South Haven to K-ZOO

June 29, 2015

We awoke after a good nights sleep to a pretty dewy ground cover but a nice 65 degrees:)  Jen and I worked on getting our camp broken down relatively quickly and we were able to be on the road to nearby South Haven around 9:30.  South Haven is a cool little port town with a river that runs to Lake Michigan. The ladies hit some shops as GT and I walked around the river, then we joined up for a walk to the small donated lighthouse from the American Historical society that marks the river entrance to the town. There were a LOT of boats and beautiful homes along the river.  It was pretty hilly too.  My sons obsession  with sports cars was met by seeing a Lamborghini Hurrican while in South Bend.  He always guesses at the model and make of car, then looks it up on google to see if he was right.  He is usually right.  Or, he'll check a car from the front, take a guess, then when the car passes, he'll check the make and model that's usually shown on the rear of the car. However, he and I both were stumped when we saw an unknown Pantera looking model in a parking spot with a pointed nose like Speed racer, but completely new.  Had not a clue what kind of car this was and traffic was moving before we could decipher the emblem.  Looked pretty expensive though--another question I'm asked every third or fourth car we pass.  I usually reply with too expensive as my answer. 

South Haven is a very bike-centric town.  I loved watching families take the lane on the city blocks and main thoroughfares as they rode to the beach.  This place doesn't have the rocks on the beach like the one at the state park did which I found to be strange.  We probably walked about two miles in the city. I'm really glad I bought a new pair of sandals before the trip.

There was a lot of fishing going on at the pier but I didn't notice anyone catching anything. When we got to the end of it, we looked at the currents which seemed to be going every which way.  Doubt I'd want to fall in there.  Especially when the water turned from emerald green to all of a sudden brown and appeared to lap up against each other.  It was hard to explain but a beautiful place nonetheless.   

After grabbing some swag in town (a term my kids don't like us to use because we're "old") it was off to Kalamazoo.  

We left the beach to head to Kalamazoo on a short 35 mile road trip.  Drove through back country to get there.  There were fruit stands galore, and of all things, a 'Fresh Florida Watermelon' truck.  What?  We passed the KalTrail on the way, which is a 31 mile bike trail that is what I believe a rail to trail type.  We plan on riding a few miles of it before we head to a six day primitive camping stretch, which I don't think the kids will be overly happy with after staying in the posh Radisson suite. 

Kalamazoo was about mom and dad time to visit the local breweries around town, and the Radisson was a perfect place to walk to the breweries and downtown sites of interest.  We were able to hit three to four places while the kids swam happily in the hotel pool and hung out in the hot tub.  It was a nice getaway to say the least.  GT said he would be happy spending the rest of the trip here in the hotel but understood that we needed to keep going.  I can't wait to see their faces as we do a 180 and start this primitive camping stretch, ha!  

We took kids with us to explore the town as soon as we got there; walked around aimlessly for about 30 minutes then figured out where to go. GT started to get somewhat grumpy/thirsty/hangry so we stopped in the Tap House. The Tap House had some good beers on tap.  I had a Bells (of course) double cream stout right out of the firkin and Jen opted for a local IPA.  Both were very good..  This was in close proximity to the hotel so we bought some chips and salsa with the kids and they had their fill of cokes. The Tap House had the weirdest sinks in the rest rooms I've ever seen. Basically a 4 inch trough at the back and a slab of granite countertop tilted toward the drain.  Do you know how wierd it is to wash your hands over granite with no sink basin?  The waiter laughed as I told him I thought the thing was covered up and tried to move the granite. Just strange. We then walked to the Bells General Store for some swag.  Decent prices and new beers we haven't tried so we'll try to pick up a six pack for our "primitive site".  It was  back to the hotel for a quick stop, shower and change so Jen and I could hit some breweries. A neat newer brewpub was Tibbs brewery.  The cool bartender offered us a few samples as we were not from Michigan and Jen and I both had a Citra.  A Citra ass down IPA.  Loved that name.  Grabbed a couple stickers for us and some friends and it was off to the Olde Peninsula Brew pub for some beer and grub.  I had a Chocula stout and Jen opted for the local IPA again.  All the beers we had were awesome. I now know why this is a brewery town. Great stuff. 

