The Sunrise Coast: Tawas, Michigan

Who would have ever thought that night owls like us would end up touring Michigan’s ‘Sunrise’ coast?

Only serendipity could make such an unlikely combination converge … with a little prodding from good friends.

Earlier this spring, we really thought we’d be spending our summer slowly working our way westward towards Oregon via perhaps Colorado or Wyoming or Utah. But on a whim, our path took us back east a bit to northern Indiana to attend not one but two major RV rallies and knocking some major bus projects off our to-do list.

We really thought we’d turn back from Goshen and continue directly westward.

But something kept calling us northward instead.

And that wasn’t just the occasional chime coming from iMessage every so often from our friends Krash & Karen, tempting us to come visit them.

It was also a romance with Michigan that started two summers ago when we explored the UP and western shoreline as part of ‘Operation: Dip Toes‘ – a unique surprise birthday present for my ailing father.

We’ve gotten to know Krash & Karen and their adorable pooch Pipa during our past winters in Cedar Key, FL – they’re not RVers, but they wintered down there too and have gotten to know our little community of nomads pretty well. Hanging out at the Low Key Tiki Bar can do that for you.  Their rest of the year home is Michigan, in East Tawas along the shores of Lake Huron.

Karen lightly suggested that they had driveway parking for us should be want to come up that way, and when she confirmed we could have some packages meet up with us there – our next destination was planned. And it definitely wouldn’t suck to then continue on via the UP of  Michigan to get out west from there.

We figured we’d accept their generous offer to park at their place over the weekend, and then relocate over to the nearby Tawas Point State Park – we never like to overstay our welcome, and given our primary focus right now is the re-write of The Mobile Internet Handbook, we felt we might also need some distraction free time to get writing done.

When we arrived, the bus fit perfectly at their place – like it was meant to nestle in there. And with a peak of a water view too. And a WiFi password to utilize.

Karen and Krash took us on a little driving tour of the Tawas area,  including the state park. All four of us dropped our jaws – it wasn’t the style of state park we had been enjoying recently with secluded little spots. We knew that part coming already. But wow, was it packed full – and the campsites were right on top of each other with almost no distinction at all.

While we can certainly make the best of it and did have a water view spot reserved, this style of campground is not our preference.

They made it clear, we were more than welcome to stay with them for our time in the area awaiting a few more packages to catch up with us – there was no rush on their part for us to move over.

So we canceled our reservation and made ourselves at home with our new temporary neighbors.

And what great neighbors they were – the perfect kind. Respectful of each other’s space and time, but yet there for shared meals, a bit of touring when there was time and casual conversations as we go about our days.

We love that kind of meshing, when we don’t feel like we’re being hosted as guests or intruding on someone’s existing pace of life. We bring our own house, and are pretty self contained.

Our week in the area was an absolutely perfect blending of getting lots of focused work done, while having easy distractions when we needed a break. East Tawas is an adorable little town that tends to have just a touch of quaint coastal tourism as it’s an easy escape from the Detroit metro area.

And Karen & Krash’s neighborhood is laid back and peaceful, with easy accessibility to lakefront walking and views. We which we partook of several times a day.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in the area, especially getting to know our friends better.

We’re so thankful for the opportunity to stop for a bit, allow packages to catch up to us and feel so incredibly welcomed into someone’s life. Thank you Karen & Krash!

What’s Next? We’re also thankful for the poke to head this way, because the adventure this little detour from our intended route has set us upon is shaping up quite nicely as we embark on exploring the shores of Lake Huron along US 23.  We’ll continue our tale later, but suffice it to say – we’re thoroughly picking up on that romance with Michigan we started a couple years ago.

We’re currently riding out the 4th of July holiday weekend in the sanctuary of Alpena, and next week we’ll be exploring Roger’s City, followed by Cheboygen. Our goal is to send off the manuscript of the book to our editor before we cross the bridge to the UP. That gives us just a little over 2 weeks to go – so back to writing!