Camp Monaco Revisited

Friday ended up being pretty much a “lounge” day. After Bud made his surprise visit and Randy came to pick up the coach, we scurried off to the Cock-A-Doodle Restaurant for a late nine o’clock breakfast. The place was packed with a totally different crowd than seen at 7:00 AM. We lingered over several extra cups of coffee before returning to the lounge to meet the current “lizard” denizens of Camp Monaco. Faces are different, pets are different, but stories are similar to the folks we met during our last visit. Our quiet day ended with a thunder storm that we hardly noticed; compared to the storms in Iowa, this was a non-event. We did enjoy the rain on the roof, and slept well Friday night.

A cloudless blue sky Saturday morning inspired us to get outside and be tourists. We set a course to two parks that make up Indiana Dunes: Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and the Indiana Dunes State Park on the shores of Lake Michigan. This area is a natural treasure for recreation in summer and winter: beach and water activities, hiking, golfing, education, and touring many unusual attractions. Our time there was brief because we only were able to drive through the area: parking lots were at capacity on this beautiful Saturday in June.

We drove along the beach as much as possible occasionally avoiding dead-end beach-front roads by turning inland. Michigan City, IN, at the north end of the Dunes, was disappointing. Earlier, we planned to stay there for several nights thinking it was a beach town. It isn’t that at all. We continued north to New Buffalo, MI which is a beach town.

New Buffalo, MI is, more accurately, a resort town for the wealthy. The streets are filled with Mercedes, BMW, and Lexus automobiles from Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and elsewhere. The marina has hundreds of boats from small to very large and waterfront condos that look very expensive. We ate lunch at The Stray Dog Bar & Grill. This waterfront restaurant has inside, patio, and roof top dining. The dog theme is carried throughout. The wait staff wears T-shirts with “Sit, Stay” emblazoned on the back. When Ralph asked directions to the restroom, the waitress said, “Go through that door until you get to the red hydrant.” She paused for effect effectively, and then added: “Men to the left, women to the right”. That’s a hoot! The food was good too.

We enjoyed seeing southern Michigan on our return trip. We were back in time for a nap before watching U.S. Open Golf on TV. The days are getting longer and the sun does not set here until after 9:00 PM. There were many folks walking the park and sitting outside. We did both before closing down for the night. It was a gorgeous day: no rain.

Sunday is a “sleep in” day at Camp Monaco, but there is always someone who cranks his diesel engine at 7:00 AM. Several coaches have departed and more will be arriving before the day is over. We have noticed that a few parking spaces remain empty throughout the week. Also, we are continually asked by the service writers, “Is there anything else you need done?” The technicians need work and the facility is not overcrowded. The assumption is: “Get as much billable work as possible from those here. We cannot be sure, when or if, there will be more”.

Two thunder storms passed through Sunday: Heavy winds set the stage early in the morning and were followed by drenching rain that pelted our coach for about an hour; A second storm came in the evening with dark skies, thunder, lightning and more rain. In between storms we had sunshine and blue skies. It was a strange day. We didn't know how strange until the 11:00 PM local news. We learned that baseball-size hail fell in Mishawaka about three miles from us. Automobiles were severely damaged by the hail. Imagine what that would have done to forty of Monaco's finest motor coaches all in one place.

Sunday was a TV remote holder's delight: NASCAR race in Michigan, U.S. Open golf in San Diego, and the NBA Finals in Los Angeles. Pretty exciting stuff, especially the Open.

Monday morning dawned bright, sunny and warm. We turned the coach over to Randy at 6:30 AM, had breakfast at the Cock-A-Doddle, and have settled into the lounge with other lizards. We hope to be out of here no later than Thursday morning.