I am tired, and wanting to eat the ass out of a dead skunk, but I made it to the base of the Mackinaw bridge which is Mackinaw City. I sit with the laptop on my lap hoping to make some sense out of all the ideas that rolled through my mind while driving. Should I speak to all the TRUMP/Vance signs I saw? Yes, why not? These weren’t little yards signs like I stick into my lawn, they were semi-trailer sized signs. This surprises me because Michigan is a blue state. As I drove further north there began to be some equally large Harris-Walz signs. That’s more like the Michigan I know. The whole time my mind kept telling me that the country is going to go crazy like they did with Obama. They will vote for Kamala without knowing what she stands for, and later regret it after she has snuck a bunch of laws and policies into place that will kill the United States that we know.
I’d rather change the subject and talk about how much this part of the country has changed since I was last here.
Number one, I met an immigrant working at our hotel who was a nice black man. The thing I found strange is that over the years I have traveled and stayed in hotels, I have never once seen a male housekeeper. They have always been women.
Number two, the tiny coastal towns that create the uniqueness of the upper lower peninsula have grown substantially. A sign would appear along the roadside announcing the city limits of the town. Yet, I drove another ten minutes before reaching the part that I remember.
Number three, I used a credit card on a parking meter in one of these quaint littles towns which has grown into a city. Except for the fact that the meter screen was not very visible in daylight, it was sexy. We crossed the street and I looked back at my car to see the meter blinking a green light while the meter in the unoccupied spot in front of mine was blinking red. No doubt these lights were meant as an alert to the police who patrolled the streets looking for expired meters to write a ticket.
Number four, US 31 is still a two lane highway. I was literally scared to death to be driving against traffic at the posted speeds. This same road has miles of two lane, two lanes with an occasional extra passing lane, four lanes, and four lanes with limited access. The scariest part is driving on two lanes head on toward a semi hugging the line. It must be my age because it never bothered me before.
Number five, Mackinaw city is not much larger than it was forty years ago. It plays a single function, that is to give temporary shelter to tourists like me who come to visit Mackinaw Island. The total permanent population is around seven hundred, but between July and August the number is in the thousands. The young man who checked me in lives in Florida when he is not checking people in at the desk of the American Boutique Inn in Mackinaw City.
Number six, the Mackinaw Bridge still impresses me after all these years. I was about eight or ten years old when it was built, and it has saved a ton of money for travelers crossing from lower Michigan to Upper Michigan. I once rode over it on my bicycle while on the Shoreline Bike Tour. We actually had a safety meeting before crossing. The expansion joints between sections of the bridge can swallow a bike tire and cause the rider to take a header into the steel grate driving surface. The ride organizers actually placed sheets of plywood over the joints to make them safer. The ride across still gives me the heebie jeebies when I think about being four hundred feet above the water at its peak.
Number seven, it is a few days into Fall, and the trees are just beginning to turn color. We have had cloudy days with occasional showers. The temperature is dropping into the fifties at night, which by itself is not too cold. When you add a brisk wind coming from the lake the wind chill makes it miserable.
Number eight, the season for tourists is two weeks from being over. Businesses will board up and close. Many will return to their winter businesses in Florida. Others will return home where ever that may be.
Number nine, Mackinaw Island does not allow automobiles or trucks. All travel on the island is on foot, bicycle, or a horse drawn carriage. The horses are ferried onto the island in Spring and ferried to their home farms in the Upper Peninsula in the Fall. The largest hotel is the Grand Hotel, an all wooden structure well over a hundred years old. The Grand employs contract workers from Haiti, or the Dominican Republic. Within the next two weeks they will all be headed home until the next season.
Number ten, the last stop on this venture will be Pictured Rocks National Seashore. If it rains, the stop is canceled until a sunny day. In order to see the full beauty of the colors in the rocks requires bright sunlight.
One reason for taking this driving trip is to test my endurance for even longer trips. At this point, I am inclined to bite the bullet and take a plane on longer trips.
Filed under: Aging, Biography, family | Tagged: Fall driving trip, Macinak Island, Michigan | Leave a comment »
