To Mackinaw City, MI

Tuesday morning came early for some of our traveling group. Mem and Linda left the campground around 8:15 AM to go to Curves for an exercise session. Thirty minutes later, Janice, Larry, Jim and Ralph crowded into the Forrester and headed for Frank’s Place. The plan was to meet at Frank’s Place for breakfast. The plan worked perfectly, and the six of us had an excellent meal to begin our day.

Coach wheels began rolling around 10:00 AM. We had to hookup the towed vehicles and negotiate the campground road out. Ralph misjudged his first turn and the coach was nose-to-nose with a huge rock. The obvious solution was to back the coach away from the rock, but the car in-tow presented another problem: backing was a ‘no-no’ without unhooking. Janice moved into the driver’s seat and, with Jim’s help guiding, she eased the coach past the rock.

The next stop was for fuel. We found a unique Marathon station that was easy-in and easy-out. The unique feature was that an attendant pumped the gas. He also washed windshields and checked motor oil. One needs to be 50 or more years old to remember when that was how all gas stations operated. At $3.08 per gallon, this service is added value that gets this station many local customers, especially in wintertime.

Our trip south to the Mackinac Bridge was fairly calm. We had a long stretch of one lane driving over road construction. It was tense as we had to maintain speed and keep between the orange barrels and the low road shoulder. The good part was that we did not see any of the rain that was forecast. The bridge crossing also went well at 20 MPH. We arrived at the Mackinaw Mill Creek Campground around noon. We were assigned adjacent sites and were soon set up for a two night stay. We have full hookups and WIFI. We do not have cable TV, but the satellite works well. Mem did a great job relocating us from the Tiki site to this campground on short notice.

For those who might be confused: Whether spelled ‘Mackinaw’ or ‘Mackinac’ the words are pronounce the same way as “Mack-in-naw” (we think).

Mem, Linda, and Janice used the afternoon to shop in Mackinaw City and they did quite well. The men took the afternoon to rest and prepare for Happy Hour. Dinner was ‘in’ both at home and inside. Janice prepared scrambled dogs and everyone found a seat in her coach for a delicious meal. After dinner, we completed the Mexican Dominoes game begun days earlier and then we went to Mackinaw City for ice cream. The ladies had scouted out the ice cream parlors earlier in the day. A highlight of the trip was viewing the lighted Mackinac Bridge from a city park on the waterfront. This spectacular view is worth seeing and was a fitting end to our day. Tomorrow we plan to visit the famous Mackinac Island, rain or shine.