Michigan - part one

These are my friends Don and Jode, professional dancers. The shot, framed on a wall at their house, makes me feel even more graceless than usual. Don and Jode, with whom I've sailed and who persuaded me to winter in the Rio Grande Valley (see my various Valley blogs), have long kindly been inviting me to their Michigan home. 

Aside from their generous companionship, they cunningly appeal to my frustrated love of pickups and trailers. I can, they say, stay in their trailer. Displaying unwarranted confidence, they also say I can drive their second vehicle, a pickup.

It would be fair to say their home is rural. Here's the drive.

The house is by a Central Michigan river.

An idyllic location for sitting (the little Mexican 'stove' is from the Valley) ...

... and watching kayakers and canoeists drift by.

I must slip in an autumn shot taken by Don.

Here's the trailer ...

... and view when I wake in the morning.

Their pickup - with gears. Fantastic!

Prying me from the truck, we tour the area. First, an air show at a nearby 'airport', more or less a strip of concrete that may see a light plane once a week. This day, the most extraordinary jets are on display.

The very expensive model planes move so fast, it's difficult to get good shots. At the tree line, one is landing.

Down the road, something else unexpected. This is Idlewild, in its day a famous African-American resort. 

Early cottages were so small, they were nicknamed ‘doghouses’.

Before American Civil Rights, there were few places where blacks could comfortably holiday.  Although Idlewild's hardly as popular now, it still attracts holiday makers, mainly those whose families have come for generations.

As famous Jewish entertainers performed in the Catskills ‘Borscht Belt’, so black stars appeared here.

Our visit coincides with a summer festival. Entertainment, lots of food and water fights for the kids.

Coming up, more travels in central Michigan.