The halfway stop: breaking up the drive up north on M-115
Why a night in Lake, Michigan turns a seven-hour haul to Traverse City into two easy drives — and what to do with the afternoon you just got back.
· 5 min read
The math
From Fort Wayne, Toledo or Columbus, Traverse City is six to seven hours with stops. From Detroit it's four, from Indianapolis seven. Clare County sits almost exactly in the middle: M-115 leaves US-127 at Clare and runs straight through Lake to Cadillac and on to Traverse City.
Stop here Friday night and you arrive up north Saturday by lunch, rested, instead of at 11 PM with a car full of cranky people.
What to do with the extra afternoon
Pull in at 4, let the kids loose on the mini-golf courses while you unload, grill on the deck, and light the fire pit. In the morning, a nine-hole round takes ninety minutes and you're back on M-115 by 11.
If you'd rather see the area, downtown Clare and the Amish shops are 15 minutes back the way you came.
Why not just a hotel off the highway
Because a hotel room with two queens and a hallway ice machine is not a vacation night. A two-bedroom cabin with two full baths, a kitchen and a deck costs about the same as two decent hotel rooms and feels like the trip already started.
Ready to plan it?
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