A fun adventure

Thank you everyone for the lovely birthday wishes today! We're going to give you guys a recap of what has been happening with us, but first, I want to tell you about our evening. We were on our way to our stop for the night, a family campground on a small spring-fed lake in Buchanan, Michigan. We were running later than we had wanted to, after having driven about 500 miles as well as stopping to visit the Henry Ford Museum outside of Detroit (more later). We called the campground early this afternoon, saying that we'd probably be late, and they said that it would not be a problem at all if we arrived around 8 PM. 

We were running even later than we thought, after having stopped for dinner at Crackerbarrel (for those who don't know, think kitschy country store combined with good food) for my birthday. We lingered over coca-cola cake and in the store after dinner, so we didn't get back on the road until 8 or so. We drove for another hour, found the exit for Buchanan, drove through a sleepy little town, out into farm country, turned onto a winding road that steadily became more and more wooded and more remote, and then came to the end of the road to the campground. It was after 9 at this time, and since we're right on the edge of the central time zone change, the sun was still setting, and the lake was beautiful! We got really excited about staying the night here, and I was even thinking that it might be nice to take a dip into the lake tomorrow morning (the humidity here is off the charts). We found the sign for registration, walked around to the office/store....and found that it was closed for the night. There was no sign of any staff member around the campground...anywhere...at all. We waited for about an hour just in case somebody happened to show up. 

We called the phone number for the campground, left a couple of messages, and couldn't reach anybody. We thought briefly about just popping our tent close to the entrance and just checking in tomorrow morning (that's what we did at Kring Point, but there was a note on the registration window directing us where to go) but we weren't sure where we were supposed to be. In the end, we decided to get a hotel room for the night in South Bend, Indiana (right near Notre Dame). It's a bummer to spend the extra money and to miss out on the nice campground and nice lake, but the weather is supposed to be less than ideal and at least we have a place to stay! 

This was the first time on the trip that we had to quickly change our plans and be flexible. After all is said and done, we did well. 

More fun updates later!

Love, Bonnie