The Dutch Star was parked for a month, but we certainly weren't sitting still!  Harbortown RV Resort in Monroe, Michigan is the only decent long-term RV park within a reasonable distance of our former hometown of Toledo, OH.  We've stayed here numerous times over the last seven years and once again found it a suitable place to be.  One of the five loops of sites is separated from the others and is therefore a little quieter and has much less traffic.  Most of the sites in our loop are occupied by long term visitors, several of whom are "workcampers" or are temporarily employed in the area.  "Snowbirds" like us take some of the other sites.  The other four loops are often quite empty during the week, but on weekends are a "happening place,"  especially for families.  The park has lots of planned activities for kids on Saturdays and usually a DJ for a dance in the evening.  There's a nice pool, basketball court and a sand volleyball court and right next door is a complex with mini-golf, go-carts, batting cages, a game arcade and an ice-cream parlor.....plus, all the roads in the park are paved---making it great for bikes, scooters and roller blades....what more could a kid want??  We're also only a mile or two from the shores of Lake Erie, and the park has a great fish cleaning station.
 

Our pull-through site at Harbortown..we had room behind and in front for a car.  The trees sure have grown since our first visit here years ago.	Lots of RVers at Harbortown are also avid fishermen.  It's scary, but we've seen lots of "triples" pull in. (That's a truck pulling a fifth wheel pulling a boat)

From our spot in Monroe we had quick and easy access to I-75 and could easily get any place we wanted to go in the area.  It seems like that's just what we did....GO!   We had the usual round of doctor and dentist appointments and meetings with financial people as Tom is the executor/advisor for several relatives' estates.  Our biggest "project" was that we still had a few things in a storage unit.  After paying rent for five years, we decided that we really needed to empty it out and therefore get rid of the "stuff."  Almost everything we had owned had been auctioned off when our house had finally sold in 2002, but we had saved a few things belonging to our children, some things special to us and a few pieces of furniture.  We spent a few days going through the boxes and in the process were able to "find new homes" for some of the things the the five years had made less important to us, arranged for a charity pick up of some of the furniture, and packed some boxes in the RV for a trip to our daughters'.  "Should have done that five years ago!"

During the month of June, we frequented the driving range next to the RV park, and we managed to get in a several rounds of golf at the neighboring course (Links at Lake Erie) and Tom also made it to some others in the area (Tamaron and Bedford Hills)        One day our phone rang a little after 4:00 and it was our former next door neighbors..."What 'ya doing?" Dick asked.  Our reply was "It's a little after four - that means its happy hour - come on over."  There wasn't much more than an "OK.....click, buzz" and 45 minutes later Dick and Liz Lehto had driven the 30 miles to the RV park and were sharing our happy hour and then an impromptu dinner.  This was a lot easier when our houses were only 25 feet apart... Sure do miss you guys when we're on the road!  Dick is an avid fisherman and it was walleye season on Lake Erie, so Tom went along one day and enjoyed taking part in the "harvest."  We have enjoyed several fish dinners since.   We enjoyed visiting with Dick and Liz at their house, too.

As always, we enjoy spending some time with family.  We visited both our mothers several times while in the area and they are doing fine.  We were pleased to spend several great days with Tom's sister, Judy, and her husband Ron Kaminski.  There were several great visits as well with our good friends Kathy and Dennie Dew.  All of the ladies are good shoppers while the guys head to the golf courses.  Mary's brother, Bill, and his wife, Beth Close, were dinner guests for one of our walleye nights.  We're still working on getting all of these folks to come visit us in Arizona.
 
 

Our "happy hour" friends, Dick and Liz Lehto	Dick is ready to take Tom out on Lake Erie	It was a great day...they caught lots of Walleye!

Tom with his sister Judy and her husband Ron	Tom enjoyed several rounds of golf with his nephew John and brother-in-law, Ron.	We had a great visit over dinner with Mary's brother, Bill and his wife Beth.

It seems impossible to be able to say this, but we had terrific weather for our stay in the Toledo area.  Usually when we're here we get plenty of rain, heat and humidity.  But this time we were blessed with temperatures in the low 80s with low humidity and a gentle breeze almost the whole time we were here.  The only thing we did experience was a slight infestation of "Mayflies."  These pesky little creatures come out at night along the shores of Lake Erie (we were no more than a mile from the shore at the RV park) and gather near street-lights and other sources of bright light.  They have a short life span, living only several hours after mating....then fall to the ground.  There were some nights they were out in full force and as they fell to the ground like snowflakes, created a carpet of shiny bugs.  Then as you walk and/or drive over them, you create a lot of loud crunching....and a "lovely" pungent odor of rotting fish.  In the morning, a large broom and shovel work well for cleanup.  Eeewww!!!  (Fortunately, we didn't have to worry about that chore.)
 

The morning after the night before.....a collection of mayflies.	After a brief shower one evening, we had a beautiful rainbow.

Looking for a post office branch one afternoon, we found right next door, a Social Security Office.  Tom decided to stop in and find out just what documents he would need and what procedure to follow in order to file for benefits.  Birthday number 62 will be coming up in August.  Less than half an hour later he was back outside and had completed all the filing tasks except providing his official birth certificate and Army discharge papers.  The discharge paper was right where he thought it would be, but the birth certificate was hiding somewhere (how many place could it be in an RV?).  So, we decided to see how Tom's luck would be at the Health Department.  Another stroke of luck...a quiet day at the office.  About fifteen minutes and $20 got him an official certificate.  The official documents were delivered to the Social Security Office and Tom is now looking forward to the second Wednesday in October :-)

We finished up the month by pulling up stakes and heading to Michigan and Illinois.  On the way, we made our last stop at the storage unit to pick up the few things that were to be taken to our daughter's house in Illinois.  Friends Kathy and Dennie Dew met us there to help get things loaded into the RV and we were off!   It was about a two our drive to Jackson, MI where we spent the last night of June parked in front of Mary's folks.  We were able to have a nice visit before we moved on to July and more travels.
 
 

Our good friends, Dennie and Kathy Dew provided muscle, fun and food during our month in Ohio/Michigan.	We shared some happy hours with Mary's mother and step-father in Jackson, MI during our stay.