Overnight at Lake Kegonsa State Park

After our trip to Point Beach State Forest, I finished up the converter.  You know how you get to the end of a project and have pieces left over? Well, that isn’t a new occurrence for me.  It turned out that the main shore power cord needed a wire clamp to hold everything in place.  It would have been better to install that before everything was wired into place.

So there was some disassembly and then some reassembly.  Later,  the converter needed side shims to close a gap and to provide more support for attaching the converter box to the interior frame of the  Brew Hut.  I finished everything on Wednesday.  On Thursday, I took the Brew Hut in for the final summer upgrade:  new tires.

When I originally purchased this Scamp trailer, the owner told me that the battery and the tires were new The old battery was dead, and the tires were bald.  However, he also admitted that he bought the cheapest replacements that he could find at the local farm supply store.   I immediately replaced the battery.  After traveling to Arizona last fall and to Texas this spring, I didn’t trust the cheap tires for another long trip.

Based upon several recommendations at the Fiberglass RV forum, I ordered three Carlisle Radials.  The existing spare tire was the original (stamped 2000), so it was time for that to be replaced also.  After the tires were balanced and installed on the Brew Hut, I was off to Lake Kegonsa State Park for a quick overnight trip.

On a Thursday night, there were plenty of campsites available.  The sites are nicely spaced and wooded.  There are about 100 campsites; however, I saw only a few that would be good for solar power. Since I was checking out my electrical system, I opted for an electric site.

After a long hike on grassy trails at the edge of the woods, Callie and I watched the Packers game on my little-used television.  Well, Callie mostly watched me watch the Packer game.

Everything electrical seems to be working, and the new tires have set my mind at ease. On Friday, we moved Justin’s things to his new dorm room and moved Justin back home for a couple of weeks of relaxation (for him, not me).

During the next couple of weeks, I’m on caregiver duty.

After Justin starts college, I’m heading southeast in the Brew Hut, hoping for a quiet hurricane season.  Julia plans to join me again closer to our destination.  If all goes well, we will enjoy some time in a new place:  the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Wisconsin: Point Beach State Forest

Back to Wisconsin

After our trip to Montana, we settled back in to our daily lives in Wisconsin.  Julia was back at work.  I had firewood to get ready for the coming winter.  The Brew Hut needed repairs.  Specifically, I replaced my power distribution center and converter.

The old system allowed me to have AC power when plugged in and DC power off the battery.  A working converter, when connected to shore power, operates the DC system and charges the battery.  I’m not sure if the converter worked when I bought the Scamp because I knew so little about RV electrical systems.

However, I eventually figured out that the converter was completely dead.
I contacted Progressive Dynamics awhile back to ask what would be an appropriate replacement for my trailer.  They recommended the PD4135, which includes a smart charger for the battery. After watching several youtube videos, I pronounced myself as ready as I ever was going to be.  I won’t say the installation process was easy (for me), but everything is where it’s supposed to be, and works the way it’s supposed to work.

Point Beach State Forest

On Thursday night, we took the Brew Hut to Point Beach State Forest, which is just north of Two Rivers, Wisconsin on Lake Michigan.  I’m not a fan of towing in the dark, but we made it without incident.   On Friday morning, we woke up to a deserted beach.  Julia and I hiked along the beach and along the inland Ice Age Trail.

What the photos do not show are the biting flies and clouds of mosquitoes.  I’m one of those people who swell up for each mosquito bite.  Then the bite itches for several days.   The flies were much more immediately painful, taking small chunks of flesh from my bare legs.  I thought I was going to go insane until I switched out my shorts to long pants. We hiked about seven miles on the first day. That was it for the rest of the weekend as far as hiking the interior trails of the state forest.  The insects won this round!

Poor Callie received the most attention with flies covering the back of her head and ears.  When we got back to the Scamp, she begged to go inside, which is very unlike Callie.

That night, we decided to treat ourselves by going into Two Rivers, where the Rogers Street Festival and Smelt Fry was going on.  I’ve lived in Wisconsin almost all of my life and have never had smelt.  In my world travels, I’ve eaten eel, assorted raw fish and meat, along with organs and tendons of questionable origin.  Smelt look a lot like minnows or fish bait. The guts appear to have been removed, but the head and tail are intact.

Being Wisconsin, we ate the smelt with deep fried cheese curds and hard lemonade.  I declined the beer choice:  Miller Light.  My first first few bites were okay.  “A little bit fishy, but not too greasy and not too crunchy.”  After eating about half of my smelt, I wasn’t hungry anymore.  It just felt too much like eating bait.

On Saturday morning, Julia went kayaking, while I finished a book in the “Last Kingdom” series by Bernard Cornwell.  Julia reported that there were no biting flies off-shore.  In the afternoon, we drove up the coast to Algoma, which had a brewery I was interested in visiting:  Ahnapee Brewing.  As we drove into town, we saw that another summer festival was going on:  Shanty Days.  The streets were packed with people.

Ahnapee Brewing is located in a two car garage on the Von Steihl Winery property. A classic rock band was playing in the back public space along the water.  We purchased two IPA’s and headed for the lawn.  Faced with this experience or the experience of being eaten by flies in the state forest, this was an easy choice.

After finishing our beers, we took a walk on Algoma’s boardwalk.

That evening, I made steaks, yellow squash from the home garden, and sauteed mushrooms.

By this time, I forgot all about the biting flies and eating fish bait.