Falling in Love Again on the Worst Trip of Our Lives

“I would like to travel the world with you twice. Once to see the world. Twice, to see the way you see it.”

    -Anonymous

Traveling has always held an air of romance for me. Since I was younger, it has represented everything I wanted: freedom, independence, and a total lack of constraints. There is little more exciting than exploring the world around me. It's a simmering kind of excitement, bubbling and gurgling away beneath the surface- distracting me from whatever I am doing in the present moment.

I've always dreamt of the days I could explore with someone as passionate about it as I was. Someone who could understand my raw desire to discover every secluded corner, all the marvels this world has to offer.

At twenty-three, I found my lifelong adventure buddy and for the last six years, especially the recent months following our engagement, we've spent endless amounts of time dreaming, planning into the early hours of the morning. His obsession for exploring only kindled my own desires, until every conversation we had, encompassed the question, "What if we..?" 

Our next venture? Dispersed camping in the Upper Peninsula of our home state. We spent months researching, preparing, and marking our calendars for our sixth anniversary.

We. Couldn't. Wait.

For weeks, it was practically all we could talk about. Work days stretched on for what seemed like an eternity. Nathaniel picked up three weekends in a row, trying to earn a little extra money for our trip. We barely saw each other for more than an hour or two a night, let alone were able to have a conversation that lasted more than a few measly minutes. We were ready for July 24th. Ready for an entire weekend of bringing our relationship back to the basics, unplugged from everything that had consumed us for months, bonfires, hiking, northern lights.. It was Nathaniel's first time in the U.P. and I was going to show him a version of Michigan that he's never even dreamt of before.

Thursday morning, we both woke up very early. Nathaniel had one more day of work, I took a day of PTO to do some last-minute prepping for our trip. When he got home, he mowed the lawn, I packed up the car, and we hit the road shortly after midnight. The campgrounds we wanted to stay at were only "First Come, First Serve", it was a seven hour drive, and I wanted to get one of the secluded sites that reviewers were raving about online. 

Four hours into our trip, we were both buzzing with excitement, despite our exhaustion (although we could probably credit a part of it to the massive amounts of caffeine running through our veins). Thirty minutes before we were to hit the Mackinac Bridge in St. Ignace, we made a quick pit stop at a rest area. 

I'm not quite sure how our timing was so perfect, but right as we were crossing Mighty Mac, the first signs of morning were poking through the treetops, golden rays crawling across the lakes, kissing everything in it's path. It made for some beautiful photographs, but when I looked over at Nathaniel in that moment, driving across to the U.P. for the first time in his life, his smile lighting up his eyes like it was Christmas morning, my heart felt like it was bursting at the seams with happiness. I knew that this trip was going to go down in the books as one of our most memorable ones.

Shortly after we paid the fare, we found a gas station to stop at and fill up for the last leg of our drive. I ran inside to relieve my abnormally small bladder (or so Nathaniel would complain), and he wanted to give his buddy a call to share in the excitement of visiting the U.P for the first time.

Now, if you somehow stumbled upon this blog and don't know the logistics of our every day lives, you have probably never heard of the curse of the Mohney Luck. I learned about the curse shortly after we started dating, and long before he asked me to be his wife. It was my only uncertainty when I agreed to marry into the family, but when I first heard the stories, I can't say I ever believed them. As a child, I was always undoubtedly lucky, winning raffles, contests, touching tickets the family purchased just to rub a little good fortune on them. Well Newton's third law never fails because I somehow found the the most unlucky man on the planet. If anything can go wrong in any given situation, it will go wrong. It is a running joke of the Mohney family, but I'm convinced they have simply learned to laugh it off, to ease some of the burden of the curse. 

I'm telling you this so you can understand the rationale for the series of unfortunate events that unfolded throughout the trip. Because to you, if you were unaware of the curse, and read the stories I'm writing, you could very well have fallen off your chair in utter shock. No one could be that unlucky...

Right?

While I getting back into the car, Nathaniel was looking frantically for his phone. He then threw his head back with frustration. Yes, you guessed it. He left it at the rest stop 35 minutes from the bridge. It wouldn't be as big of a deal if we weren't still making payments on it, but he is notorious for breaking phones and instead of continuously buying new phones for him, we found one that was eminent for being indestructible.

