Author Archives: Dr. Karen E. Vigmostad

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New battery and up-to-date GPS

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Yesterday morning my son and daughter-in-law replaced my van battery while my grandchildren helped me do a little cleaning and put a few things into Ecovision. The engine is superb so it was a pleasure to hear it roar as soon as I turned the ignition key after the new battery was installed! So grateful to have such a wonderful family who been exceptionally supportive of my circling the lakes.

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My battery-replacement team and cleaning/loading team :)

Today I have been doing miscellaneous things to get ready including updating my Garmin GPS. I added memory so that I can have a full set of maps that include Canada. I keep this GPS in my car then move it to my motorhome as needed. Works great. Of course I still have way too many maps and atlases in my RV. I swear I am going to get down to one atlas for this trip. Each time I load up less stuff and continue to cull my travel belongings.

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I also got out and put on my bed the four plastic containers that hold my clothes in the RV. So far I have filled the “tops” container with long-sleeved tshirts and will add a few short-sleeved ones. The other containers are “bottoms,” “extremes” (long underwear, wool hat, etc) and “underwear, socks & nighties.” I stack these on top of one another in the one closet. The “extremes” container goes in first then I stack on (in this order) “bottoms, “tops” and “underwear etc.” In this way the heaviest and least-used items are on the bottom and the lightest and most used are on top. Works great. I’ll post a photograph when I have them in place.

Meanwhile later today I’m going to tackle laundry, fill up the other clothes containers and wash all the pots and pans, utensils and plates. Traveling in a RV is hard work requiring lots of planning, money and labor, but the rewards are immense. Henry Boy would definitely agree with that!

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Baby Steps

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todo

 

 

 

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In our punch-drunk culture where only huge steps count or are even worth taking on, I’m learning to take baby steps.

First I have to get a new battery for my motorhome. That should happen this weekend with the help of my son and daughter-in-law.

Then I have to drive it to Camping World to be prepared for the journey. The first appointment I could get was September 20th at noon. Ugh, but I scheduled the appointment.

Other baby steps in-between are to scrub everything down, run the generator a time or two and start loading in bedding, canned goods, electronics and maps. I strip it almost bare each fall then have to put back in the following year.

I have a detailed packing list and system developed over the five years I have owned Ecovision. I’ll get that out soon and set aside certain clothing and resource materials to circle Lake Michigan. I’ll make sure I have enough food for up to three weeks for my dog Henry as well as myself. I cook ahead and freeze as much as possible so I have healthy food on the road.

Owning and caring for a RV is a great deal of work and money even for a modest motorhome like Ecovision. Always something to fix or improve or maintain. But I love RVing so for now it is very much worth the effort. My only regret is that my current life keeps me tied to a part-time job and activities in and around Ann Arbor rather than being on the road with Henry near the lakes I love.

Lift-off date: September 21st! Hopefully…

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Kitchen Lite

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travelingkit

My motorhome is very very small. In fact when I walk down the aisle Henry has to back up because we cannot pass each other. I’m always trying to pare down to the bare essentials including in the kitchen. Today I enjoyed reading Clothilde Dusoulier of Chocolate and Zucchini‘s post on her minimalist kit for the traveling cook. Chocolate and Zucchini was the first blog I ever followed as I ventured into food and fell in love with Paris. Clothilde is such an interesting person and over the years I’ve even bought two of her cookbooks. I found it interesting that my essentials pretty much mirrors hers such as a paring knife, vegetable peeler and good olive oil. Traveling in a motorhome is pretty much glorified camping so nothing really good or precious–especially my favorite Shun knife–ends up in its kitchen drawers. Instead I’ve moved old, worn, still-functional items to the motorhome. For some reason using a 30-year old dishcloth or my mother’s hand-me-down pan is like getting a much-needed hug on the road.

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September it is

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I’m not only resigned, but quite happy that Henry and I will start to circle Lake Michigan in mid-September. The weather will be cooler, campgrounds and shorelines will be uncrowded and I’ll have the Labor Day weekend family reunion behind me. Fall colors should be starting so photographs in various campgrounds should be stunning.

Leaving after the family reunion also will give me a little extra time so I am hoping to stretch the original two weeks into three. I can’t leave before September 15 and I do have to be back by October 11 to give a public lecture on the Great Lakes at Washtenaw Community College.

I have decided to just replace the van battery. My daughter-in-law and son will help me switch the old for new when they get back from their vacation in Montana. Or I should say I’ll help them because they are handier than I am. Anne replaced her car battery in minutes while I helped watched! For now I’m going to figure out which size I need and shop around for prices over the next week or two. I’ll also share here how I budget for RV travel.

Meantime here is a slide I put together adding a favorite quote from Thoreau about lakes onto one of my images from the north shore of Lake Superior. Enjoy!

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Battery and books

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My August circling of Lake Michigan maybe become October. Feeling disappointed yet this may be necessary.

Battery

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I went to the storage place where I keep Ecovision to start and run her. Last year when I did this she made no noise and wouldn’t start. Even the AAA mechanic couldn’t get her started and she had to be towed to the Dodge dealer about 6 miles away. The culprit was mice had chewed the engine wiring and to repair it took my entire travel budget for a planned weekend caravaning to a Petoskey Township park with my friend Rachel.

This time my battery made some clicking noises, but wouldn’t turn over. My own fault for only starting it once or twice since last fall and we had this specially brutal winter. The AAA mechanic got it started although it took some doing and kept stalling.

The mechanic was very helpful and I asked him to stay while I drove it around the storage facility a couple of times and it purred like a kitten. The battery is only three or four years old and a very high-quality Interstate so under normal daily-driving situations would be just fine.

After the mechanic left I took Ecovision out on the street and drove about 4 or 5 miles to get the battery charged. I returned to the storage facility, parked, turned off the engine and then decided to start again just to make sure. It wouldn’t start. Darn. My mistake was I didn’t turn it off and try to start again while the mechanic was still there because if I had we would’ve seen that it was not going to start.

I had to get back home for an appointment so I left Ecovision there with a dead battery. I haven’t been back yet because I know it’s going to be a half-day adventure waiting for AAA, getting it to the dealership, having them drive me back to my car at the storage facility and then returning home. So Ecovision sits for now.

Books

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The other impediments to an August circling is my study. I hired a wonderful college student to help me sort and reorganize my nearly 2,000 books that got disheveled when I had hardwood floors put in throughout my home last year. I have not been able to face this onerous task hence I hired Brad to help me.

We’re also going through my decades of research, notes, papers and articles on key topics of interest like the Great Lakes, their islands, elite-research methods and real-estate development. With this momentum going and having Brad to help makes me very reluctant to stop for two weeks to circle the lake with this important project unfinished.

Oh and did I mention money? Chances are I may need a new battery and I’ve had significant unexpected expenses in the last month or two like repair of my refrigerator. Plus I’ve been organizing a major family reunion up north in Frankfort over Labor Day weekend and I have a cousin coming to stay with me from Norway. More impetus to get my study fully settled.

So It looks like I will just keeping going in my study, get the battery situation settled, enjoy my cousin and the family reunion and resign myself to a late September or early October start date. Darn. Cannot go in September because we are super busy that month at the People’s Food Co-op.

Promise
As I start sorting the Great Lakes and island papers I’ll start posting what I come across and learn. I do have extensive information and will be compiling it in a better way. I have at least three file drawers full of materials and with Brad’s help will make them more accessible by creating a better filing system. I will share interesting tidbits here as I go along. So again do stay tuned. I promise this will get better.