On to St. Ignace

6/22/2014

We left Traverse City on Hwy. 31 and passed through Elk Rapids and Torch Lake before arriving in Charlevoix - the home of the world's largest cherry pie.  It was a cute town with petunias planted along the curb all the way through the town.

We then continued on through Bay Harbor, site of a beautiful yacht club, then Petoskey and Harbor Springs.  Just after Harbor Springs, we turned off Hwy. 31 onto Hwy. 119, a scenic loop through the "Tunnel of Trees".  This was a spectacular drive through dense forest that comes right up to the street.  It was a gently undulating road that indeed goes through a tunnel of trees.  It would have been better if the road was not in such bad shape.  So far, the roads have been terrible.  If we come back to Michigan, it will be in a rental car!  We then got back on Hwy. 31, then a short distance on I-75 and made it to Mackinaw City. Just as we turned off the highway onto the surface street right by the Visitor Center, we spotted another MG Midget at the intersection.  We honked and waved and they waved back, and then just drove on!  I was a little shocked that they did not stop to talk.  Not good LBC etiquette!  We then went to a local eatery, Darrows, where we ate.

After eating, we drove through Mackinaw City, which looked like a huge tourist area, with a large parking area between several blocks of stores hawking everything from t-shirts, to fudge, to anything else that a tourist may want.  We didn't stop, but went on instead over the Mackinaw Bridge to St. Ignace where we will spend the night.  We got the name of a B&B from a contact on a British car online forum.  When we drove up to the Colonial House Inn, from the exterior it didn't look too nice. But, the inside was very nice.  It is a house from the late1800's and is on the National Historic Registry.  The interior is decorated with period furniture and decorations and was very nice and comfortable.

The Colonial House Inn

After checking in, we jumped back into the car and drove north to Sault Ste. Marie where we viewd the Soo Locks.  This is a very interesting piece of engineering.  We were lucky enough to see a ship, the Strandja from Bulgaria, pass through the lock.  It drops down about 22 feet from the Lake Superior side to the Lake Huron side.

After seeing the locks, we contacted Jeremy Callahan, a fellow Midgeteer who lives in Sault, Ontario. We wanted to go to Canada, so he said he would meet us as we came over the bridge.  As we approached the Customs area, which looked like several toll booths, we saw Jeremy in his red Midget about 100 yards away, or less, in the parking lot of the Customs House across the street.  We pulled up to the booth and the agent checked our passports and asked where we were from.  It was a humorous (to us) exchange.  It went something like this:  "Where are you from?"  "Georgia".  "Whats the reason for your visit?"  "Pleasure".  "Do you have any firearms or weapons?"  "No".  "Where are you going while you are here?"  I pointed to Jeremy and said, "Over there".  "How long are you going to be in Canada?"  "About an hour".  Well, the guy looked at me like I had two heads!  I drove all this way to go into about 100 yards into Canada, for an hour!  :)

Canadian and American and British

I have to say what a wonderful group of people Little British Car (and MG in particular) owners are. We met Jeremy and his very nice '67 Midget and followed him as he took us to a nearby restaurant where we had a drink and chatted for awhile. He was a gracious host and we enjoyed talking for about an hour.  We then had to say good-bye as we had to get back to St. Ignace to wash some clothes and it was about an hour drive.   When we got to the laundromat, right down from the B&B, it was closed!  Would open tomorrow at 7:00am.  So, we went to the Galley restaurant down the street for dinner.  After ordering, I went out to put the top up so I wouldn't have to do it tomorrow.  There were two gentlemen looking at the car.  One was blind and was running his hands over the car.  As I approached, they asked if it was mine and I said yes.  We started talking and we had a very nice conversation until the waitress opened the window and told me my dinner was ready!  The guys were very nice and were brothers.  The blind one enjoyed "looking at" the car with his hands.  I never got the top up!  We then went back to the hotel and had quite a surprise.  We had a parking space reserved!!

Turns out that Jeremy goes to the very large, annual St. Ignace car show and brings one or two MGs and stays at this B&B.  Over the years, they have reserved spaces for his cars.  So, he must have called the innkeeper and had them put his sign out early!  (the show is this coming weekend)
Thank you, Jer!  By this time, it was late, we were tired and I couldn't find the password for the internet, so we decided to catch  up later and go to bed!