Robbie Thomas
Traverse City Vacation
July 2nd
I went on a three-day vacation to Traverse City and other places. This is my first multi-day vacation in about 11 years. I’ve done one-day deals and gone on a big trip with me leaving the house in the morning and returning home late at night. It started with me leaving my house at 9 am, following I-75 for nearly 200 miles, listening mainly to Myles Bennett Dyson’s calls to the drug dealers. I got to M-72 and I needed to piss. I went to an Arby’s in Kalkaska, and the lobby was closed. Then I drove across the street to a gas station to see both stalls were occupied, for five minutes. I gave up and the Subway had an open stall, I pissed for about two minutes.
My hotel was not in Traverse City, instead it was in East Bay Township. I settled in at 1 pm and later drove into Traverse City. Had a hard time finding a parking lot that allowed one to park for two hours at a time. I found a 4-story parking garage that was packed sans the fourth floor. TC is very expensive. A beer costs $9, a bowl of some fancy ramen costs $18, ice cream $9, and a slice of pepperoni pizza, $5. A couple of places where I bought food and drink, the servers seemed pissed off. I figured that the inflation was making it difficult for them to live in TC or surrounding areas. I would later figure out that there are free shuttle rides from downtown TC to the nearby city of Acme, my hotel was on the way.
Heading back to the hotel, I spent some time in the hot tub and also the beach behind the hotel. I had a difficult time sleeping that night, so I spent some time working on my manuscript. And watching HBO. One of the dumb things I did was buy water from the hotel. It was 32oz, but they charged me $4. The next day, I went to the gas station within walking distance to buy water for much less. Plus, a 1 liter of Sprite with the cups the hotel supplied.
July 3rd
One of the things I wanted to do while here in TC and surrounding areas is to drive M-22 in it’s entirety, plus a bonus, visit the Grand Traverse lighthouse. That morning, I attempted to brew a cup of coffee, but I fucked up when I put the coffee bag where the water goes. I opened the next bag reading the instructions this time and got it right. Starbucks Frappuccino is my coffee, I very rarely drink regular coffee. I watched the local morning news, 9and10news, the CBS affiliate of northern Michigan. Took a liking to the lovely older Asian female reporter.
I discovered that there is a Thai Restaurant outside of town and after passing it by once. Got in the busy parking lot and found myself a seat. This restaurant had Asian chefs and a waitress, but the rest of the staff were white, like me. My waitress seemed pissed off and I got a couple of dirty looks from other customers in the restaurant. I felt like I was in a fucking horror movie when the shit goes down. I guess these folks don’t like tourists. One of the women giving me foul looks wore a shirt from the nearby Northwestern Michigan College. After I was done with my trip I’m about to talk about it in the next paragraphs, I drove past that plaza, and it had very few cars in that lot. Strange…
I planned to go directly to Sleeping Bear Dunes following M-72 to its west terminus in the village of Empire. M-22’s north terminus is at downtown TC. Instead, I done fucked up, passing that left turn. Seeing a shitload of traffic going to the Cherry Festival on the southbound side, I decided that I’ll do the big portion of M-22. At the start is the village of Greilickville, but after a while, it’s was mainly townships. It took a little time to get to Sutton’s Bay.
I stopped there, got some water, and visited the bookstore to tell them I’m an author, they handed me a business card, just like the two I visited in TC. I continued to Peshawbestown, it rang a bell due to me visiting Walpole Island and listening to that one MC over there stating that was his current residence. North of that town was Graham Greene Park, I wonder if they named it after the actor that was on Red Green and Die Hard 3? I’m guessing so.
Next up was Omena, I did notice a pot shop in the area. I suppose the folks in Sutton’s Bay, Peshawbestown, and Omena get their weed there. M-22 did not go to the Grand Traverse Lighthouse, instead, you have the choice of turning left (if you’re going north) to M-22 or going north on M-201. I did the latter and ran into a town called Northport. This town featured a Main Street that made a few turns to stay on M-201, which was strange. Besides that, I didn’t stop in that town, it was packed. After Northport, it was nothing but a few buildings, cherry trees, farms, an airport, and a pot shop in the middle of nowhere. I forgot the name and I can’t find it on Google Maps.
