Road Trip!!!!!

[Nana]

It's a long, holiday weekend. The sun is shining and the humidity is low. Guess what that means..... ROAD TRIP!!!!

Mickey (to differentiate him from our son-in-law ) and I, joined by our daughter Kim and her Mike on their Kawasaki Nomad headed out on an adventure at 8:30 this morning. Today was the longest riding day we expect to have, as we used it just to get from Springboro, OH to Mackinaw City, MI--509 miles. The rest of the weekend we will ride shorter distances, and explore and enjoy whatever the Upper Peninsula has to offer us. Mickey is counting on that including fresh fudge .

We just checked into the little Bell's Melody Motel in Mackinaw City. It is right on the beach on Lake Huron with a great view of the Mackinaw Bridge that we will be crossing in the morning. The parking lot here is filled with motorcycles, as was the highway coming up this way, so obviously we weren't the only ones with ROAD TRIP on our mind!

Photos:

Loaded and ready to pull out from Kim and Mike's house

In front of motel room

Parking lot

Lake Huron from the motel room

Mackinaw Bridge from the motel

 

[Tip Schwartzbeck]

Looks like fun!!
Have a safe and enjoyable trip,
Tip

 

[olguy]

Looking forward to your trip reports. Ride safe.

 

[leo3wheel]

Nice time of the year for a ride. Have fun!

 

[HDHoggly]

enjoy!

 

[Carbon_One]

Oh we missed seeing you by 2 weekend up there. You'll certainly enjoy the time on either side of the bridge.
arry

 

[Gorilla]

nice area go see the locks also very interesting.

 

[Nana]

Sunrise over Lake Huron and the Mackinaw Bridge...... It's going to be a beautiful day!

 

[Gold Rush]

Sunrise over Lake Huron and the Mackinaw Bridge...... It's going to be a beautiful day!

I rode (I mean walked) my '01 GL1800 across the Mackinaw Bridge once. Had a serious side wind and just couldn't keep it upright. Talk about being "white knuckled"!!!!

Even with that experience I have to admit it is beautiful up there in the UP.

 

[MarciaG]

I envy you! Have a wonderful trip!

MarciaG

 

[Gorilla]

Only Nana would be up while on vacation to get that shot.

 

[spiritdream]

Great looking family, and sounds like an awesome trip! Jealous, but still hope you enjoy yourselves!

 

[Nana]

This was Kim and Mike's first time motorcycling on the Mackinaw Bridge, so she armed herself with the camera on the pillion seat of their bike, prepared to document the event as her mom and dad were swept off the bridge and into the lake waaaaaayyy below by the gale force winds.
Didn't happen..... sorry to disappoint..... :AllGood:

We apparently found the perfect time to conquer the Mackinaw Bridge -- 8:30 a.m. on a crisp, clear, sunny morning in early September! There was just a light breeze, and other than a couple on a motorcycle way ahead of us, the four of us were the only ones on the bridge! The two 2-wheelers opted to cross on the paved lane, but I wasn't about to miss out on the opportunity to peek down at the water below through the grating. After all, I had my sturdy three wheels under me, and trips like this are supposed to be an adventure. Trikes rock! Just sayin'.

 

[Nana]

I know we are in the Upper Peninsula at an ideal time of year (It won't be long until they have something like 300 inches of snow here, and it wasn't long ago when it was steaming hot and the black flies and mosquitos were taking large chunks of flesh from the tourists who stopped along the lakeshore for a picnic), but right now the weather is perfect!

We had a leisurely ride following Lake Michigan's shoreline for an hour or so, then turned north into Lake Superior's region and into the town of Munising. Mackinaw City is a charming tourist town. Munising is a charming Upper Peninsula town where locals live and work and eat and play. Tourists definitely come here, but it seems to be for the area, not for shopping in the town. The scenery draws many to the falls, lake views, hiking, fishing, etc. There are literally thousands of old shipwrecks in Lake Superior, and divers come from all over to explore the wrecks, and dive shops offer their services with scuba equipment rental and guided diving trips.

