Green Bay and De Pere, Wisconsin

Our 86-mile drive from Bailey’s Harbor to De Pere was fairly uneventful except for two things. We couldn’t check in until 2:00 pm, so we waited until around 11:00 am to depart. After a bit of a struggle to get the bedroom slide in and finally succeeding (hurrah!), we pulled out of our tight site in the Beantown Campground.

The first event was when I decided to pull into a county park so we could eat lunch. But the turn into the parking lot was a little tighter than the motorhome could handle, so we had to unhitch the car and back up a few feet for me to make the turn. I also carried a small bit of a tree the rest of the way in the door awning, but it came out easily.

The second was a big surprise upon arriving at the Apple Creek Family Campground in De Pere. If we hadn’t been following another motorhome that stopped at the entrance to wait for the road to be cleared, we might have missed the turn. The sign was destroyed by a tornado that blew through last night, and several dozen trees were also blown apart.

We’re so glad we didn’t get here yesterday. The only reason we weren’t is because the repair shop (for our bedroom slide) couldn’t get us in until Thursday, so we decided to spend the extra day in Bailey’s Harbor with full hookups, knowing we would just have power and water here. Sometimes things happen for a reason.

The water and power were off in the whole campground, but the weather was clear and about 80 degrees with a nice breeze. After getting the motorhome parked and set up, we drove the car to the repair shop in Green Bay to be sure we could find it early tomorrow. Then we returned and opened up the windows and turned on the Fantastic Vents and just relaxed for a while.

Oh yes, it was “small world” time again when we checked into the campground. The couple in the motorhome we followed in were our neighbors in Bailey’s Harbor!

Later, we went to dinner at a place I found through Yelp.com called The Prime Quarter Steak House. It’s unique in that you grill your own steak (or their chef will grill it for you for an extra $2). Don chose to grill ours. (I took these pics with my smartphone so they’re not very clear.)

We knew that our steaks would be cooked to perfection! An unlimited salad bar, baked potato and Texas-style toast are included for $21.95/person, with your choice of various steak or fish selections.

Everything tasted wonderful! And Wednesday is their House Wine Day so I had a nice glass of Cabernet Sauvignon for $3.00.

When we returned to the campground, the power was back on. But the water was still off because debris from a tree broke a stand pipe. But we have plenty of fresh water on board. Early to bed tonight so we can hit the road about 7:15 am.

Last Day in Door County

We stayed here an extra day to wait for an appointment in Green Bay to fix our passenger-side bedroom slide. When we moved from one site to another a few days ago, the slide wouldn’t come in all the way. We’re hoping to get it pulled in far enough to drive the approximately 70 miles tomorrow. And we were lucky to get an appointment because all the RV service centers are very busy this time of year. I’m glad our travel plans are loosely set (in Jello, as we say) so we can take the time to get it fixed.

About 1/2 hour after I posted that we had no RV on our driver’s side in my last blog post, a Blue Bird pulled in beside us! Don’s view was cut off from where he sits at his desk, and I still look out on the other neighbor’s yard art, fire ring and chairs that take up almost all the patio space on the other side of us. It’s time to move on.

Remember the Blue Bird with the nice custom paint and trailer to match? Here’s what rides in the trailer.

It’s a 1937 Ford, restored and customized by the owner who used to do that work for a living, and now in retirement he said he uses the car as an excuse to travel to car shows. Notice: no door handles; they open at the touch of a remote control. What a beauty!

Today’s weather was overcast most of the day, but we took a drive anyway. By dinner time the clouds had cleared enough that we enjoyed some sunshine, so we dined outside at Shipwrecked Restaurant in Egg Harbor.

It’s also a microbrewery and inn, with an interesting past. Follow the link and click on History to learn how it was a hangout and hiding spot for Al Capone. As the sign below says, it’s “An Historic Meeting Place Since 1858.”

Here are a few other highlights from our last few days. Another meal was enjoyed outside.

Cherries being canned by hand at Seaquist Orchards Farm Market.

Door County Historical Museum includes the Pioneer Fire Company.

The museum’s front doors are beautiful from the inside.

It’s an excellent museum, and it’s hard to choose which pictures to publish, but this quilt is very special, commemorating Door County’s Sesquicentennial (150 years) in 2001.

A dead tree in Fish Creek became a carved work of art, similar to the ones we saw near Gulfport, MS.

A log cabin with an interesting history, now a Stonecutter’s shop.

The one-room schoolhouse at The Historical Village in Sturgeon Bay.

And the Warren House, where a family of 9 lived.

A huge mural being painted on the side of Nelson Shopping Center. The artist can barely be seen on the right.

Notice how the mural is integrated with the attached smaller building.

The marina at Bailey’s Harbor, near our campground.

A nearby swimming beach, also in Bailey’s Harbor.

A couple of the yachts with interesting names at Sister Bay.

While we haven’t done or seen everything here, we feel we covered the area pretty well. Got to leave something to do the next time we come!

Moving Day, Blue Birds and Happy Birthday, Don!

Our day started out slow, as we needed to move to a different site and we were waiting for the people to vacate it. Finally, when 11:00 check-out time arrived and no one was around to move the 5th wheel, no people, no truck…the campground assigned us to a different site. The reason we needed to move, which we knew in advance, was that a Blue Bird rally was starting today and our first site was assigned to one of them. The new site we were given was too short for the Blue Bird coming in, and we barely fit on it.

The front of the motorhome is as far forward as we can go.

The car barely fits behind, and is parked on a slant.

This site is about as unlevel as our last one, except that we’re now headed in the opposite direction, so Don had to get creative in order to lift and stabilize the rear wheels and jacks, using a combination of wood and plastic blocks.

Fortunately, we don’t have a driver’s side neighbor, at least for now, so we feel like we have a little elbow room. Because on the patio side, we have a shared yard with a neighbor who doesn’t seem to understand the concept of sharing. They left us about 2 feet of patio space! I just hope they don’t light too many smoky fires in their fire ring that’s only about 6 feet from our windows.

Blue Bird Wanderlodge Motor Coaches are no longer produced, and only those built during the last years of production (2003-2009) have slide-outs. Only one of the group that gathered in our neighborhood has slides, and it’s the one that’s now parked in our former site. It has 3 slide-outs and is a beauty!

This one also caught my eye, with its custom-paint job and trailer painted to match.

So, because of the late hour of moving and having to fuss around with leveling, we ran out of time for any day trip. Plus, we’ve been acting like tourists and needed to kick back a bit. But I did treat Don to a special dinner this evening. We went to Chop, a steak/seafood restaurant in Sister Bay. Don had one of his favorite meals, New Zealand lambchops, which happened to be their Sunday night special, with mint jelly and mashed potatoes. I had Mahi-Mahi with pico de gallo and wild rice. We both enjoyed a Caesar salad and delicious souffle-style bread. The food was all delicious, and the restaurant was elegant.

This is Don’s last year to be in his 60’s. Next year will be the BIG 7-0, and we plan to be in Canada on our Maritimes trip. Hope we can have a big celebration! In the meantime, Happy Birthday to my Sweetheart! Just keep on having birthdays for many, many more happy years!