Frankfort and Sleeping Bear Dunes

4th – 8th Aug: Days 118 – 122

Our journey is now taking us slowly down the west coast of Lower Michigan, or the ‘mitten’ as some may call it. Apparently it is shaped a bit like a mitten. Some folk wear T-shirts with ‘Smitten With The Mitten’ written on them. In fact a lot of people wear T-shirts, sweatshirts and baseball caps proclaiming their allegiance to various places/universities/sports teams/arms of the military/the USA. It seems an important part of the national psyche to be identifiable as belonging to a particular tribe. But I digress…

The next roost for the small and exclusive tribe that is ‘The two 40-something British Kiwis who have the coolest camper in the park and intrigue their fellow RV travellers with their exotic accents and why they are not at work like normal pre-retirement age people” (Try putting that on a T-shirt) was Frankfort. Less German than in sounds and a very picturesque coastal town with a lovely main street, beach and the ubiquitous cycle trail.

Our arrival day was slightly dampened by precipitation, but after plugging in (and a set of dry clothes), we holed up and knocked off a few more episodes of Breaking Bad. Oooh, it’s getting good….

The rain went away, the sun came out and we were happy. Over the next 3 days we: cycled a lot, sat on the beach a bit, went to see the Sleeping Bear Dunes nearby, climbed the aforementioned sand dunes and generally mooched about.

The coast here is beautiful. The beaches are lovely and sandy, the small towns have a real beachy vibe and it is a thoroughly pleasant place to spend some summer days. I’m sure winter has its own charms, but less cruising around on a bike in flip-flops, I imagine.