A chilly 50 degrees greeted us this Sunday morning as we headed out to meet up with friends for an early fall ride.   Our destination today was Darksyde Acres, a haunted attraction in Jonesville, MI.  It was September 26th, 2010, the Halloween season just upon us.

Finding Darksyde Acres is a bright new beginning from a sad end.  In October of 2008, we assembled a ride out to the Haunted Homer Mill, another haunted attraction in Homer, MI.  We’d planned on returning this year, but on May 16th, the entire historic structure was lost in a fire.  Days after the tragedy, I was still searching headlines following the story, when I came upon a Memorial page for the Homer Mill, at darksydeacres.com.   The owners are friends, and had cross promoted their haunted ventures together.

This year, I wanted to come visit Darksyde Acres, and put it out to a few friends to do a “trial” run, ride out to the location, get familiar with the route, and check out area lodging and restaurants as I’d done when we visited the Homer Mill.

Today our meeting place was a Burger King 30 minutes from home, and we warmed up with coffee as we waited for everyone to arrive. Bundled up in leathers, we cruised US-12 past the farms and cornfields, five motorcycles and a dune buggy.  Approaching Jonesville, US-12, or Chicago Road as it’s also called out this way, curves to the left and Litchfield Rd. continues on.   This is an even more rural stretch through open fields, the white and yellow lines almost completely worn from the pavement, and there are sections of the road where the trees almost form a canopy over the road.  Sweet.

From Litchfield we continued north onto Rowe Rd, (after missing the turn and going back :-))  Rowe is a dirt road, but still easily passable by motorcycle.  At Mosherville Rd, we turned right, and our destination was on the left, recognizable by the blue Harvestore silos I was told to look for.   The day had clouded up a bit, and the dark clouds added to the spookiness of the place, even in the day.

Today we met Rob, the owner of Darksyde Acres, who I’d conversed with over email about today’s trip.  He graciously gave us a tour of the property, and I cannot WAIT until our outing on Oct. 16 when we will return to actually go through the haunted house.  The place was HUGE, reasonable, and the work and talent that goes into putting on this kind of a production will really be something to experience.  Obviously, I won’t give away any surprises, but what I thought was pretty creepy in itself is the fact that they will bring you through in small groups, 2-3 people at a time.  Growing up, we always went through haunted houses in a line, with plenty of friends to hide behind.  Not the case here.   Heheh.

Back into the daylight, we were greeted by several horses and a dog roaming the property, and we thanked Rob and said our goodbyes to he and his crew.  I was pretty excited by the time we left, and hoped I could find lodging for the weekend that we return, but lots of places were booked or already closed for the season.  Still working on it!

We then made our way into town and stopped for lunch at Saucy Dog’s Barbecue, right in downtown Jonesville.  Saucy Dog’s is really a  cool place, recommended by Rob at Darksyde Acres. Very fun atmosphere, excellent food and great service.  We each had something different, ranging from coney dogs to burgers to reubens to beef brisket.  And don’t forget the deep fried pickles!  Very, very good.  After lunch, and a lot of laughs, we rode back east on US-12 together, some of us splitting off in our own directions as we headed home under gray skies.  The temps were dropping, my back and shoulders sore from tensing up against the cold.  I made a mental note (again!) that I must find heated gear for the last of the riding season, and upcoming snowmobile season.

We are very excited to return, and more to come, on this freakish find.   🙂   Check back in October for full report.   

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