Brrrrrrrr!  We stepped out of the truck at Whitmore Lake, Michigan at 5 p.m. Sunday afternoon.  I was wearing capri’s and a cotton 3/4 sleeve shirt.  Ten minutes later I had unpacked my blue jeans, long-sleeved t-shirt and fleece jacket.  It was 61 degrees, but very windy, making it seem much colder.  In fact, they just said on TV that there was a frost warning for tomorrow morning.  Wow!  What a shock.  We have never been north this early in the spring, so we didn’t know what to expect – but we came prepared, so all is good.

We left Jason and Blair’s at 5 a.m. this morning, tiptoeing out of their house with dogs and suitcases in hand.  Bear settled into his favorite spot in the backseat – lying with his head resting right on top of the air conditioning vent between the two front seats.  Maddie alternated her time between my lap and Ted’s and occasionally crawled in the back with Bear, totally ticking him off because she was taking up some much coveted territory back there.  When she moved to the back, Bear moved over to the window so he could catch some side vent air.

 

Two of the highlights of the trip are going through the Great Smokey Mountains and coming into Cincinnati, Ohio.  Cincinnati is called “the city built on seven hills” just like Rome, Italy.  It’s very industrial, but when you  round a curve and see it for the first time rising up over those elevations, it is really a striking city.  It is also the home of the Cincinnati Bengals, and their stadium sits right off I-75 (I personally couldn’t care less about that, but Ted is always excited to see a football stadium.)

We stop every 3-4 hours on this trip.  We stretch our legs, the dogs take care of their business, we run inside a fast food place and grab a bite to eat while the dogs stay in the truck.  What’s good about traveling this time of the year up here is that you can leave your pets in your vehicle and not worry about them getting too hot.  We also stop at rest stops along the way so they can run a little.  It’s hard for Bear especially to be cooped up in so small a space for so long.

So, we are now 4 hours away from Mackinac Island.  We went to our little favorite restaurant for that perch basket we had been looking forward to only to find out that they had run out of perch the night before.  What a letdown!  We had the poor waitress so upset when we told her we had driven 10 hours for that perch basket, but she suggested some good substitutes, and I had the best homemade clam chowder I have ever eaten, while Ted had a steak (surprise!).

We will take our time tomorrow getting to the island.  All the ferries are not running this early in the season, so if we miss the noon ferry, there is not another one until 1:30.  That is the one we will try and catch. 

We’ve been away from the island for 6 1/2 months. My new friend from Mackinac City calls us “doublenesters” because both her family and mine have two homes.  I had never heard that expression before, but I really like it.  It explains something I’ve been trying to verbalize for several weeks.  We have two nests, two favorite places, and most important and most special, two places to call home and to come home to.  And Monday, we come home to Mackinac Island.