Safe home! As in there's no place like it

Easy trip home today from Mears, Michigan. Just as we finished breaking camp it started to rain, so I guess our time was really up.

Joan is already planning - or bugging me to plan - our next great adventure. It's going to be at least a month because we have a number of obligations and the need to go to Buffalo again for a few days.

We may even go back to the campground we just came from, we liked it that much. The traffic on our road was light and that made it easier (it's never easy) to back the trailer off the busy highway and into its little nest next to the garage (see photo). I have a trailer washing job in my near future.

Thanks for following the blog and we'll let you know when we are back on the road.

Happy trails!

Departed: 8:45 a.m.
Mileage: 40293
Arrived: 12:35 p.m.
Mileage: 40506

Total mileage traveled with and without trailer: 1,020
Miles traveled with trailer: 586

More lighthouse photos

Lighthouse shadow from above

Lighthouse shadow from below

Looking north from our lighthouse perch

Joan on the beach with lighthouse in background

We've seen the light, the Little Point Sable Lighthouse, that is

Another remarkably beautiful and easy day. Just a few wispy clouds and temps in the low 80s to mark this day.

We had a leisurely start to the day, watched some news on the television and then headed for Little Point Sable Lighthouse for a self-guided tour. Lake Michigan was in her highest glory this morning when we arrived at the parking lot of the lighthouse.

Another short trudge through the sand to arrive on the doorstep of the lighthouse where we paid our $2 each and started up the 130 steps to the top. It reminded us of a similar tour we did while visiting Aunt Judi and Uncle Pete in Jupiter, Florida a few years ago. The two lighthouses are remarkably similar in construction, height and were both built in the 1860s.

Joan was a real sport today, no whining (at least that's what she told me to say), as we climb the circular stairway to the top of the lighthouse. Not such an easy task for Joan what with her titanium knee. Coming down, she said, is the worst.

After some picture taking at the top of the lighthouse we made the descent and then decided to walk the beach as far as we could. As it turned out that was only about 1/4 mile in each direction as the private beaches are posted as such at the State Park boundary. Hawaii does not allow folks to own the beach, which is kind of cool. But we are not trespassers.

The Lake feels warm and there were a number of folks already enjoying the beach about 11 a.m. today. After the walk we drove to a nearby gas station and filled the car for the trip home tomorrow.

I spent a short time cleaning my trailer mirrors and organizing my towing gear for tomorrow's getaway and Joan had a chance to watch her favorite soap opera.

Sitting under the trailer awning I finished "H.M.S. Surprise," the third book in the Patrick O'Brian "Master and Commander" series. It looks like the fourth book will have to wait for our next adventure as I hate to start it now and then leave it for a month or two as we return to our more normal, and hectic, lives.

Joan fixed some of those great Amish hotdogs for dinner and we enjoyed another few ears of some local sweet corn.

I'll post again tomorrow after we are safely back in Lapeer and then Grandma's Recess will go dark for awhile.

More sand and swan photos

The dunes are swallowing up this large forest between Silver Lake and Lake Michigan.

A wooden bridge called "Termite Bridge" leaves one to wonder.....

Some of the beautiful scenery from my seat in the dune buggy.

At the top of a dune overlooking the trees and Silver Lake.

One of the many ORVs we saw in the State Park, the only State Park in Michigan where ORVs are allowed.

The swans are for my sister-in-law Diane who saw the same two swans everyday in Amish country until we realized they never moved and turned out to be decoys in a pond. These swans we saw today were real. The rest of the photos are from our walk this morning and also from the dune ride.

Sand, sand and more sand

Today was all about sand. It was sand in the morning, sand in the afternoon and sand in the evening. It only made sense before leaving Silver Lake that we get our feet into the sand. Silver Lake is all about the dunes.

About 80 percent of everyone in our campground has a Jeep or other manner of four wheel vehicle that they take to the dunes every day. Those whippy red flags that fly 12-feet in the air over Off Road Vehicles are literally everywhere. I tried to talk Joan into letting me put a flag on the Tahoe and taking it over the hill, but she said no.

Every other morning we have walked the campground for an hour to get our miles in. Instead I dragged poor Joan, and her titanium knee, up some pretty steep dunes and then back down them again this morning. We probably walked a little over a mile in the sand, which made it seem like a marathon, but except for some minor whining, Joan did credibly well.

I’m going to post a number of pictures here and in another post so you can see some of our sandy adventures today. When we arrived back at the trailer we left our shoes and their sand on the patio and got cleaned up and had lunch.

Joan had a couple of cards to mail so we drove to Mears, looked at a couple stores, picked up some sweet corn for tomorrow night and then headed back to the trailer for an afternoon of reading under the awning.

The never ending supply of spaghetti we brought from home filled us up again tonight and we still have some to take home on Wednesday.

