Macatawa Lake aka Black Lake

We finally made it into Michigan which has been our destination for the summer.  We stopped for the night in Holland hoping to spend the weekend at the state park but that will not happen as they have no sites available after tonight.  We should have remembered this from living here 40 years ago.  Back then one had to head to the campgrounds at noon on Friday or you wouldn’t fine a place to stay!  The exodus from Detroit back then was massive on Fridays. It seems to have moved back to Thursdays now as the park is full tonight.

We are within walking distance of Lake Michigan and across the road from Black Lake which is connected to the big lake by a man made canal.  We climbed a massive dune called Mt. Pisgah by hiking up 250 steps.  The view was so pretty of both lakes and the many condos, cabins and mansions lining their shores.  Ottawa Beach is listed on the historic registry since it was established in 1886.  It used to be a huge park with cabins all around the park and an elegant hotel as the mainstay.  But the hotel burned down in 1923.   Pres. Gerald Ford vacationed here.  It seems odd to see such a huge beach on a lake shore but the ancient glaciers left lots of sand when they pulled away millions of years ago.  I have a feeling we will learn more about those glaciers and sand dunes as we travel north along the shoreline.

The long, loooonnng trailer just like the one in the old Lucille Ball movie.

We had a short stop in Elkhart, Indiana this morning before we headed north.  We visited the RV/MH Heritage Museum and were fascinated by the motorhomes of the very early days of 1910 on up to today.  They were first called house cars with some being built on Model T’s.  The first 5th Wheels were trailers hitched to the back of cars where the spare tire or 5th wheel had been mounted. Gulf Streams were first made of wood and painted until after WWII when metal became available again and they switched over to their signature metal camper.  One RV had a painted canvas and tar paper roof.  And the furniture, beds and appliances were still original in many of the RV’s.  Very enjoyable.