Tag: lake huron

Volunteering at 40 Mile Point Lighthouse

by Herb & Kathy, posted in Camping, Friends, RV'ing, Traveling, Volunteering, Working

Since 2016, Kathy and I have traversed the country many times as we’ve volunteered or workamped along the way.

All but one (unnamed) location have been great experiences and our most recent was no exception. Let me tell you a little about it.

40 Mile Point Lighthouse at Rogers City, Michigan along the western Lake Huron Coast plays host to thousands of visitors annually and offers RV’ing volunteers the opportunity to live onsite in their rig for two week stints while they act as museum docents or “guest lightkeepers”.

We met Matt and Sherry in the fall of 2016 while we were volunteering at Escapees “Rainbows End” RV Park in Livingston, Texas. We’ve always stayed in touch, sometimes working with them at campgrounds or museums. Sometimes we just meet for a meal as we move through each other’s location.

Matt & Sherry
Matt and Sherry

They had told us about 40 Mile Point and the stories of their experiences there piqued our interest. We sent an email with our resume to the Volunteer Coordinator in August of ’22 and by February of ’23 we had a commitment for this past August.

We were to arrive on Monday July 31st with our first day of duty Tuesday the first of August. We had been to the Escapees Chapter 6 Rally at Ludington Michigan the week before and we were taking it easy at a small campground at Alpena when I got an email from the lighthouse that said we could come on up early if we wanted because one of the couples had to leave due to a medical issue so there was a spot available for our rig. So on up we went.

Our route from Mt Gilead to Ludington, to Alpena, to Rogers City

We spent the next couple of days getting to know “the Lay of the land” so to say and had the opportunity to sit around the campfire at night and learn from the outgoing crew some of the do’s and don’ts of the program.

Our nightly campfires

The lighthouse is closed to visitors on Mondays so we took that day to go into town, do our grocery shopping and laundry (at the cleanest laundromat we’ve ever seen!)

The cleanest laundromat!

Tuesday morning we all (the new crew of eight) met with Leonard and Shawn. They led us on a tour of the buildings, filled us in on the do’s and don’ts, showed us how to use the register in the gift shop, and set us loose as visitors started to arrive by about. 10:00am. Full speed ahead!

It’s called 40 Mile Point because it’s located 40 nautical miles to the southeast of the Straights of Mackinac. All the buildings on the grounds including the lightkeepers apartments, the light tower (53 steps), the oil house, the fog signal building, and the privy were built in 1896 at a cost of $25,000.

View from the top
Herb at the Fresnel lens
Relax along the beach
Gift Shop & Lighthouse
An example of a lifeboat
The privy (toilet)
About the Fresnel lens
Inside the Calcite Pilothouse
Our home on-site

The duty schedule works like this. There are four volunteer couples. Couple A works all day (10am-4pm) while couple B works the morning, couple C works the afternoon, and couple D has the day off. The couples on duty changes every day so with the rotation everyone gets two days off each week.

Duty stations include; top of the tower explaining the of the light’s role in mariner safety, the bottom of the tower being the lightkeepers quarters for he and his family, a third volunteer staffs the the gift shop, and the 4th person staffs the Calcite freighter pilot house.

Join me in a climb to the top of 40 Mile Point Lighthouse

The lighthouse grounds are actually a county park but the buildings are wholly maintained by the 40 Mile Point Lighthouse Society, a group of dedicated volunteers who are dedicated to the preservation of this historical location and to educating the public on it’s significance to both the maritime and local community.

Kathy and I really enjoyed our time there (first two weeks of August). The weather was warm but not too hot or humid, there was always a nice breeze off the lake, the other volunteers we worked with were all wonderful people, the town of Rogers City is a really nice clean small town with good restaurants, a great meat market, and be sure to stop at “The Painted Lady” for coffee and ice cream!

If you’re interested in volunteering as a Guest Lightkeeper for 2-4 weeks in the summer, get in touch with me and I’ll see that you are put in contact with the Volunteer Coordinator. To find out more about 40 Mile Point Lighthouse, visit their website.

We are now back in Ohio getting ready to head out next week to our winter home at Rovers Roost in Casa Grande, Arizona. C’mon out and visit us sometime! (seriously)

A great visit from family

by Herb & Kathy, posted in Camping, Family, Food, RV'ing, Sightseeing, Traveling, Volunteering

I have two sisters (along with two brothers-in-law) and when we talked a few months back about our volunteer gig up here at the lighthouse, we all decided it would be a great place to get together for a couple days.

Betsy and Bob live in Owosso Michigan while Marilynn and Rick came up from Jacksonville Florida.

