Amherst, OH to Ann Arbor, MI to Indian River, MI
Tuesday, July 24th

I was on the road again after a very pleasant morning conversation and coffee session with the Volberts. If I had stayed any longer I would have to be treated for a caffeine overdose. I took off north as I hit the ninth state of my summer journey. I occupied the drive catching up on podcasts of the NPR show Fresh Air. I listened to six episodes with topics such peace efforts in the Middle East, the Supreme Court, national health care, and the adoption of Chinese girls by American parents. All of them extremely informative and the time passed by quite quickly.

I stopped in Ann Arbor, can’t resist the siren call of a college town, for lunch. I ate a little dive called the Red Hawk Lounge. It was a pleasant meal and then I went to a park in downtown Ann Arbor and took a cat nap on park bench. For those in the worry wart camp I was drawn to the location by college students doing the same thing. It was quite refreshing.

After the nap I was back on road to Indian River which is at the very tip “on the hand part” of Michigan. If you take your flat right hand and put it palm up that represents Michigan minus the Upper Peninsula. If that is your “map” of Michigan then Indian River is the crease of your middle finger closest to the tip of your hand. I was first exposed to Indian River through when my cousin Erin, daughter of my mother’s brother, got married here last year. Unbeknownst to me, Erin’s mom family, the Daubenshires have been coming to Indian River for well over twenty years. Keri and I had a ton of fun here last year so we came back. I got her around 6pm and I within three hours I was on a night tubing cruise down the Sturgeon River. This family knows how to get things done. All who left on the cruise returned, just not in the same shape.

View from the cabin

Cousins with their daughters on the swing