Hello Everyone! I hope you’re all having a wonderful summer so far and are getting out and enjoying yourselves wherever you are. 2020 into 2021 was such a long year and a half and while I know we’re not out of the woods with the coronavirus yet, it is really nice to be vaccinated and on the road again. I can’t believe that I’ve been gone almost a month – it really has been flying by out here. This week wasn’t very eventful. I spent a good chunk of it in Lansing, waiting to get Shadow Catcher’s transmission fixed and hanging out with my friend, Eric. Unfortunately, I didn’t get much accomplished this week work-wise so I feel like I’ve fallen behind, but I am trying to catch up. I am going to try and buckle down a bit so I can get all of my photos edited and published this week as I make my way out to the coast and up along shores of Lake Michigan.
After finishing up last week in Flint, I headed down to Lansing and met up with my friend, Eric. Eric and I were both teachers in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. We interviewed together, trained together and while we went to work at different schools, we were often together for work and after work as well. Since we both left New Orleans it’s been hard to catch up with him in person. I saw him a couple of years ago when I came up to Lansing for his office’s Grand Opening, but that was a busy day and we didn’t get to catch up much. I really enjoyed getting to spend a few days with him this week, even though it wasn’t under the best of circumstances. Eric’s friend’s 16 year-old son had just been shot and killed last week while downtown in a park. He was an athlete and a good young man who just found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. I went with Eric to the young man’s repast, which was hard even though I didn’t know him, but was definitely organized as a celebration of his life. Eric had lost two other friends who were closer to our age in the last couple of weeks as well, both due to health issues. Over the four days I was in Lansing, a steady stream of people came through their house and it was great to meet so many of his friends, even under those circumstances. I was glad to be there to help support Eric through his grief. Sometimes I feel like I am exactly where I’m supposed to be, exactly when I’m supposed to be there, and this weekend definitely felt like that.
Compared to what was going on in Eric’s life, my van issues were certainly less important, but they did need to get resolved. I had ordered new house batteries for my van to be shipped to Eric’s place and they were there when I got there. Most smaller items I can pick up at an Amazon Locker, but these were too big and heavy and I was very grateful to have somewhere where they could be delivered. There are very few places in the country where I’m more than a day’s drive from a friend and for that, I’m eternally grateful. It took me about an hour to switch them out, and I am so happy to have fully charged and functional batteries again. Eric also had a friend named James who could take a look at my transmission. As you may know, I’m not a huge fan of getting van work done when I’m out here, but it’s definitely inevitable with an older van. Of course new cars and vans break down as well and are usually more expensive to fix, so there’s that too. Bringing in a vehicle with out-of-state plates can bring out the worst in a mechanic who knows you’re vulnerable, so having a personal recommendation really makes a big difference. That and the fact that I could hang out at Eric’s place while the work was being done and not have to sit there all day was also a good thing. James seemed like a really good guy and a good mechanic, and the problem turned out to be just a leaky gasket which was what I had suspected all along. While he had the pan off, he replaced the filter and fluid and it should be good to go for another 80,000 miles or so (at least as far as the transmission is concerned). It’s a huge relief to have those two issues sorted out and I’m very grateful to Eric and his wife, Wendy, for all of their help this weekend.
I did get out to see a little bit of Lansing while I was there. I toured the State Capitol which is definitely something I have tried to do in every state I’ve been to and was lucky enough to get a private tour from the lead guide. I wandered around downtown a bit to see the Lansing Lugnuts’ stadium and Lansing Brewery and definitely ate at some pretty good restaurants as well. Mostly, however, it was about spending time with Eric and getting my van ready to roll again. I got to meet his grandson, Legend, while I was there. Legend is 2 and is such a cute and sweet little boy. We had fun playing together and twirling in circles and I definitely enjoyed spending time with him. It made me miss my little buddy, Mason, but it was really great. We had tornadoes touch down while I was there as well, and I was even more grateful to be inside and in a place with a basement if the need for shelter arose.
