The first 5 days, 38,984 people viewed the page over 43,000 times. By yesterday it was down to 137 views.

Downtown Diner is the only place on the list where the owners know who I am. They had a special I wanted to try and I was in there for lunch a couple of days ago. The owner said that they started hearing about it on Thursday. Thursday through Sunday they sold 900 burgers, about double normal. So many people ordered the Sheboygan Burger which I listed as my 3rd favorite, that they ran out of the house made Italian sausage.

Yesterday we had supper at Snack Shack on Santa Fe. It was also on the list, but the staff does not know me. I casually mentioned their being on the list and they said there was a big response. Much more business than you would expect. 

As I headed south, I made a very quick stop at Mine Creek Civil War Battlefield for some fresh exterior photos. Mine Creek was the site of one of the largest cavalry engagements of the Civil War (and the largest west of the Mississippi River.

Continuing to the community of Fort Scott, it was a chance to photograph the county courthouse, Crooners Lounge (where we ate during Mary's graduation weekend), and an overflow dam/waterfall on the Marmaton River. As I passed the historic fort the community is named after, there was a small farmers market and I couldn't resist photographing the horses in a parking spot near an Amish wagon.

The next stop was at Chancy's Grill & Shake in the community of Moran. It is one of the many new places I learned of when my Best Kansas Burgers page was published. Chancy's opened in 1969 and has been under the same owner since 1991. It has a fairly large menu and serves breakfast all day.

My server asked if I had been there before and when she learned I had not, spent about 5 minutes talking about the menu, what was good and what was special. The 1/3 lb. hickory burger (pepper jack, hickory BBQ sauce, pickle and onion) was good, but they don't ask how you want the burger prepared and it came cooked to the point of being crispy. The house made curly fries were very good. I had them with chili & cheese. Without the cheese, they might have been the best chili fries I have ever had.

I headed on toward Erie, but realized that I would be passing near one of the tallest Kansas waterfalls and stopped briefly at Bourbon Lake Falls. This late in the summer it might have been dry, but we have had a lot of rain and it was beautiful. 

Dinosaur Not-So-National Park was a collection of fairly large dinosaurs made from found metal parts by a retired man who lived outside of Erie. He died a few years ago. This past winter his family donated many of them to the community and they have been moved to a new Erie Dinosaur Park in town. It was locked up, but I was able to photograph all of them through the fence. There is quite a bit of work to do before this coming weekend's grand opening of the park. 

Driving back through town, I stumbled across the Mem-Erie History Museum, a small community historical museum, which didn't really have much to offer to someone without ties to the community. They had some Erie postcards for sale and one was of an unusual old bridge. I learned that I could reach it following the street in front of the museum south.

Portions of the Old 59 Neosho River Bridge may date from the 1870s. It is in poor condition, a one lane bridge used by about 100 vehicles a day. The 360' long bridge has multiple spans, none of which are the style as the others. There is also a waterfall created by an overflow dam which also dates from the 1870s. 

There was one last stop on the way back. The Country Diner in Colony has moved two blocks and changed to Colony Community Diner & Convenience since I was last there and I wanted to find out what had happened and if the food was the same. It turns out that the old restaurant burned about a year and a half ago. They ,moved to a new building and changed the name. The food is pretty much the same 

Amish wagon
 
 
 

Hickory burger & chili, cheese fries
 
 
 

Erie Dinosaur Park
 
 
 
 
 

Old 59 Neosho River Bridge

This is still private property, but there are memorials to musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, together with the pilot, Roger Peterson.

We entered Michigan's Upper Peninsula at Ironwood and stopped at several waterfalls before stopping for the night in Ontonagon. This area has over 150 named waterfalls. The falls to the right is Manabezho Falls, it is near the mouth of Presque Isle River in Porcupine Mountain State Park. There are two more large falls just above this location. 

Manabezho Falls

Canyon Falls and Gorge near Baraga. We saw a roadside park with parking and Linda decided that she could walk farther than we had allowed up until then. The hike was about 2 miles round trip, but much of the route was flat trail or boardwalk over marshy area. We walked along a long stretch of the Sturgeon River, sometimes on its rocky bank and sometimes high above a narrow gorge. There were many rapids and waterfalls, with the highest falls being about 20 feet.

The last stop of this segment was Lakenenland, which I read about years ago. There were dozens of welded metal sculptures spread along a couple of narrow two rut roads which visitors are invited to drive through in summer and snowmobile through in winter. It is quirky grassroots art and very fun. 

Lakenenland

We really wanted to stay at the Chippewa Hotel, but because of the Port Huron to Mackinac Island sailboat race, it was unavailable. So we stayed at Mission Point, which was originally built by Moral Re-Armament (MRA) from 1942-1965. It later became Mackinac College and was briefly owned and operated by the Cathedral of Tomorrow and Rex Humbard. Today it is a resort, which recently changed hands and will see a lot of improvement in the next couple of years.

We had a nice two room suite, but a view of only a rock face just a few feet from the windows. 

This was our view at Mission Point for over $300 a night

We also visited 235 year old Fort Mackinac and took a private carriage tour to areas of the Mackinac Island interior which are not on the standard tours and less often visited by tourists. The best part of the tour was the conversation with our driver, Jeremy Crawford, whose family has been on the Island for generations.

The Beach House is a set of small cabins on the shore just west of town. They have a good online reputation and I have been wanting to stay in one of the their lakeshore cabins for a couple of years. We had unit #25 and were right on the beautiful beach. It has a great view, though primarily of the Straits of Mackinac and the islands. The view of the Mackinac Bridge is marginal.

We had supper at Legs Inn in Cross Village, about 20 miles away. Legs Inn was built in the 1920s by Stanley Smolak, a Polish immigrant. The large building, its furniture and furnishings are all folk art at its finest. Today it is run by the 3rd generation of the Smolak family. When I was growing up, I thought the building was neat, but couldn't appreciate the Polish food. My palate has matured since then and Legs Inn is now one of my favorite restaurants.

The best part of the meal was the "Old Fashioned Polish Berry Szarlotka" - a crumble cake baked with a blend of fresh apples, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries and blueberries.

Old Fashioned Polish Berry Szarlotka

Other stops were at Mackinaw City's Heritage Village and the Historic Mill Creek Discovery Park.

The evening was spent at a reception that was part of a reunion for all classes which graduated from Mackinac City Public High School in the 1970s.

The burger was dry and nothing special, but both appetizers were better. The wings were tossed in their homemade buffalo sauce and then charred on the grill to lock in flavor. The wings were a little small, but had some heat and a great flavor. The house fried potato chips loaded up with cheddar & Jack cheeses, bacon & chives. They could have used more bacon and chives, but still were above average.