GrandRapids-West Mi Homes Blog

Muskegon River Camping in Newaygo-Vic's Canoes-Salmon Run-NEVER AGAIN!!

It's summer again!  In Michigan we look forward to our summer's in a big way.  One of the best ways to spend a Michigan summer in Newaygo is to go tubing or canoeing down the Muskegon River.  We have done it for 14 years and for 14 years we have stayed at Salmon Run Campground at Vic's canoes.  Well we won't be doing that this year and my kids who are now 16 and 18 are so disappointed.

So why aren't we going camping at a place we have been at for 14 years? Why aren't we camping with the other 10 some odd couples, many of whom we met at church?  Simple, last year the owner of Salmon Run Campground had us escorted off by the police.

It would be somewhat rebel like to be able to say this family of four got escorted off Salmon Run Campground for partying to hard--isn't that why most people get kicked out of a campground?  It would be a heck of a story to tell for the guy who runs sound at his church.  It would be fun for these teenagers to say they got in trouble for being to loud.  But no that would not be the story.

So why, you ask, did this family of four, plus a friend, get escorted out of the campground by the police?  Simple, for saying we would tell our story . . . .  so here is what happened.

Last year we arrived at Salmon Run Campground late because my daughter was showing her horse at the Berlin Fair that day.  We arrived around 9 pm.  Since we have three teenagers with us in tents, we always get two sites because our living quarters horse trailer and two tents is just way to tight of a fit in these small sites.  For the last approximately 4 years we have had two sites with our kids in tents on one site and us right next to them.  Our big group usually takes up all of the river sites.  When we arrived, however, there were several sites between us and our children.

Now mind you, the rules at the campground are that all children must have parents present.  The year before, the kids were asked to quiet down and it wasn't even them-it was the site across the street.  So that night the owner asked us to put up the tents all on one site with our big trailer and we would straighten it out in the morning and she would ask someone to move.  I knew that wasn't going to happen because we had ended up with  people between us that weren't in our group.

Morning came.  We went in to talk to the owner. She said the people wouldn't move but we could use the site to park our truck on . . . WHAT!!?!?!!?  There was no way I was paying $30 a night to park my truck.  That would have been $60 a night for parking.  I told the owner there was no way we were doing that--we would keep the tents on our site but we wanted our money back for the other site we weren't using.  She said she wouldn't do that.  Ok this is just wrong.  This was not our mistake it was the campgrounds.  She informed me that it was impossible for them to make a mistake--their computers wouldn't allow it.  Ok now this is seriously commical.  How many of you fine people out there have never had to deal with a computer glitch?

We argued back and forth and I could see that this was going no where so I thought compromise was in order.  I suggested we split the cost and she could give us half our money back.  She said she wouldn't do that unless she could get the site rented.  Ok that is NOT compromise-she would end up ahead in this whole thing.  I wish this was the first time I had heard something like this going on in this office--it wasn't. Over the years I have heard angry customers so we were just one more. 

I said, "you can't do that, it is wrong and unfair especially when these aren't the sites we booked".  The owner said, "I can do anything I want, this is a private campground".  I commented to the owner that the days of a business being able to treat customers unfairly without anyone knowing were over.  These days we have the internet where people can speak out and tell their story.  I turned around and walked out the door.

We went down the river which is approximately a four hour trip from where we put in.  When we got back there was a note on our camper door.  "Come see Annette".  I walked up to the office thinking we had worked something out but what I was told was to get off her campground that no one was going to threaten her.  She handed me $30 and told me to get out.

ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?!  You are going to kick someone out of a campground because they said they would write a blog about what happened to them in their campground?  Someone who had been coming there with their kids for 14 years . . .people who had made their kids pick up every scrap of paper on their site before they left.  Never mind the fact that we had already paid $120--$30 per night for two sites.  We had used one campsite (as directed by her) which would have amounted to $30.  By my calculations we should have gotten $90 back. 

