Ooop north...

Had a delightfully lazy weekend with my peeps.

Saturday we took a drive up to lake country and Sunday we laid around and watched the Cubs game on TV.

I decided it was time to get moving so I flipped a coin to see which way to go. Heads, I go to Michigan and see the Great Lakes; tails, I go south to get my bike. It came up heads so on Monday we said our farewells and I headed north into Michigan.

The Indiana countryside was really beautiful along the back roads I followed. I saw lots of old leaning barns but didn't notice if they leaned left or right. I'll have to pay attention to that in the future to see if there's a correlation with local political leanings.

I was planning to go into Elkhart to see the RV Museum, but the closer I got, the more the roads deteriorated and traffic grew intense. Rural scenery gave way to depressing industrial sprawl with many empty buildings that looked burned out. I see now why that area is called the rust belt.

I also see what a blessed life I lived on the west coast during my working career. I know there are a myriad of reasons for our present economic situation but it's always the working stiff that gets it in the neck.

I count myself lucky that I actually retired and am getting a pension, small as it is.

I decided to get out of that mess and turned north into Michigan.

On my map, it looked like a road ran alongside Lake Michigan. I imagined a pleasant drive along the coast, similar to Highway 1 along the California coast, but that was not to be. I couldn't see the water at all, just a 4 lane highway. As I went north, the scenery returned to farmland and beautiful woods.

I pulled into a KOA campground in Muskegon and found the owner is an Oregonian from Hillsboro, which is near Portland. I got the special home-town-boy's deal and parked facing a small lake. What a great view to wake up to.

An interesting factoid I learned: after the great fire in Chicago in 1871, the entire area around Muskegon was clear-cut logged to rebuild the city. That must have been a real sight...both the burnt city and the land around it.

I have to recommend the Muskegon KOA as best of the trip so far. Excellent campground, super clean bathrooms and a 1.2 mile trail through the woods around the lake.

I headed north and finally got to see Lake Michigan. At a rest stop was an observation tower. Over the tops of the trees, I could see the blue water. At a few places, the road started getting closer to the lake and I got a better look.

I think someone needs to build more places for tourists to pull over and gawk. As it was, whenever I came to a view I was in the middle of a traffic jam. I guess I could have pulled off onto a side street and attempted to get across the highway, but after almost causing a major pileup behind me by stopping to let a pedestrian cross the street, I realized that is not done around here. It's every man/woman for himself.

I went through a few resort towns and it looked like they were pretty vibrant and full of stuff to do. The motels advertised room rates around $30-$35 a night and I was tempted, but resort towns aren't my cup of tea these days. 20 years ago it would have been a no-brainer.

I continued north with the Michigan Upper Peninsula as my goal.

A couple of things I noticed all the way up: road kill and vehicles for sale. As the Spaniards used to say when I was stationed over there in the 60s, the roads are paved with leather.

All along the way I saw cars, tractors, motorcycles, house trailers and motor homes parked on lawns with for sale signs. I also noticed the used car lots had new scooters out in front of the cars. I'm not sure if they give them away with a new car or what. Gas is up to $4.00 a gallon here.

Eventually, I got to the Mackinac Bridge which goes over the straits of the same name. I got to see Lake Michigan on my left and Lake Huron on my right. What a sight. It looked just like the ocean.

However the temperature dropped and it started raining as I pulled off onto a smaller highway which led through the Hiawatha National Forest. Now, this is my kind of tourism! Forests all around, no traffic and tiny villages along the way. Though since it's early in the season not much is open.

The rain turned to snow in some places and I began to rethink my camping strategy. When I got to Newberry, I went to the gas station, filled the van and damn near froze my fingers and ears off. The KOA was right across the street and next to it a motel with HBO, high-speed wireless and free breakfast.

I caved and pulled out my credit card.

...more follows...