Take A Ride Through History Along the West Michigan Pike

Vintage Views Along the West Michigan Pike: From Sand Trails to US-31by M. Christine Byron & Tom Wilson

The West Michigan Pike, now US-31, is a 400-mile meandering ribbon of road, hugging the coast of Lake Michigan from Michigan City, Indiana to Mackinaw City, Michigan and passing through many small beach towns along the way. Its 1913 slogan, “Lakeshore All the Way” sums up the main feature of this gem of a travel route. The road is sometimes called Michigan’s Route 66.

In their new book, Vintage Views Along the West Michigan Pike: From Sand Trails to US-31, seasoned authors M. Christine Byron & Thomas R. Wilson tell the story of this road’s early beginning as serpentine sand trails and rutted dirt pathways and its transformation to US-31 used by today’s traveler.

“Actually, road improvement was first sought by bicyclists, a craze that swept the country in the 1880s,” explains co-author and Grand Rapids librarian, Christine Byron. “It was the Michigan Wheelmen, an association of bicyclists, who campaigned the legislature to allow each county to adopt a county road system. That really got the ball rolling for road improvement.”

The West Michigan Pike Association was formed in 1913 by boosters from lakeshore communities who knew that a good road would promote tourism, farming, and commercial pursuits along the lakeshore.

The book starts out with a recommendation from Ernest Hemingway in a 1919 letter to his Chicago pals Jenks and Barney, preparing them for their trip to Horton Bay, (near the location of the Hemmingway family’s summer retreat at Walloon Lake), to take the West Michigan Pike, “a pretty good road” and that the trip could be made in three days. Our research road sleuths, Christine and Tom, retraced the original Pike using vintage maps and allow readers to time-travel back to the small towns and villages through their collection of photos and postcards.

This is the fourth book in the Vintage View series. Previous books are: the award winning, Vintage Views of Leelanau County and Vintage Views of the Charlevoix-Petoskey Region and also Vintage Views of the Mackinac Straits Region.

The book is available through independent booksellers, chain bookstores and online.

www.ArbutusPress.com

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Vic Foerster - Author of Naked in the Stream: Isle Royale Stories to Speak & Sign Books April 28 at Schuler Books in Grand Rapids

A wilderness island in Lake Superior calls Vic Foerster to cross the world’s largest lake, land on the island’s rocky shore, hike its bony spine, fish its shoal embedded coves, camp in harm’s way, and fall in love with it all—bugs included. Naked in the Stream, Isle Royale Stories is Vic Foerster’s intimate account of what it means to find, revere, and experience wilderness. Isle Royale is a remote island in Lake Superior, accessible only by boat or seaplane.

On Thursday, April 28 at 7pm, Schuler Books at 3165 Alpine Avenue in Grand Rapids welcomes Vic Foerster, author of Northern Michigan’s bestselling book, Naked in the Stream, Isle Royale Stories.

Foerster’s humor and passion shine through these stories. He describes what it feels like when dormant muscles spring to life while lugging a canoe over steep ridges, the panic caused by paddling against a stiff head-wind, straining to reach shore, how to fish for dinner on Lake Superior from a canoe, and how to hold your breath as you pass by an eagle perched 50 feet away. Observe the moose, the wolves, and the fascinating people Vic encounters. Draw close to the Great Lakes wilderness that outdoor enthusiasts place in their bucket list and say, “One day ... ”

Former artist-in-resident Joyce Koskenmaki’s artwork graces the writing. This is a book that Jerry Dennis, author of The Living Great Lakes, describes as worthy of the Sigurd Olson Outstanding Writing Award and Michigan notable book author, Tom Springer, says combines a rare originality with humor and an abiding grace.

Foerster is a consulting arborist who has served West Michigan for the past 35 years. He now turns his observational skills toward what many call the “Jewel of the National Park System.”

Naked in the Stream: Isle Royale Stories
By Vic Foerster
Arbutus Press – Traverse City
ISBN 978-1-933926-22-3
Paperback 6X9, 300 pages
$19.95

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