I was stunned.  I walked back to where my sister was camping and told her what happened.  She told me to sit down that they had many run-ins like this with her over the years and that no one would kick someone off for something so stupid.  She said sit down and wait till the guys come back with the tubes and we will walk up there.  In the mean time, after we weren't gone for an hour she apparently went to our camper and knocked on the door.  My daughter said we weren't there and the owner told my daughter that she knew we were hiding in there.  Does this sound crazy to anyone yet?

We were told by someone else in our group that she had been there so my sister walked up there with me and said we were going to work this out.  We were met by the police . . yes I wrote that right.  They were there to escort us off the campground.  My sister couldn't believe it and tried to talk to the owner but she refused to compromise. She was more than willing to kick a patron of 14 years out of a campground for asking for money back for a site she didn't reserve.  Keep in mind kids under 18 are not allowed to camp by themselves in this campground.  She kicked us off because I apparently threatened her by saying I would tell my story in a blog.

So this is my story of what happend at Vic's Canoes-Salmon Run in Grant Michigan.  My kids are so disappointed.  We have been doing this for years-they won't be camping with their cousins and all the kids they have grown up with.

As a side note, when I got home I looked up the check I wrote.  When we write a check there is a carbon.  I looked at the check I had wrote and on it, in the memo section, were the the site numbers we had--they were sites right next to each other.  So much for computers never making mistakes. 

What type of business owers throw away patrons of 14 years--patrons who have brought friends with them who made them more money.  Well you know the story now and who does that.  Like I said . . .  .

Muskegon River Camping in Newaygo-Vic's Canoes-Salmon Run-NEVER AGAIN!!

Thanks to Bathmasters, a company that does Bathtub Resurfacing in West Michigan, my bathub looks like brand new.  I wrote a post several weeks back, Bathtub Refinishing West Michigan - Will they be able to make my tub look new again?,  about checking into having my bathtub refinished or resurfaced.  Not only did I need it done myself (as you can see my the picture to the right), but I wanted a viable option to be able to recommend to both my clients who have just purchased homes in West Michigan and those that are about to sell.

When my husband and I started thinking about ripping out our old one piece tub and surround, it sounded daunting.  Although we were fully capable of doing the work ourselves, it was still going to cost money and time.  I started calling around Grand Rapids for bathtub refinishing, a process by which they reglaze the bathtub.  As I explored the possibilities, I found that not only can your refinish a fiberglass bathtub but also ceramic tile, porcelain and counter tops. 

I got quotes from two different companies.  Bathmasters definitely beat everyone in price and they have been around a long time.  My bathtub and surround ran $450 which is well below the cost to rip the whole shower out and put a new one in.  Bathmasters called me back within the same day and had it scheduled for the next business day. 

They arrived exactly when they said they would at 8:30 am this past Monday.  He immediately started preparing the entire bathroom for the process by making sure everything was covered so as not to get over spray dust on anything.  All my cupboards, counters, toilet and towel bars were all covered.  Even the floor was completely protected.  The process with the tub was started by a very thorough cleaning.  I was concerned because there was some adhesive and also two small chips in the bottom of the tub.  But the chips were repaired and the adhesive taken off.

He began spraying the tub at around 10 am with the primer.  I was already excited with just the primer on!!  He then put the non-slip material in the bottom which I am really glad I got.  It was all said and done by around noon and it looked absolutely gorgeous!

This is definitely a much more inexpensive way to go and there is a 5 year warranty!!  If you refinish your bathtub, I would advise you do it before any painting of the bathroom.  If I were to do it again, I would definitely wait until we were going to be out of the house for several days.  We only have one bathroom and we were not to go in the room for at least 24 hours.  Additionally, the fumes are noxious--but well worth it because it looks great!  I am so excited to clean my new bathtub.  Instead of five hours to clean, it will only be 5 minutes.

