I’m setting out tonight. Right after work. With a reluctant Ed along.
The man claims his spirit is crushed because The Plan calls for one night (tonight) in a cheap motel. He had hoped for a royal flush of four nights under a tent. But I think he’s apprehensive about the entire itinerary. I’m trampling through sentimental terrain this week-end. Ed would tell you that I’m plenty emotional already. No need to stoke the fire there.
The Plan includes reaching Escanaba, Michigan by midnight (that’s at the western end of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula for those Ocean readers who think the Midwest includes only Kansas, Chicago and Detroit). Eventually, by the end of the week-end, we’ll have circumnavigated the entire Lake Michigan.
I should have Internet access on all days but Sunday. That’s The Plan.
9 hours ago
Do consider stopping to take pictures as you drive through St. Joseph. Very scenic town. The view of Lake Michigan from Lake Bluff Park is delightful! I've been a resident now for 6 months and I can tell you that every sunset is spectacular.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes for safe travels and, as always, I look forward to hearing about your journey, both the ordinary and extraordinary.
ReplyDeleteLove the Plan for my home state. Lake Michigan is beautiful all along its Eastern shore with lots of sand dunes to hike, climb and explore - and two sisters who live just south of Cross Village if you need a roof for another night! And if Ed is agreeable!
ReplyDeleteIn the mid-1970s my wife and I were vacationing in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and after a fun day of hiking and photography, we found ourselves in a B&B watching the 11:00 news on the local TV channel. All we really tuned-in for was the local weather report, but what we got was the most hilarious 30 minutes of live TV we have ever seen. The news theme music played, the station logo dissolved to an anchor desk -- an empty anchor desk with two empty chairs -- which remained empty for a painfully long 20 or 30 seconds, when suddenly the anchorman swiftly slides into his chair, overshoots the chair and disappears below the desk as his script flies into the air in an explosion of pages. Cut to commercial. Cut back to our handsome young hero seated behind the desk, a little breathless, but trying to deliver the news as if nothing untoward has happened, however, his hair is a mess, his shirt is buttoned off-kilter with the buttons in the wrong holes, his tie is untied -- he finishes reading and we cut to a one-shot of his co-anchor, a flushed, but pretty young woman who is even more disheveled than our hero, her hair is a mess, her lipstick is smeared, her blouse is buttoned wrong, too -- she reads a story and we cut to a commercial. We come back to our hero who now has his shirt buttoned properly, but his tie is still untied reading another news item -- cut to her reading a story, her lipstick has been repaired and makeup looks better, but her hair is still a mess, cut to our hero looking better as he presents the weather. This ping pong match goes on -- with each commercial and cut these two look more and more presentable right to the end of the half hour news show. It was such fun wondering what part of their persons would be fixed when they next appeared. The miracle is that they each managed to read the news and weather with a straight face -- which made it all the funnier. Jan and I agreed the most plausible explanation was that those two good looking young people lost track of time while enjoying an impromptu roll in the hay, were found by the floor manager just in time to hustle them out to the live set. Being in the advertising business, I contacted a friend in the business who got the real story from the station manager who admitted it had happened just as we had imagined. The two anchors eventually married, and to this day the thought of Escanaba makes me smile. Enjoy your sentimental journey this weekend -- you will be traveling through some beautiful country and hopefully meet some of the nicest people in the world: Yoopers.
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