Door County Excursion, 2.0

September camping in Wisconsin is a treat because it marks the beginning of the Autumn season. Door County is one of the destinations in Wisconsin with a thriving extended tourism season throughout September. Not only does Door County sport some of the finest cherry and apple orchards in the midwest, but the various boutiques and other Door County seem to come to full blossom while the green, summer leaves turn varying shades of orange, yellow, and red. Amy and I booked our final campground reservation at the Wagon Trail Campground, located in the northern part of the county near Ellison Bay. The campground was immaculate! I highly recommend Wagon Trail and look forward to camping there again next year.

Similar to our previous experiences over the summer, we were impressed by how well we learned how to setup the camper, make the site our home-away-from-home, and enjoy being out. This time, we decided to go without the dogs, which offered a nice respite from the chaos of the morning routine of being up before sunrise. Somehow, we managed to not miss them over the course of those four days.

The weekend had its fair share of excitement -- like the propane tank that caught on fire due to a faulty design of the portable blowtorch and the rain that lasted all day on Saturday (photos below). Of course, we learned that our fire extinguisher really does work and that if you plan for a rainy day of camping, it's not a horrible experience (in a camper), so long as there is room. One drawback was there are only two places in the camper to be indoors -- the bed or the booth area that converts into a dais. Remaining in varying degrees of laying down the entire day is exhausting in of itself. So, we were glad that only lasted a day into the evening.

Amy and I brought our trail bikes with us and spent a few hours biking around Peninsula State Park -- the weather was great and the trails were a nice change from our usual road biking experience. Afterwards, we enjoyed a walk by the lake and window-shopped RVs throughout the campground. And although we had a great weekend, it was relatively uneventful. We visited the Orchard country store where we indulged in cherry pie, chocolate-covered cherries, and some other goodies. We also bought some smoked salmon from Charlie's Smokehouse -- the best salmon I've ever had.

So, after four days in Door County, we were happy to have the season end on such a positive note. Ever since our inaugural excursion, each trip was better than the last and that trend continued. That said, we certainly learned some lessons along the way. For example, we learned a lot about RVing -- there is more to it than we initially thought. But we are quick studies and by the end of the season we felt like semi-pros. We also learned that we enjoy RVing to the point where we could see ourselves doing a lot more of it -- like half-time living. We will see. But in order for us to do more in that regard, we need to do some serious upgrades that will likely not happen anytime soon.