We left the safety of our friend’s front yard in Columbus, Ohio for the open road of Michigan. Goal? To touch the Great Lakes, or at least one of them. After a few hours of driving, we got all the way to Oregon…Oregon, Ohio that is…home of Maumee Bay State Park, just on the south side of Lake Eerie. Excited that we had the place mostly to ourselves and that Lucy would be able to splash and frolic in the lake, we were immediately met with signs of toxic algae. So, we scrapped that plan for the safety and less toxic Mill Creek Dog Park in Saline, MI.

We made it too Lake Eerie! But due to toxic algae (and it being freezing), we didn’t touch it.

It was getting dark and Lucy was the only dog there, but still had fun with her friend’s “Mud” and “Stick”. Luckily there was a river so she could take a typical “Van Dog Shower” after she was significantly covered in mud. The nights were starting to get really cold as it was midway through October, and we were in need of something warm, so we headed into the famous college town of Ann Arbor, home of the University of Michigan. (I still don’t know which Michigan football team is the “real” one, U of M or MSU…sorry Michigan fans, our alma mater didn’t even have a football team.) We ordered some Pho, Ribs, and Pork Bao from the Thirsty Turtle and explored a graffiti alley, before heading to the Walmart in Ypsilanti to sleep for the night. Humz got a second dinner of Popeyes fried chicken which was strategically located near our Walmart accommodations for the night. How Convenient?

State Theater & Slurping Turtle in Ann Arbor, Michigan…..Mmmmm Pho!

Day 2 in Michigan was spent driving into Detroit, which we have mixed feelings about. We drove by the Cass Community Tiny House Village which is working to build 25 tiny homes for formerly homeless, senior citizens, and/or college students qualifying as low-income with rent-to-own opportunities. We were excited to see it because it was the first tiny house village we had heard about on our travels. After driving around a few of the blocks through the complex, which was very cute, we noticed we were being watched and then low-key followed by a guy on bike. It probably doesn’t help that we were driving what appears to be a luxury RV through a severely dilapidated part of town. There are some blocks where every single house is boarded up and/or looted. It’s a really eerie feeling.

We then attempted to visit the MoTown Museum, but still felt uneasy after that ordeal, and we didn’t feel comfortable leaving the van, or Lucy alone inside. It may have just been a string of random coincidences, but we decided to abandon the MoTown Museum and try and find a safer part of town where we would blend in a little more. That’s the great thing about Vanlife, if you don’t like where you are, you can just keep rolling.

We visited the Heidelburg Project which is a street in Detroit devoted to accessible public art. We were still unsure of the area since it was eerily quiet and there were multiple signs on the street not to disturb the locals. We were however quickly met by the Project’s artist, Tyree Guyton, who was walking the grounds and more than eager for us to explore. Tyree is the mastermind of this once dilapidated street, turned art block. He uses raw, found objects that some would consider “trash”, and he has arranged them in an eclectic, whimsical way to convey his ideas. He believes that having the money to afford an expensive museum shouldn’t limit people from having access to art, and during a time when Detroit was collapsing, he wanted to do what he could to give back to his community.

Heidelburg Project…Do you see the Winnebago hanging on the front porch?

It was an interesting few hours walking through the grounds, photographing, talking to Tyree, and wondering where everything had come from. It was like a real life “I Spy” book. Lucy particularly liked the Dog House and my favorites were the Stuffed Animal Boat and the Polka Dot House. I later learned that some of the in-progress structures on site are replacements from previously existing structures that were destroyed by vandalism and/or fires.

Lucy feels right at home at the Heidelburg Project Dog House…She never did get to meet Congo the Art Dog though.

After all the art-walking, we were starting to get hungry, so we headed to Devries & Co 1887 in the Eastern Market district. I could have stayed all day, perusing all of the imported meats, cheeses, balsamics, etc, but Humz was starting to foam at the mouth to get to his sourdough and salami, one of our favorite quick van lunches due to it’s easy cleanup and ability to eat while driving.

I took a walk out to the Miliken State Park Lighthouse, while Humz stayed with the van due to lurkers, and surprisingly enough, the safest we felt was at our last stop, right smack dab in the middle of the city at Grand Circus Park Dog Park. It’s so close to Comerica Park (Detroit Tigers) that the dogs could almost catch foul balls in their mouths!

It was starting to get dark, and based on the questionable daytime activity, we didn’t want to experience Detroit at night, so off to Kalamazoo we drove!

Have you been to Detroit? Would you be worried about bringing your RV there? Tell us about your experience?