We quickly whipped the car back around toward the bridge, paid the fare (again), and raced the, very long, hike back to the rest stop, calling it every 5 minutes in hopes of a very kind gentleman picking it up. No one answered, although it was still 6:30 in the morning, and I could tell that Nathaniel's anxiety was getting the best of him. We pulled into the rest stop, tires blazing, and he ran inside. Seconds felt like hours when he returned with a HUGE smile on his face and phone in hand. We couldn't believe how lucky we got.

Back on the road (again)! Paid the fare (again) and started on the last leg of the trip (again). We were only an hour behind schedule and were set to get to the campsite just before 9:30am, plenty of time, according to the campsite's reviews and social media manager, to get a "good spot". 

However, when we finally arrived to the campsite, nuzzled up close to Lake Huron, there was a sign hanging in the driveway.

"Campground Full."

My heart sank. I pulled around to the Host Site and asked him if there would be any openings coming up this morning and he said no, they are full for the rest of the weekend. The only other thing I could think of was to see if there was another campground nearby that had openings, which, we were in luck.. there was! He told us that it was a few miles down the road and right on the lake, secluded, and typically has dozens of vacant spots. I'm fairly confident my sigh of relief could be heard from every campsite within a mile.

I hopped back into the car, routed the GPS to Au Train Campground, and headed for the little piece of paradise that we would be staying at for the weekend.

Or so we thought.

Once we got there, we quickly realized that it was the exact opposite of what we were looking for. The place was packed to the brim with people and across the highway from Lake Huron. Feeling discouraged, exhausted, and defeated, I pulled my mask over my face (thanks COVID), and walked inside the check-in office. I asked them if they had any spots available, and after typing away on her computer, the lady asked if we would be interested in renting a yurt for $160 a night. I told her that we brought hammocks to do some dispersed camping and asked her if she knew of anywhere we could go. She shook her head, telling me that she didn't, then paused, and said she thinks there is a campground "down the road, take a right at the first flashing light."

So I hopped back in the car, gave Nathaniel an update, and we followed her directions- hung a right at the first flashing light, and drove..

and drove..

and drove..

until the road came to a T. By this time, it was almost 11 o'clock in the morning, we had been driving for close to 11 hours, it was creeping up to 85 degrees, and my air conditioning quit working in my car 4 days before our trip. We were hungry, tired, and really starting to lose hope.

Nathaniel looked over at me, asking me if I wanted to go left or right. I threw my arms up, exasperated, and told him I didn't care. He looked so sad, it broke my heart. I just wanted him to enjoy the weekend after he had worked so incredibly hard for it. He finally turned left, and we drove for another 40 minutes. I tried so hard to keep faith that we would find something, but I couldn't find enough service to look anything up on my phone and it felt like we were just driving around in giant circles. 

Then we found it! A sign for another campground! We quickly pulled into the drive and found a family at the first site. Nathaniel rolled down his window and pulled up, asking him if he knows if there are any openings there. The guy looks over at his kids, shook his head, and said "Noooo, we're actually going to have to pack up here and go back to the place we stayed at last night because they're full." Nathaniel looked over at me with the saddest eyes I've ever seen. 

When we both looked back over at the guy, he had walked over to the table and yelled behind his shoulder, "Sorry, I have to grab a smoke.", lit up a cigarette and took a looooong drag.

He went on to explain that they had stayed at a place called North Gemini Campground about 30 minutes away, but had packed their stuff up and moved to this one so their kids had something to do. We asked him if it was more dispersed and he said it was "definitely secluded". I started to get excited and told him we were going to see if the office had a map since I didn't have enough cell service to route us to the new campground. After navigating over to the office, Nathaniel masked up and went inside while I used their wifi from the car. After joining me, he told me that the girl inside didn't know the area very well, but gave us an (unfinished) tourist map. It didn't matter much because I was able to download the map on my GPS and we were only 30 minutes away from North Gemini!

We had a good feeling about this fourth campground. It was apparently secluded, great for hammock camping, and had full vacancy last night. We had such a good feeling, in fact, that we stopped to stock up on wood, filling my car to the brim with kindle and firewood. 

