Michigan

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It was a lovely morning. We ate breakfast in town and then walked on the beach on Lake Michigan, and then out on the pier to see the little lighthouse.
Even though we felt like we were at the ocean because the lake is so huge you can't see the other side, it's much different. It smells clean. The water is clear. There are hardly any waves on a nice day. There's no kelp or other sea debris on the beach. There's no algae, seaweed on the rocks. The beach sand is very clean. The trees go almost down to the water, unlike our West Coast ocean beaches. Looking out across the lake reminded Nancy of the movie "Truman".
While waiting for Nancy to give Daisy a short run, I observed a man with a fishing pole walking toward me. When I got within range, I asked him what he was catching. He replied, "Nothing". I then asked what kind of fish he was trying to catch. He responded, "Live". Several more questions led to like answers and I was about to offer to teach him to swim when Nancy returned. Another fisherman offered the information that they were fishing for Lake Trout or Salmon. It seemed very strange to be looking at a body of water with no other side and thinking about trout. It made me wonder about the size of the ones in the middle of the lake, down deep in water, lurking...... Nancy tugged on my leash and we continued on. But just think, years of growing, they used to get over thirty pounds, ya know, and maybe........
The clerk at the resort said that South Haven was a seasonal town. It gets lots of lake effect snow in the winter and is isolated, but she said it was so beautiful. The resort itself had a very good year and was selling campsites. Did we want one?
On the road again, we saw corn and soybeans! Also, there were dairy cattle, berries, alflafa, and apples. We stopped at a farm stand and bought some apples. Rich likes Jonathan, and Nancy tried some Honey Crisp. MMMM. We also got pears, cucumbers, tomatoes, and a little pumpkin. Driving 65 through the tree-lined corridor reminded Rich of Star Wars fighters, "Turn on your tree-evasion systems!"
Towns of any size have the same chain stores - PetCo, Office Max, Target, Applebee's, etc. We passed a billboard for a carlot, "Need a Car? Credit Stink?
Poopycredit.com." As we passed through Kalamazoo, we called Nancy's sister, Carol, to tell her we were thinking of her since she spent her first couple of years of college, happily, at Western Michigan. Then as we went through Jackson, we had to call Cindy and Jim because they are from Brooklyn, which is nearby, population 1000? Of course as we passed the Ann Arbor exit, we thought of the Guthe clan and all of our history in Ann Arbor. Also, hi Jane M.!
We pulled into a KOA near Ann Arbor and it was all decorated for Halloween and the campsites were FULL! We were lucky to get a spot. It turned out that there were prizes for the best-decorated campsite and the best costumes and the children were going to trick-or-treat at the campers at 5:00. We walked around to enjoy the festivities, but didn't pass out treats. People had strings of Halloween lights, scary music, displays, cobwebs, big blow-up yard decorations. It was fun! The campground is going to do it again next weekend, too.
Some nights we stay in a campground because they have Wi-Fi so we can do our blog. Then, we get set up and their system is down, etc. We're calling ahead from now on. When can't update you, dear readers we have a backgammon tournament. We tried cribbage, but the resin on our board puckered and the pegs won't fit. Can you believe we have a pile of beautiful boards at home and we didn't think we needed to bring one?
We're in a KOA, but there are no trains tonight - BUT there ARE planes taking off from the Detroit airport!!! Under the elms, maples, and oaks, it's very dark and the little lake is calm. We slept with visions of tiny little kids in their costumes.

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