YOLO in MI, April 2022

We reached Michigan the first week of April.  Still cold and wet and windy here!  The lake is still covered in ice.  It was a cold, hard winter at Higgins Lake and we were glad to have missed it.  But it seems Winter wanted to hang on to greet us. 

We hoped to blow through Michigan, stopping just long enough to get our teeth cleaned and make a couple of adjustments to the van.  A few things we'd ordered online were being sent to our old neighbors so we didn't have to worry about mail delivery snafus.  But Mother Nature must've missed us and wanted us to hang around; she laid several projects at our feet that we couldn't ignore.

A strong harsh wind was required to break this healthy, huge pine tree off at this level!

Fortunately, the bulk of the tree landed in the neighbors' driveway, narrowly missing our garage.  Unfortunately, it took down a couple of birch and smaller pines with it.  Another two pines lost their tops, as well.  Must've been a wicked wind!

We had to clear the tree, so Jason got out his little chain saw and went to work.

I found myself humming, "He's a lumberjack and he's okay..... "

We ended up with a pile of big logs we really don't need, but piled them where they'll stay out of our way.

I burned huge piles of brush on several different days to clear all the limbs and sticks and such.  We had to yank it off the frozen ground to move it.

It's still getting below freezing at night and the open water around the edges of the lake is refreezing at night.

Our resident raccoon making tracks in freshly fallen snow--in April it's still snowing here, really?

We got YOLO professionally detailed and waxed.  Too much work for our butts these days and he managed to clean off the old wax from the black plastic and make it look like new again.  So pretty.

Then we took everything out of the inside so Jason could work on his adjustments.  Oh boy. The new freezer was delivered and had to be tested, so it got plugged in in the kitchen.  The bed frames needed to be ground off a bit, so they ended up in the kitchen, too.  Don't ask me why..... 

Jason got busy cutting, sanding, and drilling bits of wood to make more shelves and such while the weather held out.  Too bad it didn't hold out long.

The beds and contents removed from the inside.  Only the rugs remain to catch the dirt and debris trampled in daily.

Everything from the van is now inside the living room.

Wall to wall van contents until we can reload and go.

And the weather continues to deteriorate rather than get better.  The ice hasn't broken up yet but the strong, warm winds out of the south are pushing the entire four miles of lake ice towards our shoreline....Yikes!  

The little tree at the shoreline is being overtaken by ice and the ice is picking up big rocks and moving them around, too. If the warmth and winds continue, we could be in big trouble.  Like living in the path of a glacier--anything in its way doesn't stand a chance.  We need this stuff to melt and/or the wind to change direction.

Instead, the winds howled but the temps dropped again, refreezing any water that had opened up.  The ice needs breaks to make moves and the open water gives the wind places to move it to.  The ice had climbed the neighbor's sea wall and spilled onto the deck and into our yards, but it was once again freezing so the open water closed us, saving us.  The gale winds finally calmed a bit, too.

The shoreline rocks need to be repositioned every year after the ice moves them around. Strong stuff that ice.

The tarp on the top of the neighbor's hoist.  He didn't remove it before he left for the season and it has been snapping and cracking in the strong winds, making so much noise we couldn't get to sleep.  It's a total loss now and we should cut the thing off to save us both a hassle, but we have more important things to tend to.

Like painting the new boards Jason has cut.  Too cold and wet to do this outside.  It's snowing in mid-April and the ice is once again solid, so the loft has now been overtaken with project stuff too.  We can't wait for weather to cooperate or we'll never get out of here.

The Florida license plate and registration finally arrived--surprise!  Now the sunny plate just taunts us.  The new struggle is with the credit union.  They are reluctant to give us permission to travel across the border into Canada since the van is financed.  Something about insurance and issues if we're in an accident in a foreign country. It's always something...

We finally got our approval to take the van across the borders and our itchy feet said it was time to go!  Off to Alaska!