John Deere | exploRVistas

December 17, 2020, Leelanau County, written by Jim

Back when I was still working, one of my colleagues scoffed at the mention of climate change, which back then was referred to as global warming. Knowing he was a capitalist, I chuckled and said to him that he was missing out on a huge opportunity. I told him “buy a place on Lake Michigan and build a tiki bar, as Michigan will be a tropical paradise and Florida will be under water!” I saw the wheels turning as he fell silent. Love ya’ buddy! 🙂

Well, we aren’t quite there yet, at least in Michigan…but we are going to be in the 40’s this Christmas! El Niño is in full force, and our snowfall totals are way down. While we aren’t seeing tourists lounging on Grand Traverse Bay’s beaches, we did see a teenager riding a skateboard in shorts the other night in Traverse City. Oh, wait…that’s not unusual. With that said, our snowfall totals are definitely below average.

We did get a very snowy week in early December, which allowed me to get my tractor into snow removal mode! The combination of bucket on the front and blade on the back made quick work of the foot of the white stuff that fell. The bulk of our driveway is gravel, but the steep section by the road is asphalt. One portion of that is a 10% grade with a sweeping curve. When I was in high school, I plowed our church parking lot with the same set-up on a 1953 Ford tractor, but that lot was flat as a pancake. Our hill concerned me, so I took to the John Deere Facebook group I belong to for suggestions. There were two schools of thought to that hill. One said to use tire chains for traction. The others said that my turf tires were sufficient to run up and down it, warning that tire chains would damage the asphalt. Not wanting to mess up our pretty, new driveway surface, I chose the latter…even though I had already purchased the chains. It is here I should mention that I was running the back blade inverted…the concave portion facing rearward…so as to not scoop all the gravel off our drive. I continued that practice down the asphalt section, which left a hard-packed 1/2 inch of snow on it. That part of the driveway takes three passes to clear, with the bulk of it being finished it two. After my second pass down, I lifted the blade, turned around and headed up the hill. About 50 feet from the top, all 4 wheels started spinning and the front of the tractor drifted sideways. Being sideways on a tractor on an icy 10% grade is not an ideal place to be, so I went into problem-solving mode and dropped the bucket and back blade down. That acted as a brake and it also lowered my center of gravity. I came to a stop perpendicular to the driveway, 200 feet from the road…still on that steep grade. I gingerly got off the tractor and informed Diana of my predicament, then set out to try and use my truck to pull the tractor back up. I ended up not having enough tow strap and chains to reach it, so I scrapped that idea. I then got back on the tractor, refastened my seatbelt and lifted the front bucket ever so slightly. I then tried to drive forward, which swung the front end around and pointed it downhill. With the back blade acting as a brake, I slid all the way to the road. I then slogged through the deep snow on the side and joined the former school of thought and got the chains. Once installed, that did the trick. I backed up the drive without issue.

I’m now turning the rear blade with the concave portion facing forward on the asphalt section, which scrapes down to bare pavement. I then sprinkle a light coating of ice melt on it for insurance. That seems to have taken care of the problem. Now…where do we want to put that tiki bar…

Many of you may be wondering why we chose to forego the warm beaches of Florida for the winter scenes in the above photos. There was no one particular reason, but the fact we were just settling in and enjoying our new place made it really hard to leave. El Niño was not yet forecasted, so that didn’t play into it. Little did we know at the time that we would be facing a major health challenge that made us extremely glad to be close to our Michigan doctors, which we’ve kept throughout our full time RV journey. Diana had her annual mammogram in early November in Grand Rapids, which revealed a suspicious spot. Further testing revealed that it was a very treatable tumor. She underwent surgery in early December. We meet with her doctors again over the next month, as there will be further treatment to improve her chances of not having the cancer come back. It all looks very promising, and a process we are glad to complete from the comfort of our home base. If there is one thing we want to stress to others, it’s this: For your own sake and the sake of your loved ones, stay up to date on your physicals and annual checkups. Both of us are now cancer survivors who were fortunate to have caught our cancers through early detection.

Beyond all of that, I am sure there are those of you who are shivering at the thought of us up here in northern Michigan. We had those concerns too, but we knew we had spent our first 55 years in snowy environs and were well equipped to handle it. What are our thoughts to this point? Mind you, it is still only mid-December, but we have to say we are pleasantly surprised! You may recall that we named our homestead “MapleVistas” as both a continuation of our full time RV moniker and the fact that our property is loaded with maple trees…and we have this ‘vista’ of the valley below us:

Well, 99% of our trees are deciduous, which means our vista expanded when the leaves fell.

Our sunrises have been incredible, as a result!

