At Marianne's

 I think you are just going to get one picture. I am safely at Marianne's for the night, but not without one little adventure.

First of all I left home 4.5 hours later than I wanted to. OK, that's not too bad for me. But it did meant that I wouldn't quite make it to Marianne's before dark.

So, I'm under 10 miles from her place and one of my tires decides to expire. Not just go flat... it shredded. Now, I'm on the side of a 4 lane highway in the dark. I can see the Welcome to Ohio sign from where I am. But... what town should I call for service? And should I choose Michigan or Ohio? Didn't matter. The only numbers Google would give me were 800 numbers that just dispatch someone to wherever.

However, the guy I got spoke Spanglish so bad I couldn't understand him. When I finally figured out what he was saying, they can't take you anywhere unless you know where you want to go. What? I'm on a trip... I have no idea what places are in the area.

I called 911 thinking they might at least give me a couple of local numbers. I explained that there had not been an accident, and there was no health emergency, but I couldn't seem to get assistance. They said they would send someone, but wanted to know the address of where I was. Now, this seems odd to me. Last time I called 911 in a much more rural area, and I tried to tell them where I was, they said they just pulled the coordinates from my phone. So they can't do that in the greater metro Detroit-Toledo area? Weird.

But, it was easy to explain where I was. Southbound on US 23, right at the state line. I could literally see the sign. I offered to give them the coordinates, but they said they'd find me.

OK, let's clarify something. I know how to change a tire. But I wasn't interested in doing so in the dark on the edge of a busy highway. I am aware of way too many people who have died that way.

A huge SUV with flasher-flinger blue and red and white lights pulls up. I couldn't see a thing, but the guy finally comes far enough away that I could tell it was a Sheriff deputy.

Can you believe it!!!! He changed the tire. I had emptied the back of the car and gotten the tire out while I was waiting for them to come. Of course the car is loaded for a month of camping, right. But I succeeded. He said, "We don't usually do this..." Maybe looking like a little old lady was good for something tonight.

With the lights from his vehicle, we could see what we were doing, and the flashers kept traffic away from the edge of the road.

Anyway, I got to Marianne's an hour later than expected, and then we chatted for a while.

I'll deal with the tire in the morning. I hope I didn't ruin the wheel.

See On the Way to the Train

2026- Rock Garden Report #3

 There hasn't been a full rock garden report since May! Somehow, it wasn't a great year, although things are filling in quite nicely. I haven't weeded a third time, and that's not going to happen at all unless the weather is still cooperative in late October.

This angle made a nice-looking view today, though.

I'm not sure if it was the heat or what. I thought I was doing a good job of watering regurlarly when it didn't rain, but anyway, some of the sedums have nice blooms. This is 'Dazzleberry.'

'Coraljade'- one of my favorites because it changes a lot over the season.

This one was new last year, and I'm also happy with it. 'Oriental Dancer.' It's spread quite a bit.

Here's the one from friend Margaret that seems to be reliable. The tall sedums are mostly renamed as Hylotelephium. I think this is 'Rosenteller.'

Perhaps the best looking one this year is 'Vera Jameson,' from my friend Betty.

This is not rock garden, but the Coleus have held their own, and certainly look better than nothing in that part of the front bed.

This has been a fast, no-frills report, but I'm in flat-out panic mode now. I was doing well, but several things this morning took way longer than I expected, and now I'm in a rush. And it looks like I'll have to pack the car in the rain in the morning. O well.

In other news: errands all morning, including a chance for a short visit with my friend Betty who has had some serious health concerns this year. None of us is getting younger.

I finished the mowing in a light drizzle. I finished one of my major projects, and am within an hour of finishing the other one.

All the stuff to go in the car is in the middle of the kitchen, but it is not packed or organized yet. And there are a couple of things I have not been able to find. Not so happy about that. Nevertheless, I will leave mid-day tomorrow!

See 2026- Rock Garden Report #2

Reptiles, Living History, Kayak, Rock, Arch

 September 21, 2019. On this day we did a couple of touristy things, but two of them pretty much happened by accident. Perhaps you can tell from the title that we packed the day full.

The first one was purposeful. We went to a museum that had reptiles of Kentucky. It was pretty interesting, but most of the critters weren't labeled. You know how I feel about that. These might be a red-eared sliders.

Then we happened to stumble on a living history day. This was really interesting. It was at a reconstructed log house at Gladie. There were all kinds of displays of historic crafts, and lots of Native American crafts as well. Kids got to start a fire without matches, try their hands at grinding corn by hand, etc.

Here are some woven mats.