I gotta say I didn't have much left in the tank after that so we got back to the hotel with the kids and frolicked in the pool for a while, then hopped in the hot-tub, which basically sucked all the life out of me.  The pool was still cold even though it was inside--at least I was able to get used to it. Jen jumped in then rushed back to the hot tub.  Not sure how well were gonna do when we get to Canada and all plan to dunk ourselves in Canada waters!   

Gnaw Bone to Michigan

Sunday June 28, 2015

We were able to get up and packed this morning but it took a while.  Jen decided she was going to try and put the roof bag inside the truck.  It didn’t work out.  Good effort though.  By the time we checked out it was already 11:00 AM so, unfortunately we didn’t have time to go ziplining.  We’ll have to do it at Gulf State Park sometime or at Adventures Unlimited, which has more zips for the money anyway.  

After visiting Nashville, Indiana, the previous night, we wanted to go back and check out the Big Woods Brewery and Pizza joint, among other stores nearby.  Nashville is a really quaint little town.  Jen said she could have spent a lot of time (and money) there.  We did notice a lot of motorcycles and leather shops.  Just neatly manicured yards, businesses, and dining facilities, the Brown county Art Gallery, all within about a six block radius.  Not touristy or anything, just a neat place to hang out.

After pizza, coffee and homemade root beer floats, it was off to our next destination. I decided to take the back roads to Indianapolis before getting on the interstate northbound.  This was not a great decision as we weren’t supposed to take the interstate northbound, so we drove around Indianapolis and finally found a road (under heavy construction)—State Road 31 N for the next 150 miles.  Luckily it was a freeway with some, but not an over abundant amount of stoplights. 

After being in the car close to three hours, I had previously planned and figured a stop in South Bend, Indiana to visit the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Notre Dame Campus would be a good idea.  I really don’t have any words to describe this place other than absolutely breath taking.  As soon as we got there and opened the door, a well of emotions opened up in me.  The architecture, the holiness of the place made me realize how important my life was, those who we have lost over the past year, and how beautiful and cherished my family is.  I found a pew and prayed for a while, for my family to heal, for God to keep blessing me with everything I have and to watch over us on this trip and in our future.  Both kids wrote in the prayer books that are in front of statues in the church.  I didn’t read them but it was awesome to see them writing their prayers in the books.

We left the Basilica refreshed and ready to make the next leg of the trip to Van Buren State Park in South Haven, Michigan.  It was only an hour away. As soon as we got there and the bikes came off the back, we pitched our tent in about 10 minutes and rode to Lake Michigan less than a mile away.  The bike trails here are plentiful and there is a lot of bike traffic.  Something I like. A lot.  There are apparently rip currents in the lake.  They have red, yellow, and green flag warnings like we do but the water is FRESH.  Garrett went waist deep in the cold water but didn’t get much further.  An interesting thing on the lake is all the river stone that dots the area where the water meets the sand.  Garrett decided to throw rocks from the shore and attempt to hit the swim area markers.  It was safe as no one was swimming.  He finally hit the sign after about a half hour of trying.  Guess the competition of Avery throwing too helped his aim out a little bit. 

I even had to try because we couldn’t leave until someone hit the sign.  My shoulder hurt a bit after about 10 minutes of attempting to hit it!  An interesting note is that it doesn’t get dark until around oh, 10:15PM here.  Even though we’re on eastern time, it just seems weird but pretty cool nonetheless.  By the time we had done the bike riding and running around the awesome large park with over 200 sites, we were done and settled down for the evening in front of the fire.

Mammoth Cave National Park

Saturday June 27, 2015

I woke up early with lungs full of secondhand carcinogens from the overpriced premium Super 8 motel room.  Enjoyed a long shower as the family started to rumble and grumble and move about. Like I said earlier, we made our money back on GT's 'free continental breakfast'. I think we each had a couple of cinnabons some oatmeal, yogurt, and loaded up on available fruit at the bar 'to go'. I didn't in the least feel bad about it either.  I do remember GT asking if candy 'tasted different' in Canada.  I was sure to let him know that we'll test that theory in a few days.  Today was the official first day of our trip. 

Since we woke up so early (me in a coughing fit) we were able to do a little 'splorin around the rinky dink towns on the way to the Caves.  Jen found a river walk in the area of Bowling Green, KY near WKU.  The starting point was an old train bridge from 1915 which has now become a rail/trail multi=use path.  We didn't have too much time to walk the whole trail but we were able to snap a few shots of this cool place...

