Lake Huron drive

Monday, October 8th, 2007
Lakeport to Tawas City, Michigan

227.7 miles
Mostly sunny, muggy and hot

Halloween decorations are serious business here! I’m thinking that I’ve never understood the fun of it. I mean, I wore costumes as a kid, I guess, like everyone. (And when I went out partying in my 20s!) And I’ve carved my share of pumpkins. But there are shops here that specialize in Halloween! Houses are covered with decorations, like I’m used to seeing at Christmas! All the little towns decorate the street signs and street lights! It’s everywhere!

Must have something to do with the change of seasons. I’ve been lucky to travel a lot and live a lot of places, but I’ve never really lived where there is a dramatic change of seasons. Maybe if I had, I’d be more into Halloween. Even the RVs that are just out for the weekend are covered with lights and decorations! Fun to look at!

Pretty drive again today! Lots of very lovely homes edging Lake Huron as I headed north. Glimpses of the lake between trees and homes, and several pull-outs on the lake side of the road – what a treat!

In Lexington, saw the “Downtown Donut Shop, with the best beer and pastries!” Neither one sounds appealing put that way, does it?

Then there was “Joey’s Diner – Beckfast, Lunch and Dinner”. And it was a professionally made sign! Hope 'beckfast' is his last name and it's the specialty of the house!??

This lovely area reminded me of something I saw on TV yesterday – about managing space in small apartments in New York City. One of the featured units was a 427 sq.ft. studio, selling for $645,000. (That’s more than $1500 a foot!) And it had only one very small closet, in the bathroom. They were trying to make the space livable. 427 sq.ft. and $645K and it’s not livable? Why would anyone even consider it?

Back to more pleasant thoughts – like the glorious colors here!

A bank clock in Port Hope said 89 degrees at 11:10 – gonna be nasty today! But Port Hope is a really pretty little town – it shows its pride – clean, manicured, well maintained, flowers, flags.

The winds were picking up, and clouds starting to appear – there is rain threatened for tonight. Hmmm, crime scene tape all around a house in Port Austin. I guess you can’t get away from crime, even in pretty towns far from the hub-bub of big cities!

The farms are bigger here, and crops are still green! Actually, maybe it's winter wheat that is just coming up? No color in the trees on the west side of the peninsula. And there’s a different feel along this stretch – smaller homes and cottages, more bars, more down to earth. And signs advertising “need financing, stinky credit – go to PoopyCredit.com!”

There a quite a number of gorgeous BIG old homes on the main drag thru Bay City – as classy looking as some of those in old Cape Cod. How sad that they must deal with heavy traffic! How times change!

By 2 p.m. the clouds were really rolling in – and a clock at a local gravel pit said 91 degrees and climbing!

Good thing it was such a pretty ride!

East Branch River RV Park
4793 M-55
Tawas City, MI 48763
989-362-8000
www.eastbranchriverrvpark.com