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Home > Summer Vacation II

Summer Vacation II

August 27th, 2014 at 02:19 pm

We went on an entire family vacation last week - DW and I and all four kids.

We visited the extreme NW corner of Michigan's lower peninsula, a part of our state none of us had visited before. We camped at a state park.

We had been planning this trip since June. Originally, we had planned to stay in a cabin on the site. Then, five days before our trip, plans changed.

My DW found a camper available on a local on-line selling/trading site. The seller said she was desperate to sell the camper ASAP, and that she would take any reasonable offer. DW contacted her, and it turns out that she needs to hire an attorney to settle a custody dispute with her ex. The woman also said that someone had offered her $750 for the camper, but she thought that wasn't enough.

So, DW set up an appointment to look at the camper. We discussed it, and figured we'd go as high as $900. DW stopped by the bank, and withdrew the cash. After looking at the camper, she offered $800, and showed the woman the green cash. She accepted the offer, and DW hooked up to the camper, and drove off.

It did have a leaky roof. It cost us about $45 in materials to fix that, but all in all, it worked well on our trip. It's a 1978 - 18' camper. Nothing fancy at all, but I'm sure it's probably well worth the $800, and probably quite a bit more.

We saved $100 by camping in the trailer rather than the cabin, but spent, I don't know maybe $30 or $40 more in gas to haul the trailer.

As far as our trip, we visited a waterfall, a light house, a sea lamprey research center, a calcite lime quarry, hunted for some fossils, and had fun camping. Maybe not really exciting by other's standards, but fun for us.

As far as the future of the trailer - it will be nice to have during fair week as a home base at the fair grounds. We will, of course use it for future vacations. Also it's difficult for our girls to have friends over night because of our boys with special needs. The camper will allow our girls to have friends over, and have fun and some privacy.

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Summer Vacation II”

  1. Carol Says:
    August 27th, 2014 at 03:27 pm 1409153243
    1409153243

    Sounds like a great buy for your family! We like simple vacations too.

  2. doingitallwrong Says:
    August 27th, 2014 at 04:10 pm 1409155850
    1409155850

    Nice score on the camper, and it's great that the girls will be able to use it at home, too. I have to ask though, did you mean the NE corner? I'm trying to place you in the NW and I'd think you'd have been at the Dunes; your trip sounds more like Presque Isle. (Not that it matters, I was just going to mention that the best beef jerky I've ever had is from NW Michigan, though not quite the extreme corner. The Dublin General Store, to be exact. I shouldn't say beef -- they have I think 50+ jerky varieties now. On my husband's latest excursion out that way he brought home gator and kangaroo, along with several flavors of domestic meats.)

  3. laura Says:
    August 27th, 2014 at 04:18 pm 1409156325
    1409156325


    Good deal on the camper! Sounds like a very reasonable price to pay for all that it will offer!

    And your trip sounds wonderful. We've always taken advantage of low-key entertainment and excursions on our time away. Smile

  4. Bob B. Says:
    August 27th, 2014 at 05:12 pm 1409159550
    1409159550

    doingitallwrong - Yes, we were in the Rogers City area, Presque Isle County. We've had some excursions in the NW/Traverse City area in the past, we spent 11 days in the UP 9 years ago, but never much time in the NE area before this.

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