After getting our legs stretched out with a short walk, it was back on the country two-lane roads to check out the KY farmland and small towns along the way.  The outskirts of Bowling Green were beautiful rolling hills of soft Kentucky grass and corn fields.  We really wanted to stop at a dairy farm along the way, but it didn't open until 11AM and we had an 11:15 Domes and Dripstones tour already booked and paid for.

We got the park a little over 90 minutes early.  I found that we originally had our trip planned for 11:15 and tried to see if tickets were available still for the 10:30 tour.  No such luck.  The tours sell out very quickly here in the summer and most tours accommodate about 100 or so people. 

The caves were incredible, as was the tour and our tour guide. Photos cannot do it justice.  This place is massive with over 330 miles of caves and the National Park only opens a very small amout of them to the public. We all learned a LOT about how the caves are formed over kajillions of years, and how sinkholes form, and the vast amount of sinkholes in the KY area alone.  We learned about early cliff explorers and how some lost their lives.  One of the best parts of the tour occurred in a room where everyone sat down, the cracked limestone overhead to learn about the caves from the guide.  She asked everyone if they wanted to tour all 300+ miles of the tour and asked everyone to be quiet for about 10 seconds.  Once you could hear a pin drop, ALL the lights went out and there was the most amazing form of nothingness I think i'd ever experienced.  "THAT, was the exploration of all 330 miles of the cave"  a very cool experience, until of course, a bustling throaty voice in a local neck tone stated, 'yah, it's quiet in heaw'.  Just a wealth of information on caves.  Another tidbit is that it's about 50-55 degrees once inside.  Glad we all had our raincoats.  When I took this picture, we were at the entrance to the historic cave.  As we walked by, we all felt the rush of air from below, and thought someone left the door open on an air conditioned building.  

There are biking trails galore in this park. Hike a bike trails, off road trails, paved trails.  I was trying to take everything in and was a little bummed that we were going to Indiana and not spending the night there. I will file this trip under discovery mission and the Lutz family will definitely go back there for a long weekend.  

Back to the car after the tour ended and a quick visit to the slave graveyard nearby.

The trip to Indiana was all I-65 through Louisville.  There is a lot of construction on the road in Louisville but I guess we hit it at the right time and drove right through.  Jen read a little bit on our next destination from "1000 places to see before you die".  I wanted to stay in Indiana and we chose Brown County State Park originally but they only allow two night camping on weekends, so we stayed nearby in a cabin at ExploreBrownCounty--ziplining and atv's and, of couse mountain biking. The cabin has 10 twin bunk beds, tetherball, hot showers (solar-powered), fishing, etc.  Pretty cool place with a lot of shaded camp areas.  We were sure to stop at the quick mart in Gnaw Bone, Indiana to grab recommended dinner of fried pork tenderloin and loaded the car with gas too.  Great chow.

Once we got situated we checked out the park a little bit, hung out on the docks, did some explorin, then headed over to visit Brown County State Park. This place is huge with two lakes, abundant walking trails and many things to do.  We got there a little bit late so a lot of the learning facilities were closed but there were some very nice views.  I can only imagine this place in the fall.  One of the highlights of the park was the Ogle Lake trail and climbing the fire town (the cabin was closed but you could climb up it to the top, which we all did.  

Afterward, we went a couple miles down the road to explore Brown county a little more and visited the city of Nashville, IN.  Quaint little town with a lot of shops.  We got some much needed ice and checked out a new brew from Upland brewing company--Firefly IPA and called it a night.  We hope to tour a local brewery in Nashville tomorrow and then it'll be on the road to the Michigan. 

 
 

Miles to Bowling Green

 6/26/15

We were amazingly packed and ready to go by 4PM on Friday.  Only a slight amount of arguments and attempting to motivate the kids to get some final items packed stood in our way.  There were no goodbyes to Abby as it's always extremely hard to leave her in the house when we go on long trips. Found out after day one she already deuced on the floor for my mother, as my sister won't be able to house/pet sit until Saturday. I constantly wonder if the act of her doing that is out of spite.  

