Kewadin Casino, Manistique, Michigan

We covered 327 miles on the first day of travel, not bad since we had some wedding clean-up to do this morning.  As for the idea of leaving on a five-week road trip the day after your daughter’s wedding, I wouldn’t recommend it.  Planning for and executing a wedding and packing for a road trip simultaneously doesn’t always mesh well.

There’s a reason that many people take the day after their daughter’s wedding off.  It gives you time to catch up on that sleep that you missed and to rest from moving 800 chairs to make room for the wedding tables.  We pulled off the road at one point and took a 20-minute nap as we could feel the effects of the last few days drawing us down.  Driving 11,000 pounds while sleepy just doesn’t seem like a good idea.

The wedding went very well.  I was pleased with the ceremony, the reception, and a lot of the stuff that went into it.  I have a new appreciation for what it takes to put on a gig like this.  There’s a lot that goes into it.

This morning we had a bunch of wedding follow-up to do, including taking one of the bridesmaids to the airport, so we didn’t leave until after noon.  Something about doing five loads of laundry, returning tablecloths to the church, running other errands, and doing final packing of the RV that takes up an entire morning.  But we finally left home, pinching each other to make sure that this was really happening.

The fall colors are right about their peak in our area and along the roads heading north, so we were treated to all the brilliance and color that Michigan has to offer. The colors were amazing, even in the pouring rain.  We had periods of rain for the entire drive today, and it’s raining lightly now as I write this.

We stopped in a rest area just after the bridge and took a short walk along the beach that overlooks the bridge.  It wasn’t raining at that time, but it was still cold and blustery, but a walk felt good anyway.  We made dinner right in the rest-area parking lot, having some of the leftovers from prior meals that were packed in the fridge.  The first few days will probably be a lot of leftovers.  After storing portions for several prior meals and then having food left over from the wedding, we have quite a bit to eat through.  Makes for easy meals, however.

We traveled west on US Highway 2 for a while, enjoying the view of Lake Michigan even as it was getting dark.  The colors are a bit more muted here, I’m sure they were splendid a week ago.  But they are past peak here.  The gloom and the rain doesn’t help either.

We stopped for the night at Kewadin Casino in Manistique, in a quiet section of their back parking lot.  First time we have boondocked at a casino.  It’s quieter than a rest area because there are no trucks.  In fact, it’s amazingly quiet here.  Other than the rain on the roof, we hear nothing at all.