Now I have to tell my husband we need to paint, get new light fixtures, get new cupboards.  Somehow I don't think my husband will be too happy to have more "honey do's" added to his list.  Thank goodness he is used it.  We do a lot of work ourselves.  You can also read Oak Cabinets with a New Face - Glazed Cabinets are Beautifulabout reglazing our cabinets!

So, If you are looking for someone in West Michigan to refinish your bathtub, I can not recommend Bathmasters high enough!  You can call them today at 800-585-1000.  Tell them Tami sent you!

West Michigan Short Sales-If I knew then what I know now about Michigan Short Sale Experts I would have been able to help some really incredible people stop their home from foreclosing.  I would have been able to put them in the position to purchase a home in 12-18 short months iinstead of years!

I was once told I would never make it in the Grand Rapids Real Estate business because I cared to much.  How can anyone care too much about people?

Many years ago I was referred by a lender to a couple who needed to sell their Rockford home because they could not make their payments.  He said he gave them my number because money was not the driving force in my life.  That was quite a compliment.

The meeting with the couple was heart breaking, to say the very least.  They had six children ranging in age from about 4 to 21.  They all lived in the Rockford house which was immaculately cared for.  The distress in their eyes was evident as they told the story of how they came to own the home.  Too many people in cahoots including a lender that dropped the bomb on them at close that there were two loans.  They wanted to back out but were told there would be lawsuits.

With all my heart, I wished I had been there when this couple purchased the house but it was too late for that and they were in serious trouble.  The financial information they gave me was devastating.  There was absolutely no way they were going to be able to sell this house and pay the real estate fees.  They were drowning in debt and this house was the cement block around their neck.  At that time, I didn't even know what a West Michigan Short Sale Specialist was!

Life has taught me that if you pay if forward, you will be given back.  I listed the house taking no commission for myself. 
Even with no commission for myself, the home did not sell.  Even though this home was only a few years old and on over an acre, there were other homes just as nice selling for less.  So many people had lied to this couple and I didn't want to give them false hope, so I told them honestly that there was no reason for me to keep the home listed.  My heart broke for them.  The house foreclosed!

With all that I am, I wish I had known then what I know now about Michigan Short Sales.  If I knew then what I know now, they would probably already be purchaing a home.  Now I count myself among the Michigan Short Sale Realtor Experts that our times have demanded.    There are quite a number of West Michigan short sale homes, but there are a very limited number of agents who really are West Michigan Short Sale Experts.  Not only is it important to have an agent experienced in selling a Greater Grand Rapids Short Sale, but it is also important for buyers to have a West Michigan Short Sale Expert representing them in the sale.

For sellers, it can be extremely difficult to weed through and find an agent who is truly experienced in selling Ottawa County Short Sales and Kent County Short Sales.  What questions should a seller ask to find a West Michigan Short Sale Expert?   See my next blog, West Michigan Realtors Experienced in Short Sales - 6 Tips on How to Hire a Short Sale Agent  to find out what steps you need to take to make the best choice.

Let me know if you would like a West Michigan Short Sale Consultation.  Everything is kept confidential and there will be no pressure--I think  you probably have enough pressure in your life at this moment.  When you fill out the information on to submit a West Michigan Short Sale, I will contact you.  We will go over your situation and I can let you know if I can help.  Please feel free to call if you just want to talk.

Copyright Tami Vroma West Michigan Short Sale -If I knew then what I know now about Michigan Short Sale Experts

Bathtub Refinishing West Michigan - Will they be able to make my tub look new?

I got a quote from a company yesterday to have a bathtub restoration done in my West Michigan home.  We just can't keep it clean anymore and we really don't want to rip it out-it would be so much easier to do a bathtub restoration. 

The pictures attached make it look like I am a pig and I really am not.  The process we have been following to get this tub to look even remotely clean, is absolutely ridiculous.  It is literally an all day event and it involves A LOT of Kaboom.  I go through a whole bottle and just keep spraying it, letting it sit, scrubbing and spraying it again.  It takes about 8 times of repeating this to get it to look even a little clean. Then we use it twice and it looks absolutely awful again.

