them back so that they could quickly grab a bite to eat.

    We did a quick clean-up before getting in the trucks to make the drive in to town once again. We parked in the lot behind the funeral home and walked to our usual spot in front of the grocery store to watch the parade. Thankfully our spot wasn’t taken, as we arrived with only about 10 minutes to spare. The kids all rushed across the street to get some ice cream, which was being given away by the church, while the adults set up chairs to relax in. We talked to my Aunt Karen and her daughters Dayna and Danielle while waiting for the parade to get underway. Dad & Mom also ran in to lots of other people that they knew, but I only vaguely remembered most of them.

    Before the parade started Erica arrived with Donovan and Marissa. This was a surprise to Tara and the kids, as the last they knew they weren’t coming up. I found out yesterday, but forgot to mention it to anybody.

    The parade came and went fairly quickly – it didn’t seem as long as it has been in the past to me. The kids also didn’t think that they got as much candy as in prior years, although they still made out ok. There were some neat “floats” and some nice old cars in the parade, but not as many new tractors or new cars as there has been.

    Once the parade was over we spent a minute talking with my other Aunt Karen before we walked downtown to check out the car show. Since Deckerville isn’t a very big town it didn’t take us long to wander through everything. By this time most of the kids were getting antsy, wanting to go back to the campground to swim, go the playground, and ride bikes. I had thought that we could walk to Wilson Park, where there were free inflatable’s set up, but nobody seemed too interested in doing that. Jeff & Becky decided to take their boys back to the campground, and we wound up following shortly behind them (since we were close I wanted to run to Sandusky to buy new socks and underwear, but Tara didn’t want to drag the kids over to that boredom. Erica wasn’t too much further behind us, while Dad & Mom hung around a little longer talking to people that they don’t get a chance to see very often.

    We drove back to the campground, and I dropped Tara and the kids off and headed to the Kmart in Sandusky alone. I found some socks and underwear, and they were even on sale! I did look around for shorts as well, but apparently farmers tend to put on a lot of weight sitting in their tractors as most of what I found was either 3X or 4X. I also looked for an FM transmitter for my MP3 player, but it was $40. I thought I could do better at the store I try to avoid, Wal-Mart. Their only two options cost $64 and $80-something. Always low prices my a$$! I did manage to find a $10 pair of shorts here, though, so it wasn’t a completely wasted trip (and they had a much smaller selection of multi-X clothing sizes – apparently Kmart is the place to go for the large body type). The kids played around the campground and swam in the pool, which is where they were when I returned.

    It was close to 4:00pm when I did get back to the campground, and the first thing I saw was Andrew riding around on his bike without training wheels. The other kids were all riding around with him, although Donovan and Marissa were forced to share bikes with Tyler and Sam.

    We were going to have dinner at the world’s famous Williams Inn (although I am not sure if that is true anymore as the sign proclaiming that fact is no longer there) for their buffet tonight, but we learned that perch wasn’t going to be on it. We decided to go anyway, figuring that those who wanted perch could order it by the plate instead. We left to make the drive towards Harbor Beach around 4:45pm and arrived around 5:30pm.

    We found two tables to sit at (there were 12 of us, Erica stayed behind to order a pizza with her kids) that were back to back. After a bit of chair swapping by the kids we settled in and ordered our drinks. Most of us chose the either the buffet or the perch dinner, but the kids chose several items ranging from chicken strips to spaghetti to hot dogs. I had the perch dinner and was surprised by the amount of fish on my plate, but I somehow managed to eat it all! I think that everybody was full and pleased with their meal, except for Becky, who wasn’t too thrilled with her first attempt at eating crab legs.

    After dinner Tara & I stopped at White Rock Roadside Park while everyone else headed back to the campground. We have been stopping here for several years now to take pictures of the kids sitting on a downed tree on the beach, and we wanted to update our collection. We took a few pictures of each of the kids as well as a couple of Tara & I together on the tree. The kids also tried working the water pump, but none of them had much success. I was able to get a steady flow of water so that each of them was able to take a drink.

    Once we got all of the pictures that we needed we headed back to the campground. Dad & Mom decided to go into town to check out the action at the beer tent and see if there was any more friends and family that they could socialize with. The rest of us hung out around the campfire, watching the kids play on the playground and ride their bikes in a circle around the parking lot once again. This time Thomas braved the ride without training wheels, thanks to the promise of a dollar to spend on candy in the campground store.

