My 2019 Great Lakes Road Trip Part 3B

Day 3 – Thursday July 25 (Continued)

Continuing today’s activities, I headed northeast on I-94 to visit the Wills Sainte Claire Auto Museum located in Marysville, MI.  This museum tells the story of C.H. Wills, who after working as a design engineer for Henry Ford, left Ford in 1919 to start designing and building his own cars. The resulting modern and stylish Wills Sainte Claire Model A-68 car and other cars he created were not a success. The price of his cars for the time, and the Great Depression, caused the company to close its doors in 1929, along with many other car companies of the time.

Next I headed west on I-69 to check out the Sloan Museum located in Burton, MI.  This museum is part of the Cortland Center Mall, and has around 30 beautifully restored cars on display dating from 1904, including 5 ultra-rare Concept Cars.  Because I took so much time at the previous museums, I was running out of time for today. So I decided to skip the three museums, on my list in the Flint, MI area, and head north on I-75.

My sister, Judy, and another friend had told me that if I got a chance, I should stop in Frankenmuth, MI to check out that unique and beautiful Bavarian city.  The downtown Bavarian designed buildings were unique but I wasn’t particularly impressed with the Abby’s of Frankenmuth tourist trap area.  I was also very disappointed that the Michigan’s Military & Space Hero’s Museum there in town was closed.

I took time to watch the Bavarian Bell Riverboat return from a run down the Cass River, and took a stroll thru what is called Michigan’s Largest Wooden Covered Bridge.  Built in the late 1977s, this beautifully designed covered bridge (Holz Brucke) is 239 feet long and is wide enough for two auto lanes with sidewalks on either side.  As a serendipity on this long day my son, Billy, called to check on me while I was standing in front of the bridge watching the Bavarian Bell Riverboat dock across the Cass River.  He looked up my location on his cell phone, and was describing the surroundings in such detail that I asked him if he could see me waving.  What fun that was.

My last museum today was to be the Saginaw Railway Museum located in Saginaw, MI.   Of course, I had planned too many museum visits for today, and it was after 6:00 before I got to Saginaw.  The museum was closed, but I got some pictures of their museum building and their rolling stock.  The museum website informed me that the museum is housed in the restored 1907 Pere Marquette Railway depot that was moved from Hemlock, MI and sits on the original 1881 site of the Marquette Union Station. 

By now I was past ready for Greta to take me to tonight’s motel in Auburn, MI. After I got checked in at the motel, I heated up last night’s leftover Baked Lasagna from Leonardo’s Italian Grill, and enjoyed that delicious meal again.

—–To Be Continued—–

Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 61 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing.  He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville.  Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.

One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is:  John 10:10

Tags: Museum Travel Series, Travel Series