We ate "pasties" for lunch --- VERY satisfying! --- and then we opted for the glass bottomed boat tour out over three wrecks. It was a marvelous two-hour tour of this section of the lake where we got to soak in the incredible natural beauty, get a little verbal history from the captain and crew, and then be awed by the views of the three, very different wrecks. Although the lake averages something like 400 feet in depth, these wrecks were in 25' or less of water and relatively close to the shoreline. One ship is less than 6 feet below the level of our tour boat, and with the crystal clear water we could even see the details like nails in the timbers! I loved every minute of it!

 

[Blondie Gal]

So glad we can share some of the trip with you! Thanks!

 

[Ironhorsepilot]

Thanks for sharing, Nana. It looks like fall where you are and just plain refreshing!

 

[MarciaG]

Oh, I so wish I were there with you! Looks like so much fun. Beautiful sights and fun riding!!

MarciaG

 

[Nana]

Chuckle for today:
Everywhere we stop, we have been approached by at least one person with questions about the V-rod trike. Several times someone has come into a restaurant from the parking lot looking around for obvious riders in the place, and then they approach to ask if one of us own it. They have consistently been positive, polite, fascinated, want permission to take pictures, etc. It has become an automatic response from Mickey, Kim, and Mike to simply turn and point to me when someone comes up and says: "Who rides the…."

So, we are sitting in a bar and grill and a gentleman in his 60s approaches with, "Who rides the….." and all three turn to me. Then he finishes with "Nomad" and we all start grinning and turn to Mike, only to see a shocked/pained/bewildered look on his face as he hesitantly says he is the owner. The gentleman begins an animated conversation about how he loves his own Nomad, how well it handles, and all sorts of positive things about how sharp Mike's bike is. After a pleasant chat, the man wishes us all a great ride and leaves us to our meal.

We turn to Mike who says: "First of all, I was stunned that he didn't ask about your trike. EVERYONE asks about the trike! So, when he said "Nomad", all I could think was that he was going to tell me he was sorry, but he had backed his Big A$$ truck over it in the parking lot. I mean, what else could it be---and I was starting to panic!"
We all burst out laughing….. :Crap:

Second chuckle for the day:
You KNOW you are in a small town when the motel check-in procedure goes as pictured below. Yup, we were in #4 ....

 

[Blondie Gal]

Almost feel sorry for Mike! Glad youre having a good time! (Congratulate me, it's my first day without ANY meds!)

 

[Gorilla]

""""congrats nancy""""

 

[Lucky]

Great lesson for always being positive.Ya'll have fun and RIDE SAFE

 

[olguy]

Great story Nana.

Congrats Blondie Gal. About ready for a hill country rally? LOL

 

[Nana]

Today we took our time sight-seeing along the shoreline of Lake Superior, with frequent stops to hike/walk up to waterfalls or down to overlooks above the lake. The lake water is exceptionally clear, and from up on the cliffs above the water, it resembles the bright blue of the Caribbean, but the water certainly isn't warm like the Caribbean!

We got rooms in the Country Inn & Suites in Marquette, then went for an exploratory ride around this pretty town. Presque Isle Park has an incredibly lovely circle drive that was a delight on the motorcycles (Photos, pics, pictures, images of Presque Isle Park, Marquette, MI).

Near the park it was fascinating to see a ship pulled up at the Marquette Ore Docks getting loaded up with iron ore from the train cars high above the dock (Marquette Ore Docks - Michigan Historic Sites - Pure Michigan Travel).

Then we headed out to the Ojibwa Casino for a little time at the nickel slots -- always nice when you break even on your $20.00 "investment"! And ended up the evening stuffing ourselves on wonderful Italian food at Casa Calabria (Casa Calabria - Marquette Michigan's Best Italian Restaurant). I am SO FULL!!!