After traveling that road, I got to Leelanau State Park and got to go to the Grand Traverse Lighthouse, great view!
Moving back to Northport to get back on M-22. I passed the town of Leland, I thought of stopping into town but parking was hard to find. Plus, since it was the 4th of July week, it was packed. Traveling some more, I got to Glen Arbor. It looked nice and I wanted to stop there, but parking was hard to find. I didn’t want to park a mile away from town in a spot where I’m not supposed to park, later to see that my car was towed. I did see a tow truck with a car when I left town.
Just like Leland, Glen Arbor was packed. There was a bookstore there, I guess an e-mail will do with my author inquiry. To stay on M-22, you make a left turn (if going south). I would later discover that north of Glen Arbor, there’s a resort called The Homestead, which looks interesting.
To get to the Sleeping Bear Dunes main entrance, you have to make a turn on M-109. I went in, paid the fee, and did the scenic route twice. The Sleeping Bear Dunes overlook was packed and I had to find a ‘non-parking’ spot, I wasn’t the only one doing that. I thought about going down the dune and climbing back up, but with this trip, I have made quite a few fuck-ups. With that said, I thought that going down the dune and not being able to make it back up would be a problem.
After I was done with Sleeping Bear Dunes, I headed back to my hotel. Turning at the village of Empire and going west on M-72 until I found the hotel. I stayed on the beach while the sun was out, finishing a novel on my tablet (with the unsecure Wi-Fi) and later worked on my manuscript. And another turn on the hot tub while talking to a couple that lived around my area in Belleville. I slept better that night while watching WarGames on Cinemax. The Goo Goo Dolls were playing at the Cherry Festival, but it was sold out before I could get a ticket. Bummer!
July 4th
Went on a long walk on M-72, all the way to Downtown Traverse City. I figured I’d see the parade due to someone telling me the parade starts at 5 pm. Arrived in the downtown area at 2 pm and walked around and into the residential areas while on the Atlas Earth app. I bought land on that app under the 9and10news building. Not sure if that building is where they do the news, 9and10news had buildings in Cadillac and Petosky.
The Parlor is a bar that I liked. They had outdoor couches where I could enjoy my hard cider and Grey Goose. once exiting, I saw the Traverse City Police Department putting up barricades and getting prepped for the parade on Front Street. And to my drunken amusement, I saw police writing parking tickets for many cars, plus all the tow trucks taking cars away. I saw a woman with her son and husband approaching a cop asking, “Where’s my car?” The cop saying, “It’s must’ve been towed.” The kid asking, “You car is gone?” Then the mom saying, “Yes, my car is gone!”
Yes, it’s a bit hypocritical for me to laugh at this, especially for my fuck-ups on the way here and while being here. But with a parade in town, I would look into alternatives besides parking on the street or streets where the parade is. I’m guessing that some of these people arrived on that day to see the fireworks and didn’t know much about the upcoming parade. While this was going on, I saw that the parade was starting at 6:30 pm as opposed to 5 pm. It was the beginning of the four o’clock hour and my ADHD self sure wasn’t going to wait. That parade wasn’t that important to me, so I headed out of town, chowed down at a cheaper restaurant, and took the shuttle to the hotel.
While watching a little of the movie Doomsday, I took to the web for a ticket to see the Great Lakes Loons, a single-a Baseball team based in Midland, MI. I was going to buy a ticket but the website doesn’t seem so helpful compared to The Tigers site. Also, the thought was that weather could be a factor for the game. Rain and storms, no baseball. So that was put on hold.
I took another trip to the pool and talked to a guy from Farmington Hills. We talked about Detroit and talked shit about our neighborhoods. Then I went to the beach with my pad of paper to write while the sun was out. Going back inside for a moment to put everything away and grab a beer. Then back to watch the fireworks. They had fireworks from all angles minus straight ahead. Left, left-center, right-center, and to the right. The last fireworks were done just shortly after 11 pm and people were leaving. In the end, it was me plus three people talking among themselves about God and Creation. I fell asleep quickly in my hotel room at 1130pm.
