Magrilless

Yesterday we arrived at our planned campground on the shore of Lake Michigan to see the sign we all dread seeing: “Campground Full”. 

To the national park visitor’s center! They’ll know where we can go for Plan B. 

“Closed”. An hour ago. Darn it. Ok. We need a Plan C. 

Expedia to the rescue! Soon we had a hotel reserved, only a mile down the road. Urgency gone, we decided to make the most of the beautiful and deserted VC grounds for a lovely dinner. 

Since the bathrooms were locked in the closed building, we took a pee in the pet area (he he he) and cooked tacos while watching pollinators at work. 

Our bellies full and spirits high, we headed to our hotel. It was nearly dark as we drove up a firefly-riddled and tree-lined drive, following signs of a bird to a grandiose building on a lake. 

Except this wasn’t the Lakeside Inn, I was informed. Two years ago the bed and breakfast had been purchased and was now a drug and alcohol recovery treatment center. 

Ok. A 15 minute phone call with Expedia later, we were headed to a hotel I’d seen a sign for, and I was on hold to speak with a supervisor about getting our night comped. 

But on our way, we suddenly found ourselves in front of a hotel which had the exact same name as the place we were supposed to go the first time. Oh geez. 

So while bill and the girls checked us in (why didn’t the manager across the lake tell us there was an existing hotel literally 2 minutes on the other side of the lake with the same name as their former name??), I humbly told the supervisor on the phone to forget the whole thing. 

We fell asleep to The Princess Bride on TV. And woke up to a beautiful view of a lake with swans and fish and turtles off our balcony. 

Hmmm. What in the world will happen to us today?

Stats

Miles driven: 1612 miles

States touched: 6

Rehab centers visited: 1

Somehow we ended up driving later than we thought we should. We kept trying to break up the drive across never-ending Nebraska with parks and ice cream and anything, and soon we were still in Nebraska but farther from our night’s destination. Ok. Not really farther from it, but the more we drove, the more it felt like maybe we were going backwards. 

But! We did eventually get somewhere: (cue angels singing) a KOA. And there could not have been a better place to land!

There was a playground! And fireflies! And a huge inflated thing to jump on! And a zip line! And basketball! And sand! And boys to boss around! And, thus, there were happy girls in our tent last night. Thank heavens. 

Stats

Miles driven: 984 

States touched: 3

Times our “what’s at this exit” app lied: 3

We’ve been on the vacay-train for 25.5 hours and already we’ve learned that we’d all rather be plumbers than roofers, that Maggie wants live in an igloo, and that Tessa likes to take things apart but not put them back together. 

Despite my seeming grimace and the shadows under the girls’ eyes, we are having fun so far. Thank you, Baci (aka Aunt Annalise), for giving us your bed to sleep in, for braving the outdoor pool with the kids, for letting them scatter the contents of your bookshelf, and for sharing the complete contents of your refrigerator! 

Stats

Miles driven: 509

“Are we there yet”s: 1

Longest train: lost count after 400-something

And heaven help me, I couldn’t think of a reason to say no. 

First of all, we are all safe, and expect to remain so. Yesterday a fire started a couple valleys to the west of us. A house caught fire, which caught the yard on fire, which caught the forest on fire, which quickly spread to 100 acres of forest on fire. It certainly looks, shall we say, dramatic from our street. It smells like a campfire even in our home. And when I woke up this morning, there was a layer of ash on our car in the driveway. It certainly felt dramatic and urgent when the sheriff drove up the street and closed off our trailhead with police tape. And then the local police patrolled up and down our street every half hour making sure all our questions were answered. We were advised to pack a “go bag” in case of evacuation, and assured that we would be notified clearly and obviously if it got to that point. 

Needless to say, Bill and I slept poorly last night, listening to aircraft and helicopters flying overhead even though our windows were shut up tight against the smoke. But we had a plan of action and a pile of stuff waiting by the front door for just-in-case. 

This morning things are calmer, the firefighters having spent the night battling the fire without heat and winds. But today will again be hot and gusts may reach 35 mph. I’ve taken my walk early while the air quality is still relatively good. I expect to still see slurry planes and smell heavy smoke and watch billows rising behind our mountains. Things will probably get worse today, but we will probably be out of the woods by tomorrow. If worst comes to worst, we’ll just leave for our trip a few days early. Thankful to be prepared and flexible!

Update The fire is now 20% contained and today is supposed to be cooler and less windy. It’s a bit surreal to be living in a declared disaster zone, but people are cautiously optimistic that this thing will be curtailed soon. We’re not unpacking yet, but we did sleep better last night.