pbjman

Have fun, Jay! Nice Pic, too!

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!)

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:

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.

Wow, Scott! Prayers UP:2143: and confidence that this is going to turn out OK for you! But you are still NOT EXCUSED for not being home when wife and I came callin!!

If I remember correctly, once I positioned the rubber pad and adjusted it enough so that all of the pointy rubber tips were poking through the metal footrest, I pushed on the top which set some of the tips all the way through, but many of them just squished into the holes and had to be tugged and pulled through from the bottom until they 'popped' through. The material was pretty durable and none of them broke off when I did this. Might have been easier with a little lube/soap on the tips?

Puc, where are you? Now we will be heading north in pursuit of the front wheel!

That was in Clio, MI. Now we are in a new place:

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

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!

Wow, that's quite a testimony! You sound like a kid who got new tennis shoes and is excited because now he can run faster and jump higher! Is it really that drastic of a difference? I can't wait to wear out my D404's and go with a 130 front!

copper harbor is 10 hours away from windsor, so he probably has something closer in mind I know it's kind of relative, but in my opinion, from windsor, you can't really get to real 'up north' Michigan in much less than 4 hours, especially if you want to avoid lots of freeway driving. You could head to Caseville, a popular touristy area, in the tip of the thumb. Some good riding around the thumb along the water. But almost anywhere in the northern half of lower Michigan will: A. Feature some good riding opportunities B. Be in peak tourism season especially on weekends

Mine died and I bought one of the cheap chinese pumps on ebay but it seemed to be starving for fuel sometimes so I bought a used OEM pump with low miles (under $90 on ebay) and it works great.

You guys rock! I can only hope and pray to be blessed with long enough life, health, and strength to make this club someday.

You talkin about waist size? Nope I'm a long way from 70. Weight in Kilograms? Passed 70 a long time ago! What about height? That must be it! Well I'm just over 70 inches tall! I just re-read your post, seems you were talking about age... In Earth years I come up short but in Venus years I'm about 74.

I had a runaway front tire once on my Buick Regal. It left the car and went across four lanes and into someone's front yard. So I ran over there and caught it while it was inspecting their bushes. I scolded it severely and then put it back on the car with borrowed lug nuts from the other wheels. (No one was hurt.) Hope it never happens on the bike!!

I wouldn't dream of going that way without giving you a heads-up! I will be finishing this seemingly never-ending job one day next week, (maybe Wednesday) then it's time!

Wow, Randy! Just the kind of info I was going to ask for next! I had remembered reading somewhere that one end was better than the other (mountains vs forest) and will adjust my potential plans accordingly. Thank you.

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions and discussion! Actually still flip-flopping between Michigan's U.P. and the southern trip. I have been playing with the Harley Davidson trip planner and have a few ideas in mind now. I made a route similar to Carl's on it. If we go south, probably going to take the 250 most of the way but then veer towards Front Royal Virginia and start on Skyline Drive, then do as much of the BRP as time allows. ( If we go north, probably via Muskegon then up the coast, tunnel of trees, etc, before crossing the Mackinac bridge and doing Taquanemon Falls, H-58, Munising, etc.) Thoughts?

My reward was meeting somebody with a bike like mine!

See!

Thanks guys The suggested routes, extra gas and GPS settings are all helpful ideas!

Well I cannot take credit for that... Picked it up from reading cowpuc's posts

yes, I would like to see that! My ability to fabricate with wood is better than with metal (gonna get a welder and learn how to use one someday)

What would be a good way to go without doing lots of 'ick'-spressway? (Wife don't like expressway on bike.... it's scary for her when the big trucks are close) I don't want it to be more than two days getting there. Anybody done this from MI? How about a route from Oberlin area for any of you who may have gone there from Maintenance Day?