It's been a wonderful day!

 

[Gorilla]

yep that water is darn cold on it's warmest day.

 

[Nana]

Another gorgeous day of riding....

We started out at 9:00 with a fairly threatening looking sky (see picture below), but we took the weatherman's word, and headed south down to Lake Michigan and then over to the Mackinaw Bridge for a southward crossing. And sure enough, we stayed dry and comfortable with partly sunny skies on that route. YAY!

Of course, every Labor Day there is the annual "Mackinaw Bridge Walk", and we couldn't get onto the bridge until mid afternoon. For some odd reason the authorities seemed concerned that cars and motorcycles might complicate the lives of hundreds and hundreds of people walking in the middle of ALL the lanes on the bridge :Shrug:. We stopped for a final "pasty" for lunch, rode up to St. Ignace to kill some time, then about 3:00 p.m. we were free to cross the bridge and head on down the road.

Not so very far south of the bridge, we left the highway and headed back west toward the shore of Lake Michigan. Mickey led us onto M-119, AKA "The Tunnel of Trees". What a glorious ride! This narrow, scenic road is so heavily treed, that it really is like a tunnel! The road follows the edge of the mountain above the lake. It is fortunate that we were kept to a relaxed 40 mph, or so, as there were so many beautiful views of the lake and the forests dotted with charming (and very expensive) cottages and homes. I nearly wore my neck out trying to see everything! LOL! These two links will give you a bit of information about this well-known motorcycle scenic ride:

Tunnel of Trees, M119 - Motorcycle USA
http://motorcycleroads.com/75/309/Michigan/Tunnel-of-Trees-Road.html

We checked into the Waters Motel near Gaylord, MI after only about 320 miles, but many hours due to the bridge delays and the slow, scenic ride. I enjoyed every minute, but am glad to take a hot shower and put my feet up for the evening tonight! Tomorrow will be a 450 mile freeway run to reach home, and the highway speeds will make it feel like a shorter day than today!

 

[msocko3]

Another gorgeous day of riding....

We started out at 9:00 with a fairly threatening looking sky (see picture below), but we took the weatherman's word, and headed south down to Lake Michigan and then over to the Mackinaw Bridge for a southward crossing. And sure enough, we stayed dry and comfortable with partly sunny skies on that route. YAY!

The picture of the clouds is great.

 

[Nana]

YAY! Home again, safe and sound!

We woke up this morning to a steady rain. But in reality, we have had such incredible weather, it seems unreasonable to complain about one day of rain. At any rate, we all donned our rain gear ate breakfast at the nearest truck stop before jumping on the freeway, and rode until noon in pretty much continuing steady rain! Even during a couple of very brief breaks in the rain, the roads and the air were so wet, that we could hardly tell anything was different. Finally we rode out from under the storm clouds and the roads dried up, so off came the rain gear. The remainder of the day was dry but hot and very steamy. It feels good to be showered and relaxing in the air conditioning, for sure!

By the way, for all you MASH fans out there, we stopped for lunch at Tony Packo's on the way through the Toledo area. I got the "regular" Chili Dog (actually 1/2 of an Hungarian sausage, not a regular hot dog) which includes pickles, peppers, chili, and onions. Mickey got the same but with coleslaw added, as did Mike. Kim also had a regular like mine, only had grated cheese generously sprinkled on top. Pretty darn yummy! If you get a chance, stop by there to enjoy one yourself, and be sure to check out the autographed hotdog buns up on the walls .

1606 miles, 5 days and tons of beautiful rides and sites! It was a great Labor Day weekend!

 

[tis]

Looks like a fun time, thats what it's all about. You'll have some great memories.....Thanks for sharing.

 

[trikermary]

Loved every minute of your trip Nana..............so welll written I could "see" everything you described..............I hope more people write about their Road Trips too.........so much fun to read...........so glad you had such a great time.