Editor’s Note: Bill and Denise are members of LTV’s sponsored content team, The Leisure Explorers. Do you own a Leisure Travel Van and enjoy writing? Learn more about joining the team.

Living, Loving, Our Trifecta Life

With a house on a world-class fly-fishing river and a condo in the suburbs, our 2015.5 Unity Murphy Bed “Lucky Us” compliments our lifestyle by giving us a home that can take us just about anywhere we want to go. Together, these three modes of living give us our very own lifestyle Trifecta, whether at our condo, our vacation home, or traveling in our RV.

You may have already read some of our travel adventures through our blogs, with Bill writing our first story,“I’m Infected with the American Wanderlust,” in 2017. Since then, you might have read some of our travel stories, along with blogs on why we chose the Unity Murphy Bed floor plan, why we prefer to plan most of our trips, and some of our favorite food while on the road. Looking for fishing spots? Bill’s covered that too.

We’re based in Michigan, with our condo located near Ann Arbor/Brighton area, about an hour’s drive northwest of Detroit in southeast Michigan. Our vacation home is about a two hour drive North, near Grayling on the South Branch of the Au Sable River (just hold up your hand for a map, it’s between the base knuckle and the next knuckle of your middle finger). With most of our friends and family (and our doctors) in Southeast Michigan, our condo provides a place to keep our stuff, see friends and more. Our home near Grayling fulfilled Bill’s long-sought-after fly-fisherman’s dream of owning a home on the Au Sable River, and our Leisure RV, well, I think you know the rest.

Each year typically starts with cross-country skiing at our northern getaway in January, leaving mid-February to travel to Florida’s Gulf Coast, typically hitting the panhandle on the way back, arriving back in Michigan mid-April. Then, it’s time to get ready for fly-fishing season on the Au Sable (for those unfamiliar, “Opening Day” for trout season in Michigan is the last Saturday in April.) Bill is waiting for the hatch, while I’m typically downstate catching up with friends and various appointments. We stay “up north” through the Fourth of July holiday, and then take “Lucky Us” to our favorite fishing spots: Au Gres City Park Campground — where we fish walleye on Saginaw Bay — and Algonac State Park, where we fish on the St. Clair River.

We typically spend the rest of July through September at our condo, taking “Lucky Us”  for a week or two to a various  beach towns and other venues in Michigan. This year, we visited some of our favorite spots along Michigan’s west coast. In 2017, we circled Lake Superior. Some years we take an extended trip; often traveling west to Colorado or California to see family. Our most memorable trips — and you can read about them in our blogs — include Glacier National Park, the Canadian Rockies, Vancouver Island, Washington, D.C., the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the Civil Rights Trail.

Fall is typically spent on the river, preparing for winter by gathering firewood, trimming trees or planting flowers or taking a fall trip. By October, it’s time to winterize our rig and enjoy the holidays and get ready for the next year.

We’ve been RVing since 2014, and our travels have taken us to points north, south, east and west, and many, many points in between.

Traveling with Sadie

Many pet owners chose Rving over hotels because they travel with pets, and we’re no different. Our cats Sadie and Muka have accompanied us on almost every trip. Muka crossed the rainbow bridge a few years ago, and now Sadie is our lone feline companion.

Making Friends

We are members of the Leisurely Great Lakers, going to our first rally in 2017. We made it to Winkler in 2018, where we took the factory tour, met other owners from across the United States and Canada, and, of course, met Dean!

As most of us know, it’s easy to meet other Leisure owners while on the road. One couple we stay in touch with, and typically meet in Florida, is Bob Freese and Peggy Schaefer. Euchre, anyone?

For us, life is good. See you on the road!