PREVOST - LUXURY INSIDE

An inside look of this luxury RV Motor Coach. Leather seats, marble floors, heated floors sculptured lighted ceilings and so much more.


Notice the ubiquitous touch screen to inform the occupants of the status of all systems in the coach and to provide touch control of every system. The coach has Internet Wi-Fi all around the coach even while on the road.

The kitchen area below has a drawer microwave oven, pantries, dishwasher, and on and on.

This kitchen is basically to warm-up snacks. If you can afford one of this you can afford to eat out at every meal.

Above is a table for two and place for computer and large screen television--one of three TVs. The main TV is a huge flat screen that folds down in front of the windshield.

This is one of the fanciest bathroom washbowls I have ever seen. Even the commode seat is heated and incorporates electronic fingertip selection of bidet function, gentle warm air blow dryer, etc.

The bedroom with mirror ceiling, many many storage areas and king size bed. By the side table there is a monitor to view anyone around the RV and an intercom to speak with anyone who may be at the door.

PREVOSTS FOR SALE AT TBRVR

This RV park has the largest percentage of Prevosts RV coaches of any RV park we have seen. Many of them have either Florida or Montana license plates (in MT you can establish an LLC and duck heavy vehicle taxes and annual license fees of many other states). Florida has fairly low fees and taxes.

Once a year our RV park hosts the Prevost Milleniums to show their latest luxury coaches. Last year's show was a success for them, with one sold on the spot for $1.25 million and an order for a second. They always serve us hamburgers and sausages with a dessert as an attraction.
This $1.5 M Prevost Millenium has a 600 HP Detroit Diesel engine tucked neatly in the rear. Notice two of the three slide outs. The front slide out is for the desk-dinning bar pictured elsewhere, and the rear is for the king-size bed. The electric awning on the left side is only partially extended.

The basic frame of this coach is built in Quebec, Canada. All city buses in Quebec are Prevosts. Millenium adds all slide outs and other details that make it a super-luxury motor home.

Two full-size bikes fit upright in the front pass-through cargo compartment.

The cockpit is appointed with marble floors inlaid with different colors of marble, plush leather seat, an instrument panel touch screen to control all functions in the house and engine as well as moving-map GPS.

This is one of the simple toys that can be had for a mere pittance by the upper management at any of the larger investment banks in this country.

BRONNA & ARTIE

Our neighbors from Gulf Waters RV Resort in Ft. Myers Beach stopped by to visit us. We had a good visit at Traverse Bay RV Resort and then the next morning we all went to Mabel's for breakfast -- Traverse City's best family restaurant for 11 years straight.

The day was very foggy, but we gave Artie and Bronna a tour of the lovely Mission Peninsula where we stopped at Chateau Chantal a wonderful winery with a view of East and West Traverse Bay. The wine tasting bar was closed but the staff were very hospitable and opened it for us to sample some of their prize-winning wines and brandies. Unfortunately the fog was a bit in the way of the views.

All-in-all we had a great visit even if we couldn't show our best weather.


Here we are gathered in front of the lighthouse at the tip of the Mission Peninsula at the 45th Parallel. This point on the Earth is the same distance from the North Pole as Bordeaux France, Milan, Italy, Mongolia - North of China, and the Northernmost point in Japan.

DUNE BLUFFS

Teri is showing us the edge of the near 45 degree sand bluff dropping 450 feet down to the beach. From this point you cannot see the beach below because the slope of the sand continues to steepen until nearly the midpoint of the descent.

The young and fit enjoy a fast descent, then face a steep climb back. Some kids actually try to run downhill. As we were watching, one actually overran his feet and tumbled head over heels multiple times as he approached the bottom.

This is the spot where people go up and down.

The beach below. Notice the clear water at the beach.

SLEEPING BEAR DUNES NATL. LAKESHORE

This is an airplane view of the dunes looking South.

To the left at the top of the dunes there are many hiking and mountain biking trails. At the center there is a near 45 degree sand slope to the beach below.

This picture from the land side shows a spot where we climbed the dunes part way. This was a couple of years ago when out friends from Michigan brought us to this area for the first time. That was a tough climb for us. We had to stop once or twice to let our heart rate settle-down a bit.


Here we were in the truck climbing through the deep forest on the land side of the dunes.

Beautiful flowers!

We are finally parked and at the northernmost overlook. Lake Michigan is on the left. We can see lots of trails and areas where the prevailing westerly wind is actually moving sand and shaping the dunes. At the horizon you can see the two Manitou Islands, about 5 miles offshore.

TOWN OF GLEN ARBOR

The small town of Glenn Arbor is almost surrounded by Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. It is about 45 minutes West of our RV park.



Our plan today was to have lunch in Glenn Arbor and then drive the near-by Pierce Stocking Drive inside the National Lakeshore that climbs to over 900 feet above sea level and to the edge of the dunes. The drive is only 7.4 miles long and there are five overlooks.

There are quite a number of small stores and eating places along the main street. We settled on this small place called Thyme-Out. There is also a Thyme-Inn - a B&B not far from the restaurant.


We sat at a table in this outdoor eating deck right at the edge of a crystal clear brook. There were many kayakers and canoeists passing by us as we had lunch.


Later we explored the town. We were looking for the Cherry Republic store.

The town is very nicely adorned with many flowers like these cone flowers.