The lack of leaves, coupled with the snow actually makes our great room brighter than in the summer. We weren’t expecting that, as we’ve seen plenty of dreary winters in our lifetimes. Still, I am sure we will be glad to see the leaves return, come spring. We’ve also discovered that this time of year is known as ‘locals season’. Leelanau does not roll up the sidewalks once the summer tourists leave, as there are enough locals who support the shops and wineries in the winter to make it worthwhile to stay open.

Lane, Patti, Diana and I took advantage of that recently and visited a few uncrowded wineries.

They also took us on an incredible hike in our neighborhood about the time we were feeling a bit shell shocked from Diana’s diagnosis. That was much appreciated and good for our souls. We were also blessed with visits bearing the gifts of friendship and food from our neighbors on each side of us, Renate and Linda. Having great neighbors is really special.

So, that’s our current situation. Challenges and blessings, all rolled into one incredible life that we are fortunate to be living. We are thankful indeed. We appreciate the prayers that have come our way and the ones that have yet to be prayed. We hold each and every one of you close in our hearts this holiday season and we wish you all the best. Until next time, safe and happy travels to all!

September 19, 2023 – Leelanau County, MI – Written by Jim

To say that this summer has been filled to the brim would be an understatement! When we last posted, we had just had our new sofa and recliners delivered, along with a new mattress for the guest room. We had emptied our storage room in Grand Rapids and had everything we owned here at home…the first time that had happened since September, 2014. We figured out early on that our plan of landscaping and moving in would be whittled down to just moving in, as we wanted to enjoy our place and not be constantly working.

It wasn’t long before our guests started arriving!

We’ve hosted several groups of friends and family over the summer, which has been very special for us. Just like I have said about full-time RVing: it’s not about the places…it’s about the people.

Smiling faces who make our lives complete.

Every one of them bring joy to our lives!

Rarely a week went by without getting together with someone.

We even have a few of our great nephew’s small handprints on the refrigerator door that we can never wash off. 😊

I even delayed this post to visit with a dear friend from college. Apologies to those who we failed to get photos of! We enjoyed seeing each and every one of you!

We also made six trips downstate! We’ve had birthday, graduation and anniversary celebrations, doctor appointments, memorials and a very special afternoon in Detroit. You may recall a past post about my great-grandfather being the general contractor on Old Mackinac Lighthouse in 1892. That post can be seen here. Well, nine years before that, he was the general contractor on the bell tower at St Joseph Shrine in Detroit. Completion of that tower made the building the tallest in Detroit at that time. There had been a family story about the largest bell being dropped by the crew, which ended up in the basement of the vestibule. When the crew couldn’t find my great-grandfather, they feared he was below the wreckage. They ran two blocks to my great-grandmother’s house to tell her, only to find him there for some reason. Anyone with first-hand knowledge of the event had long passed on, so it pretty much was just a story in my generation’s minds. It turns out that the story actually is true!

This year is the 150th anniversary of the church. I saw a post on a Detroit historical architecture Facebook group Diana and I belong to where a member of the church was looking for information on the early families from the parish. He is doing a Ken Burns-style documentary on them. I provided him all the information I had and asked if there was any way that Diana and I could personally see the bells. We arranged a time and met with Joe and Julie, who gave us an extensive tour of the church!

My great-grandparents and grandparents were married here, and my mom was baptized here.

The climb to the bells themselves was an adventure! The church had recently been sandblasted, so there was sand everywhere. Bat guano and pigeon poop too! Rickety stairs led us to the top.

The bells themselves were massive! All of them have an 1883 date on them, except for Anton, the 5000 pound bell. It was cast in Baltimore in 1885 to replace the 4000 pound bell that was dropped. It is named for Anton Pulte, who made the largest donation for the bells. Many of you will recognize the Pulte name, as they are one of America’s largest home builders. This was where they went to church back then. It turns out there was a push to get the bells installed for Christmas in 1883, as the bishop was coming to bless them. The bell was dropped on Christmas Eve. The entire set is still mounted on the hardwood beams my great-grandfather’s crew installed.

They even got permission for us to ring them!

Julie then stayed behind and sent us to the street to listen to her ring them, so we could hear them better. With seven bells, she had to be running around the room like a crazy woman! To hear these bells ring was a gift.

Our last piece of news for the summer is that we have decided to spend the winter in Michigan! We want to enjoy our home in addition to getting in some snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. Those of you who have been to our place may be wondering about the combination of our steep driveway and snow.

We purchased a back blade from a 1953 Ford Jubilee tractor. A little John Deere green and we are ready to go! That and the front bucket on the tractor should take care of any snow we have.

That’s about it for now. Until next time, safe and happy travels to all!