TanksPanky: FTJ, Entry 119: Traverse-ing Michigan -- and a Disappointment in Bath

As we approach the end of the last leg of our 'round the country journey (Beau calls it the Fantastic Journey), we are becoming increasingly depressed. The trip of a lifetime is over.

We are currently in Bath, NY, where we had a disappointing day. We came here solely because there is a Camping World that could install a satellite dish and enable us to get Direct TV -- or so we thought. After four conversations with their service department, which assured us we would be "happy campers," we dropped off the rig, forcing us to spend the day homeless. Four hours later, we got a call telling us that during the installation of the new satellite dish, the service department discovered we could not watch Direct TV in high def unless all the TVs were watching the same channel. Kind of defeated the purpose of getting satellite TV functionality. Beau wanted it for football, I wanted it for the movie channels. Dag nab it.

So there was a whole day wasted. And a lot of sadness from Captain Beau about not being able to see every college football game in the universe. (But he was happy that the Giants whomped the Eagles in Philly on Sunday....)

Working backwards a few days, let me very briefly review (in photos) our stop after Mackinaw City, Michigan: a lovely town calledTraverse City. We stayed at a terrific lakefront campground -- Holiday Park -- a place we would certainly be tempted to visit again. Wooded sites surrounding peaceful Silver Lake, near a nice downtown with everything you would need.

If you want to be in Michigan, this is not a bad place.

There were lots of black squirrels at our campground. We wondered if they were indigenous to the area.

This baby snapping turtle was in the road and, worried for his safety, I put him on the muddy beach along the lake. Snappers are special to me, in that I had a baby snapping turtle when I was a child. We fed him minnows and raw hamburger. His name was Harvey. His short life was very dramatic, but that's another story.

One of the campers had a parrot -- left outside his cage. He was quiet but seemed a bit depressed.

Heading east, we traveled through the lovely city of Cleveland, Ohio.
I was there years ago -- a very impressive town.

After a one-night stay in Ohio, we traveled through the northwest corner of Pennsylvania and were soon in New York State. The scenery immediately looked familiar to me -- reminded me of where I grew up.