Here is the Cherry Republic store. It sells many treats made from cherries - a major crop of the whole area.

LANDSCAPING IMPROVEMENTS

These are some of the new landscaping and paving improvements to our place in northern Michigan.

At the center of the picture is a new paved sidewalk by the side of the driveway. We can now walk or bike by the side of the parked RAM without stepping on the grass.

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This is a closer look at the pavers. The dominant color is a soft mauve with subtle sand and gray blocks. To the left is a stone bordered front flower garden and our new maple shade tree.

At the back left you can see the side berm with alternating blue Oregon junipers and new Chinese dwarf yellow junipers. At the front of the berm is the new burgundy red Japanese maple and hot pink wave petunias in pots embedded in receptacles. All the mulch is now a dark red stone.

This is the front flower garden. It has annuals as well as very young perennials. The annuals are also in pots embedded in receptacles in the garden like those around the Japanese maple. All plants are irrigated by a drip system on an automatic scheduler.

These are new wall planters on the "coach house" with their own drip irrigation line on the right. Ants climbed the irrigation tubing and ate the yellow flowers on the right before we caught the invasion.

This is the pond-front porch. The dark red stone mulch and two pots with geraniums are new this year.

RETURN TO ACME

By the second week in July cherry trees in the many orchards in the area are full of fruit. The growers spend a great deal of effort, chemical spray, and planning to produce a harvest of perfect sweet and tart delicious fruit. They also have to time the planting of new trees to replace those that have passed or exhausted their productive lifespan. I believe I heard that a cherry tree reaches peak production after 5 years and reaches the end of its productive life before it is 15 years old.

If you enlarge the image above you might see the load of red cherries in the trees.

Here is one of the many country farm shops selling fruit and the many bakery products made from their harvest.

Not far North of Acme on M-31 is this elegant country B&B. If any of you want to visit us and stay a while you can come in your RV or stay at this nice place.

CHARLEVOIX LAKE MICHIGAN CHANNEL

After lunch at the Weather Vane Restaurant, we took a stroll along the channel connecting the lake and harbor to Lake Michigan.

This cabin sleeper sailboat is under engine power in Lake Michigan trying to make the half-hour schedule for the opening of the main street bridge that separates the channel from the harbor.

At this point the sailboat has passed the opening of the channel. The restaurant and lift bridge are behind the Coast Guard Light Tower.

This is one of several high-power cigar boats we saw in the channel. Some had 4 high horsepower engines and multiple propellers. One of them sported lettering to the effect "Now, can you hear this?", and as it passed us they revved the engines to show-off their super-loud and deep-throated roar. Looking at the passengers it seemed that many had a bunch of teens and twenty-somethings and one old codger at the wheel.

The bridge is now open at the half-hour to let the tall masted sailboats pass. The restaurant is to the left of the bridge. One laggard sailboat kept the bridge open for a number of minutes longer while traffic backed-up on main street.

CHARLEVOIX HARBOR AND MALLARDS

This is a view of Lake Charlevoix from the downtown harbor and park. The shore is lined with large beautiful homes, condos, and piers for the many yachts and pleasure boats.

This small boat with a fully enclosed cabin is equipped with radar, communication antennas and spotlights on its roof. It would seem capable of venturing into Lake Michigan in less than optimum weather.

Here is the same boat tied in its slip. The mallard ducks are heading towards it.

Here is an overhead shot of the mallards. Notice how clear is the water. You can see the rocks and an occasional water plant at the bottom.

More condos at the far shore of the lake.

CHARLEVOIX CRAFTS FAIR

The main shopping street in Charlevoix is M-31 as it crosses town. The downtown area is between Lake Charlevoix to the East and Lake Michigan to the West. There are a lot of restaurants and unique boutique shops to browse.

The town was decorated with these beautiful wave petunia hanging baskets

Here is the harbor at the center of town in Lake Charlevoix. The crafts fair was attracting large crowds to the white tents showing all kinds of handcrafts. There is a large harbor-front park with cooling fountains for the kids, restrooms and overlooks of the harbor. The grassy areas of the park were covered by the tents from the main street to the harbor side.

This is the main street side of the crafts fair. There was a continuous line of traffic through town. We were lucky to stumble on a large enough parking spot for our wide-rumped RAM Turbo Dually.

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CHARLEVOIX - LUNCH BY THE CHANNEL

This Saturday we are visiting the beautiful small coastal town of Charlevoix. The town has a French name like many other towns around the Great Lakes because the French fur traders and explorers were the earliest Europeans to explore this vast region containing a large portion of all the fresh water in the World. Did you know that Detroit is a French word meaning the rapids?

In the map above (double-click any picture to enlarge it, then click the browser's back button to return to the blog) you can see Acme where we live, in the center of the map you see Charlevoix at the channel connecting Lake Michigan to Lake Charlevoix, and the Straits of Mackinack and Mackinack Island at the top of the map. The Straits connect Lake Michigan on the West with Lake Huron on the East.

It is lunch time as we arrive in Charlevoix. We found this nice restaurant with the unusual wavy roof line and open air dining balconies overlooking the channel connecting Lake Charlevoix to Lake Michigan
In the waiting room we found this great painting of retired ladies enjoying their wine. It reminded us of some we know at our Florida home. They laugh loud and often, and the joke does not even need to be that good.

This is the channel in front of the restaurant. The water is clear and cold, and it borrows the deep blue of the sky.