FALL 2023

We awoke to an angry sky. Little did we know that Dowagiac, Michigan was the lair of the fearsome Dewey Lake Monster. Cue the drums for dramatic effect.

The local newspaper reported:

On June 9th, 1964, Evelyn Utrup of Dewey Lake reported that a creature nine feet tall and weighing 500 pounds had chased her into her home. The beast had black hair up to its neck and two glowing eyes. Her dogs were able to scare away whatever it was.

Two days later, three teenage girls also encountered the monster. According to the sheriff’s report: Three girls were terrorized this morning by an animal they said fit the description of the monster seen by residents in the Dewey Lake area. The three, Joyce Smith, 13, Patsy Clayton, 12 and Gail Clayton, 13, rushed to a nearby house to call for help. Joyce fainted when she saw the creature but was quickly revived. None of the girls were hurt.

Even before these stories, Cass County sheriff’s deputies said the presence of the monster had been reported off and on for two years. The reports were always similar, featuring a hairy beast with reflective, glowing eyes, massive in size, and making noises “like a tamed goose” or ”a baby crying.”

By the weekend, just two days after the girls’ story made national news, the small towns within the Sister Lakes region were overrun with curious individuals and semi-professional monster hunters. While the locals, including the area sheriffs, weren’t thrilled, businesses welcomed it. Local drugstores and coffee shops quickly assembled “Monster Hunting Kits.” For $7.95 you could have your own wooden mallet, net, baseball bat, stake, flashlight, and squirt gun. The Dowagiac movie theater switched over to a monster movie for the weekend. The local drive-in offered “Monster burgers,” and one gas station even discounted what they called “getaway gas” suggesting it was a high-octane fuel specially designed for getting away after you’d seen the monster. The town became known as “Monster Town USA”.

By the time Sunday evening came around, most of the crowd had dispersed. The Cass County Sheriff and his men had taken away shotguns, long guns, and a whole host of overpowered hunting weapons.

A few nights later, in Ionia, Michigan which is one hundred miles north, the Michigan monster craze still had some people acting goofy. A state policeman, was on patrol with his tracking dog, keeping an eye out for a monster that had been reported a few nights before. While driving along I-96, a man dressed in a fur coat leapt onto the expressway, right in front of the officer who nearly hit him. The officer jumped out of his car, with his dog, Jocko, and tried to follow the person who left behind bits of fur and a rubber glove. Unfortunately, it began to rain, and Jocko lost the scent.

That same week, Ionia officers arrested eight teens dressed in ponchos who were sitting on each other’s shoulders to give the appearance of something bigger. That occurred on a highway just a few miles away.

Of course, I had to buy a t-shirt after learning all this….

The original reason we went to Dowagiac was to explore part of the southeastern shore of Lake Michigan. The shore is littered with huge chunks of driftwood.

The water is incredibly clear, and the horizon looks like the ocean.

When I was young, my family would vacation near the shore of Maine, so I have fond memories of lighthouses. I remember them being much larger than the ones on Lake Michigan, but then I remember water fountains in elementary school being much taller than they really were. This one is The Big Red Lighthouse in Holland.

There’s something romantic about lighthouses when you think about them guiding sailors through inclement weather. These two are in St. Joseph, Michigan. 

Tuttle’s Orchard in Greenfield Indiana is a fourth-generation family-operated farm that grows hundreds of acres of sunflowers among other crops.

When our kids were young, we’d take them to a cut-your-own Christmas tree farm. That was always a day long adventure because Barb was sure the perfect tree lay just one row over. I should have known better than to take her to fields with thousands of sunflowers to choose from.

The things my wife talks me into doing…

The Bridgeton Mill in Bridgeton Indiana has been in continuous operation since 1823.

Why wouldn’t you feel safe with fire equipment like this? This might have had something to do with the mill burning down and having to be rebuilt.

A painting depicting the mill in the mid-1800’s.

Barb’s brother Hubert and his wife Cindy have been coming on some of our adventures.

Leaning on posts must be a genetic thing.

Mill Race Park is in downtown Columbus, Indiana. I don’t know which state has the most covered bridges, but Indiana must be near the top. This is one of the few we’ve seen that still allows cars to drive over it.

Parke County has 31 covered bridges located in farm country. The view looking out from inside this covered bridge probably hasn’t changed much in the 120 years since it was built. 

In late October we decided to go to Brown County Park to see the fall colors. The entrance to the park is the only two-lane covered bridge we’ve seen. It was built in 1838. It amazes me that anything made of wood could survive 185 years, much less that it’s still safe for vehicle traffic.

There are large signs in front of the bridge warning about its height. Evidently some moron didn’t figure out his RV wouldn’t fit.

This is Strahl Lake in Brown County Park.

Many people think of Indiana as nothing but flat farm fields. There are areas like that, but many parts of the state are hilly and have beautiful fall vistas.

Cocoa loves milkshakes. She can get her head down in the cup to get every last drop.

The things dogs have to put up with during holidays…

We hope you have a great holiday season and didn’t explode from eating to much turkey!