Summer Top 20 & Me!

Forever Books in St. Joseph, Michigan has a wonderful event where they talk about the new book releases for summer.

And they ask an author to come and do a short reading from their new book.

Over 50 people gathered at Forever Books

The stack of new releases

Robin Allen (owner of the bookstore) and staff Diana, Sherry, and Stephen 

Independent bookstores are sites for fantastic literary events like this one. The staff at Forever Books is engaged with literature and with their community. 

The staff took turns talking about the new releases they've read

After each of the 20 new releases were discussed, I gave a short reading from my new book

A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes ISLAND Adventure.

And then I signed books, one of the great joys of being an author!

Silver Beach Reborn

When I was last out to the lakeshore, I stopped at St. Joseph's Silver Beach. This is the beach that is closest to my home, and I have watched the sun extinguish in Lake Michigan from this stretch of white sand many times.

When I was on the Lake Trek, I stopped in at Forever Books in St. Joseph and picked up Daryl T. Schiender's Silver Sands and Golden Memories. This book traces the history of Silver Beach from the early 1900s to the late 1970s. In it, Schiender explores Silver Beach's amusement park that drew crowds from hundreds of miles away. Silver Beach was a destination for many years, the Cedar Point of the early 19th century.

The amusement park and bandstand were all scrapped in the late 1900s, but the beach has been preserved. Recently, a pavilion was added near the river, along with a sculpture.

When I visited this month, I was delighted to find the new carousel was open, and a fountain had been installed by the Whirlpool corporation.

When I drove through St. Joe's sister city on the other side of the St. Joe river -- Benton Harbor -- there were signs of life returning to that downtown. There was a working artists' center and a new coffee shop. Benton Harbor is also spiffing up their beaches with more parking and picnic shelters.

Ice Sculptures on the Pier

I went out to the city of St. Joseph shortly before the holidays, just to visit the lake. There had been a storm the week before, and the wind and waves had conspired to shroud the railings on the pier with a draping of ice.
The lake was calm and fog was forming over the water which was still warmer than the air. When the lake gives up its moisture like this, it usually means snow will fall inland (hence 'lake effect' snow). And we had gotten quite a snowfall from the storm that left its lasting mark on the pier.

Segment 2 Complete!

Segment 2 took me from Union Pier to South Haven up the west side of Michigan. It stretched 53 miles, passed through St. Joseph and Benton Harbor and ended in South Haven. Along the trek I also had to circumvent two nuclear power plants on the shores of Lake Michigan.

A special guest joined me on this segment, Ben, my son. He's 19 and a freshman at Calvin College studying engineering. And he was great fun on the trek. Well, except when he wanted to jog the last mile.

This segment covered a lovely section of the lake. The shoreline was quite varied. It ranged from high, treed bluffs, to sandy stretches, to eroding cliffs of clay and sand, to high dunes. Small towns stud this stretch and two nuclear power plants hold their ground on the lakeshore, too.

I've gone 125 miles around the lake now. The next segment will stretch from April 6-8. Another guest will join me on this segment: my son, Lucas. He's 16 and a soccer and track athlete. I fear there will be more jogging in this next segment.

Segment 2, Day 2 Stevensville>North of St. Joseph 22 Miles!

This was the longest day of the trek so far: 22 miles!


High of 61 degrees.




The maple sap is rising now. The photo on the left shows one lot where the maples were tapped and gallon jugs tied there to gather the sap.

The beginning of this day --heading north from Stevensville--gave us an unfriendly, sheer shoreline with many places where large boulders were placed to slow down erosion. We kept trying to make it down to the shore, but it was not until St. Joseph that the bluffs gave way to a walking-friendly beach.







We had a fantastic lunch at Cafe Tosi in St. Joseph (one of my favorite places on the lake). After lunch we visited Forever Books, and independent bookstore in the town. Then, we had many miles to go to our pick-up point, so we hit the trek again, heading north through Benton Harbor and past some of the tallest bluffs on the lake.