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Nice to wake up and have coffee made and waiting for you. We joined the Folgers for breakfast before Craig left for work and their home-schooling lessons began. Whatever their formula is, Craig’s and Kelsey’s kids are all engaging and polite and we all took a moment to capture a group photo. After breakfast, I did a double-check on Dana’s tire after we both noticed a wobble. I took out 1/2 of the double boot and reseated the tire and crossed my fingers that it would last for a couple more days. We packed up and said our goodbyes to the Folgers and headed out for, well, we’re not quite sure.
One potential target is Van Buren State Park, a mere 67 miles away. We’re now about 150 miles from Goshen and we’d like to split that up into three 50 mile days. We decided to get to Saugatuck and re-check our plan there. The good thing about the SP is that they have to give us a spot, even if the campground is full. Downside of SPs here are that they don’t have any internet provided, despite being rather pricey compared to the commercial campgrounds.
On the way, we passed through Holland. While we were through there last year, this year’s route bypassed much of last year’s. The fresh perspective took us past a metal recycling plant replete with a car crusher and metal shredder. Outside the facility were a number of metal sculptures — we’ll assume assembled by some of the workers, but who knows. There’s a small gallery of them included in the pics.
We got to Saugatuck and had lunch in a park while we scarfed Xfinity mobile internet and checked weather and other options. Dana tried a couple of campgrounds — one was a private club that required memberships in order to pitch a tent, and the memberships were more than the campsite. She found another that was reasonable and cut five miles off our afternoon journey. We switched gears and rerouted ourselves to the Kal-Haven Outpost. It wasn’t ideal as it was quite far inland, but any port in a storm, and there was a storm potential that night.
We headed out of Saugatuck across the river to it’s sister city Douglas. There we stopped at a grocery store for provisions for the camp stay. We continued on the way to Kal-Haven, but before we got even a mile, I heard Dana talking loudly behind me. I turned to see her taking to a woman through the passenger side window of an small SUV. They finished their conversation and the woman passed me and Dana reported that she asked if we needed a shower. Dana said thank you very much, but we still have 15 miles to get to our campground, so we’ll wait until then.
We continued following our map down the street where this woman had just turned, too. Up ahead, we saw her in her driveway flagging us down. We stopped and she commented that it looked like we were on a mission to get to the campground, but she had a guest house that was empty and available to us if we’d like. I said, “I’m not on a mission!” and turned to Dana and asked, “Are you on a mission?” Tracey led us next door to her guest house and we were nonplussed at this turn of events. It didn’t take more than a few steps in before I was convinced to end the day there. Dana came around quickly, too, especially after seeing the gorgeous view in the back that looked out on the Kalamazoo River wetlands. Tracey explained that she bought the land and built this small house to prevent a developer from building a three story monstrosity. This house was a ranch with a small footprint, but big enough for her son to visit with his family and, as she added, for people like us she finds cycling through Douglas. Tracey was so lovely and gracious and urged that we take showers, do laundry, get settled, help ourselves to whatever was in the fridge, and to come over to her house at 6 for hors d’oeuvres and wine or beer.
When she left, we got our showers, threw in our laundry, and luxuriated in our great luck. We sat out on the porch watching the river while sipping a couple of canned cocktails I had bought at the grocery to enjoy at the campground. They tasted so much better here.
At six-ish (when in another storyline, we would maybe have made it to the campground), we walked over to Tracey’s house for happy hour and enjoyed a long conversation with her about how she ended up there from Chicago, post-divorce, and her friends and life in Douglas. Sounded pretty interesting and satisfying to us. Oh, and we got to pick our own cocktail glasses from her collection, some of which she had made herself in a glass-blowing class. We both picked ones that she had made and that made our happies even more special. After happies, she made a delicious pasta dish and Dana used Tracey’s home-grown veggies to concoct an equally delicious salad. After dinner, Tracey baked cookies for dessert! What a wonderful evening, and what a fabulous and generous woman — a true Road Angel. We made our way back to the guest house with a tray of homemade yogurt and granola for breakfast, clamored into bed, and sunk into a glorious sleep.
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