The lighthouse is closed on Mondays and we asked for Tuesday as our other day off this week so we had two days with all of us together.

Rick, Marilynn, Kathy, me, Betsy, and Bob

Although their visit was short, we all enjoyed our time together. Kathy and I gave them a private tour of the lighthouse, the tower, and the pilot house. Later in the day we drove on in to the beautiful town of Rogers City where we stopped at the quarry overlook at the Calcite Limestone Mine.

After that we headed back into town to give them a treat at The Painted Lady, an eclectic shop offering unique hand painted pottery, ladies sun dresses and lakeside accessories, jewelry, picture framing service, children’s toys, and my favorite Ashby’s Ice Cream and all sorts of coffee drinks.

Michigan Pot Hole

It’s always great being with family and we all look forward to the next time in the spring of ’24 in Jacksonville.

Goodbye to new friends

by Herb & Kathy, posted in Camping, Friends, RV'ing, Traveling, Volunteering, Working

Last night we sat around the campfire getting to know our new friends a little more before they had to leave in the morning. The old crew pulls out by Monday noon (lighthouse is closed in Mondays) and the new crew pulls in Monday afternoon.

From left to right; Wendy, Belinda, and Terry. Danny and Marilyn were packing for their morning departure

It was great that we were able to pull in here a few days early as we learned not only about our new job responsibilities but also about the nearby things to see and do (and eat!) while we are here in the Rogers City area.

Terry and Belinda pulling out headed to the Soo Locks

This coming week is the annual Nautical Festival in town and it’s a big celebration with loads of scheduled activities drawing thousands from the surrounding area and bringing in lots of pleasure craft to the harbor. We are expecting big crowds this week at the lighthouse. We shouldn’t be bored!

Later today our new co-workers (3 couples) will pull in and we will all have our orientation and training Tuesday morning.

We’re looking forward to another great volunteer experience. Since we hit the road in 2016, we’ve been blessed with not only seeing a great portion of our country and all the beauty and majesty it has to offer, but we’ve been able to make so many new friends along the way.

More to follow over the next few days.

We made it to the light!

by Herb & Kathy, posted in Camping, Food, Friends, RV'ing, Sightseeing, Touring, Traveling, Volunteering, Working

Getting ready Friday morning to leave Campers Cove at Alpena and move a little west to Eckert Park at Hamlin, I received an email from Leonard at the lighthouse that we could just come ahead now rather than have to wait until Monday due to one of the couples working here had to leave due to a medical issue.

It was only a 45 minute drive and we were here and settled by about noon. There are three other rigs here (all motorhomes) and as the volunteers each came and went to/from their lunch break they all stopped to introduce themselves and welcome us.

We continued to set up camp. We connected our electric, water, and sewer lines, took our e-bikes off the back of the car, set up our little Weber propane grill, brought out the bungee chairs and side tables, and rolled out the side awning.  All this takes about a half hour and now we can sit and relax a bit! There was a nice breeze off the lake, but it was pretty warm and humid.

Our home in the trees for the next couple weeks

All four sites are nestled in the woods (lots of shade) and there’s a community fire pit with plenty of firewood, two large picnic tables, and a large propane BBQ grill.

Just beyond the fire pit there’s a trail going down to Lake Huron.  Kathy and I took off our socks and shoes, put on other more appropriate footwear for trudging through the sand, and headed down to the water to check it out.  Surprisingly, the water is warmer than I had imagined it would be this far north!

See the freighter in the distance?

Our supervisors Leonard and Carrie came by on their bicycles to greet us, they live just down U.S. 23 a bit and there’s a nice paved bike path alongside the road and the lake that goes all the way to Rogers City about 7 miles south.

Kathy and I ran into town for a bit to pick up a couple things.  Shortly after we returned, the crew had finished their day (4:00pm) and we all settled at the picnic tables.  Each of us had our favorite drink and we had the opportunity to get to know each other.

Our first nights supper with new friends

All of a sudden an instant pot showed up and we all shared a great time enjoying homemade vegetable beef soup and Texas toast.  Ok, one side was a “little” overdone on the grill, but the other side was great 😃

Our first night backed up a couple hundred feet from the waves of Lake Huron was cool, breezy and SO comfortable we were lulled to sleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow.

Although we had visited the lighthouse last year, the next day we visited each venue to hear how the “pros” tell the story to visitors. Leonard had emailed us lots of info for us to study about the history, but it’s always good to see and hear how other docents share the story.

The fog horn building
A close up fog horn
The pilot house from the freighter Calcite
Inside the pilot house
Lighthouse apartments and light tower
View from the light
Spiral staircase (53 steps)

That’s the report for now. Today we’ll take a drive into town to get some groceries, stop at one of the local produce stands, hit the laundromat and then when we get back we’ll visit the venues again to hear how others tell the story. The volunteers rotate assignments each day so that each gets an opportunity to work everywhere.

