This part of our trip has been filled again with renewing
friendships with dear friends and family.
Here as well as in Atlanta, we have found that the years simply melt
away when we spend time with the people who hold such special places in our
hearts.
In Muncie, Indiana, we were lucky enough to be able to have
dinner with Sally Wright (Jean’s roommate before Jerome!). She brought a delicious dinner out to our
campsite at a Northern version of a redneck trailer/RV park. (It was the only RV park we could find close
to their house!) Unfortunately, her
husband, Jaimie, had to take their 14 year old dog to an emergency vet, so we
missed being able to visit with him too.
(Don’t worry all you dog lovers, the diagnosis was a bad case of
vertigo.)
The next day we traveled to a nice campground on the banks
of the Grand River in Coopersville, Michigan.
We drove into Spring Lake that evening and met up with Judy and Mark
Herman, who we hadn’t seen in 29 years.
Their son, Jim, joined us and they treated us to burritos at one of their
favorite places for dinner. If anyone
lives near or will be visiting Grand Haven, Michigan… the “Righteous Couisine”
has the best burritos ever!
We continued north from there to the Platte River Campground
in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, in Honor, Michigan. We stayed here for four nights and again
camped without electricity, water, or sewer hookups. We’re actually getting pretty good at it if
we do say so ourselves! While there
Jerome fixed our broken awning and made other much needed minor repairs. Between all the daily rains (yes, rain
again!), we were able to take a 1 ½ hour kayak trip down the Platte River with
Eileen and Heather (Jerome’s sister and daughter), and ride the Betsy River Bike Trail with Eileen. The “8-mile”
ride that I thought we were taking ended up being an 18 mile ride…. thank
heavens it was flat and a really beautiful trail. It was a good, healthy ride except for the
handmade chocolates shop in Frankfort.
It is really beautiful up here but Jeannie still thinks it’s
“too cold” (46 – 53 degrees at night and 70’s during the days) and doesn’t want
to “miss out on summer”, so we thought we would head further south and hope for
warmer weather (hold that thought… it was a nice thought at the time).
From Platte River we went a little farther north to the
Maple Lane Resort, on Little Glen Lake beside the Sleeping Bear Dunes, for the
Jankowski Family Reunion. Seventy-six
family members attended from all over the US, some from as far away as Seattle,
Washington. We had such a wonderful
time, especially watching the “young-ones” enjoying the reunion. We now realize that WE are the “older” aunts
and uncles since all of the patriarchs and matriarchs are now gone on to their
glory.
After the reunion weekend, we moved our trailer to a “cheap”
campsite in the best spot in Traverse City, Michigan… we “traded” one of Jeannie’s paintings for a
camping spot between Eileen’s and Nick’s (Jerome’s sister's and brother's) houses. We spent a whirlwind week in TC trying to
pack 36 hours a day of visiting, biking, and kayaking into 24 hour days. We were able to meet up with Dick &
Gaila Mallery, Richard & Lorraine
Homminga, Ewald & Nadine Schimik, Eric & Nancy McArthur, and Joe &
Judy Nachazel. We enjoyed hearing Allan
(Jerome’s younger brother) and his band twice at the Holiday Inn on the Grand
Traverse Bay… Micaela (our niece) even sang with them one night! We also enjoyed the free concert outside at
the TC Commons, featuring the Gordon Lightfoot Tribute Band, taking a 2 hour bike
ride along the Boardman Lake trail, and a 2 hour kayaking trip down the
Boardman River.
While in Traverse City we also grabbed the opportunity to
tour Allan and Kurt’s (our nephew) Old Mission Boat shop and watched as their
CNC (computer controlled router) machine smoothly glided over a sheet of luan
plywood, cutting out a stand-up paddleboard kit…. amazing technology.
We’ve been on the road just 3 days shy of a month now and
today we started the next leg of our adventures and misadventures. We’re
heading west with no predetermined stops or visits for the next 5 weeks… until
we reach the Pacific Northwest. If you
now can remember the earlier comment “hold that thought”… we had a few warm days in the low 80’s in TC and
decided we would go ahead traveling north into the Upper Peninsula before
heading west. We are now in Gladstone,
Michigan and we are BOTH freezing….it’s only 57 degrees and suppose to get down
to 45 degrees tonight.
Until you hear from us again…. Enjoy the sun and warmth and
may it bring a smile to your face!
Jerome and Jean
