The American Identity Crisis
DESPITE THE STUNNING SCENERY, these pictures were taken after a long and trying day. We had left the homestead in Mio and were living outside in increasingly chilly conditions as we traveled between farms. This day was particularly dark and stormy, bringing a frigid, bitter wind that felt like it cut right through you. Locals would grimace when we told them we were camping outside that night, often with a happy-to-not-be-you-right-now chuckle. We had already reserved a site a few miles south of Sleeping Bear National Park, and held out hope that the weather would clear and we wouldn’t have to cancel and forfeit our money.
In far more upsetting news, the plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Whitmer had recently been uncovered. While national outrage seemed to pour from every other facet of the country, we were disturbed to meet many rural Michigan residents that either downplayed the severity of the situation or made jokes about half-supporting it. “They’d have to offer a negative ransom!”, one said while filling us in on why he alleged Whitmer to be a criminal herself. A restaurant worker near the ironically named Honor, Michigan told us, “I was working at the dispensary when she put the lockdown orders in place. I was fine, cause my work was an essential business, but most everyone else around here just hates her, blames her for businesses going under”.
We arrived to our campsite somewhat discouraged. Nearly the minute we finished building out our living space for the next few days, the skies cleared up into a gorgeous red, orange, and violet. There was a path near our site that led directly to the lakeshore, and it seemed to practically be calling out to us. We came up over the dunes to an awe-inspiring sight, Lake Michigan laid out before us, framed by Sleeping Bear dunes to the right and the Platte Bay coast to the left. The natural beauty brought us back to calm for a moment, reminded us of why we’re here, and why we’re on this journey. It’s an odd juxtaposition—seeing such beautiful features of the US that we’ve never seen before, while each day it seems there is some new great mortification for living here.
