20 Acres of Northern Michigan

For the last 17 years my wife and I have dreamed about owning land in northern Michigan.  In my 1st year of marriage we went to my wife's family cabin where they have 240 acres.  I fell in love that weekend with the woods.  Over the years we have been vacationing in that little cabin.  We've hunted, camped, went 4 wheeling, hiked, made trails, spent evenings around the fire pit, watched falling stars with friends, the list could go on. 

All that to say we purchased 20 acres of northern Michigan back in November.  It's perfect, 15 or so acres of hard woods, some pine trees, there's river frontage and fields for hunting.  It's connected to 1000's and 1000's of acres of state land, so there are plenty of places to explore and hunt.  I've spent the last 6 months dreaming and thinking about what we would use for lodging.  We plan to build a cabin in the next 5 to 10 years but until then we purchased a 2006 Gulfstream travel trailer.  This was one of the FEMA trailers used for the hurricane Katrina victims.

We hauled it 270 some miles to our property Memorial weekend.  We spent the weekend putting a small gray water system.  We are having electricity installed hopefully by the end of June.  We bought a small pump with a bladder to pump water out of the river on our property for non-drinking water use until we can put in a well.   We have 3 boys who played in the river and four wheeled all weekend.  Also the boys helped me make a burn barrel by shooting holes through it.  They love that part of the weekend.

Can't wait to make memories here.  Can't wait to take the boys hunting, to explore the state land and trails.  Here's some pictures of our weekend setting up camp.

Our gray water system.

Temporary water system until we drive a well.

Took this picture of the inside the day we bought the trailer.  This trailer has a full fridge, shower, regular toilet (not a camper toilet), microwave, two bunks in the back, a small bedroom in the front, it can sleep eight people, central air, really all the same comforts of home.  We are in the process of making it feel homey.