From Capitol Dome to Dome Tent

This post was written on a laptop computer on a picnic table at Orchid Campsite #39 in the Lake Michigan Recreation Area of the Manistee National Forest on September 1.

Anita and the kids are wading in Lake Michigan as I write this.

We’re camping in Lake Manistee National Forest this holiday weekend. I made a ‘booze and batteries’ run and am now back at the campsite puppy-sitting while Ben and Jerry, our new Maltese dogs, nap in the van and the rest of my family enjoys some of the beauty Michigan has to offer.

There’s no internet connection here so I can’t wish my Facebook friends a happy birthday or post to my blog or check my e-mail or do any of the other things that are so important when I’m at home but seem almost silly right now.

I lost track of how many cars and trucks and boats wearing “For Sale” signs we counted on the way up here, or how much firewood was for sale, or how many flea markets and churches we passed. I was a little bothered by the weather-beaten sign I saw resting against a dilapidated barn outside of Baldwin that directed readers to “Prepare to Meet Your Maker” because I’m not sure who that is and I’m pretty sure I’m not ready yet.

The sign on a cozy-looking restaurant/diner we passed on Highway 31 near Scottville said, “William’s Steak & Egger.” I wondered what the locals called the place. Maybe they say, “Let’s meet at the Egger.” They might say, “I saw Bill at the Steak and Egger” or just “We’re going to William’s.” As I was pondering this Extremely Important Question, KC & the Sunshine Band’s “That’s the Way (I Like It)” came on the radio and I learned my 11-year-old son doesn’t share my fondness for Number One Hits of 1975.

Anita’s an experienced hiker/camper and she had packed everything: our new propane cooking grill, groceries, extra tent stakes, hand sanitizer, a sun shower, a table cloth for the picnic table, clothesline and of course marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers. We have four young kids, after all.

I’m finding it difficult to give a rat’s derriere that John Boehner had a hissy fit about Barack Obama scheduling his big jobs speech the same night as a GOP presidential debate. (I’m not surprised that Obama agreed to reschedule. He probably apologized and sent flowers too.)

I’m finding it difficult to care right now about Michigan’s governor – who earlier this year gave his business buddies a gargantuan tax break and is now threatening to lay off state employees due to our budget “crisis,” and whose repeal of the state’s item pricing law, an extremely popular consumer protection measure that shoppers loved but business hated, went into effect today – or about anything that’s happening or not happening in Lansing.

All I care about right now is whether or not my kids are safe and happy, and if it’s okay for me to pop open one of the 24-ounce cans of Labatt’s Blue that I bought by mistake (I thought they were normal-sized cans) and paid too much for at the Marathon station back at the corner of US-31 and West County Line Road, and if we have a corkscrew for the overpriced bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon I purchased for the love of my life, and if I can get a nap in before it’s time to fire up the new grill and cook my family some grub.

I need to go camping up north more often.