POS 26/2025 TAWAS CITY, MICHIGAN: We’re spending a few days along Lake Huron in Tawas City after. visiting family and friends in southwestern Ontario. More family reunion time awaits this weekend at home in Indiana. Time spent with family and friends nourishes what experts might call “relationship health.”

Ontario

With family and friends we shared stories, jokes, laughter, remembrances, food (including popcorn from a cast iron kettle over an open fire), games, reflections, fond farewells.

Travel crossing the border into Canada had a major hitch, just as was the case in May. The queue for the bridge was backed up for miles and not moving. We, as in May, went south to cross by ferry to Walpole Island and from there across a short bridge and on to our destination. Seems the delay happened because of a fuel leak on the bridge from a semi-truck.

Our visit with family began six days ago. We met at the home of brother and sister-in-law Mark and Christa, visited with friend Marianne in her new apartment in a continuing care retirement community and attended worship service at Cassel Mennonite Church, the church of my youth and early adulthood. We visited the grave of younger brother Brian who would have turned 78 on that Sunday.

Christa modestly says that there are many people who are doing long-distance biking and hiking and asks what’s so unusual about their long-standing mode of travel in North America and Europe? Plenty, I say, including persistence, pluck and perseverance and plenty more.

Michigan

Crossing on the Bluewater Bridge at Sarnia/Port Huron on our return to the US was a breeze. We talked with the agents about family and shows we’ve seen at Stratford.

We motored on to Tawas City.Tawas City (pop 1,853), is seat of Iosco County (Iosco means “many waters”), and neighboring East Tawas (pop 2,690), added new interests to our travels. We arrived here after the 77th Consumers Energy AuSable River Marathon held over the weekend. Canoeists paddled 120 miles nonstop overnight, guided by the headlamps they wore. The winning duo, this year from Michigan, did the mile course in 14 hours 17 minutes and 7 seconds. It’s a high-powered international competition with significant monetary prizes and tons of camaraderie.

We could have taken part in a Tuesday evening street dance in East Tawas, but the activities of the day had us happily collected back at our lodging. We walked a lot on Tuesday (nearly 7 miles), picked up visitor information at the Chamber of Commerce, shopped, visited the Tawas Bay Art Gallery, patronized the Cozy Cup Coffee Company (twice for iced drinks (and once for a double shot of expresso), and planned the next day’s activities.

To get to Tawas City we took mostly secondary roads, avoiding, with one exception, freeways. The less hurried pace of travel through the countryside shows crops maturing, wheat harvested and straw baled, old barns no-longer featuring much in farming, and, one can be sure, road construction.

Came across this Fairy House on the Highbanks Hiking Trail between Iargo Springs and Canoer’s Memorial, a pleasant walk high above the AuSable River.

Indiana

On Thursday we head for Indiana just before the Tawas Uncork’d Wine, Ale and Food Festival. All fine with us, given the pleasures we prefer at a less frenetic pace–and the loads of spirited stimulation we’ve garnered in a weeks time.

Happy destination-ing.

-John