A nice map of the northern LP of Michigan. This covers the entire area that we are currently touring. Our next camping spot will be in the Gaylord/Greyling area, then the eastern Lake Huron coast, and finally the St. Ignace area.

Today was moving day and Boondockers Welcome day. As I mentioned previously, we joined the Harvest Host/Boondockers Welcome organization. Today we move to our first ever Boondockers Welcome (BW) site.

It was kind of sad to leave Thurston Park in Central Lake. We loved the location and the park is so well run. The husband and wife hostess team kept everything in tip-top shape. This really came through in regards to the bathrooms and showers, the ultimate gauge of how well a campground is taken care of. These facilities were spotless. 

We stopped off at the dump station on our way out to dump our grey water and take on some fresh water. Mr. Host, I am terrible with names, stopped over to ask us how we liked our stay. It turns out that his wife’s family originally vacationed in the area. As a couple, she introduced vacationing up here to her husband. Once retired, they became seasonal campers at Thurston Park. Last year, the town asked them to manage the park and they agreed. Camp hosting is something that Wanda and I briefly, and I mean briefly, thought about. It just wouldn’t fit into our “exploratory wanderations” (I love inventing words).

It was a two hour drive to our inaugural BW site. We got there about 1 pm. We were completely blown away by the place. Dan, the BW host, has a large partially wooded, partially open yard out in the country. His campsite, well secluded, was a full-blown single campsite with professional water and electrical hookups. He even had a clean port-a-potty off to the side at a perfect distance - not on top of the site but not too far away.

Dan showed us his unusual hobby. He collects and restores vintage Flexible buses from the 1940s and 50s. Something like only 150 buses were built by the Flexible Motor Company and Dan owns three of them. One is cannibalized for parts while the other two have been turned into RVs. He spends three winter months in Florida every year in one of his Flexible RVs.

This is the sign that welcomed us to Dan's private BW campsite.

Dan provides professional campground hookups.

One of Dan's refurbished Flexible RV bus.

Our first BW host, Dan. Dan is the owner of daDesigns Printing, which he runs out of his shop on his property. He really spoiled us.

We picked this particular BW location because of Dan’s proximity to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. We are saving Sleeping Bear for our full day tomorrow. Today, we headed south along the Northland Scenic Highway, or Highway 22 as the State of Michigan calls it. So, as soon as we set up, we headed toward Manistee, Michigan. 

Along the way is the town of Arcadia. Just north of Arcadia are the Arcadia Bluffs, a stretch of tall sand dune bluffs. I was looking for an overlook called Inspiration Point. I never found this spot, but I did find the Arcadia Dunes: The C.S. Mott Nature Preserve. The Preserve has about 20 miles of trails including three miles along the lakefront high on the bluffs. Much of the trail is through dense forest, however, two spectacular overlooks are provided. 

When we reached the first overlook we were surprised to witness a blackness spreading across the sky. We booked the mile to the next overlook. There, we were greeted by an even larger inky blackness that included lightning and long rolls of thunder. The dunes were so beautiful that we lingered as long as possible before hightailing it back to the van, a mile away. It started raining before we reached the van, but the forest canopy was so thick that we barely felt a drop.

The trailhead for the Arcadia Dunes.

The first 3/4 mile of trail was paved and boardwalked.

Cool green ground cover.

The first overlook. You couldn't see much so even though a storm was brewing, we hiked to the next overlook that promised to reveal a lot more sand.

Gone were pavement and boardwalks.

We wanted sand, and sand is what we got.

When we reached Manistee, it was umbrella time once more. This small city, like so many of these LP coastline towns, hugged a channel that drained a large large into Lake Michigan. The city straddled the Manistee River, Manistee Lake, and Lake Michigan. Do you think it was a perfect spot for boating? Yep, but just one of a zillion up here.

I liked Manistee a lot. The town was not touristy at all. It was just a clean well-maintained midwestern middle-class town that happened to have this awesome water resource. Unfortunately, the rain pushed us back to our BW site earlier than usual. We look forward to visiting Sleepy Bear tomorrow.

My favorite Manistee building.

If this wonderful looking art-decco style barber shop had been open, I would have stopped in for a haircut whether needed or not.

The Manistee River connecting the Manistee Lake with Lake Michigan.

At another town, a social district was an area of town that allowed open containers of booze. I wonder if "The Stee" is the same.

The harbor's access to Lake Michigan.

Glossary of terms used for newcomers: 1) V-Jer. The name of our camper. 2) Saturn. The name of our Van. 3) Duende. Our mischievous gremlin that breaks things. 4) Tata. The good gremlin that helps us fix Duende’s dirty work. 5) The Black Hole. This is what we call Walmart because every time we go in for just a couple of items, we come out spending way more than we figured. 6) QT. Quaint Town. 7) Little Buddy. This is what we call our Dyson cordless stick vacuum.

Dave and Wanda

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