Now I'm not sure what the U.P. considers a "road", but the GPS was directing us down grassy paths. I mean, literally a grassy trail- not a dirt road, not a gravel path, not even something you would ride a quad on. So because I had to get my tire patched the weekend before we left for our trip, we took a detour, or four, and drove around for an additional 45 minutes, on top of the 30 we thought it was going to take. Some of these roads not only had 3-4 inch sharp rocks sticking straight up, slicing through the air, waiting to take their next victims, but huge 4-5 inch deep rain-filled holes drew a dangerous maze through the paths. While doing our best to avoid hitting the suicidal butterflies, driving off the treacherous beaten path so that we didn't end up with a flat tire, and all the while, trying to keep our cool, we realized that it had been at least an hour since we saw civilization and we had absolutely zero cell service. 

This is the moment I started to break. Half-moons marked my palms as my nails bit into them. I was in full panic mode. If we got stuck in the mud out here, we were as good as dead. It was 93 degrees out, we were a solid 30 miles from civilization, and I couldn't find a single bar of service on my phone. 

We quickly realized that this guy who stayed at North Gemini and suggested it to us, likely didn't smoke prior to coming here.

The entire time I'm panicking, Nathaniel is doing his absolute best to make fun of the situation, attempting to keep me from having a full blown anxiety attack. His positivity is honestly one of the only things that got me through the next 30 minutes before we found the campground. That, and the few hits we had left of nicotine in the vape pen.

Once we finally found North Gemini, we paused to take a breath of fresh air and got out of the car to read the old tattered sign, directing us on how to pay for our campsite. It was $15 a night (what a steal!), but we also had to pay $9 for a daily pass..

Or $17 for an annual pass.

Needless to say, we figured we'd save a buck, 450 miles from home.

The price didn't matter much to us anyway, by this point. It was hot, we had now been driving for 14 hours, and we put so much effort into getting here, I would gladly trade in a kidney to just be able to get out of the car and unpack.

Except, every. single. spot. was filled.

Yes. You read that right. But just in case, let me tell you again. There wasn't a single spot left for us, after driving for 14 hours.

I think this was the moment that Nathaniel looked over at me with a look of total fear.. fear that I was going to break down, fear that I would blame it all on myself and poor planning, fear that we weren't going to be able to enjoy our anniversary again. We had a rough relationship up until this year and every single anniversary (except for the first), we were either arguing or working. This was supposed to be our year.

While I looked into Nathaniel's eyes with total panic, I realized that this was the adventure we were seeking. If everything had gone without a hitch, it wouldn't be normal for us- and it definitely wouldn't be as fun. Exploring was what we had set out to do and in a way, that's exactly what we've been doing. 

This is the moment I fell in love with this man all over again. I couldn't imagine getting lost in the middle of absolutely nowhere with anyone else. He is my rock when I'm afraid, my light when I'm lost. He makes me laugh when I'm upset, smile when I'm sad. He is the perfect adventure partner. 

I grabbed his hand and we quickly made a plan E. With a North Gemini there must be a South, right? So we grit our teeth, I grabbed onto the "Oh Shit!" bar, and we followed the signs to the South Gemini Campground. 

I'm sure by now, you could guess the results. Yes. It was full. We were in the middle of the U.P., unsure of exactly where, a car full of a weekend's worth of firewood and gear, and nowhere to set up camp. Exasperated but rapidly putting together a plan F, we found our way to a spot with just enough service to look at the GPS. By this time, we were both drenched in sweat from the lack of air and abundance of nerves, all we wanted was to take a cold shower and get something to eat. We finally gave in and decided to find a vacant hotel under the bridge. However, I didn't want the U.P to be a total waste, so we made an agreement to visit the one place I wanted Nathaniel to see: Pictured Rocks. I knew seeing something like it would make everything worth while, so I made sure to have it as number one on the priority list.

With our newest plan in place, we typed "Pictured Rocks" into the GPS and followed the lead. All of a sudden, we heard the beautiful British voice come through the speaker, "You have arrived!" When we looked up, instead of seeing the breath-taking landscape I admired in every photo, we were surrounded by houses, smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood.

