“Not all those who wander are lost."

-- J. R. R. Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings.

We love that quote because we love to meander, to take roads less traveled, off the Interstate. And as we are starting our Great Lakes Shoreline Tour that will take us 3,500 miles across eight states along the shorelines of all five Great Lakes, we are reminded again about the absolute joy of slow exploration.

We’ve tried to explain it to non-RV people. Their eyes sort of glaze over. But you understand, don’t you?

When we first began our motorhome adventure two years ago, I was so focused on arriving at our destination that I missed the adventure and thrill of getting there. I drove mega-mileage, 400, 500, even 600 miles a day. I’d arrive exhausted, cranky and wanting nothing but sleep. I guess that’s part of the newbie’s RVing education, learning to slow down.

Now, it’s hard to get us out of an area.

Even as I write this, in the tiny town of Geneva, Ohio, the heart of Ohio’s wine country, we have found so many things to see.

Ohio? Wine?

You better believe it. Parts of this area look like the Napa Valley in California. Really.

It’s raining again. It has rained for the last four days. But no problem. There are wineries to tour, small town attractions. Winding roads. The local drug store has a long, old-fashioned soda fountain bar. I’m going to go see if I can get a cherry phosphate.

We’ve traveled the U.S. shoreline of Lake Ontario and are now following Lake Erie. We’ll end this leg of the tour at the mouth of the Detroit River, the lake’s source, make our way home for the Father’s Day weekend and then pick it up again Tuesday with Lake Huron, starting in Port Huron, MI.

Our first official report from the tour will be next week, sharing photos and videos here, as well as on the Verizon Wirelsss blog and the Pure Michigan blog. We’ll also tweet and post in Facebook and social media with #VZGreatLakes and #vzwmidwest.

Let me know what you think we should see. We’ll probably avoid most of the big tourist attractions that everyone knows about. We want to highlight the surprises and little gems that delight and surprise.

Let us know.

Here’s one of those gems we discovered this week. This cow is out front of the Jell-O museum in Le Roy, N.Y. And, yes, there really is such a place. More later.