Michigan - Day 19 - The Thumb

Campers Haven Family Campground, Bad Axe
Friday, 19 July 2019

today's route

Michiganders see their Lower Peninsula as being in the shape of a mitten, which obviously makes the eastern peninsula (of the Lower Peninsula) the mitten's thumb, and that's what they call it.  There are businesses all over that area, especially near the tip, that have "Thumb" in their names.

Most computer routing programs wanted to send me back down to the Detroit area to go east from the campground, but I hated to be so near Flint without at least trying to go by.  And that's about all I ended up doing, after all.  Going into town, even without stopping, would have added the best part of an hour to the trip, which was calculated to last at least 6 hours anyway, so I didn't.  From there I headed straight east for Port Huron.

On the way I was passed by an SUV towing a T@B camper with a slogan written on the back: I go where I'm towed to.

I passed Century Tool and Gage Co., apparently a large manufacturing facility.  But that spelling really bothered me.  I knew good and well how to spell gauge, which I figured must be what they meant since it's a sort of tool, and I couldn't understand how a large company could make such an elemental spelling mistake in its own name.  I looked it up, and according to my trusty Webster's Dictionary that I dragged along on the trip, a "gage" is something deposited as security (as in engage, mortgage); it's also a pledge to fight, as a glove thrown down by one knight challenging another.  But farther down, the dictionary says it's also the "same as gauge, esp. in technical usage."  So I guess it's a technical term and if I were an engineer, I might know all about it.  And now I know more than I did.

I passed a huge building labeled GM Flint Metal Company, which I looked up and learned supplies the sheet metal and parts GM uses in vehicle production.

I drove past some flattish farmland, though not as much as I've seen in other areas; the only crop I saw was corn.

I passed a strip mall with an enormous American flag.  I often saw them in Texas but not so much in other states.

Michigan provides a number of rest areas, I learned, not only along the interstates, which is what I drove at first today, but also along the state highways, and I made frequent use of them today.

The rest area between Flint and Port Huron had air so humid it reminded me of being on the shore along the Gulf of Mexico.  Port Huron is, unsurprisingly, on Lake Huron, which no one would describe as being tropical, despite the humidity.

I stopped in another rest area north of Port Huron and had a nice view of the lake.

included a butterfly stopover

Lake Huron

Nature's tragedy

I passed through Worth Township with a sign advertising Hanging Gardens.  I've tried to look it up and see if they really do have hanging gardens, but if they do it hasn't made the internet.

I passed Lexington Village, which calls itself The First Resort North.

The road took me along the eastern edge of The Thumb, with many glimpses of Lake Huron.  For much of the way I passed houses sandwiched in a strip of land between the road and Lake Huron, and it looked really pleasant though I'm sure storms can be fierce.

I passed signs advertising "cottage for rent" and "beach house for rent."  I have no idea how much rent they're asking, but I can see a week along there would be really relaxing.

Nearing Port Sanilac, I saw several businesses and mailboxes with Greek names and guess immigrants missing the Mediterranean settled along here.

another natural tragedy

I stopped at another rest area just south of town (I know it sounds like we stopped every few feet, but it took us 2 hours to get to Port Huron, even by taking the main highways, and another hour to get to Port Sanilac, because MI Rt. 25 is only 2 lanes wide and runs through little towns).  This rest area was in a wooded area, where this sign made sense.

Port Sanilac has an annual blues festival, a sign informed me, which I'm sorry I'll miss, it being scheduled this year for August 2-3 when I'll be in Wisconsin.

I turned inland and passed miles of farmland.  Not much corn along here but fields planted either with some sort of grain or with some low-growing vegetable.  Growing up a city girl can be a disadvantage sometimes, like now.

fields with both crops

large fields of wheat

the unknown vegetable crop

I know this sounds truly dumb, but it took miles and miles and many stops to stare at this grain to finally decide it must be wheat.  In my defense, I've never seen wheat as a plant - just in pictures - and my view was only as close as in this photo with Dexter.  But I'm sure I guessed right.

I never did come up with a guess for the vegetable crop.  Any ideas?

Somewhere in here we started hearing thunder, which I used to love but in this RV makes me nervous.