Did you think I was kidding about the curse?

That was it. We had had it. We decided to fill up on gas and leave this poor excuse for a peninsula. The place we had dreamed about for years definitely did not live up to our expectations and we were sorely disappointed.

While we were making our way back into town to fill up on gas before crossing the bridge, we ran into construction, blocking all but one of the open lanes of traffic, cars at a total stand-still. So we waited, in the 95 degree heat, without air, in the only place we didn't want to be at that moment.. for what seemed like another eternity, while traffic cleared. Belatedly heading south, I think something in me finally broke. I started crying uncontrollably, heavy sobs filling the air, tears drenching my already sweat-soaked t-shirt. My mind was so tired. We had been up for 33 hours, driving for close to half of it, and had absolutely nothing to show for our trip.

Nathaniel said he looked over at me in that moment and started tearing up himself. All he wanted was for me to have a good time on our trip. Desperate to save what little was left of our anniversary, he made the decision to just go home so we could go out for a nice dinner, spend the day relaxing, and have less of a chance running into the Mohney Luck again.

When he popped his second 5-hour shot and told me that he was going to just drive home, I just cried harder. I didn't want to go home. I wanted this to be a trip to remember, time spent together, just the two of us. I can't remember who came up with the idea, but we both agreed that if anyone could save the trip, it would be my detail-oriented, expert trip-planning mom. We spent the next 20 minutes telling her a condensed version of the story over multiple dropped calls. She quickly found a hotel for us in Mackinac City for $250/night. It definitely was over our budget for the trip, but we were so eager to save it, we gave her our card info and she booked it for us. With a sigh of relief, and total gratitude for the constant capability of depending on my mom for anything, we drove the last 16 minutes to the Super 8 with "a stunning lake view", an indoor pool, and continental breakfast. We paid the bridge fare for the fourth time that day.

When we arrived 45 minutes after the listed check-in time, we dragged our heels over to the front desk and gave the clerk our information. He explained to us that because of COVID, they aren't offering breakfast and the pool was closed. He called up to Housekeeping and was told that it would be another 45 minutes before the room was ready, but he reassured us that it was "a very nice room." I have to admit, by this point, we would have slept just about anywhere as long as it had a shower and air. 

Because we hadn't eaten a meal in 18 hours, we decided to find a spot to get a quick bite. The clerk suggested a place down the street called The Hook. Let me tell you, if you are ever in Mackinac City, make sure you visit this place. We split their Steak and Shrimp combo, adding a crab cake, and it was one of the best meals we've ever had. With full bellies (and a couple of really good cocktails), we made our way to our room.

Opening the door, we threw everything down and immediately cranked the air. Looking out the window at the lake view, we looked at each other and laughed. All we could see was the busy street, full of tourists, and a lake that was totally blocked by trees. 

It wouldn't have been ours if it was any other way.

I didn't even have enough energy to shower. I sat down on the bed while Nathaniel called his parents to give them an update and apparently fell asleep with a drink in my hand. I don't think I've ever slept so hard in my life.

The next morning, we woke up bright and early. I was so excited to spend the entire day on the island with my favorite person in the world. We showered and dressed, and headed down to the front desk to purchase ferry tickets. Another $55 later, we walked down to Shepler's loading dock, a half mile up the road. 

The ferry took us under the Mackinac Bridge and with the freshwater breeze in my hair and Nathaniel's legs leaning against mine, I was in pure bliss. We could finally enjoy our anniversary vacation.

Soon after stepping onto the island, I realized that the thin flip flops I packed for camping was not the appropriate footwear for exploring the 2,200 acre island. Nathaniel agreed that we would find a shop where I could get more comfortable shoes. The first couple places we stopped in gave us directions to two different shoe shops, but we were having trouble finding them so we decided to stop at the Great Turtle Brewery and Distillery for a bite to eat and a beer. The food was fantastic and their cocktails were definitely above par.

After settling our tab, and concluding that we weren't going to get anywhere without a map of the island, we pointed our toes in the direction of the Visitor's Center. I pulled my mask over my face, went inside, and asked them for a map. The lady behind the counter looked confused for a moment. She then pointed me towards the only map they had- a historical map of the island. You know, a map showing the history behind the island. This obviously wasn't going to work for the year 2020. I shook my head and we laughed. 

