Donnie's First Bar

This spring has been amazing in Northern Michigan. It came SO early. Our snow has been gone since the middle of March! Last year wasn't so beautiful. It was more normal for up here. The weekend before our anniversary (which is May 10th) Seth and I decided to go have a picnic in the woods. The snow had been gone about 2 weeks or so and it was a beautiful day in the upper 50's, lower 60's.

About our car at the time. Seth bought it for thirty dollars. That's not a typo. Yes, you can buy cars for $30. Grant it, they will leave huge plumes of smoke behind you as you go. That little car got great gas milage but oil milage was a little steep. Two quarts every gas fill-up. Ah...the good old days...

Anyway...

Seth and I have a favorite spot we love to hike in. It way far away from everything and has a beautiful stream. It's very wild and untamed. It's a nature reserve that Seth and I found just after we were married. It's about 45 minutes from Charlevoix. The last 3 miles to get into the reserve are accessible only by a 2-track.

So, Seth, Donnie and I set out to go have a family picnic. When we got to the beginning of the 2 track it looked pretty smooth. It didn't look like the snow from all winter had been too bad. So, we started down the windy path in our little smokey car. (Poor trees were choking...haha) The whole 2 track is down hill as you go into the reserve and the farther in you get the more narrow the road and the higher the ridges on either side of your car get. It got bumpier and bumpier. Our heads were slamming into the ceiling. Suddenly we rounded a sharp curve and there was nothing but a bank of snow and ice. We couldn't stop. We were going downhill and there's NO WAY to turn around. We plowed into the bank of snow and ice and somehow kept on going. For another quarter of a mile we "slippy slided" downhill, on the ice, surrounded by large earth banks on either side of our car. Donnie was a sweet baby and was very quiet. I was screaming bloody murder, silently in my heart of course. Seth was chalk white and hanging onto the steering wheel for dear life. Like the magic bus we finally went airborne and landed in the middle of a grassy field. The very one we had intended to go picnic in.

Seth and I got out of the car on wobbly legs and looked up the path we had just come. There were deep ruts where the snow had melted and trickled downhill. Every inch of that hill was covered in ice. There was NO WAY we were getting back up it in ol' smokey. Well, since we made it to where we had wanted to go in the first place we might as well enjoy our picnic. Donnie was peacefully sleeping so we left him in the car, spread our blanket out and went to town. It was a delicious meal but we had to eat it fast. We had a 3 mile hike in front of us.

After our picnic we got Donnie out of the car. Now he was only 5 months old so he was still in the really little car seat. (I call them Pumpkin Seats. So if I say Pumpkin Seat you'll know what I'm talking about) I got the diaper bag, Seth got Donnie in the pumpkin seat and we started climbing up the cold, slippery, WET hill. Going DOWN that hill in a car had been easy. It was a hike straight UP the entire way. Seth and I took turns carrying Don in his pumpkin seat and finally we ended up with Seth holding one side and me holding the other. That kid weighed a ton! We walked and walked and walked and walked. I thought we'd never get out of that place. We couldn't call anyone either because of COURSE there was no cell service. After about an hour of walking we got to the main highway. There was a gas station just a little down the road. We walked to it and IT WAS CLOSED! At least we had cell service by this time so we called our good friend Jonathan Barker. He said he'd come get us as soon as he could. We sat outside that abandoned gas station for an hour. It started to get dark and really chilly. There's no where to go. We are miles from the nearest town. About .5 miles down the road I can see some lights twinkling. I asked Seth was it another gas station? He said "sure! Something like that." I suggested we walk to it. Don was well bundled but it was getting too cold for me (who had no jacket) and I really didn't like the baby out in damp, cold, night air.

We started our trek to the next gas station. There wasn't even a HOUSE to stop at. We were in the middle of no where! Seth and I were toting Don between us and a nice lady stopped and gave us a lift the rest of the way to the gas station where we would wait on JB. We get out of her van and walk into a dimly lit, smokey...WAIT A SEC! Seth took me to one of these on our honey moon! (Read Haywire Honeymoon...) I knew what this was! We were in a bar!!!!!!!!!! It was a very old, dingy place and there were only 3-4 people there. They were very nice and offered us some soda. I was so thirsty but I wasn't ABOUT to drink ANYthing in there. So, we sat in the bar for about 30 minutes. All of a sudden JB pulls up. His little truck wouldn't have fit all of us so he had brought the church van. We're sitting in this bar and JB pulls up right in front of the building. You can see plain as day BIBLE BAPTIST CHURCH written across the van. We got the strangest looks as we walked out that door. And Donnie had been to his first (and hopefully ONLY) bar.

Moral of the story. Picnic in the middle of town on concrete.