On the way back down!

6/25/2014

It was about 7:30pm when we drove away from the Badger last night.  We said our good-byes to the other 3 couples who were going on their separate ways -  some heading home and some to visit relatives.  As we drove out of the ferry parking lot, we saw a "magic wand" car wash so I stopped and blasted the accumulated bugs and crud off the car.  We decided to stay in Ludington at a small mom and pop motel we noticed when we were in Ludington a few days ago -  Summer's Inn.   It turned out to be very nice and reasonably priced.  Also, they did not allow children or pets.  (the no children part was nice.)  And, it included a nice breakfast, prepared by the owner.   After checking in, we went to the Jamesport Brewing Company downtown for dinner.

After breakfast, we headed down Hwy. 31 and stopped at Grand Haven, which has a very nice downtown near the waterfront.  I had some coffee from the Coffee Grounds coffee shop (real original name!) while Kathy went shopping and left some money in Grand Haven!

From there we went to Saugatuck, MI where we found another picturesque shopping area on their waterfront.   Kathy shopped while I took pictures of the black squirrels!  Our tree rats in Georgia are grey.  We ate lunch on the patio of the Mermaid Bar and Grill, which was right by the water.

The Mermaid Bar and Grill in Saugatuck, MI

View from our table

The Saugatuck Chain Ferry

Black squirrel of Saugatuck

Paddlewheeler in Saugatuck

The ivy covered Ivy Inn B&B in Saugatuck

Our next stop was downtown South Haven, another colorful small town on the water.  We didn't stay here very long, and were soon on our way to Michigan City, IN, where we got on Hwy. 421 and headed south.  When we left Michigan and entered Indiana, we left the land of cherries and asparagus and entered the land of corn and beans!  Not long after we turned onto 421, the road was closed and we had to make a detour of about 20 miles.  While on the detour, we got stopped by not one, but two trains!  We were stopped at a double track and when the first train was almost passed, another train came from the opposite direction!  Fortunately, neither train was very long.  We then ran into a pretty good rain around Monon which lasted for about 10-15 miles.  We also saw a very large windmill farm near Reynolds.  These were huge windmills with very large, 3-bladed propellers.  We planned to get as far as Lafayette, IN, but when we got there, we weren't that impressed and decided to continue to Crawfordsville, only about 30 minutes away.  I was beginning to get a little tense and irritable because the roads all day have been just atrocious.  I was tired of trying to focus on the road in front of me and dodging potholes.  I missed about half of them and hit the other half.  The car is getting quite a pounding.  When we left Lafayette on Hwy. 231, the road was great all the way to Crawfordsville.  We will continue on 231 tomorrow for most of the way down the length of Indiana.  I hope road continues to be as good as it was from Lafayette.  We got the last room at the Hampton Inn in Crawfordsville and then walked to the Cracker Barrel for dinner.  I'm ready for a good nights sleep before traversing the rest of the length of Indiana tomorrow.