The end of summer on the lake, & the long road home

Dwight Peck's personal website

Summer 2026

A photographic record of whatever leapt out at us

You may not find this terribly rewarding unless you're included here, so this is a good time for casual and random browsers to turn back before they get too caught up in the sweep and majesty of the proceedings and can't let go.

The end of summer on the lake, & the long road home

20 - 26 September 2026

The weather's changing in the Wisconsin Northwoods, the vegetation's dying off for another year,
20 September 2026

Choupette's still on the prowl, but . . .

. . . we need to watch her closely now. That box houses one of several with rodent poison to administer to squirrels scrambling about in the attack.

The view of the lake out over this summer's tree-limb casualty

The other cottages on the property have winter heating. Kristin's cottage, the oldest one, does not,
and we can't really linger here for very long.

Choupette is still sternly vigilant, but may be wondering what's going on with all the packing up.

Our friend Kim is visiting to meet the latest family member, Coraline.

The newcomer's mom Emily and great-grandmother Joellen (aka 'Moosie'), Kristin in the foreground.

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We're off on a next to last bike ride of the season, 20 September 2026.

A last visit to Cousin Rob's memorial bench, in front of the lightning-scarred trees on the point of the Tigertail.

The point of Tigertail, with its scoured-out shoreline, and, across the little gap . . .

. . . a last visit to little Pink Island.

A hydrobike resting

Goodbye, Pink Island

A final round of trampoline training, 21 September 2026

George Michael is normally very fast on his feet, but not always.

By next summer, he'll be ready for competitions.

It can also be noted that little Buddy always wears unmatching socks. Kristin usually wears no socks.

A last casual spin down the east side of the main lake, taking note of the collection of another hydrobike freak right here amongst us.

After some of the storminess of the past few weeks, today we've got a mirror lake. That's looking across Tomahawk Bay from the entance to the canal (we were just checking up on it).

Out of Tomahawk Bay to the main lake, we're just passing Gary the DJ's dock drawn in for the winter.

Our last short bike ride of the year, 22 September 2026, and . . .

. . . final preparations for tomorrow's fairly grueling road trip.

Across the UP and straight down to the Ohio River

The changing of the colors across northern Wisconsin and the Michigan Upper Peninsula . . .

. . . on very fun roads.

Once past Escanaba, coming up soon, we'll be traversing along the northern end of Lake Michigan, and . . .

. . . just past Manistique, where we usually stop for the night, we're pausing only to stock up at the Lume Cannabis Dispensary. Helps people to sleep, etc.

And just 60 miles farther east, we're checking in at the Skyline Motel, not for the first time. Tiny rooms, not expensive, great view out the window.

A regular little rest stop in Epoufette (or rather, it basically is Epoufette). It's right along US Route 2 in Hendrick's Township, and that's Evans Cut River Store with cabins, and this . . .

. . . is the Cut River Inn just across the road. We're headed over there right now.

The view between the Skyline Motel and the Epoufette Bayview Inn on the right
(we haven't liked that one so much in the past)

Whereas the Cut River Inn has been voted best whitefish by somebody, and 'Best Grub Around' is presumably an unsubtle dig at the Bayview a few meters across the road.

Homey inside, friendly staff, distinctly local clientele once the tourist season is over

The small circle of Epoufette was begun as a little fishing village in 1859, and the name, supposedly invoking the 17th century French Jesuit Father Marquette, is said to mean 'Place of Peace'.

So there's one of the famous whitefish, and a potato.

And here's a healthy pastie, in gravy, famous throughout the UP (this one was fine,
but not a patch on a Randall Bakery pastie from Wakefield, to be honest).

Tomorrow's another day. And so is the next one, and the next.

Up fairly early -- this is meant to be our long day, down the length of Michigan and past Toledo to Findlay,
Ohio. Melvin will sleep throughout it, and Choupette will be sedated.

Miles of sand along the Lake Michigan beaches, and perhaps that's a road-widening removal
of some of the sand in progress.

Heading south (I-75)

No EZPasses here. Only the Macpass. Get out your $4 (oh no!).

Before the gabapentin kicks in, Choupette remains fairly curious.

Downstate Michigan, here we come. 320 miles (520km) past Detroit and Toledo, to Findlay, Ohio ( it's not easy to find reasonable hotels that accept pets these days).

Presumably because of our reliable Good Luck, miles of vicious traffic is plodding its way northward, whilst we sprint along on the open road.

This is taken several miles later. The poor sods.

In the USA, it's seldom that we can find an auto-dealership without a suitably flamboyant American flag. It's a bored kind of fun to look for them, but we can't photograph them all, no way!

Two patient cats piled on top of one another to track our entrance into the Country Inn in Findlay.

And once settled in, we've been urged to try the local Beer Barrel at an early dinner hour, when . . .

. . . in fact, there, in this huge hall (reminiscent of the famous Brasserie Georges in Lyon) we've already put our name down for a half hour wait.

Wisely, however, we found two stools at the bar, and got an early start.

The next morning, 25 September, we progressed southward towards Huntington, with disastrous results. After Chillicothe our GPS urged us to take Exit West 103 but we sauntered off on East 103, which at the time looked perfectly okay. Instead of taking us south to Portsmouth on the Ohio River and a bit west to Huntington, it chased us east to Point Pleasant (near Gallipolis, where I lectured on poetry to nursing students years ago), which lies 45 miles EAST of Huntington.

Do we hurtle on to Charleston, where we don't have a pet-friendly reservation, or plod our way back along the narrow industrial road on the Ohio River, which is presently being one-laned by two mile stretches of resurfacing. Where we can at least find our Quality Inn in good order.

From the Quality Inn at the south edge of Huntington, near the exit from I-64, we see a Wendy's and Taco Bell, etc., feed the cats, and go downtown at once.

-- Be good, chaps, no squabbling. You've got your food dishes, yeah?

Down through Huntington, this is the very nice Pullman Square Park near one of the bridges across the Ohio. Hard to find parking, but we managed it after a while.

We're headed to what is now called the Bask Smokehouse near the square (formerly called the Black Sheep when we were here last, in 2022, same ownership now). All very good.

A festive atmosphere

In 2022, we stayed on for a day and visited some of the sights, like this Pullman Square Mall, but this time we're scurrying up onto the I-64 to power past Charleston and Beckley and get home.

The colorful bridge over the Kanawha River, leading to . . .

. . . the capitol of West Virginia in Charleston.

Past Beckley, then east through the mountains another 2½ hours past Lexington and north to Staunton. We're observing that, after the bursts of autumn colors across Upper Michigan, there's no such thing down here yet.

Still no hint of changing autumn colors in the trees. We're ready to get home, and . . .

. . . find ourselves in the middle of Staunton's annual Queen City: Mischief and Magic festivities (26-27 September 2026).

Bonus Photo

Tommy Burrell, from across the lake, sent this photo on 7 October of the Mussent Point shoreline -- it was originally a brilliant panorama, but to fit it into this template we had to lop off both ends of it. Many thanks again to Tommy and his camera, and to Stephanie for sending it on to us.

Next up: We await further dispatches.