The time is here where we are starting to get ready for out trip. We leave July 19th and will return on the 27th. This year we are taking the dogs and the kids. We had talked about not taking one or the other. The plan was we would have the dogs stay with my parents, but it just is not going to work out, so they are coming with us again this year. When planning our trip this year we were determining were we would like to go. It was determined that we really enjoyed the area on our 2010 trip and would like to go back. This time instead of visiting all the same places we are going to go into Traverse Bay and explore that area. Our destination is Elk Rapids, but may spend a night at Suttons Bay or Traverse City. If time allows we may even go to the famous Torch Lake area. In order to do this we would have to rent a runabout or a pontoon from a local marina as there is not access from Lake MI. There is a dam that separates the water way in Elk Rapids
The weather this week is looking great and Susan is worried that we may not get a good week again based on the law of averages. I am thinking an praying we will continue to have this weather for sometime to come. It would be great to be able to leave right away on Saturday and make the most of our time across the lake.
In preparing to go we have already been racking up the expenses. The truck's brakes needed a surprise repair. I had already replaced all four pads, rotors and calipers three years ago. With the little I drive the truck they should have been fine. However, as luck would have it the passenger caliper had froze and needed to be replaced. I was fortunate to be able to warranty the pads and calipers, but labor and the rotors did cost us. I decided to do both front brakes because that is what was recommended. With pulling as much weight as we do with our boat I thought I better listen to the experts. Because of the way I had warrantied the parts I elected to replace the driver side caliper on my own (the driver side caliper was not available when the truck was in the shop). While bleeding the line, the line that comes from the master cylinder to the rear of the vehicle burst. It had become corroded and rusted through. So it all went back to the shop again. That was some more money sucked out of the wallet.
Even though it kinda sucks spending the money it will be nice to have confidence in the fact it is one less thing that may go wrong while towing. While the shop had the truck I also had them look it over and replace a few more brake lines that were suspect. That is the last thing I want; to have the brakes go out with a boat behind you!
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