    Around 10:00pm we put the kids to bed. They were all plenty tired from a long week of activities and the busy day that they just had. Erica went inside a short while later to put her kids to bed, but she decided against rejoining us outside. Jeff, Becky, Tara, and I sat outside and talked about life, work, future plans, and lots of other things. Before we knew it we had been sitting outside well past midnight. We decided to head back inside and call it a night at this time.

Sunday, August 8th, 2010 - 81/66°, Cloudy

    We woke up shortly before 9:00am in our camper this morning, and the weather outside wasn’t looking too encouraging. The wind was blowing at a pretty good clip, and Tara looked outside to find that the towels and bathing suits that she had left on the table were gone. I hadn’t gone out and gotten them, so she was concerned that they had blown away. Fortunately Mom had came and gathered them up earlier with the same concern going through her mind.

    I took advantage of the poor weather by jumping in the shower first today. When I was done we headed out to start picking everything up before it got wet, as Jeff mentioned that he saw on the news that a line of storms was heading our way. Since we were well on our way to being packed, Jeff & Becky decided to go home. Becky had to work later in the afternoon anyway, so the weather gave them a better opportunity to head out a little earlier than they planned. Dad & Mom and Tara & I decided to do pretty much the same thing. We put everything away before hooking up the truck.

    After leaving the campground we headed in to Deckerville to fill up the truck (we only had a range of 40 miles or so left, which certainly wasn’t going to get us very far!). While we were at the gas station we headed in to the McDonalds to pick up some lunch.

    The drive home was pretty smooth (ok, some of the roads were actually very bumpy) except for the fact that I was apparently more focused on eating than driving and I missed one turn and took one wrong turn. Neither of these turns got us lost, as they were among the routes that I have been on since my youth. The missed turn resulted in extra time spent on M53, while the wrong turn led us in to Lapeer versus going through Imlay City. If we had gone the right way I could have made a stop for the kids to go to the bathroom, instead I was forced to find a spot to pull off on the side of Fish Lake Road outside of Lapeer for the boys to take a leak on the side of the road. I am not 100% certain, but I think sword fights may have ensued. Thankfully I was on the other side of the truck from them, ‘cause I doubt I would have been happy. [Update: Tara informed me that although sword fights did not in fact occur, there was a time when it was close to happening and she quickly put a stop to that fun activity. Thank you, dear!]

    The rest of our drive home was uneventful. We pulled in to the driveway sometime around 2:30pm. We were able to turn the trailer around in the back yard (no rain here yet) and get it parked on the side of the house. All six of us worked together to get it unloaded in near record time before heading inside to relax for the rest of the day.

Trip Summary

    I can’t speak for everybody, but I enjoyed myself on this trip. I don’t really have any personal attachment to Deckerville outside of family, but I do enjoy taking the kids to the Homecoming activities. The truck pull has sort of become an annual tradition for us, and the parade on Saturday is both a great opportunity to see a lot of my family as well as a chance for the kids to get a bunch of free candy!

    We have been to Lake Huron Campground several times in the past, so I really don’t have anything new to report on it. The campsites are still much too out in the open for my taste, but it is certainly not a deal breaker. We really didn’t stick around long enough to use many of the amenities offered here. The kids did use the playground and the basketball court on occasion, and they got the chance to swim in the pool once.

    Our site was located in the very first row of the park, and was the second one from the end (Dad & Mom were on the end on site #348 while Jeff & Becky were on the other side on site #346). Although these wouldn’t be my top choice based on noise and traffic, but it actually worked out well. From our sites we were able to clearly see the kids on the playground or basketball courts, and they had lots of pavement to ride their bikes on (the roads between the campsites are gravel).

    The thing I liked most about this trip was sharing the experience with others. I appreciate the fact that my parents help with the kids and spend time with us. I was glad that Erica was able to make it up for a day with Donovan and Marissa. I was also happy that we were able to spend another weekend with Jeff & Becky and their boys and provide them with a (hopefully) enjoyable experience. I am certainly looking forward to the opportunity to spend time with each of them again sometime soon!