What a month!  Nearly all of it in one of our favorite regions, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

The Distance:  We transitioned from July,  one of our biggest mileage months in a long time to, other than our stationary time in Key West and Sanibel, one of our smallest.  Only 291 miles as we traveled from Michigan’s Lower Peninsula north to the Upper Peninsula and then west across the region.  This brings our 2019 total up to 5,831 miles.

The Places:  After leaving Otsego Lake County Park we crossed the Mackinac Bridge into the UP and stopped for two nights in Seney Township Park to facilitate participation in the first of our 2019 UP markets.  From there it was on to Grand Marais, one of our favorite towns in the country.  Then we headed west along the Lake Superior shore, with stops in Christmas and Munising before closing our the month with nine days in Marquette.

Unusually, the entire month, all 31 days, we stayed in municipal (county or city) parks.  Five campgrounds in a row: Otsego Lake, Seney Township, Woodland Park, Munising Tourist, and Marquette Tourist.  This really enforces our belief that county and city campgrounds are the hidden gems of RV parks.  During that time we had four days of full hook up, 25 days with power and water, and two with just electricity.

The Budget:  As expected, we completely turned things around this month compared to our way over budget July.  Despite a couple of hundred in medical bills catching up with us and over $900 expended on our annual motorhome insurance, we still ended up 27% under budget!  Sure, the moderate campground fees (averaging $27 night for the month) and our almost complete lack of motorhome gas expenditures due to our limited travel distance helped a lot, but the biggest factor by far was our market successes.  Between Marquette, Munising, and Grand Marais, we participated in nine events, with six being highly successful and none of them failures.  This month was one of our top two months ever in market sales.

The Drama and the Improvements:   Nothing significant to report.  Yes, I nearly submerged the entire RV into Lake Superior, but it was only a “merely” incident. We continue to nurse our hydraulic systems (slide outs and levelers) along until we get back to Florida.