It was a mild but overcast day as we drove northeast across the till plains of the American Midwest. Despite the low clouds, intermittent fog and pockets of drizzle, the golden hues of late summer adorned the landscape and brightened our journey.
We entered the Michigan Basin in northern Illinois, where the Kankakee Arch, a deeply buried ridge of ancient, Precambrian rock, divides the Michigan Basin, to its northeast, from the Illinois Basin, to its southwest. Of course, the Pleistocene ice sheets flattened this region and buried the underlying bedrock with a thick layer of glacial till; as a result, there is no surface topography that reflects the deep divide and surface streams cross freely from one geologic basin to the other.
In southwest Michigan, we traveled northward, paralleling the shore of Lake Michigan and passing inland dunes, remnants of the Lake's larger, post-glacial predecessor. Past Holland, we turned eastward to Grand Rapids and then continued northward, entering the scenic, wooded hills that cover the heart of the Michigan Basin; with every mile, the colors of autumn became more intense and the percentage of conifers, relative to their colorful, broadleaf neighbors, continued to increase. Finally, having booked a hotel room in Traverse City, we took an evening stroll along West Traverse Bay, a welcome bit of exercise after a ten hour drive. Tomorrow, we plan a morning visit to Sleeping Bear Dunes and then we're off to Mackinac Island.
