May 9, 2016. The Last Time We Were Here . . .

 

May 9, 2016.  The Last Time We Were Here . . . was August 5, 2015.  We are in Warren Dunes State Park in the southwest corner of Michigan.  When last we were here, the campground was filled to overflowing.  Tonight, there are fewer than a dozen visitors here among the 200-plus campsites.  We like this better.

We were late getting out of Springfield this morning.  We made a provisioning run to Walmart.  Annie Farkley got us lost and it took ten minutes to find the store.  There were very few cars in the parking lot when we arrived.  We zigged and zagged from one side of the store to the other.  Walmart Supercenters are big places.  You would think the soft hand soap would be in the market section with other cleaners.  But, no, it is in the pharmacy section on the opposite side of the store.  And, you'd think the almond milk would be in the canned milk section.  It isn't.  It is three rows away, in the baking section.

This particular supercenter had two dozen checkout lanes.  However, only five of them were operating.  The self check-out section was limited to 20 items or less.  So, we were in the checkout line for 10-15 minutes, long enough for me to ponder whether Sam Walton would approve of making people wait to give you their money.  I think not.

The traffic on I-80 south of Chicago was stop-and-go, bumper-to-bumper for a thirty-mile stretch.  We spent a little over five hours on the highway today and were ready to stop here.  It is about 300 miles from here to Mackinac Island.  We will be across the Straits of Huron tomorrow.

The weather forecast isn't great.  It will be sunny, in the 50s, on Wednesday.  Thursday, the temperature will be the same, but thunderstorms are predicted.  But, sometimes it doesn't rain where forecasters think it will.  Maybe it will miss us.  We sometimes get lucky like that.