Michigan - Day 20 - Saginaw, Bay City and northern MI

Thunder Bay RV Resort, Hillman
Saturday, 20 July 2019

Eastern Kingbird

Driving out of the campground, we crossed a stream and I briefly saw a decent-sized bird with lots of black and white as it flew off the bridge and into the trees.  My first guess was a shrike, but the bird book says they don't come around Michigan until winter.  But nearby in the book I found an Eastern Kingbird, several inches smaller than a shrike, but it's got a lot of black and white on it and it's supposed to be here during breeding season and it's "often seen near water."  Must be it.

most of today's route

I forgot to draw on the route map that, from last night's campground, we went almost due south down to MI-46, which runs from Port Sanilac west to Saginaw. 

I had trouble getting either of the computer routing programs to take me where I wanted to go today because I wanted to sightsee, not just get from one campground to another.  They kept refusing to help me out until I started insisting "this road, not that road" over and over.  Where I wanted to go was to see a little of Saginaw, a little of Bay City and drive along the west side of Saginaw Bay, having seen the east side of it yesterday.

On the road
A little way along the road from the campground I passed a sign saying watch for horse-and-buggy outfits for the next 16 miles.  Some way farther along I passed another of those signs.  Good farming state, also noted for its wood-related industries, makes sense there'd be a number of Amish living in this area.

I passed a sign saying turn left for petroglyphs.  I wish I'd known about this site before so I could have planned it in - as it is, I've got at least 5 hours of driving time alone to get to the campground where I've got a reservation so didn't want to drive who knew how far to get to who knew what.  Now that I know what, I'll definitely come back next time I'm in Michigan.
www.onlyinyourstate.com/mi/historical-petroglyphs

I saw several herds of cows today, some that I think were dairy cows and others that looked more like beef cattle to me, not that I have any idea what I'm talking about.

I passed several signs saying: "Don't sign away your rights.  Know the facts about wind turbines."  So there's not universal acceptance up here.

I passed a town named Snover, which seemed an odd name to me and, as so often, it was named after a person.  (Though Snover still seems like an odd name.)

I passed an Arabian breeding farm.  (Didn't know this was horse country?)

I ended up stuck behind a hay wagon - or maybe it was straw, I don't know the difference.  It was piled very high indeed with 6 bales high and 6 bales across.  I had plenty of time to count them while I puttered along behind him waiting for a chance to pass.

I saw a sign for the Frankentrost Band, suggesting it's a big deal.  Unfortunately they rely on a Facebook home page so I can't tell you much about them but saw they're a 25-35 member brass band that originated in 1895 and now has 4th generation band members.  Probably a lot of fun, and I'm guessing some polkas.

Saginaw
In Saginaw I passed a Lutheran church with a sign out front that said, "Include God in your vacation plans."  I'm still puzzling over that one.

Saginaw is home to one of the 25 manufacturing plants belonging to Nexteer Automotive, supplier of automotive parts.  I passed it.

I passed City Hall, right next door to the main post office.  I didn't stop for photos but got these off the internet.

Saginaw City Hall

erstwhile post office

I'm very sorry to say the post office no long looks like this but has reasonably but not picturesquely knuckled under to Progress.  Or maybe Necessity.  The current post office building covers an entire city block and must sort the mail for the entire Thumb as well as local mail.  But that gorgeous building is still around and is now the home of the Castle Museum of local history.  Pretty neat, huh?

The AT&T building also covers an entire city block.

I passed the Epicurean Elks Lodge.  Now, I know what an epicure is, and I know about the Elks lodges.  What I can't find out is how they got together here in Saginaw.

Back on the road
Driving out of town I saw a billboard that said "Don't B Silly - 999-753-7711."  I tried looking it up and got nowhere, but I'm not curious enough to call that phone number.

I passed a Powertrain factory.  I tend to forget that these brand names are manufactured somewhere and don't just show up fully formed, out of the head of Zeus.

Saginaw River

The Saginaw River runs through Saginaw, up to Bay City, and out to Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron.  When I saw it along the roadside, it was very full, wide and scenic and, farther down, was being dredged because it's considered a navigable river.

Great Egret

In a swamp on the other side of the road I saw a Great Egret.  At least, that's sure what it looked like, though I thought they were more of a southern bird and didn't get up in these parts.  But the bird book says they can occasionally appear right here during breeding season.  And here it was.

Bay City
In Bay City, I finally just abandoned the online directions that refused to do anything but get me past the town as fast as possible, when I wanted to get at least a little of the flavor of it.

Bay City City Hall

I passed the Bay City City Hall and had trouble driving because I was so busy gawking.  You can tell this isn't my photo because the trees are all bare, and now you'd see a whole bunch of green leaves on them.  But isn't that building amazing?

I passed the Dow Bay Area Family YMCA, and I mention it because in Saginaw I passed the Dow Event Center, which was very busy with some kind of event.  Two buildings constitutes a pattern, and I'm guessing Dow has a big presence in this area.

I passed a company called Glass Act, I suppose a stained glass studio, and I thought the name was clever.

Bay City has a drawbridge.  And I forgot until I passed them that the Tall Ship Festival was going on this weekend and, once again, I was sorry I didn't remember in time to make room for it.  But I got to see some of the ships and, especially all together, they are really magnificent.   www.tallshipcelebration  This website has some information about the festival and the ships themselves, and some great photos.

I saw a delivery truck for Cops Coffee - "Your Safest Cup of Brew."

