iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

KristinRuth 🏳️‍🌈 @kristinruth.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

“There is a dance at water’s edge, a movement between the lake, its sand and the horizon where lake becomes cloud…” ~Sea & Rain: Lake Michigan, Keith Taylor Pier Front Light, Cheboygan, MI #stunday #imageandverse #ECK #classicmono #alphabetchallenge #machinery #monochrome #EastCoastkin

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KristinRuth 🏳️‍🌈 @kristinruth.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

It’s hard to come up with a #thirdplace when your home is on wheels. Our Happy Camper is definitely our First Place, Second Place is anywhere we’ve never been, but Kentucky has always been, and will always be, a place we come back to: Home #blueskyartshow #coloraday #greensat #EastCoastKin #vanlife

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KristinRuth 🏳️‍🌈 @kristinruth.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Old farm equipment in a Michigan field. I always wonder about the people who leave things behind. Where did they go? Why did they leave? Onaway, Michigan #alphabetchallenge #weekMforMachinery #scape #landscape #ECK

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KristinRuth 🏳️‍🌈 @kristinruth.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Lake of the Clouds in Michigan’s Porcupine Mountains People don’t usually think of mountains when they think of Michigan, but you can find the Huron Mountains & the Porcupine Mountains in the western part of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula #blueskymonday #mountainmonday #EastCoastKin #ECK #hiking

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KristinRuth 🏳️‍🌈 @kristinruth.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

“At my funeral I’d like there to be sunflowers. A truly inconvenient amount. For I too will have spent a lifetime searching for the light” ~Sunflowers, Harry Baker #stunday #imageandverse #bloomscrolling #ECK #EastCoastKin #autumn

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KristinRuth 🏳️‍🌈 @kristinruth.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Sitting around the campground last night watching the moon put on quite a show Mackinaw City, Michigan #scape #landscape #nightsky #camping #vanlife #ECK #EastCoastKin #autumn

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KristinRuth 🏳️‍🌈 @kristinruth.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I don’t often have a photo for #birdoftheday. But I’ve got one for #thedivers

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KristinRuth 🏳️‍🌈 @kristinruth.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Good morning from Michigan 🌞 Waiting for the sun to rise over Lake Huron #sunrise #ECK #EastCoastKin #waterwednesday

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KristinRuth 🏳️‍🌈 @kristinruth.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Chilly morning walk in a quiet campground Fall has arrived in Northern Michigan. I have a few more weeks here before the campground closes and I start making a slow wander south. Mackinaw City, Michigan #blueskymonday #vanlife #rvlife #travel #ECK #dogsofbluesky #roadtrip

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KristinRuth 🏳️‍🌈 @kristinruth.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

My favorite way to start the day Sunrise over Lake Huron 🌞 Mackinaw City, Michigan #waterwednesday #eastcoastkin #ECK #sunrise #photography

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KristinRuth 🏳️‍🌈 @kristinruth.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Happy Monday BlueSky! The wind and the clouds are making for a dramatic sky over Lake Huron this morning. Mackinaw City, Michigan #blueskymonday #EastCoastKin #photography #beach #morning

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KristinRuth 🏳️‍🌈 @kristinruth.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

From my airplane window A ship alone on the vast Indian Ocean For just a moment I felt a connection Two souls in motion, briefly crossing paths #Stunday #imageandverse #EastCoastKin #ECK #photography #poetry #ocean #travel

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KristinRuth 🏳️‍🌈 @kristinruth.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

The #undulating loess hills of Western Iowa Loess is extremely fine topsoil. The hills rise like dunes on the Iowa side of the Missouri River flood plain. China is the only other place you will find loess hills of this size. #blueskyartshow #coloraday #greensat #ECK #EastCoastKin #hiking

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KristinRuth 🏳️‍🌈 @kristinruth.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Nature reclaims Exploring the ruins of the Lodell-Emery Manufacturing Company in Onaway, Michigan. The factory burned down in 1926. #scape #landscape #forestfriday #monochrome #classicmono #bwfri #ECK #EastCoastKin