I even tried getting it all clean and went out and bought this stuff that was suppose to seal the fiberglass.  What a waste of money!  The sealer did absolutely nothing but make it slippery for three days and then it was just as nasty looking again.

So about a month ago, I was watching a show called "Take five", a local talk show, that had a company  on talking about how they could restore a fiberglass tub and ceramic tile.  They showed pictures of this awful pink tiled bathroom and then they showed pictures of it restored.  I'm pretty sure as a Realtor I have been in that pink tiled bathroom five thousand times.  My clients could really benefit from this and I am more than willing to throw myself out there to be the guinea pig. 

Yesterday Scott came out and looked at it.  First off, he was a very nice guy.  Easy to talk to--just a genuinely good guy.  He talked about the steps they take to clean the tub--they even remove all the old caulk around the tub enclosure.  He talked about how they don't use acid etching because it is bad for the environment.  They spray the tub several times with a special bonding agent.  To top it off, there is a 5 year warranty. 

The cost to do it was $500.  At first it sounded really expensive.  Then I started adding up the cost to rip it out and replace it.  Now true, my husband and I are fully capable of doing all the work ourselves but it would still cost us about $1000 and a lot of time that we don't have.  So, I am jumping in with both feet to be the guinea pig.  We will let you know how this West Michigan Bathtub Refinishing goes.  I am going to be excited just to spend under 15 minutes cleaning a tub!  So hopefully this bath tub refinishing will be well worth it!!!  Stay tuned with a follow up on how it went.

Read my follow up post West Michigan Bathtub Resurfacing-

Copyright Tami Vroma Bathtub Refinishing West Michigan-Will they be able to make my tub look new again? 09/26/09 3:13 pm

My Daughter, Lindsey Vroma, named Top Student Web Designer in the Nation!


To say I am a proud Mama would be a serious understatement. How many parents can say their daughter took the title as Top Student Web Designer in the Nation according to Business Professionals of America? When my daughter Lindsey (far right) and her partner won at Regionals, I thought it was really wonderful. When they took 2nd at the state level and qualified to go to Nationals, I wondered if they could really pull it off.

When she boarded the plane to Dallas June 18, 2009, I was seriously bummed that I could not go with her!! I knew she had worked really hard on all the graphics. She is a wiz with Adobe Photo Shop and she taught herself!! Lindsey would spend hours and hours creating the most incredible graphics. She was constantly changing her computer desk top to show off her latest creation. She would sit for hours looking at code trying to figure out what was wrong--changing and tweaking as she went. When she decideded they needed to do a omplete make over before Nationals, I have to admit I was a little worried. They pulled off in days what it usually takes moths to do. My daughter was at it constantly. She wanted to win in the biggest way. Her partner, Alex, wasn't quite as in to it as my daughter was. In fact, at one point Alex decided she didn't want to go. It was hard for Lindsey who was after a career in web design. Alex wasn't pursuing a career in web design but opted to go to school for nursing. After urging from her instructor, she decided to go.

Each time they competed, they had to give a presentation and then take 5 mintues of judges questions. Their design, "Top 10 Things to do in Dallas" was judged on knowledge of web design, layout, graphics, team work, leadership and flexibility of browsers. Lindsey called and said they did really well on the presentation but she was still nervous. They were to get the results at the awards ceremony the next day. Saturday I was pacing waiting for Lindsey's call . . . phone in hand . . .waiting . . . . waiting. Finally at around 10:05 pm the phone rang, "Mom" she said in a sad voice, "your not going to believe what happened . . .", my heart dropped and I was ready with, 'just getting there alone means you are a winner' speech when she screams, "WE WON . . .WE WON". I was giddy, "You mean, as in first place?" "Yes we won first!!"