We finally stumbled upon one of the shoe shops they were talking about, after trudging up and down the main street. Birkenstocks. They were closed for the day. My feet were already starting to hurt. If we didn't know where to go and I couldn't spend the next few hours walking, we were at least going to spend it day-drinking. 

We found the first bar on the street. 45 minute wait.

No problem, there are at least half a dozen lining the street!

Every. Single. Bar had a wait for at least 45 minutes. While we stood on the sidewalk, trying to figure out what to do, I spotted the other shop I was told would have shoes. I quickly ran inside with my mask and found a pair that were a perfect fit and apparently "very me". As we were walking out away from another shop to grab a pair of ankle socks, we stumbled across a little plastic Kiosk.. with maps! 

The first place I picked out on the map was the Butterfly House. I wanted to do something tourist-y. I asked the woman behind the counter for directions, when I read the line underneath the title: 

"No butterflies this season".

[insert satirical laugh here]

The woman insisted we visit the other butterfly house that had a few delivered before COVID hit. She gave us instructions and we headed in that direction. On the way, we tried to find a bar with open seating, without luck. When we stopped in a knife shop, the woman told us of a place she goes to after work that was just down the street.

This lady was the beginning of our luck.

We finally got to the bar where we found a seat immediately and selected our poison. Nathaniel ordered a refreshing blueberry mojito for himself and a strawberry margarita for me. Both were just what the doctor called for and the gentlemen behind the bar were incredibly kind. While I was asking the bartender for directions to the second butterfly house, a man standing behind us asked us if we needed help. He introduced himself as Tom and gave us his phone number. He told us to give him a call when we were finished and he would show us where the butterfly house was. 

After paying, we walked across the street and Nathaniel gave him a call. He waved us down from his apartment balcony and we hurried over to him. He brought us back to a bike rack, littered with dozens of different bicycles. If you weren't familiar with the island, motor vehicles aren't permitted anywhere on the island and everyone gets around by either horse or bike. Both were very expensive to rent for tourists, so we had skipped out and decided to explore on foot. 

Tom then proceeded to unlock his bikes, asking us if we knew how to ride. I was in shock for a moment, wondering why this complete stranger was offering his bikes to us, totally free of charge. I told him I hadn't ridden in over a decade and he laughed, telling me I'd pick it back up easily. He ran inside to grab a bike lock, returning to tell us about the history of the island to remember the combination and hand us a couple of bottled sparkling waters. He went over how to change gears, and showed us the way to the Butterfly House. We assured him that we would return them as soon as possible and he told us that we may want to explore the island, insisting we take our time. 

Nathaniel and I were totally geeked. The Butterfly House was cool, but we wanted to explore. 

We took the bikes around the coast of the island, the breeze coming off lake Huron, whipping through our hair. We had a blast. We dipped our toes in the water, skipped rocks, took a hundred photos. We climbed up on the rocks and just took in the view.

This is exactly what we needed. It was the best way we could have possibly spent our anniversary.

After 4 miles along the coast, we decided to turn around and return to the hotel to grab a bite to eat and get some rest before our trip home the next morning. We rode the bikes back to Tom's apartment complex and gave him a call to let him know where we had dropped them off at.

Nathaniel was on the phone for a few minutes before he hung up and locked the bikes up. I asked him what they talked about and he said that Tom had given him advice when Nathaniel asked him how he could repay him for what he did for us.

"Just do one thing. In three months, ask Liz on a scale from 1 to 10, how happy she is. Even if she says 10, ask her how you can bring it up to 11."

We looked at each other and smiled. We knew that we would never, for the rest of our lives, forget this trip. From being dragged in the mud, through the worst luck imaginable, to meeting the kindest stranger who reminded us of the reason why we took this trip in the first place. The love I have for Nathaniel fills my heart until I feel as if it's bursting at the seams. I couldn't imagine having such a lucky, unfortunate adventure with anyone else. Exploring the world with him is everything I've always dreamed of.

Sometimes, falling in love again, and the kindness of a complete stranger, is all the luck you need.