Heads Carolina, Tails California

[pbjman]

 

So we are heading out today..... will have to decide where to go.

"California" = west coast, which for us this trip would be Muskegon and Michigan's west coast, then the U.P.

"Carolina" = south to Roanoke VA then do some of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

No reservations, just CTFW to find interesting things and campgrounds. The weather forecast for either direction isn't 100% ideal, so that's not a huge factor. We have from now (Sunday) until Friday. 6 days of adventure awaits me!

I'll post in here from time to time and maybe even include a pic or two. @cowpuc, if you see this today and want me to swing by, say between 1-3 pm, send me a PM with your address and phone number and (if we go that way) I'll stop by to say "Hey!" If you are busy, I know....short notice....no problem!

[10spd]

My vote "Carolina"

[etcswjoe]

Come on down to Charleston.

[Flyinfool]

You cold do the great circle tour.

A route to go all the way around Lake Michigan.

Then at least wave as you go by me, I'm only 2 blocks off the route.

[pbjman]

stopped for a bite. Picture has a clue as to where we are

[Flyinfool]

Medical Associates? You better get riding so you can feel better soon.

[etcswjoe]

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stopped for a bite. Picture has a clue as to where we are

 

In a strip mall?

[pbjman]

That was in Clio, MI.

Now we are in a new place:

[pbjman]

Puc, where are you?

 

Now we will be heading north in pursuit of the front wheel!

[etcswjoe]

That was in Clio, MI.

Now we are in a new place:

 

 

A parking lot?

[cowpuc]

That was in Clio, MI.

Now we are in a new place:

 

Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, what da heck,,, THAT is right out my back door PB!!! We just got in from a fantastic 4 day journey,, SORRY WE MISSED YOU TOO !!!!!!

Depending on where you are right now we may have passed each other on the road!! We came down from the Bridge (at the big car show in St Ignace) on the off highway

 

West side.. THIS IS TERRIBLE!!

At any rate, have fun up there PB and ride safe my friend!!!

[pbjman]

Well we had 5 days, 4 nights totaling 1354 miles of riding, sightseeing, trailer-towing fun, covering lots and lots of places in northern Michigan. Camped in state parks 3 nights, grabbed a hotel room on the cold soggy day we had in the middle of our trip.

 

Because the forecast was for a higher chance of soggy weather in the south, on day one, as referenced above, we headed west across the state toward Muskegon. From our house we went north through St. Clair, Richmond, Capac, Imlay City, and North Branch. Going west we mainly used hwy 57 from Clio to Sparta. From there we headed toward Muskegon, homing in on a pin location from the member map labeled "cowpuc". We got close, checked my private messages, snapped a pic at the Hobo Tavern, grabbed a coffee for my wife at a nearby McDonalds (this will turn out to be a recurring theme), and figured out that we weren't going to have our official escort, so we Ventured on northward! We took some roads that stayed near the lake shore, with names like "Scenic Drive" and "S Shore Drive" and "Old Channel Trail". It was real pretty country and we ended up at Silver Lake State park where we set up camp for the first night.

They let us pick our spot, and we got one that was close enough to see Silver Lake and the big dunes behind it. We set up our tent and then left the park to grab dinner at a local restaurant, then came back just before dark, bought a $5 bundle of wood from a truck that was making rounds, and enjoyed a little bit of relaxing campfire time before showering and going to bed for the night.

Here is a picture the lake with the dunes.

[cowpuc]

Well we had 5 days, 4 nights totaling 1354 miles of riding, sightseeing, trailer-towing fun, covering lots and lots of places in northern Michigan. Camped in state parks 3 nights, grabbed a hotel room on the cold soggy day we had in the middle of our trip.

 

Because the forecast was for a higher chance of soggy weather in the south, on day one, as referenced above, we headed west across the state toward Muskegon. From our house we went north through St. Clair, Richmond, Capac, Imlay City, and North Branch. Going west we mainly used hwy 57 from Clio to Sparta. From there we headed toward Muskegon, homing in on a pin location from the member map labeled "cowpuc". We got close, checked my private messages, snapped a pic at the Hobo Tavern, grabbed a coffee for my wife at a nearby McDonalds (this will turn out to be a recurring theme), and figured out that we weren't going to have our official escort, so we Ventured on northward! We took some roads that stayed near the lake shore, with names like "Scenic Drive" and "S Shore Drive" and "Old Channel Trail". It was real pretty country and we ended up at Silver Lake State park where we set up camp for the first night.

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They let us pick our spot, and we got one that was close enough to see Silver Lake and the big dunes behind it. We set up our tent and then left the park to grab dinner at a local restaurant, then came back just before dark, bought a $5 bundle of wood from a truck that was making rounds, and enjoyed a little bit of relaxing campfire time before showering and going to bed for the night.

Here is a picture the lake with the dunes.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]100410[/ATTACH]

 

AWESOME PB!!! :clap2::dancefool: Thanks for updating us, WITH PICS (us Michiganders seem to catch on pretty easily, even to unwritten rules like - ) ,,, you did us Michiganders right for showing the rest of these lop eared out of state varmints how this is suppose to be done,, THAT'S SHOWIN EM PB!!

