Late this morning, as I was getting ready to hop into our little Fiat to do some errands, I met a nice young lady walking by. She was very friendly and offered how much she liked our RV. We talked for awhile and during that time I learned that she was a substitute teacher and an artist. Her husband is a maintenance supervisor/ironworker at a metals fabrication shop. They and their two young sons live near Muskegon, Michigan. Before she left, she had invited Mary Margaret and I to come over for brunch that she was able to serve her family.
Unfortunately, I had to decline due to the need to pick up a prescription and to run my errands but said that we would love to stop on by later in the day. With that said, we said our goodbyes and went our merry ways.
When I returned from my errands a few hours later, Mary Margaret and I went for our walk through the park and met up with Elissa, Michael, and their two boys returning from fishing. Alas, they had no luck, but had a fun time trying. We returned with them to their camping site where over a local beer, we got to know each other a bit. What we learned was pretty amazing! 
Michael, besides working at the fabrication plant, also has a talent for metal work and has designed and built some really neat stuff. My favorite is his campfire grill, which is an extremely clever devise. The photo of it is posted below, which shows that it is a collapsible tripod that easily raises and lowers a grill over a campfire so you can cook and grill your food to perfection. He has different sizes of grills that can fit like a glove into whatever size of fire ring you have. We have discovered that most state parks we have gone to, have metal fire rings on each campsite to contain camp fires. However, Michaels grill can also be used with any campfire, whether a campfire ring or not is available. 
While we talked, we learned that Elissa loves art and creates beautiful and unique pyrography. I had never heard of pyrography and discovered that it is an art form based on wood burning. Michael showed us pictures on his smart phone of various pieces she has done. Wow! We were so impressed that we asked if she sells any of her pieces as we would love to buy some as gifts for friends and family, along with having some to hang in our house that someday we will be buying.
As it turns out, she does sell her work with most pieces going for about $40. Based on the photo of one of her pieces that I have posted below, you can see how reasonable that price is and how unique and beautiful her work is. On a number of her pieces, such as the one below, she adds color using oil based colored pencils.
If you are interested in seeing more examples of Elissa’s work, you can visit her blog at: www.drawabrunch.com . If you are interested in Michael’s campfire grill, you can contact him at his Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/deucesironworks
Tomorrow, we will be bundling up LeuC and heading down the road again, this time our destination will be Aloha State Park. It is about 2 or so hours north and east of here, near the city of Cheboygan,
Going Down The Road With The Leu's 