I just spent last weekend with the West Michigan Pontiac Club (of POCI) on their annual Dust Off weekend driving tour. This year's tour had us going to covered bridges in SW Michigan and north central Indiana (well into Amish country to be sure) on Saturday and then driving the Fernwood Botanical Gardens in Niles MI on Sunday. We spent the night in Warsaw IN, near Winoma Lake.

The trip started on Michigan's west side - in Holland MI.

First covered bridge on the tour is the Langley Covered Bridge in Lockport Township MI. It is the longest remaining covered bridge in Michigan. It was originally built in 1887.

We stopped at nearby Yoder's Country Market in Centerville for a free tonight and bio/food break.

Here is a better look at some of the cars in our caravan.....

This de-badged '85 GMC 3500 SIerra dually is interesting. It is a BBC-powered and it is 2WD, not 4WD! The front has 2" drop springs and the back frame has been C-notched to lower the truck in the rear.

Back on the road to our second covered bridge....in Indiana.

We arrive at the Spencervill IN covered bridge. It was built in 1873.

Black Beauty on the other side of the bridge.

Now we are off to our lunch stop.....at the Auburn Town Tavern in Auburn Indiana.

Lunch was literally a block from .....

....but we did not stop or visit either museum. I left lunch a few minutes early and quickly bought a GM Futureliner hat at the NATMUS gift store.

Lining back up from lunch.

Edited May 20May 20 by Frosty

On the road to our final covered bridge in Roann Indiana.

That looks like a '59 Lincoln Premiere to me. Cool though.

Running parallel to a train for several miles.

The Roann IN covered bridge was built in 1877, but it did not allow vehicles to pass over it. You could walk across it but not drive over it.

The black metal rods on either side are actually pipes going to a fire sprinkler system. On the opposite end of this covered bridge, the road curves sharply to the left, and there is.....

....a graveyard. What is this? The 1870 version of Dead Man's Curve? LOL!

This is clearly not something I would have expected next to a covered bridge!

From the bridge, we drove only a mile or two to a old grist mill.

By the time we got there, it was closed to tourists for the day. Still it was cool to see.

You don't see that sort of signage every day.

We arrived in Warsaw IN for the night. We had dinner at the nearby Boathouse Restaurant on Winoma Lake.

Sunday morning we were up, fed and headed north from Warsaw to Niles MI for the Fernwood Botanical Gardens.

They had a very cool outdoor train exhibit running that you could walk through with all sorts of electric model trains running through it.

Love this bug train/car

A stump garden of sorts. Hmmm.

I am not sure what to make of this. Was this once an old house or is this some sort of modern art? Dunno.

Sadly the water wheel wa shut off.

After Fernwood, I cannonballed three hours home. I drove a total of 683 miles in two days. Black Beauty averaged 21.4 miles per gallon. Gas was way cheaper in Indiana compared to Michigan. I bought gas in Warsaw for $4/gal. It was $4.63 when I got home.

I do love driving tours. This trip took us literally though every podunk town in SW Michigan and north central Indiana. It was all US highways, state roads, or paved county roads the whole way. I like these sort of trips.

Justa amazing !!!!

i so enjoyed your picture tour mate !!!

onion rings !!!!!yumm yumm !!

And the work on the model train set!!!! justA amazing !!! i have a mate who works for the department of conservation here in nz that would love to see your pictures !

he is the big boss of national park middle of the north island.

thank you so much

All the Rural places , no fences !!!! here we have fences everywhere to stop people eating/ patting the meat !!!

Thanks Kiwi.

That’s one of the big reasons I love driving tours like Power Tour so much. You get off the expressways, and drive down US highways, state highways, and back county roads instead. You see so much more of rural and middle America this way.