High Road (Laura, Jacob, Sara, Siri and Pipsqueak)

So much of our planning before we hit the road was about the move, not about the road trip. We focused on the essentials of getting ready to leave, then trusted we could figure out the rest along the way. We knew we wanted to drive the longer, more beautiful northern route through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota rather than the shorter route through Indiana, Illinois and Iowa. Once the moving truck was packed, we drove west just a couple of hours and exhaled that we made it on the road. Day two revealed both how tired we were, how loosely we'd planned and how technology can fail you. Poor Rich ended up on a route full of construction, traffic and nothing that interesting. It left him with a lot of time to be with himself and his faithful dog, but missing out on the magic we'd envisioned for our winding road to Oregon.

Meanwhile, the other wagon in our train had a very different journey. We started with a goodbye wave to Lake Erie near Monroe, MI, then made our way north for a lunch stop and to meet Lake Huron at Bay City State Park. That's when we realized Rich's GPS had malfunctioned and sent him in the opposite direction. By some miracle, we all kept our cool and made a plan to reconvene in Wisconsin.

At first, we were going to attempt to shorten our separation-from-Rich time with a ferry ride across Lake Michigan, but our slow meandering and hard rain made it impossible to make the ferry schedule work. We headed north instead, sticking to plan A, with no regrets. The beauty of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, even in the clouds and rain, was soul-stirring, even to Siri!

The hospitality of its people - like Wayne and Laura of Moofinfries in Naubinway, MI - was unmatchable. We barely made it to a gas station before running out of fuel - both for our car and our bodies. Late night on a Monday in early season isn't a great time to find food in the midst of UP wilderness. We stumbled into a miracle by finding Moofinfries (local ice cream and Wayne's brother's farm-raised beef is the Moo, fish from Lake Michigan is the fin, rounded out by the most delicious fresh cut fries you've ever had). They'd only been open a few weeks and have big dreams. Wayne, a welder by trade, lost his arm six years ago when hit by a semi-truck after stopping to help a disabled vehicle. After healing, he tried to go back to welding, but said he didn't feel "productive" so with his teacher wife, Laura, they dreamed up the restaurant. We can't recommend this stop enough if you happen to be driving Rte. 2 someday. Try the Michigan pothole ice cream and definitely order a large fries. YUM!

Today, we decided to finish our Great Lakes tour by heading to Duluth, MN. From there we'll stay in Dickinson, ND and head to Teddy Roosevelt National Park, to Fort Peck for the night. Friday, we'll head to Glacier National Park, hopefully stay in Polebridge, MT. Saturday to Spokane. Sunday to Milwaukie, OR. Whew - we have a plan.