After dinner was the adventure I had looked forward to all day. We headed to Mac Wood’s Dune Rides next to Silver Lake for a late evening dune ride. We piled aboard the aftermarket Ford F-250 Super Duty full convertible buggy and headed for the dunes. There were about 16-20 people aboard and our driver was Lisa.

We entered the State Park through a gate that belongs only to Mac Wood’s and headed up – and down – the beautiful sand trails that make up the attraction. Lisa filled us with facts – and laughter – about the changing dunes and the shrinking lake. The dunes are slowly filling Silver Lake at the rate of about two feet a year. “Soon it will be ‘Splinter Creek’, “ Lisa said.

I took oodles of photos and they will be posted here and on a subsequent post. Once at Lake Michigan, Lisa drove the left side of the buggy through the water which left Joan a little wet and a man in back, soaked.

After all that sun and fresh air I'm ready for just a little more sand. Mr. Sandman, give me a dream.

Reading, swan boats and a dinner out (corrected)

It was another beautiful, postcard kind of day here in Mears, Michigan. Lots of folks heading home this morning as we took our walk around the park. Low humidity and temps in the mid-1970s were perfect.

For the second day, we basically did nothing. I’m nearly through my next O’Brian book and got plenty of sun today. There was a minor rebellion here in happy land as Joan decided she had cooked enough and wanted to eat out.

Late in the afternoon we headed to Silver Lake to poke around and also find a restaurant for dinner. We shopped at a little resort strip of businesses. Next to the business was a fun center that included Swan boats. The only other place we had seen Swan boats was in Boston. I have posted a photo here for Elin, our Boston girl, to compare the Swans.

We looked around Silver Lake but didn’t see a restaurant that seemed to inspire us so we got back in the Tahoe and headed out on a little adventure. We found a road sign promoting the Open Hearth Grill so we followed the arrows until we found it.

It was a nice little restaurant on the second floor of building. The first floor was a convenience store and a BP gas station. One of those “Eat Here, Get Gas” kind of things we used to see on family trips to Nebraska.

That just brought a childhood remembrance of a little town in Nevada – Black Mountain – (Correction: My father, a daily reader of this blog pointed out that it was Battle Mountain, Nevada, not Black Mountain that caused the laughter - there is a picture at the link that shows the "BM") that had a monument to the town painted at the top of a nearby mountain. “BM” in big white letters brought endless laughter to me and my brother when we first saw it. Hey, we were only in our pre-teens and at that age anything with “BM” on it was pretty funny.

Anyway, the Open Hearth was a good restaurant and we left very satisfied and headed back to our camp. Forgot to take a picture of the restaurant though.

A lazy, hazy, crazy day of summer

Actually, not so crazy. Today we never left the park. We took a long walk, did some laundry, spent long hours reading and enjoyed a wonderful Amish chicken dinner that Joan cooked. (Photo shows Joan enjoying her newspaper after dinner).

A day that started with thunder, lightning and pouring rain ended in full sun and cooler temperatures. Tomorrow looks good as well.

Back in 2002, I read the Patrick O'Brian book, "Master and Commander." In 2003 a bunch of guys from the Journal went to see the Russell Crowe movie by the same name. I loved the book and movie and decided that I wanted to read the entire book series (21 books in all).

For the past few years, Joan has bought me one or two of the books each birthday, Christmas, Father's Day, etc. until I know own all but two of the books and those will be mine soon.

As a boy, I loved reading books in series. I read many of the Hardy Boys books and most, if not all, the Tom Swift books. But because I was still working in 2003, I decided that the reading project would be delayed until I retired.

Well, I'm retired. On this trip, so far, I have finished Book 2, "Post Captain," and am well into Book 3, "H.M.S. Surprise." The books are full of sailing jargon and old school sea battles. The writing is tremendous, even if Patrick O'Brian was known as a pretty disagreeable person. Actually, a lot of good writers share that trait.

What a wonderful pleasure is a few alone hours with a good book. Only 18 more to go.

The picture at right is one of our neighbors who is flying the American Flag and the MSU flag above his rig. There's a guy with his priorities straight.

A day that proved we are 100 percent retired

When Joan and I dreamed of retirement, days like today were pretty much what we envisioned. Other than a brief stop at an RV repair place to make a permanent fix to our hitch (nothing serious just a continuing nagging problem) we pretty much chilled today.

I slept in until 7:30 a.m. (hey, that’s sleeping in to me) and Joan first saw daylight about 9:15 a.m. We took a 50-minute walk around the park, zig-zagging our way through the lanes of campers. Some of the rigs here are very luxurious and our trailer falls somewhere in the middle of the rigs here.