The plan was to get to Bowling Green and grab a hotel room for the night on our way to Mammoth Cave National Park, just north by about 30 or so minutes.  Traffic was wonderful, kids were wonderful and we made great time, all on schedule.  It was an easy 500 miles.  Pre-trip, we found Avery something to do that didn't involve instagram or a tablet or phone.  Picked up a book at Barnes and Noble called 642 things to write about.  When it was time for a music break, or when things got boring, Avery printed the subject matter on a piece of paper to Garrett and they both wrote their versions of the story.  Not sure whether to be a little weirded out, but after listening to multiple stories, Avery's seemed to revolve around people losing fingers and waking up in an alternate universe, and GT's main character eating something or getting eaten.  Probably some kind of Oedipus/subconscious thing going on there.  Something I'd be scared to explore.  

Obviously, we're carrying bikes on this trip.  Four of them. On the back of a 2.4L four cylinder Chevy Equinox.  The bike rack isn't in the most pristine condition, as I found out when we made our first gas stop.  Luckily, because a couple of strap-overs are broken, I bungee corded Avery's and Garrett's bike to the front of the bike rack.  This was a good decision because Avery's rear end of the bike had managed to loosen itself from the rear hold and was basically hanging by the bungee cord and the pedal protruding through from Garrett's bike, which was hanging by the front notch. etc.  This was fixed at the gas stop.  Had a very friendly Army who must've just gotten off for the weekend asking how he could help.  I politely declined after getting the bikes re-rigged and removing GT's front tire. We talked a little bit about him heading to Panama City to do some deep sea fishing. I thanked him for his offer to help, his service and we moved on. 

The Equinox ran well.  Had to turn off the AC to get up some Alabama hills in the loaded down version though.  The vehicle is very fuel efficient "when running an errand on the highway with no weight at 55mph and no stops". This coupled with papa bob describing our travel pack on top of the vehicle as "acting like a sail", I noticed we averaged oh, about 17 mpg through the Alabama hills. I like to mess around with computers and stuff. 

Did you know that it's very hard to find a motel/hotel room basically anywhere north of Nashville around midnight?  Neither did we.  Attempted three hotels at one exit, none available, then another two at the next exit, none available then once in KY, finally found a Super 8.  "non--smoking" room--yeah right.  At least we were able to knock out 5 hours of sleep to the tune of 90 bucks.  GT made our money back at breakfast. Avery was sure to let us know she was glad she didn't "die at a Super 8 motel" that evening.    One of the longest rides in the car is now over for the next two weeks.  I'll be excited about the places we're going, until it'll be dime to drive straight home from D.C. 

SUMMER TRIP 2015

So it's come to this. 

After all the talk and rambling about 'how we wanna do this and that, and can we get the time off, and will the vehicle make it 3800 miles, and how will the sleeping be, and will we kill ourselves with all this travel....we decided to follow in the footsteps of our inspiring pro camping buddies, the Clarke family as they transverse the country every summer for 30-47 days.  In tents. In primitive campsites. 

Over the course of sixteen days, from June 26, thru July 12, the attempt is no longer on the table.  This is happening.  My 15 year old daughter, 11 year old son, and my gorgeous wife will be making the round-robin trek, starting after we get off work next Friday.  The trip encompasses basically the central U.S--from our home on the Florida panhandle, to Mammoth Cave, KY, a state park in Indiana, multiple state parks in Michigan including Van Buren State Park, a mom and dad brewery tour of Bells in Kalamazoo, Sleeping Bear Dunes, Mackinac Island, Leelanau Primitive camping on the tip of Transverse Bay, Three Provincial parks in Canada, Niagara Falls, the motherland in PA, and finishing with a short stay with my buddies in Annapolis and a (hopeful) couple day trips to D.C. then home. As with everything all we can hope for is the best. (cue National Lampoon Vacation pic here).  Bring on this adventure. 

I set up the final trip itinerary yesterday and it will be a long one, best made by short three to four hour trips in the car everyday, with day 1 and day 16 being the longest days in the car.  Am I crazy?  Not sure yet, but I know there will be amazing times and rip-out-my-hair times.  A family of four in a (downsized from Tahoe) Chevy Equinox loaded down with camping gear and bikes for a trip that will be memorable, hopefully in the good memory category, for a lifetime.  

So roll along with us, as I'll try to update this thing everyday on the road, from a dad, kid, and mom perspective and we ride and attempt to capture the beauty of this beautiful country we call home.