July 5th
I woke up to somebody around the hotel firing off fireworks or M-80s at 3:35 am. Heard big booms for ten minutes. I was able to fall back asleep later and woke up at 5 am with a headache and went downstairs to buy some aspirin. Didn’t fall back asleep. Spent some time watching Carrie 2: The Rage while working on my manuscript. Stood at the beach for a while during the rain, but didn’t walk in the sand. Watched 9and10news for the last time. Checked out at 1015 am, just got bored.
Drove to the west end of M-72 to go to M-22 south and finished my ride. Past the village or Frankfort and Elberta and interestingly, a CDP called Crystallia, just before getting to Frankfort. Seen 13 Mile Road on the way, and chances are good this isn’t the same 13 Mile by me. Stopped in Onekama for a Faygo Cola at the gas station/grocery store. Onekama has a 8 Mile Road. Wow!!! 8 Mile Road goes all the way to northern Michigan? I didn’t see the M-102 sign! (Kidding).
I stopped at the Meijer south of the end of M-22 and couldn’t get a good internet connection and couldn’t get the ball rolling on attending the Great Lakes Loons game, nor could I get a look at the weather in Midland at the time. I went down M-55 next and although M-22 was better, that road can be awfully scary with the twists and turns. So, M-55 offered a straight line. It was a long straight line that went on for a while. I saw roads with just a number, 3 Road, 5 Road, 8 Road, 20 Road, 22 Road, 35 Road. Perhaps they ran out of road names. I got to Cadillac but didn’t venture into the downtown area. I would later learn that there is a KISS Monument. If I knew that was there, I would’ve went to see that.
I turned off to M-115 and thought of stopping to get an idea about the game and weather, and there was a Subway where the M-55/M-115 interchange was. However, the Subway in question was at a heavy traffic intersection and a left turn was out of the question. Eager to move on, I went down M-115 to see if it was the same thing as M-55, a straight line but asking for a slower speed limit. I also saw a 15 Mile Road, a 19 Mile Road, and a 20 Mile Road. Our 20 Mile is Hall Road. Stopping in the village of Farwell, I find a nice gazebo and take my laptop bag out. First, I looked at the weather forecast in Midland, the app tells me that was is an 80 percent chance of rain and thunderstorms at 7pm. Shit…
When I saw that, I was very happy that I didn’t buy a ticket. For all the fuckups I’ve done, I’m glad I didn’t do that. Made a call to one of my best friends and told him I’m on my way back, no baseball game for me. That was a bummer, I wanted to go to that. So eventually after a GPS fucked sending me two miles off course, I got onto US-10, my second time on that road and went down to I-75. The construction they had on that road reduced it down to two lanes with the slow lane unstable, so I traveled down the fast lane.
While on that road, I received a warning where my odometer was, saying I needed to rest. That was strange to me, I was never expecting my car to tell me to take a rest. Did the car know that I didn’t sleep well? It did that three times, twice while on the reduced two-lane highway and once when I got out of it when I passed M-15. The rest of the way went by smoothly and I didn’t see many red lights and fewer people on the road. However, when I was ten minutes away from home, it’s seemed so surreal and I thought, ‘Am I really here?’ For a usual Friday in a busy shopping center, it would be packed, but it’s the day after July 4th, some people out there just don’t need to be anywhere. Glad they didn’t get out.
At the end of it all, Traverse City isn’t what I thought it would be. It just seems like a Royal Oak in Northwest Michigan, only with several beaches. So, that’s a plus. I’m a right-leaning independent and I don’t mind lefty cities and towns such as Royal Oak or the Grosse Pointes. I’m not a MAGA guy and going to scream at the townsfolk for being liberal. However, I found East Bay Township, east of TC and where my hotel was, more of my liking as opposed to the latter. Yes, TC offers more independent shops and that’s great.
One of these days I will go to TC and M-22 again, I would love to do that. I thought of the idea of going to East Bay Township on the morning of July 4th and settling in, going to TC, and head back to the hotel for fireworks. That was one of the best fireworks displays I got to see! On a Lake Michigan beach seeing a shitload of fireworks from every angle, you can beat that, and I like to do that again. Also, I better not park in town on July 4th, especially on Front Street. Holy fuckaroni!