Back on the road
I saw a personalized license plate that read: BLPVG.  I have no idea what that is.

One of the groups that has volunteered to clean up part of the highway roadside is the American Daughters of Conservation.  I'd never heard of them but they sound interesting.   https://adconserve.org/

I passed through Omer, "Michigan's Smallest City," it claims.

I passed fields of another short green crop, this one with white flowers.  I wasn't able to get a photo, though, so have no idea what this one was.

The town of Au Gres has a Caufee Shop.  And a sense of humor.

Somewhere along the road between Au Gres and Oscoda I passed a water tower that had a crown on it.  I swear.  It was an orange water tower, unusual in itself, and had a very tall Miss Universe type crown on top, and on the side in white letters I saw "White ..." I couldn't see the rest of it.  It was probably somewhere around White Stone Point, and there're a few houses around there, and a golf course not too far away, so that might be where it is.  I can't find it on a Google aerial map but I know I saw it.

I passed through Tawas City, "Where the River Meets the Bay."  Presumably the Tawas River.

I saw there an LJS, which turned out to be a Long John Silver's seafood restaurant.  They're owned by the KFC folks - do you suppose they're trying a similar rebranding to reboot it?

A sign said, "The Bay City Party Store now sells Kratom."  Not having heard of Kratom, I looked it up and hope that's not what they were talking about.  According to webmed.com and drugabuse.gov, Kratom is a tropical tree native to Southeast Asia with leaves that are used for recreational purposes because they can have psychotropic effects.  It's not illegal and is easy to find on the internet.  And in Tawas City, apparently.

I passed a place labeled Skiddley Doot.  I'm sure that's what the sign said though I have no idea what it's about.

In Au Sable I passed a small lakeside motel full to the gills with motorcyclists and wondered if they're just a group traveling together or if there's an event going on around here.

I passed a business labeled Ante Competitive Magic and Gaming, and if I'd had more time I'd have gone in to ask what competitive magic is.

Au Sable and nearby Oscoda host an annual Paul Bunyan Days festival, complete with chainsaw carvers, a pie eating contest, rides and so forth.  This year it'll be in mid-September.  They also have an annual Paul Bunyan Comedy Festival in the spring.  They claim Paul Bunyan was born in this part of Michigan.  But they also claim he had a blue ox.

part of the rest area's beach

We stopped at a rest area again where there was another beach area nearby, and I wanted to go see it.  But Gracie heard kids screaming with fun in the water and immediately tried to hightail it back the way we came.  Usually I can convince her to come along for a ways until she gets over her first fright, but this time she was adamant.  I took her back and put her in the RV and Dexter and I went on together, which he was pretty happy about, though I don't know if he was happy to get a walk on his own or just happy not to be shut back into the RV before he was ready.

For some time now I've seen signs saying snowmobiles are allowed on the shoulder of the road.  Gives me a pretty good idea of what things are like around here in the winter.

Once again I'm passing miles of houses lying between the road and Lake Huron.

Today it was so overcast that by 2:30 people were finding the need to turn on their headlights.  I passed a couple of folks who were apparently too stubborn to understand that sometimes you need to turn your lights on during the daytime, and it was really hard to see them until they were close.

I always connect Northern Lights with Alaska, but the farther north I get in Michigan the more often I see signs relating to them and finally looked them up.  Sure enough, apparently it's not at all unusual for northern Michigan - especially the Upper Peninsula - to get a view of them.  And now I know.

In Harrisville I passed a sign for the Flour Garden Market.  Of course I assumed it was a misspelling and wondered about it, but I now find it's the name of an actual place - a bakery, of course, and a cafe.

Driving north along the coast I'm starting to run into some actual hills that go up and down.

I passed a sign saying "You Are Now Crossing the 45th Parallel - Halfway Between the Equator and the North Pole."  I've crossed it several times in other states, and here it is back again.

Alpena says it's "A Warm and Friendly Port."  I don't know about that, but I do know it's a seriously picturesque town and I'm sorry I didn't stop to take any photos.  I assumed there would be many online but now find there aren't any that show what I was seeing.  Really a pretty little place.  Well, I say little - it has 10,000 residents and is the largest town in this part of Michigan - but it doesn't feel like a big place.

I turned due west toward the only campground I could find that had room for me on a Saturday night.  Tonight's campground is really odd.  It's only got about 25 RV slots, it's completely paved, it allows only units that are totally self-contained - no pop-ups, for instance - and what it's really about is the nearby golf course and luxury hotel and restaurant.  They offer an elk sleigh ride that ends with a gourmet dinner and expensive wine and costs a bunch of money.  Despite all these trappings of wealth, the campground was no more expensive than anywhere else I've stayed.  In one sense, it was much nicer because with the campsite being paved, I didn't have to worry about mud when it started raining hard just as I pulled in.  I almost didn't get out to plug us in because it was coming down so hard, and was once again thankful I didn't have to do any leveling or other fiddly set-up chore.

Today was the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing, and I'm sure everyone alive for that event knows just where they were when it happened.  We watched on TV just like everyone else.  I was home from college and went with my family to go camping in East Texas.  To watch the landing, we left the campground early and drove down to Houston to stay with our friends the Blackwood family and watched it with them.  I still don't understand how people can think it didn't happen - to me, they miss a lot of the wonder of the natural world around us in doing so.

In honor of the event, I'm going to watch The Martian tonight.