Michigan

I woke up ahead of my alarm, dreaming about work. Ugh.

Still, morning was just starting to crack open, so exploring called.

I headed North first, to South Haven. The sky was dark, covered in dusky clouds, but in the occasional break the hint of pink, then orange, then gold promised the sun might win out in time.

It was wicked cold and blustery but so beautiful in South Haven. After a bit of exploring I headed south again to St. Joseph where the wind was blowing the sand in off the beach.

From there I kept rounding the loop toward Chicago. Most of the trees were watching the calendar and knew it was still late summer. They dressed accordingly. But now and then there would be a tree that had noticed the children returning to school, the nip in the air, and were with me in calling it autumn.

Signs of things to come; in a few weeks this will be a scenic route despite the lack of Lake views.

It took me far less time than I’d allotted for traffic returning to Chicago, plus the early start to the day. Even with a crawling drive back up Lake Shore Drive, I was still back to the airport hours earlier than I planned.

No earlier flights home were scheduled, so the waiting game began.

Thank God for my Kindle. (And so much else.)