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KristinRuth 🏳️‍🌈 @kristinruth.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Wondering if there is someone ahead of us on the trail who is not wearing pants. #alphabetchallenge #weekJforJocular #forestfriday #hiking

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KristinRuth 🏳️‍🌈 @kristinruth.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Yesterday, we did a little Michigan backroads wandering in search of the World’s Largest Steering Wheel. We found it in the Awakon Sculpture Garden in the little town of Onaway, Michigan. ⬇️ AltText #alphabetchallenge #weekJforJocular #palacesandgardens #humansofbluesky #vanlife #roadtrip #ECK

Never underestimate the importance of finding a partner who shares your interests.

Rob and I hit the road in our RV with the plan to explore new places; but we are late into our second season in Mackinaw City, and we’ve seen all the marquee attractions, often more than once, so we’ve had to dig a little deeper into the archives to find new things to see and do.

Rob & I are compatibly weird and were both equally happy to spend an afternoon wandering Michigan backroads in search of the World’s Largest Steering Wheel.

Our quest was successful. We found it on the former site of the Lobdell-Emery Manufacturing Company in the little town of Onaway, Michigan. The factory was founded at the turn of the 19th century to manufacture wooden bicycle rims, & then they transitioned to making high end steering wheels for companies like Packard and Cadillac after the invention of the car.

The company put the town of Onaway on the map, employing 1500 people at its peak, and giving Onaway the name: “The Town That Steers the World”.

Sadly, the factory burned down in 1926 and was rebuilt 2.5 hours south in Alma, Michigan.

When we traveled through Wyoming years ago, we found evidence of artist farmers. As we drove the backroads, we passed scrap metal & old farm equipment that had been fashioned into things like running horses and grasshoppers wearing jaunty hats.

In Onaway, it seems we have evidence of artist metal workers. The town is also home to the Industrial Arts Institute. The World’s Largest Steering Wheel is part of the Awakon Park Sculpture Trail. We walked the trail, admiring the large art pieces that were spread out among wildflowers, apple trees, & the ruins of old buildings. There was a map of the factory in its heyday, and we walked around thinking about all the people who would have been living and working here, when the factory was going full swing.

Every person, every town, has a story. I’m grateful for our storytellers. So much would be lost without them.

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KristinRuth 🏳️‍🌈 @kristinruth.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

A Boy and His Dog “No other can lure him away from his side; He's proof against riches and station and pride… He sees the great soul which the body conceals- Oh, it's great to be young with a dog at your heels” E.A. Guest Cedarville, MI #stunday #imageandverse #ECK #EastCoastKin

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KristinRuth 🏳️‍🌈 @kristinruth.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Moonrise over Lake Huron Mackinaw City, MI #stunday #coloraday #orangesun #imageandverse #ECK #EastCoastKin “And who has seen the moon, who has not seen Her rise from out of the chamber of the deep, Flushed and grand and naked…” ~Moonrise, DH Lawrence

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KristinRuth 🏳️‍🌈 @kristinruth.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Checking out the Route 66 exhibit at the Illinois State Museum while in town visiting my daughter Springfield, Illinois #alphabetchallenge #weekIforIntegers #WallsonWednesday #coloraday #redwed #roadtrip #vanlife #midwest

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KristinRuth 🏳️‍🌈 @kristinruth.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

It’s been a minute since I’ve posted. Been traveling a bit & now my son is up visiting me. I’ve been showing him all of my favorite northern Michigan spots. Here’s another photo in what seems to be becoming a Tahquamenon Falls photo series #waterwednesday #waterfallwednesday #ECK #vanlife #sunset

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KristinRuth 🏳️‍🌈 @kristinruth.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Good morning all you fabulous BlueSky people! I hope you have a lovely day ❤️ Morning Glory (1933) #sunrise #dogsofbluesky #scape #coloraday #yellowthur #husky #alphabetchallenge #weekFforFilm #EastCoastKin

