We entered Michigan via Highway 2 from Wisconsin on Wednesday, August 16. It was a gloriously beautiful day with bright sunshine, clear blue skies, and temperatures in the mid-80's.
Just inside the border, we took scenic Michigan 28 through Ishpeming and Marquette. We spent the night at the City of Munising Tourist Park and Campground. It was not a “destination”, according to our standards, but they were so full that we had to camp in an overflow area.
We grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed into town for a sunset cruise along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore on Lake Superior. We boarded our vessel, called the Grand Portal, and spent the next 2½ hours ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the beauty of the 15-mile stretch of multicolored sandstone cliffs. During the cruise, we passed such landmarks as Grand Island, Miners Castle, Chapel Rock and Cave, and Rainbow Cave. It was absolutely beautiful.
We learned a number of interesting facts about Lake Superior: It is the cleanest, clearest, coldest and biggest of the Great Lakes. In fact, it is so cold that, at depths of 100 feet or more, the water temperature never fluctuates more than four degrees, between 38 - 42 degrees Fahrenheit. The water is so cold that dead bodies don’t emit gasses and, therefore, don’t float. Consequently, it is estimated that over 30,000 bodies rest at the bottom of the lake. The deepest point in Superior is just over 1,300 feet. It covers 32,000 square miles - slightly larger than the state of South Carolina. It features 2,900 miles of shoreline and is 400 miles across from east to west. It’s big. If the water in Lake Superior were spread across the Continental US, it would be 5-feet deep! In fact, you could empty all the other Great Lakes into it and Lake Superior would still not be full - it would take another Lake Erie to fill it up. And it is remarkably clear with views of the bottom evident at depths of 15 feet.
We had breakfast Thursday morning at the Dogpatch Restaurant (they advertised that they served “scrumptious vittles” - how could we resist?). Following breakfast, we stopped by a grocery store, then packed up and turned south on Michigan 94 toward the northern shore of Lake Michigan. Two areas on Lake Superior that we didn’t have time to visit but want to come back to in the future are Isle Royale National Park and the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.
Reaching Manistique, we turned east on US 2 toward Mackinaw City. We spent Thursday night at the Lakeshore Park Campground in St. Ignace. The campground had a laundry so Ann caught up on her washing and ironing. We decided to move a couple of miles down the road to a more scenic setting at the St. Ignace KOA for Friday night. Ann went to Curves but other than that, we had a quiet day. We had visited Mackinac Island several years ago so we decided to skip it on this trip.
Saturday morning was overcast and rainy with a temperature of 73 as we left the campground around noon. We crossed the Mackinac Bridge, a five-mile suspension bridge spanning the Straits of Mackinac where lakes Michigan and Huron meet. Called the “Mighty Mac”, the bridge connects the Upper Peninsula with Lower Michigan and is an engineering marvel. It is scary!!
We were headed to Petoskey to meet friends at their “cottage” on Lake Walloon via the Tunnel of Trees Road, Michigan 119, between Cross Village and Harbor Springs. En route to 119, we took County Road 66 through a rural area that reminded us of Arkansas. Just before we reached Cross Village, we saw 6-8 wild turkeys in a yard! We had driven the beautiful Tunnel of Trees Road several years ago but had forgotten how narrow it is - it is definitely NOT a Bubba-friendly road. But we saw lots of wildlife including two mama deer, each with two babies, and several other groups of wild turkey, including big old gobblers. Our friend Terry McLarty, who loves to hunt turkey, would have a heart attack here! The route was just as beautiful as we remembered. Additionally, the leaves were just beginning to turn.
We stopped in Harbor Springs for lunch at Juilleret’s, as recommended by our friend Janet Hodges. Juilleret’s was founded in 1895 and is the oldest continuously-operated family restaurant in Michigan. Complete with a soda fountain, it was a real treat. Harbor Springs is a treat for the eyes. It is a picturesque village with wonderful shops and restaurants, immaculate homes, and incredibly brilliant flowers everywhere. We are amazed, as we were on our first visit to Michigan, by the flowers. They line the streets. They grace window boxes on stores and homes. They fill the yards. And the colors are so much more brilliant than they are down south - I guess that’s a product of the cooler temperatures.
On Saturday, August 19, we met Janet and Steve Hodges at the cottage they co-own with Janet’s sister, Joan, and her husband, Mike Knox. The Knoxes live in Grand Rapids and we plan to visit them next month. Both Mike and Steve are former radiologists from Jerry’s group. The cottage is located on Walloon Lake, just outside Petoskey and is a piece of heaven. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner Saturday night at Walloon Lake Inn, in operation almost 100 years. Sunday, we lounged down by the lake all day taking in all the sounds and sights of this beautiful place. Sunday night, we grilled out and enjoyed some really good wine with dinner.