In the meantime, be good and stay safe.

Summer camping in Michigan with friends and family

by Herb & Kathy, posted in Camping, Family, Food, Friends, RV'ing, Sightseeing, Traveling

This is a post I wrote back in late October and THOUGHT I had published, but just found it in my DRAFTS folder. Better late than never.

When our daughter Sara became seriously ill in early 2022, we made a bee-line trip back to Ohio from Arizona to help her through the recovery process.

It’s now summer and Sara is doing so much better. She’s the best and happiest we’ve seen her in 20 years.

Sara and Stu

Since Stu and Sara sold their Mt Gilead home in April, we’ve all been living together in one of our small two bedroom rental homes in the village. It’s “cozy” but it’s got a great attached garage for the guys to play in and a fenced yard for the dogs w/a concrete patio so the girls can sun themselves while keeping an eye on the little 4 legged mischief makers.

Our Mt Gilead home where the four of us lived May to September 2022

As our lives got more and more back to normal, we yearned for more “normal” activities. One of these was Stu’s desire to go fishing in northern Michigan again as he had the year before.

Sara wanted to go along, but the idea of being out on the lake all day really wasn’t her idea of fun – nor was waiting in the motel room all day for Stu to come back with the car towing the boat. Quite the conundrum.

Kathy and I proposed the idea of us tagging along and setting up camp in a local campground that could also provide a rental camper for the two of them and the dogs. We found a great little campground called Campers Cove RV Park & Canoe Livery where we got sites just a few hundred feet apart. As an added bonus Stu’s mom Barb came along as well!

Our site along the canal heading out to the lake
Location of Campers Cove near Alpena Michigan

We set our camping trip for October and when I mentioned that to a Facebook friend, another one of our “old friends” (not THAT kind of “old” really but friends we’ve been since the early 70’s) suggested they might come along since we hadn’t seen each other in a few years. Great idea!

Kathy at Stu, Sara and Barb’s camper. The little gal is Dulaney

What a great time we had camping in northern Michigan enjoying the fall colors, the cool weather, the nearly empty campground, the crackling of the campfire every day and night, along with great food provided and cooked by our friends Norm and Alice. What a treat!

Chef Norm grilling up the innards for our burrito dinner while Sara awaits

Our relationship with Norm & Alice started when Norm and I hired in at Xerox as copier service reps in 1973 (I think). We soon became fast friends as we both worked covering the downtown Detroit big office buildings servicing copiers in law firms, government offices, stock brokerages, banks, and others. Back in those days it was only Xerox, Kodak, and IBM in the copier business. It would be a few more years before the influx of the Toshibas, Minoltas, Canons and other Japanese brands into the market.

Norm, Alice, Sara, Stu, Barb, & Kathy

As our friendship grew, the four of us partied together, got married about the same time, went on some trips together, each brought our children into the world (each with a boy and a girl) about the same time. We bought our first homes the same year. They, however have done the smart thing and stayed in that home for nearly 50 years while we’ve moved in and out of nine homes before finally selling the last one and hitting the road in our motorhome in 2016.

Everybody’s favorite pastime at the fire
Ooooh … S’mores Sticky fingers

We didn’t just sit around the campfire and feed our faces for three days however. While Stu went off fishing, we made a couple day trips to see the Mackinac Bridge and visit a couple lighthouses too.

Herb, Alice, Norm, Barb, Kathy, and Sara @ The Old Mackinac Lighthouse

Kathy and I are going to be volunteering late summer of ’23 as guest lighthouse keepers at 40 Mile Point Light near Rogers City, MI. Since we were pretty darn close, we decided to swing on by and scope out the place!

Sara and Barb getting ready to head on in for their self-guided tour of the lighthouse

We couldn’t have asked for better weather. The sunny warm days faded to cooler afternoons and evenings. Time together with wonderful old friends and our family really was a special time telling stories of times past and just enjoying each other’s company.

Stu and Barb enjoying some time together playing golf

As we prepare to stay in Mt Gilead for the winter so that I can get my second hip replacement, we reminisce about our six years on the road workamping and camp hosting.

We’re so glad that we made the decision to quit working early (at 62), sell the house and hit the road. The places we’ve gone and especially the wonderful lasting friendships we’ve made along the way would never have happened if we stayed home – working or retired.

Some of the places we’ve at least spent the night along the way

But for now we will be content to stay in Ohio to get some medical issues taken care of, spend the summer of ’23 in/near here and then head to Arizona and spend next winter with our “other” family there.