August 18, 2025
A beautiful sunrise greeted us this morning, albeit filled with red warnings for sailors, as we started our 2025 bus trip adventure. The summer is virtually over; schools are starting in two days and my favorite time of year is just ahead.
It’s been a crazy year with unforeseen events shaping our futures in ways we did not anticipate. In some ways good, in some ways not so much, but in all of it l feel blessed mightily.
Paul had a massive heart attack a month or so after our last bus trip. We feel so grateful that with the rapid intervention (he was in the hospital for a stress test when it hit) and by the grace of God he had no permanent damage and is doing very well. Most likely he has more O2 flowing through his system than he had in a long time prior. He’s lost weight and we are both more aware of what we are eating. I’ve actually gained but I’m more aware. So there is that.
And I’m retired. Everyone seems to think this is a wonderful thing; for me it’s been a mixed bag. I loved my job but am also faced with the reality of aching knees, creaking joints and an aging woman looking back at me from the mirror each morning. I approached my final day at work with anticipation and dread. I’m a person who needs a purpose. Well, Destiny laughed at me and threw me a few curve balls and I find I’m busier than ever. I thought I’d organize my closets and clean my office and scrapbook my family photos. So far I haven’t even had time to mop the floors. To be honest I’m not much of a scrapbooking person anyway. And cleaning has never filled me with passion either. Inner conflict is a constant though because I like a clean house and neat closets.
We spent the summer in the company of our grandchildren. Gracious neighbors offered their pool up for our enjoyment and we took full advantage. Putt-putting and local water parks, ice-cream cones and card games, golf practices and competitions, hiking in the woods and Sunday breakfasts on the Blackstone after church, these things and more, helped us find joy as we navigated through the chaos of unplanned life events. The high point was a trip to the Outer Banks, one of our favorite vacation spots these past twenty years or more. Our grandchildren are now the age their parents were when we first fell in love with Nag’s Head and Kitty Hawk. Climbing the dunes with them this year took me back to a time when I labored under the illusion that the safety and happiness of my children were within my control. Life has taught me a thing or two since then.
Now it’s a few days away from our responsibilities for Paul and I. This year we are the smallest group since our first trip with these friends a decade or more ago. There are only about twenty of us, less than half the number on the first trip we took together. Cancer claimed some, COVID took others. Mose, Cal, Mary, Chris, and Sharon are no longer here. Others are dealing with health challenges preventing them from travel. They are all missed and their names come up in conversations along the way as we remember a meal we shared or a joke that was told or a prank that was played. We are reminded to appreciate every day we are given and to live life with everything we’ve got while we still can.
Our first stop today was in Perrysburg, Ohio. We ate brunch at a First Watch. My avocado toast with perfectly over-easy eggs hit the spot. And the hips too, no doubt.
Back on the bus we investigated the on-board facilities. This is one of the luxury busses, with reclining seats, incredible leg room, arm rests, charging ports, TVs, and plenty of personal space. A tour of the toilet area revealed maybe five more inches of room than an average run-of-the-mill bus and an actual curtain for the frosted window. Why do you need a curtain for a frosted window you ask? Well, even when the window is supposedly secure and not see-through, it is decidedly disconcerting to arrange oneself on a commode, careening down the highway, without having to worry that a sadistic bus designer put in one-way glass for the amusement of other motorists. Hence the curtain. Or at least that’s my theory.
An hour later we stopped in Ann Arbor, Michigan to pick up Shirl. Shirl’s husband Cal was one of the many casualties of COVID. I remember him well from our first bus trip, always joking around from the seat behind me, nothing ever dull when he was around. I’m glad Shirl keeps coming along on these trips even though I’m sure it’s not always easy. Things are never dull when she’s around either. She’s managed to keep her upbeat attitude and fun-loving spirit in spite of the heartaches life has doled out.
We traveled on to Mackinaw City, Michigan, arriving at our hotel around 4 pm. When we left Ohio this morning the weather was warm and humid. We stepped off the bus to grey skies, brisk winds, and cool temperatures. After grabbing warmer clothes from our suitcases we re-boarded and left to do some strolling and shopping around the town.
Mackinaw City looks much like any other quaint little tourist town with all the retail outlets usually found in such a place. It is not altogether unlike our home town of Berlin with fudge and candy shops and stores filled with souvenirs, cheap except for the prices. What I suspect was once a thriving little traveler’s destination now has “For Rent” signs in more than one window and I wondered if the abandoned buildings were fall-out from COVID or some other economic crisis.
I met Paul coming from the other end of the street with a very small block of fudge he informed me had cost six dollars. Back on the bus he gave a sliver to everyone who was interested and it vanished like smoke on a windy day. I’m not a fudge person but it was good, I have to say.
We ate supper at Audie’s Restaurant, a family affair, with a nice buffet ready and waiting for us. Part of the reason I love bus trips is the lack of waiting in restaurants. Tables are already set for us with all the arrangements made before our arrival. The food was good and plentiful and once we were properly stuffed we got back on the bus for a short trip to a local lumberjack show.
We spent an hour being amazed by Dakota and Tommy, the two lumberjacks performing the pseudo competition, during which we, in the stands, hollered, clapped, and screamed ‘TIMBERRRRRR!” repeatedly. At the end of the show two people from the audience were called up to participate and were then rewarded with a Frisbee and a free ice-cream coupon.
One of the lucky contestants was seated next to Paul and during her introduction to the crowd we were told she hails from London, Ontario. When she returned to her seat, Frisbee in hand, her companion sarcastically informed her that she will need to pay tariffs on her loot when she gets back to Canada. Paul and I found this way more amusing than was warranted, I dare say. He of course, struck up a conversation with them that lasted more than a few minutes since he is also a Canadian. Unlike me, Paul is able to strike up a conversation over far less than hailing from the same country. By the time he got back on the bus he knew where they were from, that they had been on the same river cruise we are hoping to take next year, that they received flack from acquaintances back home for visiting the USA in this political climate, that they didn’t care, that they planned to see the world anyway, and sundry other details about their lives. He said it was the best part of the evening.
When we got back to the hotel, who should we see in the lobby except Paul’s two new friends. I fled to the snack room and picked up a Klondike bar.
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