Monday, we headed for Traverse City, where Steve and Janet live. After settling into the Traverse City KOA, south of town in Buckley, we went back into town for another wonderful dinner with Janet and Steve. On Tuesday, we went into Traverse City to take care of some business, and for Ann to work out at Curves, then we went back to the motorhome for the evening. We were still in negotiation with the buyer of our house, over some inspection items, so we spent most of the next 3 days on the phone and finding fax machines to complete the deal. It seemed as though it would never be over and we didn’t know whether to stay or go back to Little Rock. Finally, in desperation, we decided to head for Little Rock to clean out the house and put everything in storage, even if the house deal didn’t go. It was time to get on with our lives!
On Friday afternoon, we took a driving tour of the Leelanau Peninsula, stopping in Interlochen at Curves, along the way. We visited several wineries and had a delightful lunch in Glen Arbor.
We called our friends, Howard and Catherine Cockrill, at their cottage in Ludington and made a date for lunch on Saturday. Howie retired from Radiology Associates and is one of Jerry’s favorite people. In fact, it was Howie and Catherine who gave us the key to their cottage, at the end of my chemo and radiation in September 2004, so we could spend some time there recuperating. Fine folks - great friends.
After lunch, we headed south to Muskegon where we would store Bubba for the few weeks it would take us to pack up the house and wait for the closing. We found a secure storage area at the Muskegon KOA, loaded our essentials into the truck, and headed south. We spent Saturday night in Michigan City, Indiana and drove the rest of the way to Little Rock on Sunday.
We spent the next two weeks (August 28 through September 11) sorting, packing and moving items to storage in Morrilton or to the cabin. On Monday, the moving sale company took over and, on Tuesday, we went to the cabin for the rest of the week. It was good to get away from the stress of it all. We were very, very tired.
On Sunday, September 17, we came back to Little Rock to house-sit for our friends, Bert and Robin Parker, and to baby-sit their precious little Sheltie, Sadie. We had touch-up painting to do at our house and other business to conclude before we could leave town. We closed on the house on Tuesday, the 19th - finally - but the buyer would not close until the 21st.
On Wednesday, September 20, we drove to Memphis and spent the night with Mack and Carolyn, my brother and sister-in-law. We met them at The Rendezvous for dinner, in honor of Jerry’s 59th birthday. We left Thursday morning, heading north again, and stopped between Louisville and Indianapolis for the night.
We had made arrangements to see Mike and Joan Knox on Friday night but needed to drop our refrigerated items off at Bubba before our visit with them. Unfortunately, when we reached Bubba, we found that the refrigerator had malfunctioned and all the food in the fridge and in the freezer had spoiled. We were not happy. But we did a quick clean-out and Jerry reset the pilot light (it operates on propane) then we headed for Grand Rapids. Poor Joan had undergone back surgery only a week before, just after having moved into their newly constructed home. Our timing could not have been worse for them. But they were so gracious and we had a delightful dinner together, compliments of Chef Mike. It was so good to see them again, if only for a few hours. Our next visit will, hopefully, be longer.
When we reached the motorhome, we found the refrigerator working as intended. But we also found that we were totally and completely exhausted. We had listed the house on May 15. It had taken four months to get it sold and closed, with lots of roadblocks along the way. We found that the stress and physical strain of the move, along with the road trip back, came crashing down around us. So, we spent the next three days at the Muskegon KOA resting and trying to regain our stamina. It rained all day Saturday and we curled up to watch a day-long marathon of Gunsmoke - it doesn’t get any better than that. We are thankful that it is all behind us. Now, we can get on with our lives.
We left Muskegon on Tuesday, August 26 and headed for Grand Rapids again - this time to see the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum. President Ford was born Leslie Lynch King, Jr. on July 14, 1913 in Omaha, Nebraska. Shortly after his birth, his mother divorced his abusive father and moved to Grand Rapids. Three years later, she married Gerald R. Ford, Sr. who adopted her son and gave him his name.
As we all remember, Ford became president through a chain of unpleasant events. First, Nixon’s Vice-President, Spiro Agnew was ousted when it was discovered that he had taken kick-backs when he was governor of New Jersey. He plea-bargained and was ultimately convicted of income tax invasion. Nixon chose Ford to replace Agnew and Congress approved - Ford was highly respected in Washington, known for his openness and honesty. Little did Ford know that, shortly after he was sworn in as Vice-President, the Watergate scandal would break. When it was determined that he had been a part of the cover-up, Nixon had no choice but to resign. Hence, in 1974, Gerald R. Ford became the 38th president of the United States.
He received much criticism following his pardon of Richard Nixon for his role in the Watergate scandal. But Ford still maintains, to this day, that he pardoned Nixon because he felt it was best for the country. He felt that the public trial of Nixon would drag on for too long and would prevent the country from beginning the healing process that was so badly needed. And many historians agree with his action.
Even though President Ford’s term was only 2½ years, losing to Jimmy Carter in the 1976 election, Ford is credited with beginning the healing process to restore the faith of the American people in our government.