This is the interior of the Gladie Cabin. The event was huge, and free to the public. We could have stayed much longer, but...

We had stumbled on this opportunity the day before, and even though it was pricey, we decided that would be our big splurge. This is a kayak tour through an old limestone mine, all underground.

The day was fading, but that was perfect to visit Chimney Top Rock because the late light was hitting it nicely. This was only a short walk from the car.

And... we still had time to squeeze in one more arch, another very short walk. This one is Princess Arch.

You can never say that we don't know how to pack a day!

This will end my series on Kentucky for now. We hiked one more day on interesting trails, but nothing as spectacular, and visited a couple of places on the way home.

I think tomorrow I'll share the end of season garden goodies, and then I'll be on my way on Wednesday!

In news at home: I am within sight of completing the two big paperwork/computer projects! Errands, laundry, mowed (just one more piece to go tomorrow), some dealing with plants because it will certainly frost once or twice before I get home, some packing (that's also almost done but is awaiting a few odds and ends). I also got to spend about an hour with Cathy. Her girls are all there and are acting as gatekeepers because all kinds of people want to come by and help do something. Doug was much loved in the community. But Bekah let me know that Cathy would like to see me before I left. She's doing as well as can be expected.

See Auxier Ridge Trail

Auxier Ridge Trail

  September 20, 2019. We decided to take on a longer, hillier hike. We did the Auxier Ridge Trail- about six miles along a rdige, then down into the central valley and then back up again. There are two interesting, named rocks you see from the trail. This is Haystack.

And this one is called Courthouse Rock.

This is another hike from which you get awesome views of the Red River Gorge.

After you climb back up the other side, you visit Double Arch. See the narrow slit above the main arch? This view is actually from the first ridge, because once you are under the arch, you can't see the slit.

The climbs down and up are so steep there are a lot of stairs to accomplish the elevation changes.

Here we are with the view from Double Arch behind us.

We felt pretty good about this challenging hike.

In other news today: Things are getting real about needing to be ready to leave. I worked on my projects, I mowed half the yard, I got almost all my gear checked in. I crossed another big item off my list, but all I really did is put it away because I've lost a computer file I needed to do it right. It must have been one of the things I truly lost in the great computer crash that happened on the trip I'm showing you today. I'll have to rebuild it, and that isn't happening in the next two days.

See Natural Bridge and Rocks

Spirit of the Woods Hike- September 2026

 I missed the August hike because I was at a vendor event. Today, we had about 35 hikers! Huge group, but they get spread out pretty quickly due to different hiking speeds.

Except for a hike at the Trail Fest, this was my last chance to get in a good workout. Four of us quickly moved to the front of the pack. Roxy (L) is a regular, Barb (C), and Amber (R) were first timers with our group. We had some good talks about trail stuff.

This was at 96th St, which is our chapter's southern boundary. But I wanted to go farther before turning around. I think others did too, but I went on alone, because I knew I was probably going the longest distance of anyone.

I went until I hit where an old logging RR crosses the trail before I turned around. I had told the hike leader not to worry about waiting for me to return since I was going farther, but the guy (one of our Dans) who was sweep (the person who stays at the end and makes sure we don't lose anyone) did stay and I met up with him on the way back. That was actually very nice, because we hadn't had a good talk for quite a while. We have quite a bit in common.

I like this little grouping of mushrooms. No clue what they are.

Our chapter has added a couple of structural items on this section this year. One is the other trail register. I've talked about it, and showed pictures the day we installed the northern one. This just proves we have the other one. It's beside the Ed Chappel boardwalk and deck which was built 2009-2011.

Also added in 2026 are two of these little bridges with turnpike approaches over seasonally wet (and sometimes with running water) areas. You can look at these and just know that Pete built them. They are perfect.

There will be one more work project in this area this year, to put on the rest of the traction strips. Today was a good test of those because there was some heavy rain in the night and the wood was slimy. We put one strip in the center of every other 2x6 decking board. It is possible to slip with this spacing, especially if you have small feet. But if you are careful to get either the ball or heel of your shoe on a strip they are great. The Forest Service is again providing these for us. They are expensive, but they will last much better than any other option. I'll miss that work day, and the October hike.

I've done a few things to get ready since getting home, but I figured with a long hike, I'd be pretty tired.

Miles walked in 2026: 312
NCT miles walked in 2026: 122.7

North Country Trail from Jenks Rd TH to RR grade south of 96th St and back. Lake and Newaygo Counties, MI. NCT 4 miles each way, extra to get to car because parking was really full! 0.8 mile. Total 8.8 miles.

See Spirit of the Woods Hike - July 2026