We began the day at 8:30 AM, 70 degrees and…yep…overcast skies that stayed with us most of the day, with a little rain tossed in for fun. This was another travel day. As the trip is winding down, and we have one eye on the finish line, it is getting more difficult to write anything interesting for this blog. But I am hanging in for anyone out there who is hanging in with me. Thanks for your support.

Although the GPS wanted to turn us toward the east, we pointed the car to the south and continued down the coast of Lake Michigan. We drove through more small towns that seem to have been there forever and some seemed lost in time, but that is what makes them interesting. We made a stop in Charlevoix, a charming little town located where Lake Charlevoix meets Lake Michigan. The main street is lined on one side with boutique stores and businesses which look across the road to the marina, where many boats were docked. It was quiet there at 10 AM…I saw two youngsters carrying bags of ice into the bakery and further down the street a thin young man in a plaid shirt leisurely sweeping the sidewalk in front of his business and I thought, when is the last time I saw that? He really cares about how things look. And it seems the people in Charlevoix do care how things look, as the main street, all the way into town, was lined on both sides with multi-colored pansies, all along the curbing.  

We saw more golf courses today, in Michigan, than we saw in the 9K miles that we have driven so far during this trip. Steve got excited every time he saw one. And we saw cherry orchards and apple orchards and raspberry patches. We saw fruit stands and vegetable stands and corn fields and lots of red barns. And trees…we saw lots and lots of trees. And for a good part of the day it was difficult to keep my head outside of the car.  

When we saw a mall, we always saw stores like Trigger Time Outfitters and Cebelas, and I thought back to my very favorite store in Maine, LL Bean. I miss my mid-week, early morning treks to Freeport just to walk around the store and see what’s new. It is easy to see that the people in the upper peninsula and the more rural parts of Michigan have a lot in common with the people from Maine. And lastly, I saw a sign for Kellogg Airport and I thought…hmmm…Kellogg’s Corn Flakes from Battle Creek, Michigan and when I looked up again, there it was, the sign pointing to the exit for Battle Creek. And that memory comes from commercials I watched when I was a child. Funny what you remember when you get old.

We landed in Ft. Wayne, Indiana around 4 PM and settled in for the night. Tomorrow, Knoxville, TN, the last hotel on this trip. I am looking forward to sleeping in a familiar bed for a change.

By the way, today’s photos were taken by Steve. I was hurting this morning and thought it prudent to stay put in the car while he jumped out to take the pictures. He did a fine job, as you can see.