Lindsey is now attending Baker College for web design. She won a full ride scholarship to Davenport College but they wouldn't give it to her because they said it was past the application period. The finals were suppose to be held in May, but because of the Swine Flu epidemic, it had been postponed. One would think she would have won other scholarship money but they got absolutely nothing. That part makes me so sad. All these athletes get all these free ride scholarships and kids who are competing in what they would actually be attending the school for get nothing!!

But the important part is, she won!! She is showing the world what she is made of!!!! She recently went to the State Horse show and placed twice. She is an incredible singer and she can draw like I can not even believe. She also recently did the header desgn on my web site, Grand-Rapids-Homes-for-Sale.com

I am so proud to call her "Daughter"!

Every once in a while I like to do a post on who I am besides Tami Vroma, Grand Rapids Real Estate Specialist.

Today I was driving back from doing a walk through on house that is due to close next week (thank you God!).  A song came on the radio that put a lump in my throat and I felt the tears start to well up.  It wasn't the usual song that would bring a women to tears but it reminded me that I have been through worse than this real estate market.  Only God knows what the next year will bring but nothing will compare to that period in my life 5 years ago when I begged my husband to put me in our local mental institution.

My son was completely out of control.  I did not understand what was going on because the same rules were in place for him as they were for my daughter.  My son would rage.  He was destructive.  He was ten years old and our family was going under. 

At the same time my husband was not working regularly, I was starting a new real estate career, our tenant had done $6000 damage to one side of our duplex and the other side was not rented.  To say I was a little stressed would be an understatement.

I was feeling extreme despair.  Though my son was out of control most of the time, he had a golden retriever that was always by his side, no matter how cruel my son was to him.  He would get put in the corner and the dog would go and lay by him.  Honestly, it seemed the dog was the only one that could stand him when he was raging.  The dog was extremely emotional also- when we left we would have to tie him up in the basement or he would potty on the floor.

My breaking point came on a super-bowl Sunday.  We had went after church to work on putting the duplex back together and then we were going to head to a super bowl party.  This day would be the worst day of my life--everything went into slow motion as my son came up the stairs saying Tanner was dead.  He had run himself in a million circles and had hung himself and my ten year old son had found his dog.

I remember sliding to the floor begging my husband to put me in Pine Rest.  I couldn't take anymore- I was at my breaking point.  My husband picked me up off the floor with tears streaming down his face.  "You can not go to Pine Rest and leave me with him because I don't know what I would do to him."  Him being our son-our life was so far out of control.

Shortly after the dog died, my son got in trouble at school yet again.  He was raging and I had to get him up a flight of stairs to his room.  On the way up he was kicking me, biting me, pulling my hair, scratching me and punching me.  We fell several times as foul words, that we don't use in our home, streamed from his mouth.  Our regular routine was to get him up to his room and sit on him where we would wait until the rage would come to an end. 

This time was different. I had small children here and did not want them hearing the F-bomb so I put my hand over his mouth.  He bit me and would not let go.  I had to slap his face in order to get him to let go.  This was our life.  It sucked.

The next day he went to school and told them I beat him because he had a bruise on his face.  I was horrified that I had done that until I realized that the bruise was on the wrong side of his face for me to have done it but the machine was set in motion and I was investigated by protective services.  It was a scary experience but protective services knew that something was off.  As I stood there terrified they were going to take my daughter away, the case worker hugged me and offered to help.

I learned that day that God has a plan for everything.  Had my son not turned me in to protective services, we never would have been offered help by protective services and we never would have found out he was bi-polar.  So we started our journey of finding the right meds.  Once we found the right meds, life got much better.  Still more than most can handle but way, way better than the past few years had been.

But life was about to offer us another punch in the gut.  We noticed a large hump on my sons back so we took him to the doctor.  You can always tell when something is serious by the look on your doctors face and by the fact that he won't tell you anything and you get into a specialist within days.

