ONE....MORE....DAY!

Hey,

Well, we have had a blast, but are definitely ready to get home. We have been SO many places - and thinking back to that first day (driving to Vandalia, Illinois) seems like a million years ago. BUT - besides that, let me say that we had a GREAT day today. The weather has not gotten hot (yet) - the wind was minimal until later in the afternoon - and we found a wonderful place for lunch.
Today was one of those days where I didn't have a plan of  cities to drive to and through all laid out. We just knew we had to get to Birch Run, Michigan sometime today.....so we got out of St. Ignace around 7:30 and crossed the Mackinac Bridge.
The weird thing is that north of the bridge is known as "The U-P" (the upper peninsula) - even though it is part of Michigan. What I DID NOT expect was a "Michigan Rest Area and Visitor's Center" when we crossed the bridge into the lower part of Michigan. I guess those "youpers" really take this stuff seriously, eh?
Anyrate, we drove into Cheboygan (and for some reason, I thought of all of those Bugs Bunny cartoons, where they would have the bus announcer tell the cities that the bus was going to....
Poughkeepsie
Cheboygan
and all points south.....)
It was a nice little town.
The weather was a bit chilly - we went a little further down the road and stopped in Rogers City for some coffee.  Well, the first place we went to was more of a sandwich place - but they were very nice and recommended "The Painted Lady" and said the coffee was really good.
So we pulled in there - and the place was a small shop - with tons of "hippie stuff" in the front part. Then it went to a toy shop in the middle and in the "way back" was a coffee house. We sat and talked with about 4 of the local men that were retired (they were good guys - even though we told them we were from Ohio...) and we had a great cup of coffee.

We went outside (after about 5 minutes of chatting 
with the locals) and had our coffee

Jeanette getting ready to have some brew....

Wade - trying to figure out where to go next....

This guy was one of the locals....
a real show off. Yep. 
He was a real hot dog....(even though he was a statue)

So the "straight" route today - would have been right down Hwy 75. But instead, we "veered off" onto Hwy 23 - took that just past Rogers City and into the Huron National Forest.  Here was our route today

Another 250 miles today...

We were driving along Hwy 23 - and there were all these "scenic" stops highlighting Lake Huron....so I told Jeanette, I would take the next scenic stop and we could take some photos of the lake. Well, I see a "scenic stop" sign and pull over....and I don't know why - but there was only trees - NO VIEW of the lake....so we took a few shots (puzzled as to why they made this a scenic stop) - and then we drove on and got a shot or two of Lake Huron...

This is the "scenic view" at the stop....
we even walked a bit into the woods (not too far) 
and could not see the water...

My favorite "scenic view"....

a little farther down the road - Lake Huron....

We pulled over in a "picnic area" and got this shot....
there were no tables - just a gravel outcropping from the road - 
so I don't know why this was labeled a "picnic area".....

On the road again......

So we drove further down the road until about lunchtime. We were looking for a place to eat when we went into the small town of Standish and found "Wheeler's Family Restaurant" and we got the LUNCH OF A LIFETIME ....see here...

There were two "specials"

....Jeanette got the meatloaf - and I got the fish and chips....see the amount of food?? (and you can barely make out the cole slaw on the side...) - it was insane....and the cost was $6.95 EACH....We couldn't take a doggy bag home as we had no room on the motorcycle - but oh my gosh - that was a lot of food (and the okie in me HATED throwing it away - as we barely ate half....)
So we arrived at Birch Run - we are 250 miles from home and should get that done tomorrow - barring any problems or extreme weather (it is supposed to be windy and around 100 degrees in Springfield tomorrow - but we are hoping to beat most of the heat and get home early afternoon....)
 It was pretty warm when we arrived at our hotel, so we went for a "quick dip" in the pool after we unpacked most of our stuff.
Tomorrow is a "mileage day" - we just want to get home. But on the way home tomorrow, Jeanette and I are going to summarize our favorite moments and the blog will reflect that....
Hope you are enjoying sharing our adventure.
Wade and Jeanette
GNTNYCGTB LY <3