Bug Smacker

 We are up at Traverse City State Park for the Holiday weekend with friends and family. The park is very full; in fact the whole town is very full. Traverse City is a very popular place even when it’s not a holiday.

We had plenty of great food up here. I had a steak at Modes Bum Steer and then another at Boones Long Lake Inn. Can’t beat that! Terri and I went golfing for the first time. Actually I did the golfing while she drove the cart. We both had a lot of fun.

Saturday we stopped by the local Chevy dealer. Looks as if we may be getting closer to a new truck. The old one isn’t enough for the new RV.

We are enjoying the next few days at the Outdoor Adventure Resort in Standish. The weather is wet. It has been raining very hard here for the last couple of days. There is standing water everywhere. The place is now a haven for mosquitos. We have been commuting to work from here. Since it is still early in the season, the park is pretty quiet and peaceful.

I am waking this morning to the rhythm of waves pounding onto the sands of Myrtle Beach. It is as spectacular as we had expected. The ocean breeze is whistling through the palm trees causing them to sway like a conductor would orchestrate to the approaching waves of the sea. The sun is glistening across the ripples in the water and reflecting disco ball patterns into the windows of our RV.

Last night the gentle breeze had kicked up a notch. With a storm approaching our RV was actually rocking back and forth as if we were aboard a cruise ship. The rain came down hard and the trees bent over and touched the ground. Today however, is going to be great.

I want to thank Maite at Ocean Lakes in Myrtle Beach for helping us find some great spots close to the ocean when we checked in. Even though we hadn’t made any reservation, she was able to provide us with a couple of front row ocean sites during our stay here. We had to relocate a couple of times, but it was well worth the hassle to be right on the oceanfront.

The campground at Ocean Lakes is just as nice as it was last time we were here. The sites all offer full hookups including: 23/30/50 electric, water, sewer, cable and wifi. This place is always exceptionally clean and well maintained. On this visit we found the golf cart activity to be much more acceptable. Last visit here there was a continuous parade of kids cruising up and down the road in front of us all hours of the day and night. This was most likely due to the time of year that we are here.

We went down the road to check out two nearby state parks. We found Myrtle Beach State Park to be congested with small sites and muddy. We had read in the brochure that you should not wear open toed shoes and to use a flashlight at night due to the possibility of Copperhead Snakes. When my wife saw one of these serpents cross the road right in front of us in broad daylight, I was instructed that we would not be staying here…EVER!

The other state park we saw was Huntington. This park was really nice. It has an abundance of wildlife. We saw birds, fish, deer and even alligators.  It is also located on the ocean. The sites are mostly large with electric and water. This would be a real nice place to stay if you can get a reservation. I see why they go so fast.

We took a drive down the boulevard downtown. We stopped in to visit with Cathy from the Sea Horn motel. Before we had our beloved BugSmacker RV, we would stay at the Sea Horn. This place is spectacular and the owners treat you like family. It was really great reminiscing about all the great times we had here.

We headed over to Murrells Inlet for dinner. Murrells Inlet is known as “a quiet little drinking village with a fishing problem”. Terri and I split a plate of Calabash-Style Fried Shrimp at the Dead Dog Saloon which was terrific. Afterward we took a stroll along the Marshwalk.

We returned a couple of days later to Murrells Inlet for dinner. This has become our favorite place to go while in the Myrtle Beach area. Judging by the crowds, we are not alone. We stopped to eat at Drunken Jacks. They had a 45 minute wait, so during our wait we headed over to Creek Ratz. Here we shared a Shrimp basket. As we finished our page came in for Drunken Jacks. We returned to honor our reservation and had a couple of (you guessed it) shrimp plates. This meal also included a salad bar and some of the best Hush Puppies you have ever eaten. We love the creek shrimp they serve in Murrells Inlet. Our favorite was at the Creek Rat, but if you want a complete dinner, you can’t go wrong at Drunken Jacks. Plus the people there were exceptional.

We aren’t much for buffets, but tonight we took the advise from a group of really nice people we met on  the beach and tried one. We headed to what is refered to as restaurant row in North Myrle Beach to a place called The Original Benjamin’s Calabash Seafood Buffet. This place had more food than china. The selection was enormous. It wasn’t just the volume that impressed us, the food was delicious. I want to thank our waitress, Catie for making sure we had anything we may desire and making us feel so welcome.

Following dinner had us stop into a shop called “Purpleologist”. It was filled with all things purple. She fell in love with the place.

As always, Myrtle Beach is going to be hard to leave.

On our maiden voyage in our NEW Trailer, we decided to head over to Bay City State Park for a few days of camping. Following a week of preparation we were quite excited to try out our new RV. First thing I noticed was how much more difficult it was to get in and out of our driveway. Between the narrow width of the drive and the crown in the road, it was quite a challenge. We left for the park with 2/3 of a tank of fresh water. Even with the additional weight our old red truck seemed to step up to the challenge.

We arrived at the State Park to find there were already a half dozen or so RVs camping there. I am surprised at how many people winter camp. The temperature can get a bit chilly at night and the only water to be found is the water you haul in by jug.

The temperature during our stay got down to about 30° at night and about 45° during the day. On Sunday it actually got up into the 70’s. This is not normal for Michigan this time of year, but it was very welcome.

After spending some time in our new RV we began to really appreciate it. It has a lot more room and storage than our last one. I really hate to compare them. It’s like comparing children. I do however need to say that this one is a lot smarter than the other one.

If you have a boat then this is the place for you. Be it a speedboat, a kayak or just a tube, you will just love this place. Most everyone here has a boat of some kind.

Burt Lake is connected to Mullett Lake by the Indian River. These are great waterways for larger boats. If you do not have a boat, they are available for rent.

The Sturgeon River is a smaller river that empties into Burt Lake from the south. This is the fastest river in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. This makes for a great river to tube or kayak. However if you intend to canoe or kayak the river be prepared to do some navigating. The river has some quick bends and sharp turns further upstream. I was informed that about 80% of the people who rent kayaks locally tip them in the river.

This State Park has large camping sites. All of them have 20/30 amp electrical and some have 50 amp. The sites near the water have fewer trees and the ones in the back are more wooded. There is a park store with pizza, ice cream, snacks and fire wood.  The beach is kept well groomed and the water is sparkling clear.

The heat over the last week has been pushing into the 100° mark. The humidity has been in the 80% range. The weather has been really HOT!

We noticed a lot of the local restaurants are now closed. We were told that the off season has been quite hard on them due to the economy. We ate at a place called “Vivio’s”. We ordered some homemade Soft Feta Breadsticks and a Pizza. I think we may very well now have a new front runner in our quest for the perfect pizza. I need to get back over to Big Al’s in Manistee to verify this. Terri says that the Breadsticks at Vivio’s are the best she has ever had, even topping the Bucilli’s Silly Sticks we had in Houghton Lake a few days ago. The shirts on the employees have the number 342 on the back. That was the total number of pizzas they sold on a single day on July 6, 2007.

This guy was standing frozen at the entrance to Mackinaw Crossings. Not an easy task when the heat outside is almost 100 degrees.