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Sometimes my Spidey sense is right. We woke up to thunder and lightning and a torrential downpour overflowing the gutters on the hotel. Good morning to stay dry in the hotel, and enjoy breakfast until the showers were over. The hotel had an attached restaurant which offered a hot breakfast buffet. I got up first and went for coffee. We had two doors; one to the parking lot and a second to the hallway. Negotiating the inside hallways was as tricky as finding the lobby outside, but I found my way back with the coffee. I didn’t say I told you so. Didn’t have to. Thunder and pouring rain were my spokespersons. ⛈️⚡🌧️
The breakfast buffet was very good. Lots of variety and well done. There was an attendant, but she was glued to her phone and didn’t look up at anyone — until Dana asked for more coffee. She fetched another pump pot but took that as an opening to come to our table and talk to us. Way TMI. Way. And lingered way too long, too.
It was our first day starting above 70° in about a week. The rain stopped and the clouds eventually parted to a nice sunny day. However, we had strong headwinds out of Manistee all the way to Luddington and beyond. The wind eased up a bit after we got past the Luddington Pumped Storage hydro-electric plant. South Lakeshore drive to Bass Lake was tree covered and blocked a lot of the wind for a bit.
Mixed results after that, but wasn’t oppressive. Got to Silver Lake State Park campground, found a spot, set up. The sites were uncomfortably close together, but we managed to find a corner of our lot away from the maddening crowds. We took our food and cooking gear to a quieter pavilion in the day use area of the park. We enjoyed the view of the dunes across Silver Lake and there was a gorgeous sunset that night too.
All was going well until a big diesel Ford truck with a huge trailer showed up at 10 pm. They were buds with the trailer behind us and it was a long show of them all trying to get this trailer parked in a small space. And then it was chat time, though the campground’s literature claimed “Every hour is quiet hour.” Dana had more trouble ignoring the activity and getting to sleep. I had the help of a Benadryl and got to sleep despite the rustlings. Like everything in a public space, there are tradeoffs.
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