After getting cleaned up we headed for Pentwater, Michigan a little summer resort village that you will find in a number of places around Lake Michigan. After a brief stop at the RV repair shop we stopped at a small winery we found on the Internet last night.

The small family winery, first planted in 1996, is called Jomagrha a compilation of four family members’ first names – John, Mary, Graham and Harry. We met John and Harry and as most people know I don’t drink so Joan did all the sampling and we walked out with four bottles of their best wine. Old Lady White, Cayras, Vignoles and Night Sky Red.

After the wine purchase we headed into downtown Pentwater. The historical museum is only open three days a week, and Friday wasn’t one of the days so we walked downtown sampling the souvenir shops and galleries there.

While Joan was in one of the galleries and I was waiting ever so patiently in front of the store a man pulled up, obviously a local, and asked if I had any questions about Pentwater. “None that I can think of right now,” I told him. But he persisted. “Do you know where the bathrooms are?” And being the smart alec that I am responded “Oh, I see you know my wife.”

Today was the first day I wore my Father’s Day present made by my stepson John. “100 percent Retired.” Between my t-shirt and Joan’s bonnet we got lots of looks today. You can see the puzzled looks on folks looking at Joan's hat as they ponder whether she is Amish, but know that she couldn't be that and wearing shorts.

We headed back to Mears and our camp and Joan thawed the spaghetti she made before we left Lapeer and we had a wonderful dinner on our patio, under our awning and Joan poured herself a tall glass of Nigh Sky Red.

Last night’s rain, faded into overcast skies until the sun came out for good today about 3:30 p.m. It was a glorious day.

At one point today, Joan asked me if I felt retired. “Oh yeah,” I said.

And, yes, I sorely need a haircut and a beard trim. Next Thursday at the earliest.

Into each life - and trip - a little rain must fall

It was a good day for ducks today. Fortunately, we took our walk early today because by noon the rain started falling and has continued to fall all day. In fact, it is still raining hard here along Lake Michigan.

Realizing it would not be a good day for a dune buggy ride, or a walk on the beach or anything else outdoors we took a drive to see where things are. Silver Lake State Park is within walking distance and the Little Sable Point Lighthouse is just a few miles drive from here.

We stopped at Mac Wood’s Dune Rides and found out the hours and cost. Definitely there is a dune ride in my near future.

After that we drove into Hart, Michigan a small town we discovered yesterday when I was looking for a hardware store to find a replacement machine bolt for our front door locking mechanism. As we were driving down the main drag Joan noticed a sign “Historic District” and suggested we check that out.

There was a small shack with an “Open” sign and another sign that said guided tours were available. We kind of chuckled but decided to park and see what it was all about. When we get off the beaten path we are rarely disappointed. We stopped at an historical museum in Kentucky last year and ended up spending an enjoyable two hours there.

Today was no exception. What looked like run down old buildings contain some incredible and nostalgic historical items. One display included thousands of Native American arrow heads and other first people artifacts. All were donated to the historical society by one man.

Old tools, old cars, a World War II exhibit that included dozens of photos of the B-24 Liberator and a display from a local who flew on them. Also on display was his Air Medal , and I believe, a Distinguished Flying Cross, or something like that. Clearly a local hero.

A completely furnished living room from the 1930s-40s was also wonderful. Two rooms full of furry animals from the air all fine taxidermy exhibits. Two log cabins from different periods were fully furnished with period appropriate items.

Our guide, a member of the Hart Heritage Preservation Group, led us through building after building, an old mill, a church built in 1889, a fish cannery that now houses a number of great antique collections and a one-room schoolhouse.

An antique pipe organ and an antique dairy were also part. But perhaps the most interesting display was an animated display of various dolls that someone collected and put into a large room. Our guide flipped a switch and the dolls came to life playing instruments and a variety of other activities.

We were stunned by the extensive collections hidden away in these old buildings. Some of our best travel memories have occurred when we left the beaten path and taken a chance. The tour took more than an hour and we left a nice donation behind for the work of the local historical group.

The guide told us that tomorrow night there is a free outdoor concert at the cannery starting at 7 p.m. and weather willing, we may check it out.

A grandmother who joined our historical tour with two of her grandchildren said she had been coming to the family cabin in the area for 35 years and never knew this display was here.

On the way home stopped at a roadside vegetable stand and picked up some blueberries and some ears of corn for dinner. With the rain pouring down we left the grill in the crawl space and used the stove to cook up some Amish brats that we purchased in Shipshewana a couple days ago.

The weather doesn’t look like it is going to repair any time soon so we are locked up tight for the night.

Enjoy the photos from our tour today. I’ve also included a picture taken from our front porch of the rain.

A back road adventure from Indiana to Mears, Michigan

Getaway day from Amish Country in Indiana and we headed “up north” in Michigan for the second half of our trip. One of our friends recommended the Silver Creek Luxury RV Resort and Campground and we booked a week here.

