The Great Mikegration

Photo: Peace, Love and Little Donuts in Michigan

Day 15: 10/09/22

• Good nights sleep at the Courtyard in Traverse City, MI. Lots of driving today (about 502 miles).
• First stop was from the Courtyard to Peace, Love, & Little Donuts. Cool place where they make the donuts by hand while you wait. Literally a couple dozen (or more) options for you to have them make for you. Great way to start the day and good tasting! Be there when open or you’ll be waiting for a little while!!!
• Drive just down the road to Travers Bay Cafe and get a great cup of coffee and something non sweet for your breakfast. Eat it there and enjoy the place or do what we did and grab it to go. Side Note: not really a cafe but more upscale coffee shop with some basic sandwich type food options. No full sit down meals here. Great food though!
• Ok, lots of miles today so gotta stay focused. Next stop was Royal Farms in Ellsworth, MI on US31 North. Great stop for homemade goodies including sweet treats like pie, cider and wine all made by the family! All of it was good and bought some cider, wine, treats, and sandwiches for later. Highly recommend this stop!
• From Ellsworth stay on US31 North and take the scenic route onto M-119 to Cross Village (this takes you on the Tunnel of Trees Scenic Heritage Rte which is barely a two lane road, more like a big one lane so use caution and know you’ll only be going about 20 MPH maximum on this part with lots of traffic and pull overs) then to US31 North to US131 South to Grand Rapids, to Holland to I-96 to I-94 to Hwy 50 South to the Fairfield Inn Kankakee Bourbonnais.
• Lots of glowing reds and oranges today on our drive. US31 and M-119 were about a week away from peak colors however US31 and US131 were gorgeous. Highly recommend staying in upper Michigan next leaf season!!!
• Funny aside story about 20 miles north of Grand Rapids, MI we stopped at the rest area… Upon Lisa entering her stall in the women’s restroom she heard a voice from next door saying “Thank goodness-I didn’t think anyone was in here-can you hand me some toilet paper?” After the very grateful women left and Lisa finished her “paperwork” she heard someone rush into….you guessed it….the stall next to her that was void of paper. She decided to be nice and make an offer of paper before she left which was gratefully received by the other party with a “you’re an angel!!!” exclamation. Good day for the deed was done and my wife and I laughed for many a mile down the road.
• Made it to the hotel and was hungry for some Chicago Deep Dish Pizza so we picked up a pizza from Nancy’s Pizza which was very deep dish. I personally didn’t care for it however to each there own.
• I also would not recommend the hotel. Loud traffic noise and had an older musty smell to it. Maybe was just my room.

Day 16: 10/10/22

• Not a very good nights sleep but the party goes on!!! Driving from Borbonnais, IL to Effington, IL then to the Fairfield Hotel in Arkadelphi, Arkansas.
• 656 miles today.
• The Arkansas Welcome Center in Corning, AK was really, really nice. Great spot for a picnic lunch, very clean, well maintained. Stop here again! PS>..and they had paper… lol
• Nice drive overall today. Only some occasional pops of color to be found. Had to route around several wildfires that were going on in Arkansas; pretty crazy. I-57 to US60 to I30W
• The Fairfield in Arkadelphia, AK is brand new, clean, friendly and a great place to spend the night. To celebrate our return home tomorrow night we ordered some food on Doordash and split a bottle of champagne that we got from the front desk of the hotel. Not exactly Dom Perignon but still a tasty treat for our celebration.
• No photos today…sorry.

Day 17: 10/11/22

• Great nights sleep and homeward bound! Short day today mileage wise as only 356 miles but heavy on the Mikegration fun!!!! Guess what day it is??? Don’t know? Here’s a hint; remember all those donut shops we passed that weren’t open or we couldn’t stop at at the beginning of the trip out of TX….. TODAY IS DONUT DAY BABY!!!!!
• Good Donuts in Texarkana was donut stop number one. The donuts here were lacking and I was severely disappointed as all the conditions looked to be a perfect fit for my donut stop criteria. Good Donuts building was an old converted gas station that looked “dumpy but clean” as in PERFECT dumpy for my donut hunting. We all have different types of donuts we like however these just weren’t mine.
• Next was Kremy Donuts in Atlanta, TX. NICE! The boudin roll is super spicy. Apple Fritter was GREAT! Donut and cinnamon twist only ok so I’d stick to the apple fritter only next time.
• from there on to Classic Donuts in Big Sandy off US155 located at 209 W. Broadway St, Big Sandy. Ok…..so super dumpy so BIG thumbs up here! Again diametric to the other. Did not like the apple fritter at all however the regular glazed donut was a yeast donut type donut and it was AWESOME! Would stop again if was back in the area.
• Through careful routing we made it to Jocelyn’s Donuts at 2703 W. Oak St, Palestine, TX. Big place but looked slightly run down so YEAH team! Meets my criteria. Glazed donuts and maple donuts were both great and done in the yeast style. Cherry turnover was just ok so I’d stick to the donuts. They also had donut holes in several flavors. I got the glazed and the pumpkin and both were ok so again, I personally would get the donuts only next time in Palestine.
• Now after four donut shops you’d think that I’d be getting tired or to late in the day but I have GREAT news for you. I was able to squeeze one more in that morning before it closed for the day. Donut Palace in Buffalo, TX! Located at 1019 W. Commerce St, Buffalo, TX. WOW! Great yeast donuts here and good cinnamon butterfly here also. Highly recommend spending a few minutes to detour through Buffalo if you need to to grab some. Owner was super nice and friendly. Was getting ready to close for the day so she even put some extra’s in the bag for me to keep my sugar rush going for the afternoon! Definitely will route this way again to stop here!
• Oh yes, and then home for the win! 17 days all together and 5729 miles and a promise to the wife that I wouldn’t bring home any more donuts for a couple weeks! Maybe I did overdo it a little on that last day but hey… It’s The Great Mikegration and donuts wait for no man!