Following my previous post, the Wendy Anne quickly followed the Beaver Island Ferry into the channel at Charlevoix, Michigan. This handsome little ship was also built in 1955; one can see some information on it here. It’s also come from Beaver Island as we see the markings on the barge it is towing from there.
The lift bridge one sees in the final image, the US31-Island Lake Outlet Bridge, is interesting as well—is is a double-leaf bascule type. It first opened for service in the summer of 1949. One can read all about it here.
Six images by Richard Koenig; taken July 27th 2022.
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Najia couldn’t sleep. She tossed and turned, not just because the ground was cold and hard, despite the padding of the sleeping bag provided by the prepared Kent, but because her mind raced, stuck on the legend of Stardew Valley. What if Kent was right? She could essentially be walking into nothing more than a vast, deserted valley. But the possibility of that didn’t seem all that bad. So what if nothing existed there? So what if her grandfather wasn’t there? It was a place to be. It had been the only thing keeping her going for so long. Kent had been able to make a hideout there in the forest; why couldn’t she make a home for herself in the valley? If it seemed to mythical as everyone seemed to believe, there was a small chance that the Shadow People would even bother to keep tabs on the place. Whether her grandfather was there or not, it could be safe.
And after all this time, she wasn’t about to give up on it. She was going to get to the valley and she would take matters into her own hands, whatever may happen. With or without the rest of the group. It was all she had left; all she hung on to. She was going to see it to the end.
“Hey,” Leah whispered to her. She scooted closer to Najia until their arms touched in the darkness.
“Hi.”
“You’re not sleeping.”
“Sorry,” Najia muttered. “I didn’t mean to keep you up.”
“What’s eating you?”
Najia hesitated. “The valley.”
Leah didn’t say anything for a moment. Her voice was softer when she finally spoke. “Are you still going?”
“Yes.”
Leah was quiet again. She leaned into Najia. “I don’t think you should.”
“What? Why?”
“I’m afraid you’ll just be disappointed.”
“It doesn’t matter what’s there,” Najia said. “Or what’s not there. I’m seeing it through.”
“You shouldn’t go alone.”
“I thought you were coming with me?”
Leah hesitated. “There’s a lot of us, now,” she said. “We’re a big, obvious group. I don’t think we can chance too much traveling.”
“What happened to being BFFs?” Najia accused her.
“We are,” Leah insisted. “And as your BFF, I’m advising you to stay here. We’ve got a good thing going. A safe place to hide out. Hell, we’ve got a soldier on our side. A doctor. We can make a home for ourselves here.”
“A home? In this dark hell hole? This is what you’ve settled for?”
“Do you think it will be any different in the valley? It will be the same, dark hell hole.”
Najia moved away from Leah’s body, but Leah’s hand touched hers.
“Stay here with us,” she begged Najia. “You’ve been on the run for so long. Stop running.”
“I’m not running.”
“Please,” Leah said. “Just think about it?”
Najia sighed. “Yeah. Okay.” But her mind was already made up.
*****
Najia sipped her coffee quietly by the fire as Marlon, Gil, and Kent discussed heatedly with each other. Leah stubbornly brought up Najia’s intentions to continue to the valley. Not to Najia’s surprise, the other’s had quickly given up on that plan once Kent confirmed there was nothing there for them. They were all too eager to settle into the safety of the hideout that Kent had built up. Kent had tried to convince Najia to stay, but Marlon and Gil took her side in the matter.
“Let the girl do what she wants,” Gil said to him. “No one is forced to stay anywhere they don’t want to be.”
“There’s no sense losing survivors,” Kent said. “We need to stick together. Who knows how many more of us are out there.”
“We’ve already lost one,” Marlon said. “Took off and left. And that’s his choice.”
“She’s an easy target alone,” Kent argued. “She’ll be walking into her death.”
“I think she can hold her own,” Marlon said. “And what if she’s right? What if there’s something there?”
“Then she can come back and tell us,” Kent grunted.
Gil scoffed at him. “Why would she want to come back and share the good news with the people who tried to tell her it was all a lie?”
“Then she doesn’t have to and she can be safe in the valley.”
“It’s not worth arguing about,” Najia interrupted them. “I’m going and I don’t care who comes with me.”
“We’ll come with you,” Gil confirmed, but Najia shook her head.
“No. Kent is right. There’s no sense splitting up. It could be safer here.”
“Since when have we ever cared about safety?” Marlon pointed out.
“I don’t expect anyone to follow me on a whim.”
“We just figured there’d be a chance for us to fight some more of those bastards,” Gil said. “We’d never pass up an opportunity to fight.”
“Don’t argue with us,” Marlon warned. “We’re in this to the end and we’re going to go, guns ablazing.”
“Everyone else can stay and hide out here,” Gil said. His eyes scanned the group. “Anyone coming along with us?”
They were quiet as they exchanged glances with one another.
Marlon cleared his throat. “Good. We’ve weeded out the weaklings.”
Najia looked into her mug and said nothing. She felt more determined to get away from the group, now. She felt guilty that Marlon and Gil could potentially be following her to their deaths. While she had enjoyed each of their company over the last couple of months, she wanted to be alone again. She needed to take her own chance, and she wasn’t willing to let anyone else risk their lives. They had a safe place, and they deserved it.
*****
It was late in the morning when she followed Gil, Marlon, Alex, Leah, and Kent back towards the vehicles. They had transported most of their supplies back to camp and were about to make the trip into town to stock up some more.
Najia let Leah drive, following the Hummer across the power lines and back toward the coast where they followed the road south-east towards the larger city. They were closer to the interstate than Najia realized. The long, deserted road stretched north and south just outside of the city, which she could see below from the grocery store at the top of the hill.
She followed the others as they marched across the parking lot and into the store, pausing just outside the building as they picked their way carefully through the shattered glass doors. This was her chance to get away, alone, back on the road. She could take the interstate north as far as she could until it narrowed through the mountains and into Stardew Valley.
She turned her back to the store and looked over her shoulder. They were deep inside now, picking through the cans of food eagerly, anxious to bring back whatever they could. Najia jogged back towards the car, still running quietly, and slid into the driver’s seat. Without hesitation, she peeled out of the parking lot and followed the road to the interstate, heading northbound.
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