From the Passenger's Seat: The Long and Winding Road (that leads me to your door)

Departed: St. Ignace, Michigan 8:00 promptly

Arrived: Empire, Michigan 2:45 p.m.

162 very crooked miles

Indigo Bluff Campground

Hey Friends,

We took off right on time this morning, a first, I might add. I won’t say why we sometimes don’t meet our Estimated Time of Departure, but a certain someone has to use two different kinds of curling irons on her hair every morning!

And for the first time in a week the compass is pointed south! We are headed for a scenic drive around the western coast of Michigan. I had read about a scenic drive on U.S. Highway 31 called “Tunnel of Trees”, which was named one of Reader’s Digest top 100 scenic roads of America. So we exit off I-75 and head for the tunnel of trees. We are following the Garmin, turn left onto the right road, and Bill comments, “this looks like a one lane road”…… we see upcoming signs that say narrow and winding road for the next 20 miles. I am excited this is it, the Tunnel of Trees.

The Tunnel of Trees Road... Long and Winding it was!

Kudos to the drivers as they didn’t moan as we avoided bicyclists, ran other cars off the road and held on tight maneuvering on this very scenic road. There were neat places along the way like Devil’s Elbow, where thankfully, we did not meet another car coming. One of us would have gone off the side of the bluff. Our altitude rose during the day to as far as 1000 feet above sea level. Every now and then there would be a clearing through the trees where we could see the beautiful green water of Lake Michigan.

This scenic route had many gorgeous mansions along the way looking out over the water, but many were for sale. I’d say just as many for sale as not. We finally made it to the first town, Harbor Springs, where we had planned to eat breakfast, just didn’t know it would take us two hours to go that short distance. So we are quite hungry when we arrive to Harbor Springs. Anyway, it is a neat small town with a gorgeous harbor with million dollar yachts docked all around.

We walked around a bit and ate a late breakfast there. Actually, I have to tell you more about where we did NOT eat. We got a recommendation from a lady biking around the harbor to go to a little place that served fabulous breakfasts, Cupula, up on the hill in the neat gray clapboard house. We go in and I notice right away it is a very French Provencal looking place, with blue and yellow paisley tablecloths, white eyelet curtains, blue and white teapots, an old iron oven serving as the waiter’s setup place, iron pot racks serving as light fixtures, etc. Of course, my first thought is oh gosh, will they have anything Bill will eat, being French I figure there will be lots of cheese and cream sauce, which you know he does not eat. He asks the little lady that seems to be in charge, who is dressed in a very stylish dress with fancy apron, do ya’ll serve regular stuff like bacon and eggs…yes we’re very flexible she says. So we sit down at the properly set table and wait, and wait, and wait…. We notice not one table is eating, they are all waiting. We still don’t have coffee, still waiting, we see the proper little lady come out with 4 plates of waffles piled high with strawberries, peaches, whip cream, etc. We drool. - This one little lady gets that table served and goes to the next table, takes their order and continues on, we still have no coffee. We make a group decision that this is not for us and politely tell the little lady she has a lovely restaurant, but we must keep moving! All that to say, we went down the street to another small restaurant, Cornichon (French, meaning little pickle)and had a great breakfast in a timely manner!

So on we go, moving south as we continue on Highway 31 seeing one stunning vista after another. Went through lovely towns all having lovely harbors and as I keep saying such an abundance of flowers!!! After Harbor Springs was Charlevoix, which we originally wanted to stop in, but was very congested due to a Venice Festival?? Next stop Traverse City, which was another resort town, and the World Capital of Cherry Growing. I would not disagree, one U-pick em cherry farm after another. I don’t know that I had ever even seen a cherry tree. They look a lot like peach trees. I know by now I’m hoping there’s cherry cobbler in my immediate future. We stop for a stretch break and discuss what campground in this area we want to go to. We pick one, plug in the Garmin and are headed to Indigo Bluff Campground in Empire, Michigan. We ride through more farming areas of cherries, hay, and corn, about 17 miles toward the coast, passing several golf courses along the way.

Cherry Trees

Finally made our way to the campground, to find that they have two sections, one is a “resort” campground for Class A only (ours is not, Gene’s is) and the other section is for the rest of us. So for the first time we are not side by side. We find our site and since it is fairly early decide we would play nine holes of golf. We get our golf gear and head to The Dunes course right down the road. Had a good time, although our scores did not reflect it, (I did have a bogie or two which is good for me) enjoyed the change of routine of riding and sightseeing.

Since we had a late breakfast and no lunch, we decide to eat an early supper. The campground had recommended a restaurant not far from the campground. As we pulled out of the golf club, Gene said go past the campground, turn right and then turn left. Gene takes off. We pull out shortly there after and can’t catch up with Gene. Bill says I think I missed the turn, I don’t see Gene. ( I the trusty navigator have been in the back taking off golf shoes, feeding Halle, etc.)We turn around, go back to where we think we are supposed to turn. Keep going, I am trying to call Gene on the walkie talkie, too far away, then call on the cell phone, no answer. So we are thinking what should we do, go back to the campground? We don’t even know the name of the restaurant, Gene had talked to the lady and we had not. We called the campground, got the name of the restaurant, plugged it into the Garmin and continued. We keep going, and soon see Gene coming toward us, the walkie starts blaring, with Mary saying turn around that’s not the right way. We say, yes it is, we plugged in to the Garmin. So we keep going, the Bells go turn around and we find the restaurant!! Our first major screw up where I got a little nervous, would we ever see our camping buddies again?