We took him to the specialist and I was in shock as they described how my son's spine was curved to the point that it could compromise his life.  I was stunned as they described how he would need to have a titanium rod put in his back and how they would fuse his spine.  As if this kid didn't have enough going on we were put on yet another roller coaster.  To make matters worse, everything he loved would be gone.  No more motor cycle, no more snow boarding, no more skate boarding.  The spine will have no flex.  Great one more thing to make a very angry kid even more angry.

So we went down that road and my son had the surgery.  At one point we almost lost him because the morphine had suppressed his system.  I am pretty sure that night took 10 years off my life span.  It was at that time the song by Rodney Atkins came out.  I would just sing it and keep moving in the hospital and on the days after where my son had to use a walker to walk.   It was my montra.  I would sing it with tears running down my face . . .but I kept moving. . . .and tried not to show I was scared and kept hiding from the devil by repeating Romans 5:3-5 over and over again.  I was building some major character here!

We made it through those times and today my son is one of the lights of my life.  He was the number 1 JV runner on his cross country team last year and he is an incredible kid to be around.  He is still a teenager but where I used to wish for just 5% of happy times with him, now I have 100% times of happiness.  Even when he is angry he is joy because I am so darn proud of how well he handles his anger now.  He is a different kid with an incredible smile and we have a new life.

One more thing--I have the most incredible friends one could ever have.  It was my freinds who came and helped my husband bury the dog and it was my friends that kept my husband and I going.  Friends are the most incredible thing in the world and I have THE MOST incredilble!

So while I don't know what the next year may bring and things are really tight here . . . .it isn't anything compared to where we have been!! 

Enjoy the video and sing it to yourself when you aren't sure if you can put one foot in front of the other--God is there.

How to price a home in the Grand Rapids Real Estate Market

When an agent arrives at a price to list your Grand Rapids home at, he or she should share with you how he arrived at the figure. What facts from the West Michigan Real Estate market did he share with you to help you make an educated decision? An agent who comes in and gives you a figure without data and expects you to just believe him because he knows the market, is not giving you an active part in deciding the listing price of your Grand Rapids Home. 

Pricing a home is like a puzzle. No one piece by itself creates the picture. It is only when you view all the pieces together that the picture makes sense. Sometimes, you can tell what the picture of a puzzle will look like if it is a missing a small piece. But if the big piece is missing, it may be impossible to decipher the image. One piece ff the puzzle may be more important than others to decipher the image. It is the same way in pricing a home in the Grand Rapids Real Estate market.

One of the first pieces of information your prospective agent should share with you are what the prices of the homes in your West Michigan neighborhood have sold for in the 30 days prior. It is important to try and stay within 30 days but there are situations where you may need to lengthen that time frame.  These homes should be like yours in size, amenities, and location. Some things that should also be considered are the age, the architectural style of the home, and the type of basement (full, daylight, walkout, slab). There are so many things to consider and this is where your prospective agents expertise will come in. This will give you an average sold price for your type of home. 

Please realize, this list of comparables will almost certainly contain Grand Rapids Foreclosures and Grand Rapids Short Sale Homes. You must consider these foreclosed homes in your comparables because when your home is listed you will be competing with those foreclosed homes. When the comparables have been chosen, a large piece of the puzzle is able to be deciphered but it will take the other pieces to make it clear and easy to see.

When the comparables are chosen, there will be an average price per square foot. This price can be skewed for several different reasons. Your perspective agent should be able to explain to you why and what would cause these figures to be skewed. There are many different factors that could cause this. One cause is the difference between TFLA (total finished living area) and the ANSI (stands for American National Standard Institute but means square footage above ground on all sides). A finished or finishable basement will skew the figures and should be taken into consideration.   Once you know the average price per square foot, you should be able to arrive at a price that will add to puzzle helping you to decide what the list price should be. Remember one piece in and of itself does not determine the price you need to look at all the pieces.

Another piece of the puzzle here in the West Michigan Real Estate market, is to look at the assessed value. The comparables that were chosen and were like your home will have a percentage that they sold over the assessed value. This percentage can then be applied to your assessed value to come up with another price that will help you determine the price of your house. Remember, you can not look at only one piece because naturally, you would go for the higher price.

