Hello everyone and a very Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American friends out there. I have made it to my dad’s place in Charleston, West Virginia for Turkey Day and will be here through the weekend. It’s nice to be in out of the cold and with my family and I’m looking forward to a few weeks off the road before setting off again early next year. This week has been about making my way east, catching up with friends, warming up at some of the Midwest’s finest tiki bars and catching some great (and not so great) live music along the way. I’ve slept a lot this week as the long nights and cold weather have inspired early bedtimes and late mornings, but I’m also coming down from a busy 6 months on the road and need a little extra sleep. When I pulled out of Minnesota, I considered my 3 state mission complete and shifted my focus to some down time. I still have plenty of photos to get to and a podcast that’s been gathering dust, but it was time to enjoy myself and the long ride home. It hasn’t been the busiest of weeks, but I’d love to share with you what I’ve been up to.
When I left off last week I was in Milwaukee and headed out with my cousins for the evening. Sadly, one of the two of them had just gotten her booster shot and was not feeling up to it, so it turned out to be just myself and Emmalyn and we joined her husband, Brian, a little later in the evening. It was great to see them and hear what they’ve been up to these last few months. I’m very grateful for the time they’ve shared with me this summer. While we’ve been Facebook friends for years and kept in touch that way, it’s nice to connect with them and know more about that side of my family.
Thursday I woke up to snow swirling around my van. I hit the gym and then headed to the grocery store in the morning to pick up some things for my dad. He grew up in Milwaukee, so I wanted to get him some brats, sausage, cheese, a Racine kringle and a few other things from his home state since I was on my way to see him. I also picked up some New Glarus beer (which you can’t buy outside the state) to share with my friends back at home. Then I headed south to Illinois and stopped at the library to get some work done and let the traffic in Chicago die down. I knew I would be up late in the Windy City, so I also took a nice long afternoon nap. When I got up, I ordered a deep-dish, Chicago style pizza from Pequod’s on the recommendation of one of my Chicago friends. Chicago pizza takes about 45 minutes to cook, so I ordered it before I left and then headed on down to the city. It wasn’t quite ready when I got there, so I got it right out of the oven which was the plan. I really love Chicago style pizza, and while I don’t think this was the best one I’ve ever gotten, it was still really good. With a couple of slices of pizza in me, I headed on to Kingston Mines, Chicago’s oldest and largest blues club. They have live blues on two alternating stages 365 days out of the year and are always a great bet for good music in Chicago. I was happy to find the club alive and well after having not been there for many years and I was happy to see many young people in the audience as Blues usually attracts an older crowd. Some young theatre kids were even showing off their dance moves which was fun, although one couple looked more like they were having synchronized seizures than dancing. The music was great on both stages and I would have loved to stay until their 3am closing time, but I knew that wasn’t going to be a good idea under the circumstances. The best time to get through the city of Chicago is between midnight and 5am, so I only had two beers while I was at the club and headed south just after twelve. From Lincoln Park, which is on the north side of Chicago, all the way to the Indiana border only took me 35 minutes which is a near miracle. The road along the Lake Michigan shoreline was clear and quick and I enjoyed nighttime views of downtown and the Navy Pier. While I got to bed pretty late, I knew it had saved some serious time for the next day so I wasn’t too worried about it.
Friday morning I headed out to Indiana Dunes National Park on the south shore of Lake Michigan. It was great to see the lake again and I enjoyed a visit to the Century of Progress Homes in the park. These model homes were on display at the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago and then were moved via barge across Lake Michigan and set up on the shoreline there. The man who brought them to Indiana, Robert Bartlett, was developing the nearby community of Beverly Shores and thought they would be a nice attraction. Today they are a part of the National Park, but are leased out to people who are actually living in them and are definitely worth a look if you’re in the area. From there I headed on to the small town of Michigan City, also in Indiana, to take some photos of the lighthouses there and some of the boats in the harbor. It seemed like a nice enough little town, as was my next stop – New Buffalo in far southwest Michigan. I hit the road from there and made a quick detour to the Eccentric Café in Kalamazoo, which is Bell’s Brewing Company’s downtown taproom. I just wanted to try the beers they had which aren’t available in stores and the two I had were, as I expected from Bell’s, phenomenal. Daylight was fading by that point, so I cruised on into Lansing to stay with my good friend Eric and his wife Wendy. We spent the night watching basketball, drinking beers and catching up.
