St. Louis to St. Louis in Late October, Part 2

People not from Michigan seldom think of it as flat, but the area where I grew up is as flat as a pancake. It was 30F when the sun came up on day two of our trip.

There was frost on the Yaris. Luckily we were taking Dad's car so I didn't have to clean off the windshield.

I could just enjoy the view, watch the sunrise, and admire the sky.


Dad's internet was down and we needed to get the address and phone number of the Cross Country Ski Headquarters. Heather had this stuff in her email, so we had to wait for the Library to open in St. Louis.

 The Library is small but very nice.

Heather filled out a guest form and soon was busy getting the address...and I suspect doing just a little bit of work.

As we left the Library I saw this reminder of how hard Michigan winters can be on cars.


Soon we were on our way.

We missed the good color by just a few days. There were still golds and rust colored leaves, but the beautiful red leaves had already fallen.

I knew the deer were on the move in Michigan this time of year, but I didn't know that log cabins were, too.

It isn't really a very long drive up to Houghton Lake and Spicer's Boat City.

Once upon a time Spicer's was mostly about boats, but those days are long gone. They have a huge inventory of snowmobiles and accessories. This is what brought me there.

When I visited back in July I met Andrea. She was the person who told me to come back in October. When I got inside of the showroom I made a beeline to the accessories area. I was pleased to find Andrea there. She was wonderfully helpful. She showed me the BRP helmets first, then the HJC, and finally the Gmax. I didn't like the HJC helmet at all. I was surprised that I liked the Gmax so well. I'd entered the store ready to buy a BRP but left with a Gmax. It wasn't about the price difference either. The Gmax was so comfortable. Andrea was very informative and she made me walk around the store for a while first in the BRP helmet and then the Gmax. She didn't rush me. I wanted to take her picture, but the best I could do was get her to hold a Gmax helmet in front of her face.

Now it was time for the Cross Country Ski Headquarters.

A little bit of Houghton Lake

Pink Flamingos, a Santa, and a horrible picture of Heather

I imagine come winter this is quite the busy place, but today we had it pretty much to ourselves

I thought I knew what Heather was wanting to look at. In my mind's eye I was seeing roller skis, but this isn't what she had been trying to tell me about. All Terrain Skis is what she had her eye on. And, Bob was the perfect person to show her. He got her out on the skis and gave her a lesson before she ever committed to buy.

We ended up not only buying a pair of CAT (Classic All Terrain) Skis, but boots and poles for both of us. We are going to share, but I suspect that a Christmas won't pass before another pair of CAT Skis finds there way from Rosscommon to Missouri.

We took our time driving home.

And, just enjoyed the remainder of a beautiful late Autumn Day in Northeast Central Michigan.