I finally took off from Lansing on Sunday and made my way down the road to Battle Creek. Home to Kellogg’s and Post cereal brands, Battle Creek bills itself as the “Breakfast Capitol of the World”. The story behind Kellogg’s success began at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, a health spa for the rich and famous of yesteryear. The Kellogg brothers worked at the facility and were both believers in healthy living, a good diet, and a regular bowel cycle. One day they were cooking up some wheat when they got called away for some reason. When they got back to the wheat, it was well toasted. They fed it through a press, and came up with wheat flakes. They later used corn in the process and corn flakes were born. One of the patients at the sanitarium, Charles “C.W.” Post, copied the idea and started making cereal of his own. Between the two famous cereal producers, both of which are still in operation in Battle Creek, the town has done well. I really enjoyed wandering around town, walking along Battle Creek River (come on, y’all, pick one or the other), and seeing many of the beautiful murals on the buildings. I also really enjoyed learning some of the other history to be found in Battle Creek. Formerly enslaved abolitionist Sojourner Truth spent her last 27 years in Battle Creek and it had also been a fairly major stop on the Underground Railroad, both of which are commemorated in several places around town. I also thought it was cool that Battle Creek was the first place where Del Shannon sang his hit “Runaway”. I spent Sunday night at the Firekeepers Casino where I won $20 on Keno and had a quiet evening.
On a steamy Monday morning, I headed just down the road to tiny Marshall, Michigan – a town which held surprises around every corner. Marshall has the largest National Historic District for a town its size in the country and they do a wonderful job preserving it. This is something which takes a lot of time and effort and the buy-in of local residents and I certainly appreciate that keeping a town looking and feeling like Marshall does isn’t easy. The main street, Michigan Ave, is lined with shops, restaurants and historic inns, some of which date back to the town’s founding in the 1830s. As soon as I arrived, I went to the visitor’s center where I found a great walking map with several historic walking routes mapped out. The routes were color coded and there were matching dots on the sidewalk to help you find your way. This was both convenient and easy and I have only seen this in a few other places that I’ve visited. There was music playing from speakers on Michigan Avenue as well, something which you may not even notice but really sets a nice tone if done right. I wandered downtown for a while and was grateful when the sun made an appearance for my photos but it sure made a sticky day even worse. Then I headed into the residential district to look at some of the beautiful historic homes that were around. I even got to tour Honolulu House, which was built by the former U.S. Consul to the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii). It was quite beautiful inside and I’m very happy the town historic society is taking such good care of it. I had only planned on being in Marshall for an hour or so but ended up staying for most of the day. When I finally felt like it was time to leave, I stopped off for some groceries and supplies and then headed back to Battle Creek for an hour or so, to take a few photos of the old Sanitarium which is now used as a Federal Building. Some pretty awesome clouds rolled through while I was there, but they passed south of where I was and kept going (although there was some pretty exciting thunder and lightning overnight). I finished the night in Kalamazoo where I hit the gym for a while before bed.
I really wanted to visit the Kalamazoo Valley Museum while I was in town, and I got a ticket for Tuesday morning. Strangely the museum opened at 10 and closed for the day at 11:30. I enjoyed my hour there, but it really wasn’t enough time. I did learn that Kalamazoo takes its name from a Native American phrase for a bubbling up of the river where rapids occur. I also learned that the old yellow Checker Cabs were their own brand of cars which were built in Kalamazoo. Gibson Guitars got their start in town as did Upjohn Pharmaceuticals. Kalamazoo has also seen booms from windmills and celery over the years and had the first outdoor pedestrian mall in the country. It was a hot and rainy day and after my brief visit to the museum, I went to get some laundry done and then spent the rest of the day trying to catch up on some work in the beautiful Washington Square Library. When the library closed, I had a nice evening stroll downtown. I found it to be a strange and whimsical place which one would expect from a city called Kalamazoo.
When I finish up this week’s post, I’m going to head out to the Gilmore Car Museum just outside of town to see what they’ve got to offer. It is one of the premier automotive museums in the country and I’m looking forward to it. Tomorrow I’m headed for the west coast of the Michigan. I’ll start in Benton Harbor and head north from there. There are a lot of lighthouses and small towns I want to see and hopefully some beautiful beaches as well. Of course we will celebrate our Independence Day this week and I’m sure I will have no problem finding some hot dogs and fireworks along the lake. By this time next week I will definitely be well on my way up the coast and am really looking forward to it. I do hope to get caught up on some of these photos and get cracking on my next podcast episode as well. It’s going to be a busy week, but a good one and I hope you will come along for the ride. If you’re on Facebook or Instagram, be sure you check out my “stories” as I go so you can see where I’m at and what I’m doing as it happens. Have a wonderful week out there, enjoy the 4th of July for my American readers, and definitely try and enjoy the summer while it’s here. It’s passing by all too quickly. Thanks, as always, for reading and I’ll see you right back here, same time, next week.
-Mike