I woke up Saturday morning to the sound of little feet upstairs, and I knew their grandson, Legend, had arrived. Legend and I became fast friends when I visited earlier this summer, and while he was shy when he first saw me, he warmed up quickly and we had a good time together. He invited me into the tiniest tent I’ve ever seen and somehow I managed to get inside of it with him (he could stand up in there, but I was tucked into a ball). We shot his granddad with nerf bullets and laughed a lot. He’s a super cute kid and I was really happy that he was there when I was there. In the afternoon I headed out of town and shot down to Ann Arbor for the night. I wanted to catch a show at The Ark which is one of Michigan’s premier music venues but had been closed when I was there in June. I have to say I was a little bit put off when I got inside and they told me I needed to pay a $5 “membership fee” on top of my $20 ticket charge if I wanted be able to then buy a $6 beer. They explained to me that this fee was because their liquor license was for a private club so one had to be a member to buy a beer. In other places I’ve seen strange liquor laws like this, a dollar is usually what they charge. Thankfully one of the men in line heard me complain to the man collecting about the absurdity of their policy and brought me to the bar with his membership card. Incidentally the bar also closed during the last half-hour of the 1.5 hour show, so I would have only gotten one beer with my “membership” costing me $11 plus a tip. I was also a little bit put off by the fact that The Ark required proof of vaccination AND a mask to be worn during the show. If you’ve been following me through the pandemic you know that I’m a supporter of both masks and vaccines, but there must come a point when we understand what too much is. Proof of vaccination should be enough, a mask on top of that seems like too much to me. Either/or, but not both. There were a lot of older people there though, and I do understand their fear and vulnerability and went ahead with both although I think they could have worn a mask and I could have gone without and we would have all been safe given the vaccine mandate. Sadly, on top of the membership issue and doubled up protections, the show itself was also underwhelming. Lucy Kaplanski is a very talented singer-songwriter who has been performing for decades, but this was only her second performance since the pandemic started and she was debuting some songs from her new album. While I understood she was rusty and perhaps doing some songs for the first time, I’ve seen teenagers at their very first open-mic night make fewer mistakes than she did – not just on her new stuff, but seemingly on every song she performed. The audience was very forgiving, but it was a very poor performance and an all-around disappointing night. Thankfully you can still get an $8 pitcher at the 8-Ball Saloon and I needed one to clear the bad taste out of my mouth. I was glad I got into The Ark and it is a wonderful space, but I don’t know if I would go back.
Sunday I headed on to Detroit where I caught the afternoon show at Tin Roof. I’m not big on chain restaurants or bars, but I always have a good time at Tin Roof and I appreciate that they have live music as often as they can. On stage was a local woman with a great voice named Melissa Issa with an accompanying guitarist- neither of whom made any noticeable mistakes during the entire show. Later in the evening I headed on to Mutiny, Detroit’s most well-known tiki bar, which is out on Vernor Highway. It’s a fun little spot and the bartenders were friendly and attentive. I had two delightful rum cocktails which came out on fire and a fun chat with the other people at the bar. Just up the street is the delicious Taqueria El Ray which whipped me up some wonderful tacos al pastor for dinner. It was a pretty great Sunday.
