July 13, 2023: I just spent a few days with my kids in St. Paul, Minnesota and that’s always good. They just moved there from San Antonio, TX but they have been Great Lakes kids from the start. Getting back to real winters and (what is the opposite of ‘Toxic’?) nontoxic culture just makes the world feel a little better. The governor down there is competing with the governor of Florida to see who can get their head the farthest up their arse. Texas must have been a great place before the Spanish discovered it. But there are lots of places people have spoiled, too many to get hung up on just one.
I am in a coffee shop in Manitowoc, WI waiting for afternoon to drive onboard the ferry and cross the Lake to Ludington, MI. I have a folding cot and sleeping bag in the back of the truck, slept very well last night considering; the coffee and sausage/egg croissant this morning seem so much better knowing I didn’t throw a bunch of money at a motel just to be unconscious under their roof. I learned to sleep anywhere when I was in the army. I don’t tell that story when people thank me for my service, just nod and change the subject. I slept in the truck parking lot at Francis Creek Travel Plaza, just north of Manitowoc. At 5:30 this a.m. the hot shower was great. Talk about efficiency; try a full size towel and wash cloth rolled up in a paper floor mat with a rubber band around it and the key to shower #3. Falling asleep a little on the grungy side is tolerable when you know the hot shower wake-up is on the other end; and the $8 charge is just right.
I don’t know why I have this ‘Motel’ thing but it goes way back. I was in graduate school on spring break in 1970, my brother in law and I team-drove (sleep while the other is driving) my VW Beetle from Illinois to Colorado for a job interview. But we both needed sleep at the same time in Durango, Colorado and at midnight talked a motel owner into letting us sleep on the sofa in the lobby until they opened at 6:00, for $5. I thought it was a win-win and he didn’t complain. I got the job offer but turned it down.
July 15, 2023; Saturday morning in Glen Arbor, Michigan. It is 6:15 a.m. daylight but the sky is overcast and the sun is still off in the east somewhere thinking about it. Nothing open this early. Tourism is the only business here in mid July so the streets are bare and I’m alone at a temporary shelter next to the book store, across the street from Cherry Republic, a foodie place where everything has cherries in it: wine, cookies, chocolate, salsa, mustard, etc. I really like Cherry Republic but they won’t open for several hours. Most of the village is still asleep, it’s Saturday in the summer after all and who gets up with the sun besides me?
Night before last I stayed in the parking lot at Little River Casino in Manistee. It rained so hard it woke me up several times but I was so comfortable I fell right back asleep. Morning came like today, still dark when my alarm went off but with a high cloud cover, puddles everywhere but promise of a beautiful morning. Inside the casino the security officer looked up, a couple of derelict guests were slowly feeding the quarter slots but I think my visit to the men’s wash room was the only productive action in the place. I’m even farther up the coast today in Glen Arbor. With no travel plazas or casinos I stayed in a campground. They (locals) up here are paranoid about not letting hobos like me camp on their streets or parking lots when we don’t pay taxes or fill their motels. I do spend money but that seems not to count. But I slept really well again last night, 3rd night in a row.
I plan to take photos along a remote Lake Michigan beach and a meadow up in the National Lake Shore. There is a bed waiting for me in Grand Rapids tomorrow night but I’ll stay again with the revelers at Little River Casino tonight. They have a hotel in the casino but lots of their clients bring their campers and sleep over like me, in the parking lot. I will say the food is both affordable and very good there. I was and then I wasn’t surprised to see kids in the casino, like 10 or 12, some with little siblings, playing the arcade games. Their parents turn them loose with a roll of quarters and a debit card (with a limit I would guess) in lieu of paying a babysitter. They seemed perfectly content to eat ice cream and talk to friends (I suppose) on their cell phones.
I think I’ll try the coffee shop down the block. It feels like mid morning to me and I can hear cars on the main drag; not a stream of traffic for sure but the bagels are good and a dark roast sounds even better.
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