Sunday, Oct 22, we left Interlochen State Park.  Seemingly everyone was trying to hook up and leave at the same time.  After a couple fifth wheels pulled out from around us, we pulled the motorhome out into the drive path so that we could have room to hitch up the Jeep.  This takes time, and others in the area appeared to fume as we worked as quickly as we could to move on out of the way.  Once this task was completed, we happily said goodbye to Interlochen.  As we progressed down the state of Michigan along the western edge of the state, the winds became some of the worst experienced on our trip, then the rain began.  We twice pulled into rest areas to hope the weather would improve, but a huge weather system was moving over from the west that will likely last for days.  When we arrived at the Dutch Treat RV Park in Holland, MI we were told that the water had been turned off for the season.  The manager said that the owner of the park saw a weather report that it might snow in a week and decided to shut off the water to prevent freezing.  So we had to drive around the park to position our motorhome to use the water station to top off our water tank.  It holds 90 gallons, so we should be in good shape.  Another camper was trying to get there also, already fuming that the manager had not told him earlier so that he could have topped off his tank from his campsite.  All this made us late to arrive at Betty's cousin's house for supper.  Bob Lundman is the son of Betty's mother's brother.  Bob and his wife, Kathy, graciously accommodated us anyway, and we had a very nice supper and visit.  The rain never let up, and we returned to the motorhome later that night in the rain, which continues this morning, Monday, Oct 23.  We are very disappointed that we cannot experience this part of the country in good weather, but have opted to visit a museum or two to salvage what we can of this experience.  We will visit Grand Rapids, which my mother used to refer to as "the holy land," due to its being the location of so many Christian schools and publishing houses.  Things like Our Daily Bread, for instance, are published here.  Several book publishers, like Eerdsman Book Store and Baker Book House, are located here.  We shall start by visiting the Gerald Ford Museum.

Kathy and Bob Lundman

In pouring rain we drove to Grand Rapids to see the Gerald Ford Museum.  This was a nice tribute to a man who struggled all his life to do his best to serve others, having been abandoned by his biological father when he was two weeks old.  He is the only president to become an eagle scout.  His step father was a strong encouragement to him and brought other good mentors into his life.  This led to college at the University of Michigan, where he also played football well enough to receive offers at graduation from the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears.  He decided to attend law school instead and was accepted at Yale Law School.  After practicing law a couple years he joined the Navy in 1942 and served for the duration of that war.  Then into politics, and you probably know the rest.  He was never elected as president but served well in that position at a very difficult time in our country's history.  It was hard to watch the footage of the Watergate trials, the pardoning of Nixon, getting our people out of Vietnam, working through an economic crisis, etc.  The museum is an amazing place, with full scale reproductions of the oval office and cabinet room, as well as other exhibits of equally strong impression.  I have never seen another presidential museum, so they may also be equally stunning.  If we had not been late into the season, we could have seen the fountain outside, whose water had been drained as cold weather approached.  After this we walked across the street to see the Grand Rapids Public Museum.  This, too, was an impressive museum.  I was especially struck by the exhibits of native animals, including skeletons of prehistoric animals that have been found in Michigan.  There were exhibits of all the fish in Lake Michigan as well.  Exhibits of what life was like when white men first came to the area were very impressively displayed.  Only a little over an hour was left for us to see everything in this museum, so we had to rush a bit.  We nevertheless were quite impressed.

Reproduction of White House Oval Office

Reproduction of Cabinet Room

Skeleton of Mastodon

Skeleton of unidentified creature