Wisconsin - Devils Lake State Park

In the last article, I talked about the making of a Campervan to satisfy my wanderlust. Thanks to my talented friends, I have a cute, compact and very functional rolling tent, and I have used it several times in the last 5 weeks! Thanks for coming back to learn more about my COVID-19 journey! This particular project has been, and will continue to bring me a lot of joy and adventures, and just knowing that has given me a lot to look forward to during this difficult time.

Campervan Phase - Going Places

Where have I gone?

It has been about a month since I’ve had the campervan. I have been on four short trips, and have learned something each time.

Night 1

My first trip was to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to my sister’s house. She lives on several acres of land in a house that used to be owned by our grandparents. I have spent MANY summer days on this land, and this seemed to be a good maiden voyage. I could use her house for a shower but stay in the campervan at night.

It ended up being a great trip – I got up there late on a Friday night, and slept in the campervan. It got down to 40 degrees overnight, so it was a bit cold, so I learned a few things about how open to keep the windows and how many blankets to bring, but it was peaceful – except for all the frogs that were croaking all night! The next day, my sister and I explored some of the UP’s waterfalls during the day, and then I went home. A quick trip, but a good first voyage!

Nights 2 & 3

The second trip was to a different sister’s cabin in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. Again, I had access to her shower and bathroom and slept in the van for the two nights. This time, the woods was SWARMING with mosquitos. I was warm, because I took precautions that I had learned from the first trip, but the mosquitos were an issue. The drapes kept most of them out, but something had to be added. When I got home, I found some screens to put up so that I could have my windows down but keep the bugs out.

Nights 4 & 5

The third trip was with a friend of mine over Father’s Day weekend. We are both divorced, and our kids were with their respective dads leaving us to wander. We went to a campsite at Wildcat Mountain State Park in the Driftless area of Wisconsin. It is a beautiful location! This time, I used my new camping stove for the first time and cooked our meals on it. It rained, of course, and my friend got a bit wet in her tent while I stayed dry in the campervan. And, although my new screens kept the bugs out, I learned that I should probably do something right outside the door so that I don’t track in mud and such from outside. Eventually I will get it right, but it has been fun learning!

Nights 6 & 7

I went on what should have been a three-day camping trip over the 4th of July weekend with two of my kids – they are seasoned campers, and I learned more about cooking! We cut the trip short after two nights, because mostly it was HOT and STICKY, and secondly, the park we were at, Devils Lake State Park, Wisconsin, was incredibly, uncomfortably busy!

We did a very long hike around Devils Lake on Saturday - it was beautiful, but in this day of COVID, we were wearing masks most of the time due to the number of people on the hike. The camping worked out well! The campervan was packed with climbing gear and the blow up kayak - although we didn't use either of that. We also had tents for the kids, mattresses, bedding, a screen shelter, a guitar, along with all of my things. It was packed, and we had to jenga all of the things in there, but it worked well! Once we were set up, it looked like we had a whole city!

As far as cooking, one of my kids is vegetarian, so we kept to that theme. We brought along and made egg and pepper breakfast burritos, vege burgers for dinner along with some awesome cooked broccoli and black beans and cheese for tacos. It was great!

In my next article, I will talk about the backyard phase of this COVID journey – I have worked on the garden, made bug boxes, and now have started to raise monarch butterflies. What? I don’t normally do that kind of stuff, but WHATEVER. It keeps me busy.