Cold and Rain and WiFi Fails
We knew we were ready to try out a trip where Ryan was working from the trailer and the kids were doing their homeschool work. This meant we needed to have reliable WiFi for him to participate in video calls for work meetings and for the kids to have access for some of their school work. We chose to visit Bear Cave RV Resort, another Thousand Trails park within our membership, in Buchanan, Michigan. Google Maps took us on a very unusual route to the campground. We wove through very uneven tight farm roads for far too long. We learned not to trust Google and to make sure we double check the route we are given before hitting the road. The earlier exit off the highway would have been a nice paved county road that was a more direct route into the campground.
The town of Buchanan was very small. However, it had a nice small grocery store and a few other stores a short drive from the campground. The kids brought their bikes and were able to play on the small playground and basketball court. The cave was already closed early for the season. We were not sure if that was COVID related or due to weather. But it was a bit of a bummer that we missed out on the experience. Though the waterfall near the cave entrance was pretty cool! It was fall, so the leaves and colors on the trails were gorgeous. The park has a pool that looked relatively new, which was closed for the season.
As a trial run for the WiFi for work and school, this was a big fail. The camp WiFi was difficult to connect to and you had to pay extra for it. And the weather was very uncooperative. We had a few breaks of sunshine one day, but for the most part it was gloomy gray with a constant light drizzle. So we are not sure if our connectivity issues were due to the weather or our devices just didn’t work for us in that park.
After a frustrating wet and cold couple of days, we decided to drive home late Thursday afternoon so Ryan could attend his work meeting, with the signal strength he needed, on Friday. Driving with an RV in the dark drizzle, may not have been the best decision, but we kept it slow and made it home just fine. If the weather had been better, we think we would have enjoyed this park more. We plan to give it another chance next summer.
Again, this park is part of the Thousand Trails system, so sites are first come first serve. We chose a spot in the back corner of the park near the short walking trails for the kids and they were able to ride their bikes around the loop. We did get a spot with full hookups. We parked next to a nice couple from Florida with an Airstream. They helped guide us into our spot when we arrived and offered some helpful RV tips. The RV community has been a very friendly bunch always looking out for each other and willing to lend a helping hand.