Sept 26: Time to move on. Next stop, Wilderness State Park, across the Mackinac bridge. That means we have officially left the Upper Penninsula and are now in the “Mitten” part of Michigan. First we stopped at the Mackinac City Library to do that traveling work thing – both Kayla and Matthew had Zoom meetings! Wilderness State Park is more of a parking lot campground. Our camper and car were rather prominently displayed. It seemed that just about everyone wanted to stop and chat about our Alaska license plates and/or teardrop camper. Friendliest, chattiest campground ever! We spend two days doing some lazy biking and mostly hanging out.
Sept 28: We packed up and headed to our last campsite for this leg of the journey – a state park right in the middle of Traverse City. We passed through Bliss, Pleasantview, Petrosky, Charlevoix, Torch Lake, and Elk Rapids to get there. Turns out we picked a really big weekend to be at this campground! It was the Traverse City State Park Halloween Hootenanny! (Our words, but you are welcome to use them, Michigan). Three days and nights of fun runs, trick or treating, costume contests, and a “Dance All Night” party that ends promptly at 9:00 pm. But the biggest event is the campground decorating. Clearly this is a thing that some folks return for every year, and they have escalated their efforts over the years. We saw many campsites that had one truck to pull their camper, plus another truck to pull a trailer full of decorations.
All the pictures below came from the campground.
Sept 30: Traverse City is where our dear friends Ed and David live. We spend a day touring the Leelanau Peninsula – home to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park, Joe’s Friendly Tavern (a very fine burger joint), and Leelanau State Park, with its obligatory lighthouse and shipwreck museum.
The Dunes are steep. 
Really steep. 
This is a sign in a National Park. Yes, that stick figure is puking. 
Can’t get enough of those dunes! 
DOOOOOOOOONNNNSSSS!!! 
What’s a point without a lighthouse? 
The beach round the lighthouse, another “shipwereck graveyard” 
David is a far better photographer. Too bad you can’t see his pictures. 
Boats.
Sunday, October 1: We wake up to thunder at 7:30 am. We jump out to pack the few things we still had outside, while groggy campers stumble about packing away their elaborate set-ups. Moved on to a nice brunch at Ed and David’s, then we hit the highway. We go through Interlochen, Grawn, Mesick, Baldwin, Hesperia, Nunica, Holland, and then at last Glenn, MI.
Kayla’s sister Iris has a sweet little summer cottage on a bluff looking over Lake Michigan. Dedicated blog readers will recall that when we first left Alaska in 2021 (and before we built the camper) we stayed here over the winter (brrr!). It is cozy and familiar, and a great place to rest from an 8.5 month traveling adventure.
Final trip mileage, from January 15 to October 1: 18,836.
Coming soon: our 3rd quarter report, and announcements about what’s next for the Betties! Stay tuned!
WOWZERS! Love that campground and those folks’ commitment. Your trip looks very adventure filled and relationship connecting. Perfect
Well done, Happy Halloween, and safe travels.
Thanks