2017 - Blog #8 - Mackinac Island to Ohio

view of the Mackinac Bridge from the ferry boat

After leaving the Upper Peninsula, we finally, finally headed south toward more family, friends, and our brick & mortar home.  We crossed the Mackinaw Bridge and stayed in the Mackinaw City Campground for our first stop.  While we were here we took our bikes and rode the ferry over to Mackinac Island where we spent the day celebrating Jean’s birthday.   We especially got a kick out of eating at the Yankee Rebel Tavern while we were on the island.  That night the 22^nd Annual Big Truck Show and Parade of Lights was in Mackinaw City and we stood with the masses of people lining the streets and soaked in their excitement as we watched the parade of approx. 170 customized semi and big trucks all lit up with neon lights, honking, and applying their air brakes, drive across the “Mighty Mac” bridge from St. Ignace, through downtown Mackinaw and back across the bridge.

stopping to eat lunch at our namesake tavern!

no motorized vehicles allowed on this island

Jean just couldn't resist checking out a yardsale on this wealthy little island

another arch rock

Traverse City, our next destination stop, was a great, fun-filled visit packed full of trying to see everyone we wanted to see and do everything we wanted to do in just two weeks.  Even though we weren’t able to see everyone and do everything that we wanted to, we were amazed at how much we really did!   Once again, we were able to park our trailer between Eileen’s and Nick’s (Jerome’s sister & brother) houses.   What fun that Jerome’s cousins, Susan Myers and Pat & Bob Mincel, and our niece, Michaela Jankowski came up from downstate for a visit.   We even were able to go out after dinner twice to hear Allan (Jerome’s brother) play with his band.  One of the evenings we were able to ride our bikes downtown and sit under the stars, on the Grand Traverse Bay while we enjoyed listening to the band.

great camping spot

The Boardman River, which actually runs through Traverse City, is just beautiful and is a kayaker’s dream.   It was a no-brainer that we would just have to kayak it while we were here.  As it turned out, Ed & Heather (Jerome’s daughter and her boyfriend), Eileen, and Allan joined us for the fun.   The other no-brainer “to-do” was to drive south of town, past our “old” house on Hammer Road and to the “High Rollaway” which is an overlook out over the Manistee River.   When the fall colors are at their peak, there isn’t a more beautiful place to be.  Unfortunately for us, the record breaking heat wave while we were here in TC slowed the color change process and it was too early to enjoy the full effect that we had hoped to see.

Jean, Heather & Ed, Eileen, Allan, and Jerome

Ed, Heather, Eileen, and Allan

the view from the High Rollaway lookout

Jean was thrilled to be able to meet for lunch with friends that she worked with when she started her nursing career thirty-nine years ago in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit in Munson Medical Center.   It was so much fun that we forgot to take a picture of us all together again.    A big thank you to Lorraine & Richard Homminga, MaryAnn Warner, Kathy Birdsall, and Richard Hall ( Jean’s awesome nursing director who hired her for her first nursing job), and Eileen, for joining us for such a special time.

some of Eileen's flowers

Our time in TC was planned around Jerome’s 50^th High School Reunion in Maple City.   He graduated from a small school near the Sleeping Bear Dunes and the reunion was held in the gym of Jerome’s middle school, which has now been restored into a restaurant and bar.   Four years of classes joined together and planned for the reunion to be held on the weekend of the Glen Lake “Laker’s” (Jerome’s high school) homecoming football game.    We went to the homecoming game but it was so cold that night that we left during the halftime, when the Laker’s were miserably losing.  To our surprise, we found out that after the halftime, the Laker’s came back strong to make a stunning win... too bad we missed it!   Jerome had a great time seeing so many friends that he hadn’t seen in such a very long time and catching up with his “trouble-maker” buddies.   Jean had a blast just watching Jerome and his buddies reminiscing about their wild and crazy times.

the "bad boys".... Jack, Jerome, and Cliff

Jerome's class of '67

It was bittersweet leaving TC.   We were sad to leave but glad to be on our way to our next destinations – the Virginia Creeper Trail bike ride in Damascus, WV and visiting with our son Jess and his girlfriend Liz, and Jean’s sister and brother-in-law, Janet and Tim, and nephew and his wife, Wes and Torrie, in Atlanta….. and home.

on our last day in TC, we hiked out to see the "hippie tree"

We stopped over in Grand Rapids to see the Grand Prize art festival and are really glad we listened to everyone that talked us into taking the time to stop here and see it.    Our friend, Sue Hakeem, rode her bike into town and saw some of the exhibits with us and we even found out the one of the finalists for the grand prize was staying in the campground (Woodchip Campground) that we stayed in, just a couple of sites over from us.    It was especially meaningful when she stopped over at our campsite to take pictures of our kayaks and told Jerome that they were the most beautiful kayaks that she had ever seen.

"Oil and Water" - on the Grand River - inspired by Standing Rock protest

"SOS (Safety Orange Swimmers) - also on the Grand River

"Team Spirit" - acrylic paintings by Anni Coulter (who we met here and again at the campground)

We’re now camping in the Ottawa Metro Park in Lima, Ohio.   It’s raining, and raining, and raining here.   We thought we had left the trains behind, but we were near one in Grand Rapids and there are lots and lots of them here.    What a surprise that Lima has huge oil refineries here and lots of long, slow trains bringing in the crude oil.   The downtown area is struggling hard to revive and survive but the east side, where we are camping, is thriving and growing.   It will be good to be on our way again in the morning.

As we are winding down on our trip, we hope you too are winding down from the summer months and looking forward to fall being here.  

 ‘Until next time,   ‘stay safe,   Jerome and Jean