 

Again,, sorry we missed you folks.. In all fairness and in my own defence,, I really gotta blame the whole mishap on Orlin's goat = Moe.. Moe fell in love with Tweeks and Tweeks took a real liking to the bearded lop eared varmint.. Once that happened, every time I would appear to be headed toward Tweeks to leave Orlin's MD and head toward the bridge, Moe would come over and nudge the front pocket of my jeans with his horns,, then get a smile on his face as if to say "one more move and I am putting my horns in action" (its true,, ask Frodo - he will tell you)..

At any rate,, I am glad you folks had a really really good ride and got over here to see some of this side of Michigan.. Looks to me like you really did not need a guide as you certainly picked some awesome roads and camping areas!!

[pbjman]

On the second day I got up first as she slept in a little. This would be the daily routine, I would get up first and eat a pop tart, walk around a little to see the park, then come back to the campsite and take the travel cover off of the bike. Then she gets up and we roll up the sleeping bags, bag our gear, pack the tent, load the trailer, and off we go.

Here is a pic of our partially loaded Tag-Along trailer.

The little harbor freight trailer pulled real nice, wasn't too heavy or noisy, and offered plenty enough space for all the camping gear, water bottles, duffel bags, extension cord, and extra cold-weather gear.

Once we hit the road around 9:15am we decided to ride for a while before looking a proper breakfast. This would not be our highest mile day, but would be one where we expected to see a lot of beautiful scenery. It was a lot of second-gear and third-gear riding up and down hills and around curves, through woods and fields, along shorelines and sand dunes. We stayed mainly close to the Lake Michigan shoreline and worked our way ever northward, but a couple of times having to backtrack if we rode out onto a peninsula or some other place without an outlet. At one spot, we drove uphill for a long time and the view of Lake Michigan kept expanding. Near the top of the hill was a sign that read "Scenic Turnout 1/2 Mile Ahead" so I knew we would have to check it out. Turns out, it was in Arcadia, MI and it was very scenic indeed. We parked longways along the side of the lot, as I had now become accustomed to doing with the trailer in tow, and began climbing up the steps (about 110-120 steps, I think) to the highest viewing platform.

In the parking lot we had a friendly chat with a Harley Rider! (Of all things!!) He was a fine older gentleman who liked my trailer and asked a few questions about our trip. He had a beautiful bike himself, a full-dress tourer, and was on an epic solo journey. He listed for me a bunch of states he had been through so far. He had been on the road since mid May, and said he didn't have to be back until August! We shook hands, wished each other wellness and safe travels, and continued our journeys. We continued north, more dunes, more lakeshore, more of God's glorious handiwork! Went up in one of the fingers by Grand Traverse Bay and turned around, then through the beautiful towns of Traverse City and Charlevoix, stopping at a yummy Chinese buffet before landing for the night in Petoskey State Park, and this is what our campsite looked like:

I walked around the park and saw a few other campsites that would have been a bit too sandy for my (or my RSV's) liking:

Taking the trail between the campsites with the leaky retaining walls led me to the dunes/beach area. In the morning it was a little grey and misty on the lake

But if I turned my back to the lake, facing east, the sun was starting to break through the trees:

[pbjman]

The nice thing about starting a day in Petoskey State Park is..... (find it on the map...) it's just a rock-toss away from Harbor Springs and the World Famous "Tunnel of Trees" ride. The nice thing about the tunnel of trees ride on a Tuesday morning around 10am? You have it almost ALL TO YOURSELF. (sorry no pics; there's not a lot of great places to stop, and who wants to stop anyway!) After the TOT ride, we decided to hightail it to Mackinaw City where we would sniff out a meal. We ended up poking around town a bit and stopped for gas at a place pretty near The Bridge. We met another nice Harley Rider! He was also on a big ride by himself. His was to celebrate his birthday, as he said he does each year. This year's birthday ride: I-75. The Whole Thing. He sent his bike to Florida and met it there so he could ride it end-to-end. Obviously, we caught him on the last leg of his adventure. I asked him about next year's ride, which he obviously already has planned: I-76. The dude rocks! 75 and still riding long trips like that! I hope he gets a chance to do I-90 some day! So after we fueled up and left, we crossed the Mackinac Bridge and grabbed lunch in the St. Ignance McDonalds. I looked at the weather radar on my phone and said to Kathryn "Looking at this, I'm surprised we haven't seen rain yet", because it appeared to be all around us. Sure enough, in 5 minutes the cloud cover was in and it was lightly raining. It wouldn't have mattered which direction we went, either, so we put on our rain gear and went to see Taquamenan Falls, about 90 minutes north of where we were. We got there without incident, but it was lightly raining/drizzling the whole time. We parked and I was surprised at the level of activity; there were plenty of people walking around with umbrellas and raincoats. We walked the 1/3 mile pathway to the Lower Falls viewing area with our bike gear on (including helmets) since that was what we had to keep us dry. A small girl saw us and said "What's that, Mommy?" in a way that seemed to convey that to her, we must have looked very strange.

Lower falls/rapids area

:

After we left lower falls viewing area and walked back to the lot, I discovered a much appreciated and conveniently located restroom, which contained this sign inside:

I hope that didn't actually happen before!

A short 4 mile drive took us to the upper falls area:

By now the temperature was dropping slightly, and the forecast bore the bad news of more rain and colder temps for much of the U.P. area that we wished to travel to so the decision was made to head back to Mackinaw. From there it was not much better, so I suggested we jump onto I-75 and make the 1-hour run to Gaylord for the night, where we would get a room and be warm and dry! We got there just before dark, settled in, had a pizza delivered, and enjoyed the comforts!

 

(more later!)