Destination Michigan

Pure Michigan...you know! You've seen the commercials! Pure oasis, where's life's worries are swept away by the gentle calm lake waters. What better way to escape the coziness of our secluded quarantine lives than to runaway from the news, the fear, the future and everything else that 2020 had so lovingly gifted us.

Desperate for adventure and hearing so many praises of this beautiful state; we decided plan our journey of camping along the northeast coasts of MI all the way up to the Upper Peninsula, where the beauty and remoteness could bring us a bit of solitude. When we plan for trips we assign all the places we want to see and then maybe one place that scares us but we truly want to see and that add on was the UP. If you have the time add it on!

We're from a little town called Washington MO, just west of St. Louis and this is where the road trip begins! I promised I'd share our route taken up north for those fellow Missouri campers looking to take a similar voyage. Bleary eyed and packed to the brim we began our haul on I-44 East, past the towering Gateway Arch and onto I-55 North where we made our first stop at the Casey's Convenient Store (can you say breakfast pizza?) in Dwight Illinois. Now as a lover of the show The Office how can you not get a giggle? I chuckled so many times looking for a laugh from my husband Phil who only partially shared in the humor of my Dwightisms.

I believe myself to be a great co-pilot. I'm fun, I sing, I laugh and engage in interesting conversation, I bring snacks, I can mediate any argument and creatively come up with car games to pass the time; but by no means am I a navigation expert, so for this guide we are keeping it short and simple with landmarks of course! Here is my version of a reference map to show the route. Basically (in my best country guy on the side of the road that knows all the stops voice) you travel up north to the suburbs of Chicago, through Gary Indiana, stop by the newest National Park the Indiana Dunes if you have time (sadly we did not) and drive up that pretty Michigan coast (but don't expect to see water for awhile) to Indigo Bluffs RV Park in Empire Michigan! The farther north you drive the less you see landmarks, so stay to the route and enjoy the scenery! One more quick side note...Google Maps likes to play tricks; that silly little goose, and will tell you to take that long gravel road with the dead end to your campsite...don't take that gravel road! Or you will be turning that trailer around in someones driveway. Fooled us once Google Maps!