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KristinRuth 🏳️‍🌈 @kristinruth.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Just hanging out, having coffee with Jonathan and his friends this morning Jonathan Livingston Seagull #alphabetchallenge #weekFforFilms #waterwednesday #greatlakes #beach #ECK #EastCoastKin

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KristinRuth 🏳️‍🌈 @kristinruth.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

I love a day without an agenda. A sunny Sunday is a perfect day for a roadtrip, and Northern Michigan is a perfect place for backroads wandering. More in the AltText ⬇️ #thecampfire #coloraday #bluetue #roadtrip #vanlife

You’d be hard pressed to find any place more beautiful than Northern Michigan in the summer. It’s probably the only thing Kid Rock & I agree on.

The upper peninsula of Michigan is a great place to take a roadtrip. In addition to incredible natural beauty, the UP has a certain “See Rock City” nostalgic feel to many of its, been-family-run-for-generations, roadside attractions. There is actually a “See Shell City” sign for a place not far from us in Mackinaw City. We still haven’t seen it. I guess the owners need to up their signage game.

We had a loose agenda for the day. My husband had heard of a place called Oswald’s Bear Ranch & he wanted to see if we could find it. I thought the bear ranch would be the most interesting thing we saw that day. It was not.

We were coming back from a picnic lunch along Lake Superior when we passed The Ugly Fish Baking Company. I didn’t think it would be open at 4:00 on a Sunday. I’m glad Rob decided to stop anyway.

We met a couple of old hippies running an ice cream shop and bakery out of a 1974 Airstream by the side of a Michigan backroad. They also sell hot dogs and giant polish sausage from a little stand onsite. They make their own hot dog buns from scratch. I know this because the man grilling the sausage told Rob he was getting the last bun, but it was okay because he had more rising.

I guess the stand gets enough business from the state park visitors, and hunting and fishing camps, to make it worth their while. They certainly don’t have much competition out here.

I stuck to the original plan and got a milkshake as a post picnic dessert. I knew Rob was going to order the Polish sausage as soon as I saw it on the menu.

I sat on a swing under the pine trees, sipping on my milkshake, and chatting with the owner while he cooked up Rob’s sausage.

At one point the man’s wife left the camper, hopped on an old bicycle, & peddled across the street. I watched as she headed down a dirt road & disappeared into the trees.

I’m guessing the couple lived down that road, because the woman returned a short while later with warm, fresh, hot dog buns in the basket of her bicycle.

I’m glad the sausage took a while to cook. This was the sort of perfect day the you want to savor as long as possible.

My husband sat next to me on the swing and “helped” me drink my milkshake, while the owner and I had a wide ranging conversation.

I learned a lot about ice fishing on Lake Superior. Apparently it sucks. The wind is too strong to put up a fishing shack. It just gets blown around while you sit there freezing.

I asked him about Coast Guard Road, the intersecting dirt road the little stand sat next to; and learned it was an old, turn of the 19th century, Coast Guard rescue road that used to lead to a no longer in existence lighthouse. There were so many shipwrecks on Lake Superior, and many more wolves and other wild animals in Northern Michigan in the late 1800s and early 1900s, than today. If bodies washed up on shore they’d be quickly eaten, so families would offer rewards for the return of their loved ones, and it sounds like the recovery effort was a lucrative side business for coast guard employees.

This was morbid story to be told while sitting on a swing eating ice cream on a beautiful day.

I asked how long his season ran and he said, “I stay open to serve fish chowder to the hunters during deer season and then I’m done. Winter here I can deal with, but the start of winter, October, is just rain, then ice, then snow, then more ice. When that first ice storm hits, it’s time to shut things down, fire up the wood stove, sit in the sauna, and watch the Lions lose.”

If I’m going to watch my team lose, that sounds like a pretty nice way to do it.

When people ask why we decided to hit the road in our RV, days like this are the reason.

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