April 23

April 23, 2021 – Marquette, MI to Wakefield, MI

I was excited to get up and get going, because I had been looking forward to this next spot for a while. I was going to spend the next day at Big Snow Ski Resort.

I found this really cool app called Harvest Hosts, which is full of free and unique place to camp overnight or a few days. While some of the hosts are generous private landowners just helping other campers, most of the locations are at businesses. There’s just a sort of understanding that you’ll spend money while you’re there. No minimum requirements or anything, just a reasonable amount and the app recommends $20.

Big Snow Ski Resort has a restaurant that’s open all year, and that’s the only real place to spend money.

Hey, I have to eat anyway, right?

This place did not disappoint. I would love to go back here for a visit in the fall when the colors are changing.

This is where I set up shop. I was the only RVer there and had the place to myself. It was a bit cold and rainy, but still beautiful and the rain had lots of long breaks so we could enjoy the scenery.

Found the ski lifts!

Even now the view was amazing. I can’t imagine what it’s like in the summer and especially the fall. I was told the total viewing distance was 17 miles, but it sure seemed further to me. I really didn’t know Michigan had this hilly of terrain!

Here’s some video of the ski slopes with Cooper running around enjoying the smells.

The service at the restaurant was outstanding. The bartender and cook were really friendly. They gave me lots of information about the area, what it’s like there during ski season (the kitchen gets BUSY!), and were very welcoming.

I opted for their Friday Fish Fry and it was terrific. I usually don’t like Coleslaw, but it was homemade and very good.

I was also talked into trying their “potato pancake” instead of fries. You put syrup and… applesauce on it! That kind of threw me off, but in the spirit of being cultured, I tried it, and it was terrific!

If you happen to go there, the buffalo chicken wrap is on point, too.

Cooper still doesn’t love being left alone in the van. I have a camera that I can view remotely and he basically just sat panting and staring out that window you see all the drool marks on it.

Otherwise he’s caught on really well and is loving all the new smells. He also stole where my work desk is supposed to be.

It got down into the 20’s at night. While my van is not a true 4-season coach, it has a lot of features to help in colder weather. Most of the water lines are inside the vehicle, and there are heaters on the holding tanks.

I can run my heater with either propane or electricity from the onboard lithium battery system. I chose to test out the lithium system by running the holding tank heaters, my interior heat, and the hot water heater all on electricity (while also using the lights, charging my phone, watching TV, running the fridge, etc.).

The lithium battery system gave me enough power to do all of that for over 24hrs. I was really impressed that I could run such energy-heavy systems for so long. It gave me a lot of confidence for future boondocking (camping with no hookups).

It was getting a bit muddy and the snow was rolling in, so it was time to head out.

Here’s the route we took…