2021 Fall Trip - Day 2 - 8/25/2021

Wednesday, August 25, 2021 - And away we go! I left Erie, PA at 7:41 AM, and checked into the Super 8 in St. Ignace, Michigan (on the Upper Peninsula) at 8:41 PM, with nice stops at The Toledo Museum of Art, Flint Institute of Art, Bay City Yacht Club, and Tunnel of Trees Scenic Heritage Road - 599 miles in 13 hours:

It's a beautiful morning out on I-90, heading west. But what is that rainbow doing ahead?

Well, shortly afterwards, a rain-storm (no lightning) of Biblical Proportions came down. We all dropped down to 20 mph (sometimes stopping). It was all over by the time I got to Cleveland:

I LOVE being on I-80 and I-90 AT THE SAME TIME:

A fun "Airstream":

I reached The Toledo Museum of Art at 11:22

I have been here twice before (the 2nd day of my Sept 2013 trip west, and in August 2019). They have a wonderful collection, and I took photos of 39 pieces and 3 galleries. It is always nice to see an old friend - Claude Monet "Water Lilies", about 1922-25:

Claude Monet "Antibes Seen from La Salis", 1888:

Jasper Cropsey "Starrucca Viaduct, Pennsylvania", 1865:

Winslow Homer "Sunlight on the Coast", 1890:

And 2 of their galleries:

And of course I couldn't leave without saying hello to their "history of the museum" photo:

Since this is my walking for today, I used MapMyWalk:

Then up the road for a healthy lunch (with milk!):

Yes, out here in Michigan, it is still hot:

I reached Flint Institute of Art at 3 PM. I have been here twice before (Oct 2014 and August 2019):

Not to repeat previous blogs, so 2 gems are:

Jasper Cropsey - "Hudson River View, Summer", 1862:

Martin Johnson Heade - "Sunrise on the Marshes", 1863:

From there it was an hour to get up to the Bay City Yacht Club, which is where Platt and I won the 110 Nationals back in 1974:

Two hours later I filled up with gas. I had been doing cruise-control at 81 mph on I-75 North, and running the air conditioning. It turns out that that combo REALLY KILLS your miles-per-gallon, and when I filled up, the Crosstrek though I could only go 400 miles on a full tank.

Sure is nice out here in Michigan:

Over the past couple of years I have become aware of "America's Scenic Byways", which go by a number of different names, but all seem to have the word "Scenic" in them. Sounds like a good basis for a road-trip! I'll be hitting 3 of them in Michigan - today I went west to the Tunnel of Trees Scenic Heritage Road, which runs 23 miles north along Lake Michigan:

I figured I would experiment with a back-looking-selfie through the sunroof:

A nice phone call with Wendy right before I went over the Mackinac Bridge:

Final view west:

checked into the Super 8 in St. Ignace, Michigan (on the Upper Peninsula) at 8:41 PM. HEY - Thank you God for this wonderful art-and-memories adventure day!

Music for today was albums from my silver nano:

Dead and Company - 2019/07/05 Boulder, CO


Then because I was still in Ohio, I wanted to listen to a band from Cleveland:
the Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, 1995 double album

It sounded so good I listened to it twice

Carrie Underwood - Play On, 2009 3rd album

She's a Midwest-kind-of-girl.

Bruce Springsteen - Purple Rain [from "2016/04/23 Brooklyn, NY"]



Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Life, 1987


Rod Stewart - A Night on the Town, 1976

A surprisingly good album.

The Beach Boys - Smiley Smile, 1967

You would think that an album that starts off with "Heroes and Villains" on side one, and "Good Vibrations" on side two would be GREAT - but all the rest is lousy.

Bon Jovi - What About Now, 2013

Um, don't need it.

Bob Schneider - Lonelyland, 2001 first album