We bid farewell to Diane and Den, our wonderful companions in Bristol, Indiana, who are more friends than relatives, although they qualify as both. We miss them already.

The trip north was a snap and for the first time we spent a great deal of our travel off the Interstates today. We left Bristol, Indiana via Indiana 13 north, which promptly turned into 131 in Michigan. We followed that road all the way to Grand Rapids and then followed I-96 (our first and only section of Interstate today) to 31 and into Mears, Michigan.

Neither Joan, nor I, had ever been here before but like many places in northern Michigan is rich in scenery. We spent about an hour (typical) setting up our trailer after I backed it into our spot. We find that taking our time is the best way to ensure we don’t forget a step along the way. I have the outside chores and Joan takes care of the inside stuff.

The campground is new, spotless and very open. We have decided that this is the best campground we have been in so far. Eby’s Pines in Indiana and the Florida stops not too far behind. We are just a mile or two from Lake Michigan and even closer to Silver Lake.
Everyone here seems to either have a jeep or a dune buggy as the dunes are also just a spitting distance away.

I snapped a few photos of the campground and our site and we headed off to the store to lay in supplies. We weren’t expecting cable television, but they have it here. So far we have spent our time outside on the patio reading and having dinner.

We have already decided we are coming back up here in the not too distant future. The sun is currently on its way down over Lake Michigan and we are planning on a little walk before turning in for the night.

We plan on long periods of chillin’ and readin’ and just relaxin’ while we are here. But there may be (if I have my way) a brief exciting interlude on one of the commercial dune buggy rides here. And as you can see, the wifi works just swell.

About the photos: A picture of the sign (gotta have that); a photo from both the west and east of our campsite; and a photo of Joan after our local pizza dinner (we decided we were both too tired to cook - and that explains the look on Joan's face, she said to tell everyone she is very happy despite her scowl).

Time Out: 10:14 a.m.
Mileage Out: 39979
Time In: 1:39 p.m.
Mileage In: 40150

More train photos

Sisters and locomotive (see post below for info)

Sisters and caboose

Elkhart train station

Love birds

The ol' 3001 locomotive.

Trains, manes and automobiles

Last full day in Indiana and we made it a full one. Up with the chickens (actually they were noisy geese) so we could get to the Shipshewana Auction and Flea Market right when it opened today at 8 a.m.

Spent three hours at this outdoor dollar store trying to resist buying all manner of junk and stuff. We failed. We left with the predictable t-shirts, cheap dresses, knee supports, a butcher knife, a jumper, towels and wash cloths, a couple more outfits for the trailer, a book, Christian cards and a cantaloupe.

Once again we were amazed at the number of Amish and their horse drawn carriages who came to the flea market to buy all manner of junk. Very nice people though.

Under the category of TMI (too much information) was this conversation that Denny and I had with two women (complete strangers) that occurred while we were waiting for our wives to purchase more valuable junk:

First woman to Denny: "I'm having really bad gas today. It's because I have an ulcer between my esophagus and stomach."

Denny: "OK"

Woman: "The gas just happens, I don't know when it will hit."

It was a very uneasy few moments.

Then it was off to the Harley-Davidson store in Elkhart, Indiana so Denny could buy a patch from there. Fail. They don't have Hoosier Harley-Davidson patches, so we left empty-handed.

We stopped briefly at the New York Central Railroad Museum in downtown Elkhart for directions to lunch with plans to return.

At the suggestion of the museum coordinator we headed to Mad Anthony's restaurant downtown which is in an old theater. We decided to make lunch, dinner.

After lunch it was back to the train museum for an enjoyable hour and a half visiting the vintage engines and rail cars at the site, which is across from the current train depot in Elkhart.

Joan spent some time talking to the nice coordinator who is interested in having our son John design some t-shirts and a wall mural for him. Mom the agent.

I'm going to post a few pictures here and also in a subsequent post with just pictures of today.

Also, tomorrow is getaway day. Den and Diane are headed home to Maryland and we're headed to our next great adventure in Mears, Michigan.

We hope to be settled in our new campground tomorrow afternoon and Internet connection-willing you will have a new report of our travel then. Otherwise, we won't talk until next week when he get home from our trip.

Just a note about some of the photos, the picture of Den and I was taken in the railroad museum. Behind us in a display case is an 8-foot long train engine made of 421,000 tooth picks. It took seven years to make.

The picture above that one is Diane and Joan sitting in the cab of a big diesel locomotive. Most of the rest of photos are bonnet pictures designed to send Elin and Jessica into mild hysterics.

We've had a good time together and after two previous cruises and now a week in a small trailer I guess we can say we are good friends, as well as relatives.