Monday morning was cold, but also clear and sunny. I had to run a few errands in the morning, but then I headed north to Pontiac Lake State Recreation Area near Pontiac, Michigan. They have a great orienteering course there which I had the map to and wanted to run. It was far more challenging than the one I ran the other week in Minnesota and a compass was definitely needed to find some of the points. I was thrilled that my compass skills were spot-on and really enjoyed being out there in the woods by myself. I had gotten a late start though and the days are so short that I didn’t get to finish the course. I wish I’d given myself more time, but I certainly wasn’t going to be running around in the dark in the middle of winter, so I called it a day. I wanted to get to the other side of Detroit before it got dark, and made it to Wyandotte just as the street lights were coming on. The main street had wonderful Christmas lights up, which made me very happy. Seeing as it was supposed to be my last night in Shadow Catcher for the year, I headed out to my night stop early and enjoyed cooking dinner and watching some TV before calling it a night.
Police and Fireman Memorial
While I was at the gym Tuesday morning, I got a text from my friend Mike in Cleveland telling me he was under the weather to give me a heads up in case I wanted to make other plans for the day. I got a follow-up text an hour later that he had tested positive for Covid. Please say a little prayer for him that it’s short and mild (he’s already feeling better). I’m sorry because not only did that mean that I wasn’t going to see him yesterday, but also that his weekend travel plans for Thanksgiving were in jeopardy and his plans for next weekend as well. While his health is more important than any of those things, it’s still a bummer. I am very grateful that he took a test as well, which kept me and my family safe. Since I was going to Cleveland to see him and it’s not necessarily the most direct route to Charleston I did a quick recalculation and decided to head to Columbus instead. It would knock a couple of hours off the ride and I could go to the Grass Skirt tiki bar while I was there. After lunch at Skyline Chili (when in Rome) and a couple of hours in the library I tried to head over to the Grass Skirt, but sadly found it has permanently closed. The only tiki bar in the area was the Huli Huli north of the city in Powell so I decided to give it a shot. It wasn’t really a tiki bar, but more a tiki-themed cocktail bar (there is a difference). They had a special holiday-themed cocktail list instead of the normal tiki drinks one should expect. The first one which the bartender recommended was okay but not great. The second one was not very good at all and the atmosphere wasn’t much fun so I decided to leave. I went and got some Thai food in Dublin and called it a night.
This morning I headed out of town after hitting the gym and made my way south and west towards Charleston. It was wonderful to be back in Appalachia and see contours th the land which I haven’t seen in many months. It felt comfortable and familiar and I took a ride down memory lane to the early days of this blog and this journey from when I was in Ohio and West Virginia. I stopped off in Nelsonville in Athens County and Point Pleasant right on the Ohio River on the West Virginia border. Both sparked off waves of nostalgia and made me very happy. I stopped for a couple of West Virginia hit dogs and then headed on to my dad’s place (after picking up a 12-pack of Devil Anse Pale Ale). The basement was made up for me and super warm and cozy and we enjoyed a nice evening of television and catching up. I haven’t seen my dad or Judy since before the pandemic began, so it’s great to be here with them, especially this time of year. When I had just begun this slow journey around the country, I started in West Virginia so I could spend Thanksgiving here with them so this is also a nostalgic visit.
And that’s about what I’ve been up to this week. It’s been a fun week, but I’m also happy to be in a warm house with a warm bed for a few weeks. I’ll be here in Charleston through the weekend and head back to DC early next week. I’m not sure of my plan yet, but I’ve got Bob Dylan tickets in DC for next Thursday, so I’ll definitely be back before then. I’m also definitely looking forward to seeing my little buddy Mason very soon (and his parents, too). My mom has been babysitting for him at least once a week for a while, so I get regular updates, but I can’t wait to see how much he’s grown. I’m obviously looking forward to seeing the rest of my friends and family as well and to the festive holiday season. I’ll definitely be busy as I need to catch up on all of these projects and make my plans for the desert this winter, but I will be getting some serious rest as well. This trip will only be on pause for a few weeks, though, so stay tuned for the next installment coming real soon. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating it and a Happy Hannukah to those who celebrate that holiday. I’ll see you right back here, same time next week. As hard as it is to believe, it’ll be December! Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day.
-Mike