I passed a drive-in movie - the M-46 Highway Drive-In - and I know it's currently in operation because it's now showing The Lion King.  Nice to know they're still around.

I saw some corn that here is 4' high.  Crop fields all along this inland highway.

I passed a huge building labeled "Sugarbeet Receiving Station" which got me wondering.

ditto of a sugar beet field

internet photo of a sugar beet

Do you suppose this is my mystery vegetable?  They seem to raise a lot of them around here.


As in most places in the US, in Michigan there's no more smoking indoors in public buildings, but I seem to see an awful lot of smokers outdoors.  More than in many other states I've been in, which I find surprising.  Michiganders seem so outdoor oriented that I'd have expected a more healthy style of living.

I passed the Tuscola County Polish American Club, so I'm guessing there are more than just Greek descendants in this area.

I passed dozens of wind mills spread all over the landscape, and then passed a sign: Cross Winds Energy Park.  I found online that they have 472 wind turbines (not mills, I'm so old-fashioned) in the Upper Thumb (their phrase), with 1,051 throughout Michigan and at least that many more planned for the future.  The turbines currently produce 4.5% of MI's energy needs, and expect to reach 15% in a few years, ranking 14th in the US.

I crossed to the west coast, where Lake Huron becomes Saginaw Bay.  At Unionville, "Gateway to The Thumb," I turned north and once again ran along the water.

I saw a calf nursing from its mother - very sweet.  Nice time of year to be in farming country.

I passed a sign advertising "Big Chief Sugar, pure Michigan sugar since 1906."  I guess this is the sugar beet result.

I passed through the small town of Bay Port, "Home of the Fish Sandwich Festival," they say.  And sure enough, the Fish Sandwich Festival will be held the first weekend in August.  It sounds like one of those only-in-a-small-town sorts of events, and undoubtedly a lot of fun will be had by all.   www.bayportfish.com/fish-sandwich-festival/

As I drove north along the bay, I was once again passing miles of houses sandwiched on a strip of land between the road and the water.

I passed the Thumb Bank and Trust (like I said, they're proud of their Thumb).  I passed a business with a sign in front: "What did the tide say when it rolled in?  Nothing - it just waved."

Which made me wonder again, and I learned online that NOAA says the tides in the Great Lakes rise at their highest only 5 centimeters, a change that's not exactly obvious because of ordinary fluctuations with lake height due to rain or drought.

We stopped at a roadside park in Port Austin, at the far north tip of The Thumb.

where Lake Huron meets Saginaw Bay

the park has a "beach"

As I turned almost due south, I ran into a very strong southwest wind and had to hang onto the steering wheel to keep in my lane.

I passed a barn with a beautiful drawing of a pigeon the full height of the barn.

I passed a farm with a really nice collection of old tractors sitting along the roadside.

The wind blowing across the wheat fields made me think of "amber waves of grain," though I expect I'll see a lot more of this in the Plains States.

I don't know where the name Bad Axe came from, but that's really the town's name.  My online directions completely failed me so I stopped at a hotel to ask for directions.  I had to wait awhile and ended up talking with 3 different employees, all of whom had a speech impediment.  They were all very friendly and pleasant and helpful - it just seemed odd there would be so many in one place who had speech difficulties.

Tonight's campground, Camper's Haven, isn't as organized as its online presence indicates.  They had insisted on the phone that there was only one site they could give me, but when I went there, I discovered the only part of it that could be called level was too far from the electric plug-in for my cord (which has been long enough for a year and a half).  When I went closer to the plug, I immediately started going down a steep slope and didn't want to even consider having to use crampons to get from one end of the RV to the other.

I went back to the office and pointed this out and, lo and behold, they produced another site that was very nearly flat.  Why they couldn't have done this to start with is beyond me, but they finally did.

The campground is just dirt roads so I'm glad I'm here when it's not raining.  But we're only here for just a few hours and it's fine for that.

Today is my momma's birthday and I didn't want to take the time to fish around one of the local grocery stores for something she'd have liked to eat.  So I'll do that tomorrow and tonight I'll watch The Sting, which I know she enjoyed.  Who doesn't?