For example, lets say that you purchased your West Michigan home in January 2003 for $100,000. The appreciation values for the next 5 years were as follows:

+3%, +4%, +2%, -1%, -6%.

$100,000 x 3% = $3000   At the end of 2003 your West Michigan Home was worth $103,000

$103,000 x 4% = $4120   At the end of 2004 your West Michigan Home was worth $107,120

$107,120 x 2% = $2142   At the end of 2005 your West Michigan Home was worth $109,262

$109,262 x -1% = $-1,093   At the end of 2006 your West Michigan Home was worth $108,169

$108,169 x -6% = $-6,490   At the end of 2007 your West Michigan Home  was worth $101,679

Average Sale Price  $96,000

Average Price by Square Footage $110,000

You can tell that the price o f your Grand Rapids Home should be set somewhere between $96,000 and $108,000.

Picture Attribution

All rights reserved - Tami Vroma - Five Star Real Estate - Grand Rapids Real Estate & Grand Rapids Homes for sale.

Last Saturday we traveled from Grand Rapids, MI to Midland, MI to take part in becoming one voice for our right to ride. As you could tell from my previous article, I was excited!

I would love to give you a glowing report and tell you that the TRAM (Trail Riders Alliance of Michigan) meeting went wonderfully!!  Not so much!!!  And it makes me so sad because they truly have the right idea. The people that traveled all distances to fight for our "Right to Ride" were very passionate . . when they entered the meeting.

Presentation is everything in a meeting.  How you present things will either make or break a meeting.  In this case it broke it . . . badly.

The meeting basically started out with an hour of saying thank you to the people who supported them.  Then there were presentations by all kinds of different organizations.  Michigan Horse Council, The Michigan Horsemen PLU, Michigan Equine Partnership, and many other organizations spoke.  The people in the room were constantly trying to write down these names thinking, "Oh this is the one voice".

There were presentations from lawyers and representatives and many others that spoke very passionately about protecting our right to ride.  There were a lot of people in the room that can make a huge difference in our fight to keep our trails.  The problem was the structure of the meeting.

I got frustrated and got up to clear my head and ended up taking to one of the organizers--possibly Connie Frey from Lansing.  My first question was who is our 'one voice'?  She then explained to me that while TRAM was a good idea, it became clear that they didn't need to reinvent the wheel.  They had found the Back Country Horsemen that was a national organization.

She went on to tell me that in order to be a part of BCH, the state had to have at least two chapters.  So they formed the first chapter, "Back Country Horsemen Pigeon River and Beyond".  The now needed to form another chapter so that MI had two chapters.  They were encouraging people to join their chapter so another chapter could break off of theirs.  Too bad very few in the room understood this.

The entire time she was explaining, I felt sad.  Once again they were dead on in what they were trying to attempt but they were going about it the wrong way.  I explained to her that they should have started out the meeting explaining what was going on.  TRAM was no more and that BCH was now the "one voice".  I explained to her that the human phyche will see "Pigeon River".  The "and Beyond" part will not be translated.  They will decide right then and there that this is only about Pigeon River and not all the other places that were loosing trails in Michigan.  She kept saying, no they need to see the "and beyond" part.  Unfortunately that is not the way the human mind works.

The goal, I believe, was to get two BCH chapters so that then we could have a BCH of Michigan that is under the national. 

By this time they were taking questions at the mic.  I went up and told them you have a whole lot of really confused people here.  The rumble around was definitely with me.  I then went on to explain the direction I had been told they were headed in--and it was a good direction.  Then Cynthia Kieliszewski got up and started yelling ''no' that TRAM was no more--which is exactly what I had said.  She was seriously yelling and seemed extremely unprofessional to me.  In the end, we just left the meeting.  I have no idea how it will pan out. 

