Can't see the woods through the forest

We purchased some land at the tip of door county.  It's in a boreal forest (A forest that grows in regions of the northern hemisphere with cold temperatures. Made up mostly of cold tolerant coniferous species such as spruce and fir). 

Then this morning I find out one of my best friends from high school live in our back/side yard. We drove past their house many times this past week.  SMALL WORLD!  

Anyway, we did a lot of walking around a Gus just ran and ran around with a huge grin.  Here is the kicker, he had a 15 foot leash on him and never got stuck  WHAT?  He gets stuck on a water bowl camping - a gnarly forest?  not once!!  

  The trees are huge going up 70+ feet and one burch? I could not even put my arms around the trunk was so big.

It's a pretty big plot we purchased and most will go undeveloped but we need a survey and an access road /easeway and electric to begin with.   Building is in the future once prices and the supply chain is fixed.  My retired architect brother works part time at Menards in Green Bay and talks about all the things builders just cannot buy and the CRAZY expensive stuff, even wiring is expensive ( 40 cents a foot and now $2 a foot).  Certain PVC is hard to find.  Air Conditioners - still on ships - can unload or ship - no truckers.   

So it will be a slow process.  

That was the big news.  

The other news was our first 5 day trip with Rocky our new camper.  Everything went pretty much perfect. I wrote a piece on things we learned and posted it on a facebook group which now has 450+ likes.

Things we learned from our first 5 day camping adventure.

Don’t bring so much food and snacks

Watch for trees that sap like there is no tomorrow **

Don’t get a site near sites with full sewer connections ( every one of those were loud and bright )

No need for so much “silverware”

Stop drinking earlier.

Our dog was amazingly good and took to HIS chair next to the fire

Dog blanket to avoid sparks on dog - he appreciated it

No need for decorative pillows

New Porta potty leaks. Leave it at home and never use it again

Don t take so much STUFF.

Have flashlights everywhere ( we took 6 small ones) especially if in an international dark sky area ( one camper got lost going potty LOL) FREAKISHLY SCARY DARK

If you don’t have a pop up don’t buy so much stuff from suggestions. Wait and find out what YOU need

BAL levelers fit with ease on Rockwood big wheels

No need for sleeping bags in summer

Keep the ceiling fan/vent on and open at night

You have weeks to pack for a trip but hours to pack to go home

Buy a SMALL tarp for the wood. Not a HUGE one. LOL

CAMELBACK cups ROCK

Frozen 2 litre water bottle is better than ice in a cooler

The #1 most awesome purchase was the below water cooler. 7 lbs of ice a day kept us in cold water 24/7.

  We were at The Wagon Trail Campground with SUPER clean bathrooms/showers and very near an International Dark Sky area and I thought I knew what "dark" was but OMG!!!   The first night DJ comes back from the bathroom about 11:00 and says  IT IS REALLY REALLY dark. 

yea - OK - I know "dark"   I go out and get to our little road and OMG - it literally swallows the light from the flashlight.  After what I believe to walk past a few sites (who all have most lights out - it's a thing to not have lights when camping there) I am actually a little on edge.  I cannot see a freaking thing and am walking almost literally blind.  

Walking back to our site I have no idea where I am on the road as my light sweeps from side to side.  A few days later one woman is calling for help as she is lost on the middle of the road with no flashlight. 

We are way above Sister Bay and only Wisconsin and Minnesota people seem to be there - too far north it seems for Illinois cars.  Took the above photo after pizza at the Wild Tomato in Sister Bay. 

The Wagon Trail Campground is walking distance from  Rowleys Bay where they have a really good bakery/restaurant/bar and hotel  Most closed do to lack of workers.  Typically kids from Belarus and that area of the world are there in the summer but because of restrictions from the past president and then Covid they are not allowed into the US at the moment.  Many places are closed in Door from lack of workers. 

this was Rowleys Bay - it was 64 degrees 

In Peninsula State Park I took a photo of Dames Rocket 

Our land is a short distance from Port de Mort Drive (door of the dead) - sounds scary which is next to Deaths Door 

Seems the Winnebago tribe was moving north and did not like the gentil Potawatomi and forced them to flee to Washington Island.  

In desperation Potawatomi sent 3 spies back to the peninsula. They were to light a fire on the best place for their warriors to land for a battle.  Two spies were killed and one talked.   Knowing the plan the Winnebago had their own plan. They lit a fire on cliffs to get the Winnebago to land in a bad place.  

The Potawatomi saw the fire and launched their warriors.  Nearing the island a fierce storm rose and between being dashed against the cliffs and being shot at by the Winnebago warriors all was lost.  BUT WAIT!

 The Winnebago also launched warriors to the now undefended Potawatomi on the Island - none of them survived the storm.   

The Winnebago took this as a sign to never cross the channel which they called "the doorway to death".  

***

BACK TO CAMPING - Gus was fantastic.  Zero issues at all with our little critter that learns so so fast.  Sort of amazing actually.  

For instance - he knew when we were starting to pack and jumped into the car to start out of the way.  He knew which chair was his by the fire and I think he loved watching it.  gus got 4 out of 5 stars on the first trip and 5 out of 5 on this extended trip.  

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Doing fairly well in MLB wagering.  I have a power rating system that takes the last 11 games run differential and opponents run differential and play hot teams on the rise against cold teams going down.  Many dog plays that are working. 

here is the power rating as of TODAY - won 8 units last night!  Sadly only a couple games are taking shape  Mia over St.L and San Diego over Colorado