Every trip has its misadventures, and I've been pretty lucky so far. The drive through Michigan was my closest to frustrating, and I was glad it was the last long drive for awhile. We got up early to take off, with the usual plan of not eating much for breakfast and having the kids sleep the first two hours. But this time they didn't because they were too excited to get to grandma and grandpa's. That meant several spurts of arguing and "Mom! It's not fair" from the backseat.
We drove through Indiana and along the coast of Lake Michigan into Michigan for the first hour or so before turning eastward to cut through the state to the other side. You can't see the lake from the highway, and I got this great idea that the kids would love to see Lake Michigan and play awhile on the beach, so I stopped at the welcome center to find out what the most efficient way to do that might be.
It turned out that we needed to get off the freeway and head to this cute little town on the coast called St. Joseph. But it took me about an hour to actually find it and figure out how to get down to the beach. You would think it would be obvious, but construction blocked some of the roads, there were small communities with only one street going in and coming out, and Michigan has lots of trees, so it is not readily apparent which of the little streets off the main highway actually winds itself down to the beach. I got directions from some really nice people, but they all failed to be specific in one or two critical places with vague statements like "take the highway four miles and you'll run right into it" (which you don't – the highway does not end – you have to pick the right turn off.). Or, "just take the road and it curves around…" (did not specify which road), or "take a right, and another right, and another right, and another right (except that the first right lead to a dead end and the only right you could take from there headed into a parking lot). I was just about to give up when I stumbled upon it – and I realized that all they had to say was "take the road by the Silver Beach Motel to get to Silver Beach."
But I wonder when tourists stop me in Laguna Niguel for directions to Dana Point Harbor, if my friendly effort is just as ineffective?
On the way out of St. Joseph we were starving and I thought I'd stop and get some gas. I made the mistake of running in for a soda and the gas pump did NOT stop automatically, pouring gas all over my car and the pavement, and earning me a reprimand both from the shopkeeper and my husband for not standing right by the pump at all times. This also hiked my gas bill up by about $20 with today's prices, required me to make the choice between driving with the smell of gas for several miles or trying to find a car wash, and it turned out later when I stopped for lunch I could have just gotten a combo and wouldn't have needed that darn soda.
Luckily, the drive across Michigan is not that far – only 3-4 hours. Unluckily there was enough traffic including big huge trucks to make the two lane highway kind of stressful to drive. In Utah there was NO ONE on the roads and there was this sense of tremendous freedom and joy taking in the scenery and speeding along. It seems like the further east I get the more crowded it gets. To make matters worse, I started getting sleepy for the first time after only a couple more hours of driving. I drank diet pepsi, ate sugar, and slapped my face – the latter being quite effective. THEN, I stopped at a rest area and on the way back to my car noticed a lot of fluid coming out of the bottom, creating a large puddle. I wasn't sure if I had a leak or it was the air conditioning, but it made me nervous enough to wake up. Turned out it was just the air conditioning and we had nothing to fight but traffic the rest of the way.
It's funny how the little things can pile up on top of each other. As long as I was mad about the gas incident it kept feeling like everything was wrong, but as soon as I forgave myself (again) and moved into a place of gratitude thinking of all the things that COULD have gone wrong but didn't, I began to enjoy myself again.
You may notice that this is actually being posted on Day 9. Mom and Dad have a dial up modem and no wireless networks exist anywhere around their house. Today is Sunday, and we are going to the cottage for a couple of days – no wireless there either. Not even a television to watch the Olympics on. And no cell phone reception. But lots of wilderness and relaxation. Will probably tune in again sometime around Day 13.
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