Part Two of: The Road We Traveled To Find ....That Less Is More!!!!

When I started writing yesterday I got sidetracked. Guess I just got caught up in all the 4th of July celebrating. Earlier, before writing yesterday's second post , I had thought of my favorite poem that speaks to me in so many special ways. Today, I would like to share the poet's words that capture my present thought and mood as I reminisce about RVing days of the recent past. 



The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveller, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference

...Robert Frost 

It was mere chance that I traveled the road pictured above. The "Pups", Evin and I had just been to the U. P. and we were leaving and heading south toward Indiana. We had gone to the Upper Peninsula just to see Pictured Rocks. Our first night in the U. P. we had boon docked at Hog Island State Forest Campground. A beautiful primitive campground, twenty or so mile from the Mackinac Bridge.

Mackinac Bridge

Hog Island

Our campsite. Picture 1.

Our campsite. View 2.

As we were leaving our Hog Island campsite, there was a fork in the road at a "T" intersection. We went left when we should have gone right. The turn was too tight and impossible to make because of trees. We had to unhitch the RV from the truck and rehitch from the opposite side. To make a long story short, we had a hitch failure and did over $9,000 damage to our new truck. Not to be discouraged, we took the road to the right and went on to Pictured Rocks. What a beautiful creation of God and Mother Nature.

Indian Head Point

Table Rock

Mother Nature at work!!

Our campsite at Munising Municipal Tourist Park & Campground

As we were driving south on the Mackinac Bridge the truck phone rings and it is Phyllis, Evin's cousin and "my sister by another mother". She asked where we are and when I tell her, she says, "Take the exit to Petoskey and look for some Petoskey stones." Never heard of them, but I took the exit. Phyllis used to be a tour guide! She headed us onto "The Road We Traveled to Find ....That Less Is More!!!!"

We decided to stay at Petoskey State Park. As we were driving around looking for a suitable campsite, I saw a sign posted at the Camp Host's site that there were free coffee and cookies on Saturday mornings. On Saturday morning, instead of heading for the beach, I took the dogs on their morning walk in the direction of the Camp Host's campsite. I soon met a wonderful lady. Nancy, I think was her name. She was camping for the summer with her dog in a mini-van. She also had a large screened tent covering her picnic table. No fancy RV. She shared with me that she was a widow. As I remember it, (not positive) she had always wanted to camp but her husband never wanted to. She laughed and said, "Now I can!" So happens that she has a daughter that lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, which is near our present home. Time and time again, we learn that if we allow it, God's will for us is always far, far better than our self-will.

The cookies were homemade and were great. Nancy asked me where we had been and where were we planning to go from there. I told her we had been to the U. P. and were now heading south toward Traverse City. She started asking me, "Did we see Fayette? What did we think of the Porcupine Mountains and 'Lake in the Clouds'? Wasn't Whitefish Point and Crisp Point lighthouses great?" We had been to the U. P. and we hadn't seen any of these places!!!! I told her so and she said, "Oh, no! I am so sorry for you! You missed so much!"

She then asked, "What have you seen around here? Have you been to the 'Tunnel of Trees', Good Heart, the chapel, and Legs Inn?" I told her no. We talked about places to see going south. I thanked her and the pups and I continued on our walk. Several hours later she came over to our campsite and handed me a Michigan state map. On it, in green magic marker, she had all the places she had told me about. "DON'T MISS" places according to Nancy. She also gave me a Petoskey stone she had bound on the beach. I thanked her. She smiled and walked on.

And the sign says, "Legs Inn".

Later that day, we followed her suggestion and headed for the "Tunnel of Trees" and Legs Inn. Both are pictured above. Was Legs Inn ever a treat! Great, great Polish food and what a great site for a restaurant. And what a beautiful drive.

Waiting on our table at Legs Inn.

Our table...

and the appetizer!!

Sorry about the shadow.

Few people that I ever meet who have been to Petoskey have ever eaten at Legs Inn or driven on the "Tunnel of Trees". Below is just one of the homes of the drive. The second photo is the view the owners of the house have out their living room window.



Evin and I are so thankful and blessed that we met Nancy and that she cared enough to share. And that when our "....roads diverged" that day in Petoskey, we "....took the one less traveled by," for "....that has made all the difference" in our lives. Just wait till I tell you what happened next!! ??

I'll close like last night, with a sunset at Munising ....