Day Two, State #6

Here's Max, our trip mascot, nicely framing the "welcome to Michigan" sign. After passing through Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana, today we made it to Michigan. Not bad for two days' work!

We started our day at the Golds, which we only reluctantly left later than planned once Richard and Alice had plied us with a delicious breakfast. 5 stars for the Golds. On the way out of town, we drove a few streets, taking in the Henry Moore sculpture in front of the library and buildings that make Columbus quite a standout town.

Then it was on to Bloomington to see Lydia, the person who originally match made Monica and me. This was the first we'd seen her in over 20 years! She's recovering from knee replacement, getting around remarkably well for 10 days out of surgery (we found her energetically pumping away on the stationary bike when we arrived). Delightful visit, even stayed for lunch, which put us even further behind schedule of course.

We left Bloomington at 1 and seemed to drive through Indiana forever. Finally, around 4 or 5, we finally crossed the border into Michigan, an achievement we celebrated by stopping and filling the car with gas. The biggest surprise so far on the trip: gas prices are not appreciably lower here, maybe a couple of cents less than in Rockville.

Stopped for dinner and forged ahead, finally arriving in Traverse Bay as dusk was settling into night (at 9:30PM by the way). This is the view from our hotel room -- lovely Lake Michigan -- our reward for 21 hours of driving in 2 days.