It’s been a day…a long and tiring day, but another good one nonetheless! We were up and at em relatively early in our campsite. We were pleasantly surprised that we didn’t float away overnight with the amount of rain that poured down and when we awoke, the large puddles in our campsite were gone.
We have crossed into the 3rd timezone of our travels and are now in Eastern time. The kids think it is some kind of trick to get them in bed earlier, but I am FEELING it. It definitely feels 3 hours later than my typical clock! With that said, I also feel more awake earlier than usual and I have been the first to rise for much of this adventure.
Once we all got moving this morning we got into our typical routine. Tyler working, the kids working on school, and me tidying up. I tell you what, it is difficult to keep this tiny space clean but I make it my mission every day.
Tyler wanted to find the restrooms in the park so we set out away from camp to scope it out. We were told there was a “beach” in the park and we took the opportunity to see if it were true. After a short walk, we located Menomonee Beach and knew it would be perfect to bring the kids back to.
We returned to the campsite and began packing up. Since we had a long day planned for sightseeing, I thought it was best for us to get in a good workout before we left. We did a fun campsite workout, packed the rest of the pickup, and set off for the beach.
The kids enjoyed the beach and it was beautiful much of the time we were there. Tyler and I sat out in our chairs, him working and me taking pictures. Once the clouds began to cover, we decided to head for Milwaukee, WI.
It was a short drive to Milwaukee and once we arrived, we were amazed at the cleanliness of the city. The roads were nice, the underpasses and overpasses were all painted a deep blue and the bridges were beautiful. There was no graffiti or homeless camps littering the sidewalks. We found the riverwalk we intended to see. The Lakefront Brewery that sat just in front of the river was not opened for dine-in so we walked along the river just behind the brewery and returned to our pickup. While we were trying to find the best place to get custard, Tyler’s business partner gave us a client recommendation.
My perfect parking!
We headed for Kopp’s Frozen Custard per the recommendation and walked a short distance to the restaurant. We each got a small cone and stepped outside to walk back to our vehicle. Before we could get anywhere, it began pouring. We stood outside and enjoyed our custard and when we thought the rain lightened up, we set out for the pickup. By the time we arrived back, we were all soaked. We sat in the pickup and started mapping out our next stop. While we originally intended on staying in/near Chicago, accommodations for our trailer were slim to none. We also struggled to figure out how we would take in the sights with the trailer attached. We opted to travel through Chicago, IL, and venture on!
Tyler settled on a casino in Michigan City, IN. The casino is listed as a Harvest Host and reviews said they were accomodating and easy to work with. When we arrived, the casino was closed and there wasn’t a single car in the lot. We decided we would go ahead and park there knowing our past experiences with Harvest Host has always provided a good experience. After letting the dogs out of the pickup, putting down the stairs, and kicking our shoes off to get settled in, a loud knock came at our door. We were told by the casino security that we had to leave. He was unpleasant, but we happily obliged.
We gathered ourselves back up and headed towards the state of Michigan. We knew we wanted to at least make it there to check another state off on our list of travels. After not locating any good places along the way, Tyler and I decided to try out the boondocking experience at Walmart. The nearest one was 45 minutes away in South Bend, IN.
We will stay here for the night and tomorrow we intend to head further East towards Akron, OH. Today we ventured another 240 miles and we are slowly making our way across the United States. We have been enjoying our travels and seeing the different sites and scenery. While we have mostly experienced rather hot temperatures, today the rain reminded me of the PNW. I think we are all missing home, but not enough to come home…just yet!
The Church Hideout 