The other thing I thought interesting, was that the flyer they gave us  to join BCH Pigeon River & Beyond, did not have one phone number or email address on it--not even a website.

Things could have gone so much differently had plans had been made for a smooth presentation.  It is all in the understanding of how the human mind thinks.  People were there to hear one voice.  It could have been accomplished had they immediately laid out their plan to get one voice.

I left my card and told them to call me if they wanted help getting word out about the next meetings and help structuring the next meeting, I would be glad to help.  There is also a way to structure a voice on line--all us bloggers know it.  There are forums we could put together to meet online regularly--all things I know how to do and how to set up.  It is doubtful Miss Cynthia would allow that to happen.  It is sad, so sad!!  There was a room full of people eager to ban together and in the end they didn't know who to ban with.

So we started our 2 hour trek back to the Grand Rapids Michigan area!

Photo Courtesy -Horses Meet

Riding a horse in Michigan these days seems to be one heck of a battle.  Living in a small town outside of Grand Rapids, called Allendale, makes it no different then any where else in Michigan.  My home is located on 7 acres bordered by State Land.  Many of you have seen my posts, "From my Back Window".  What you see in the back is all state land.  Most would think I couldn't have a more perfect place to ride . . .NOT! 

Three years ago it was owned privately, but we had secured permission to ride the land as long as it wasn't during hunting season--not a problem . .who wants to be out in the woods with gun's going off?  Then the state came in and bought the land in connection with Duck's Unlimited.  Stupidly, we were ecstatic thinking we would now be able to ride anytime we wanted.  The first day the land was owned was January 1.  We headed out with a neighbor to enjoy the river and the beautiful snow in the trees only to be stopped by a DNR representative and told to get off!  WHAT??!?!?!!

Apparently, the land was to be used as a duck preserve and we weren't allowed on it.  The next day there were signs on the back of our property with no horses on them.  We talked to everyone we knew who was with Duck's Unlimited, and we knew a lot people.  Not one person we talked to cared if we were on the land as long as . . you guessed it  . . not during hunting season!!  Not a problem!!!

Riding a horse has become such a big deal.  Everyone is so scared of being sued.  About 4 miles from me is Bass River Recreation area an Equestrian riding area in Allendale, MI.  It is actually a part of the land that is behind me.  The problem is, we have to hook up the trailer to the truck and load everything up.  There is a way there by skirting privately owned  land but more than half of the people didn't want us to ride on their land for fear of being sued.

Here in Michigan it has gotten out of control and we are fighting for our right to ride! 

Recently, the state all but closed one of the most beautiful riding areas in Michigan.  Pigeon River State Forest had one premier riding areas in the state of Michigan. Not only were there miles and miles and miles of trails but there were also sightings of the majestic elk.  It the most incredible feeling to ride up to one of those animals--I know . .I've done it!  Our state forests are being closed to us one by one by one!

Why do you ask are they closing the state parks to horses?  The DNR has claimed user conflict because the horses are transferring noxious weeds and in the case of Pigeon River, are driving the elk from the land.  WHAT?!?!! 

First of all,horses were here before the all the government rules and land use acts.  Our heritage started on horses.  Transportation was by horse.  Police, firemen . .everyone used horses. Before the existence of cars, man depended on horses.  Horses and men have coexisted for years on the same land. I am pretty sure that horses in the 1800's also ate and hence left road apples.  Now it is all about horses transferring noxious plants with their road apples.

On Saturday, February 7, 2009, I will travel to Midland to attend a meeting in which they will be laying the foundation for a group called TRAM "Trail Riders Alliance of Michigan".  It will be held at Dow Diamond (825 E. Main, Midland)from 2-5 pm.  If you would like to fight for your right to ride, please join us as we form an alliance so that we can preserve our right as one united voice.

Photos Courtesy of Seattle Municipal Archives, Claudia Crane's via Flcikr Lady on horse is blog writer

All rights reserved-Tami Vroma- Grand Rapids Michigan Real Estate Agent