In Search of a New Summer Home

Yesterday Barbie and I took a road trip to Oconto, WI and Menominee, MI to seek out a new home port for the Shangri-La. One of our major requirements is that there has to be a RV park or campground near by for our motorhome. Currently our motorhome is parked 20 miles from the marina where the boat is docked. That 40 mile round trip is costing us about $300 a month in gas to get to town.

A couple of weeks ago we went to Kewaunee, WI to checkout the facilities there. Kewaunee has 2 marinas, the Kewaunee Marina and Salmon Harbor Marina. Both marinas have RV parking and there is another RV park, Kewaunee Village RV Park, about a mile away. We liked both of the marinas except for their prices. We though the Kewaunee Marina RV park was the best deal but it was wide open just across the highway which left no sense of security for $915 including 30Amp electric and a dump station for the season. Salmon Harbor Marina on the other hand offered WiFi service for a fee. Their RV park was there at the marina giving us some sense of security but for sewage they have a honeywagon service at $10 a dump and $1275 including 30Amp electric for the season. The Kewaunee area is good fishing grounds for salmon.

We thought Oconto, WI was a nice location. We looked at the Hi Seas Marina which offered almost everything we would want at a marina except for WiFi for $1406 a season. The only drawback was only one campground available and we are on their waiting list for a space. The campground rate was $1005 a season including 30Amp electricity for full hookups. The other drawback was there are so many trees in the RV park blocking satellite tv/internet service at most sites.

In Menominee, MI we checked out the Stellar Sails Marina right next to the River Park Campground. The marina was small but very nice at $1369 a season. Across the river on the Wisconsin side there is a full service marina, Nestegg Marine, with heated and unheated winter storage and they are capable of doing any work on the boat that I would need someone else to do. River Park Campground was very nice with full hookups and paved roads and sites at $405 a month including 30Amp electricity. We put our name on their waiting list for several sites that had a good satellite view. They will let us know after the 1st of January. Both Oconto, WI and Menominee, MI are on Green Bay which has good cruising areas and fishing grounds for perch and walleye. A 20 mile cruise would put us on Lake Michigan for salmon fishing.

The Shangri-La

Today Barbie and I bought Frank & Jill's share of the Shangri-La making us the sole owners. Two years ago Frank had the boat up for sale. I knew he really didn't want to sell her but it was getting too much for him to handle so on August 1st, 2005 we made a deal with Frank to share in the cost of maintaining the boat and bought half of the boat from him. This would give Frank another couple of years enjoying this classic cruiser and would give me a couple of years to learn how to handle the boat and how to fish Lake Michigan. We celebrated today's purchase by having cocktails and hors d'oeuvres with Frank & Jill aboard the boat. Afterwards Barbie and I will spend the next two nights aboard our vintage cruiser.

1961 Chris Craft Roamer