Day Eleven: Grand Rapids to Lake Erie (267 mi)

If you guessed the 25th Amendment to my question about appointing a Vice-President, you were right!  The second clause of that amendment addresses procedures to follow when a V.P position is vacant.  Ford's appointment was the first time that amendment's provisions were needed.

As has consistently been the case, this presidential museum was top-notch.  All these libraries/museums under the auspices of the National Archives department of the federal government have just been of excellent quality.  Once again, all of us learned many things about the president for whom the museum was dedicated previously unknown.  For instance, did you know that Gerald Ford, Jr. was not this president's birth name?  He was legally adopted by his step-father when 2 years old and his name was changed.  I was reminded that three other future presidents served in Congress with Ford his freshman year (1947), John Kennedy from Massachusetts, Richard Nixon from California, and Lyndon Johnson from Texas!  Interestingly enough, there were a few remnants left from a huge international art contest sponsored by Grand Rapids.  Of the 1500 entries, 23 were on display at the museum -- all of great interest and quality.

After our three- hour perusal of the museum's many exhibits (along with a group of students from France!) we drove south to the Indiana border and then east into Ohio.  On a whim we decided to detour slightly to the Catawba Peninsula on Sandusky Bay in order to see Lake Erie.  We camped in Ohio's largest state park, the East Harbor S.P., right on the shore of the lake.  A local resident, a rather bold skunk, kept skirting our site, even going right through it at one point, to express his outrage over our encroachment on his territory no doubt.  I failed to mention that a couple of days ago we made another wildlife encounter while driving to the national lake shore, when a lone wolf darted across the road.  Much too big to have been a coyote, and broad in the shoulders, we're pretty sure this was indeed a wolf.  No moose(s) have been spotted, however.

This posting is actually being made on Day Twelve of our trip, as we wait the opening of the Rutherford Hayes Presidential Center in Fremont, OH.  We awoke this morning to a light drizzle which has persisted since; our first day to drive in the rain.

Check back later for today's events.  Meanwhile, this is Veritas -- discovering our world, making a difference.