Michigan - part three

One of the great 19th Century, American resort hotels was, and still is, on Michigan's Mackinac Island, not far from the Canadian border.

Here are Don and Jode on the island's main street.

Holiday mansions are called - as in Newport, Rhode Island - ‘cottages’.

'Driveways' are grass because vehicles aren't allowed on the island. This one leads to a horse shed.

Being a posh place, some bikes are equally posh. Quite honestly, this is a bit over the top.

We choose less showy transportation for a cycle around the island ...

... seeing carriages along the way.

Using horses means requirements are different here …

… and a lot of street cleaning.

On the vulgar mainland, separated by a goodly stretch of water from genteel Mackinac Island, we find this unsavoury hotdog atop a soon-to-be completed restaurant.

(In September, Don sends confirmation that the restaurant, with its unappealing adornment, is open for business.)

Back at Don and Jode's, I take a last, wistful look at an Airstream parked nearby.

I doubt if I'll ever have an Airstream, much less a vehicle to hook it up to. However, I was reasonably tidy, so do hope Don and Jode let me stay in their trailer another time. Oh! And even let me drive their pickup.

Michigan - part two

Don and Jode are some way from the nearest shopping. Evart, like so many small places, has seen more prosperous days. Many 'downtown' buildings are vacant.

 But they still serve a fine breakfast at the 'All American Cafė'.

Walking the short main street, I peer through the dusty window of a onetime store. You might have to click on these pictures.

Evart's brief spell in the national spotlight came in the Great War with the death of local boy Joseph Guyton. He was the first killed as U.S. troops advanced into Alsace, then German territory.

Most American casualties were buried in France, but Guyton's body was returned home in 1921, an event attended by President Warren Harding.

Thanks to Don who took this. I didn't have time to find the grave.

Central Michigan (the picture is just up the road from Don and Jode's is farm country.

Farms mean farm fairs, this one in Marne. Marne was once Berlin, but renamed for where the American Army fought in France during 1918. 

Being a city boy, I fret about the goat who'd stuck his head through the railings in hopes of a handout. I needn't have.

For this unhappy goat, no escape.

Displayed by Katie and Matt Horling of the 'Animals and Us 4-H Club', these are 'Pig' and 'Boss Hog'. They are blissfully ignorant of their fate.

However, between hotdogs and fair rides, humans can check on their eventual fate. Just in case we’re enjoying ourselves too much.

Michigan - part one

These are my friends Don and Jode, professional dancers. The shot, framed on a wall at their house, makes me feel even more graceless than usual. Don and Jode, with whom I've sailed and who persuaded me to winter in the Rio Grande Valley (see my various Valley blogs), have long kindly been inviting me to their Michigan home. 

Aside from their generous companionship, they cunningly appeal to my frustrated love of pickups and trailers. I can, they say, stay in their trailer. Displaying unwarranted confidence, they also say I can drive their second vehicle, a pickup.

It would be fair to say their home is rural. Here's the drive.

The house is by a Central Michigan river.

An idyllic location for sitting (the little Mexican 'stove' is from the Valley) ...

... and watching kayakers and canoeists drift by.

I must slip in an autumn shot taken by Don.

Here's the trailer ...

... and view when I wake in the morning.

Their pickup - with gears. Fantastic!

Prying me from the truck, we tour the area. First, an air show at a nearby 'airport', more or less a strip of concrete that may see a light plane once a week. This day, the most extraordinary jets are on display.

The very expensive model planes move so fast, it's difficult to get good shots. At the tree line, one is landing.

Down the road, something else unexpected. This is Idlewild, in its day a famous African-American resort. 

Early cottages were so small, they were nicknamed ‘doghouses’.

Before American Civil Rights, there were few places where blacks could comfortably holiday.  Although Idlewild's hardly as popular now, it still attracts holiday makers, mainly those whose families have come for generations.

As famous Jewish entertainers performed in the Catskills ‘Borscht Belt’, so black stars appeared here.

Our visit coincides with a summer festival. Entertainment, lots of food and water fights for the kids.

Coming up, more travels in central Michigan.