July 4th thru 14th – Michigan

7/4 – Sat

We got a reasonably early start and discovered that the first highway selected by “Wanda” was a toll road. Oh well! Had we not found Menard's yesterday we would have been on it with the bike. The only problem finding Al & Linda's was when the house numbers went from the high 3000's to 4000's without Al's number of 3940 showing up. It was only momentary as 3940 appeared after two 4000's! We unloaded the bike and parked beside a big shop. Then we met family members and relaxed.

Ralph & Elsie were joining us from their home in Ontario and ended up being a little later than they expected as the border crossing was on high alert and Nexus passes were not being honored which caused a back up. Then it was time to unload their motorcycle, pile into a vehicle and go to Al & Linda's daughter's lakeside home for a great July 4^th gathering. We sat on a huge lawn to watch kids playing and boats on the lake. It wasn't long before dinner was ready and we all chowed down. A bit later we went for a tour of the lake on a pontoon boat. What a marvelous day! Back at Al & Linda's, we sat in the screened porch to watch fire works before calling it a day.

7/5 – Sun

Al & Linda made breakfast for all of us before we loaded up & hit the road at 9:00. We went to Brighton (48 miles) to pick up Bob & Claudia Cooper who also have a Spyder. Their neighbor took pictures of all of us before we headed north with Al leading.

We stopped at Frankenmuth (100 miles) for sightseeing and lunch at Zendar's Bavarian Inn. It is a Swiss/German/Austrian? themed town. We walked after lunch to take pictures and settle our food. Another 160 miles took us to Alpena where we stayed the night and had dinner at the hotel.

7/6 – Mon

We had breakfast at the hotel and headed to Mackinaw City (100 miles) where we caught a ferry to Mackinac Island. We had a great lunch before wandering the streets and taking pictures. There are no cars on the island so transportation is bicycles and horse-drawn wagons. People rent bicycles which have “arm bands” on the front fork so you know which bike to take from the hundreds parked on the sides of the streets.

We stopped at the locks in Sault St Marie MI and hung around to watch a big freighter that was approaching the locks. It was long enough that it could not use the lock immediately in front of the viewing platforms but a Coast Guard boat came into the lock in front of us so we could see the entire open/drive in/close/fill/drive out procedure. In the meantime, the freighter was slowly entering the longer lock. We didn't stick around to see the freighter move through the lock but as we crossed the bridge into Sault St Marie Ontario I got a picture of the freighter nearly out of the lock.

No wait through customs and we checked into a Days Inn hotel (60 miles). The desk clerk said the casino was 2 blocks away so after getting together for a drink we set out to walk there for dinner. We hadn't walked far when it started to rain. We thought it would pass over but by the time we got to the casino we were soaked! It was a LONG 2 blocks!

After dinner everyone has to at least use their $10 slot play – 4 of us with birthdays in July got $15. Of course Terry & I were the last to leave and got a cab since it was still pouring.

7/7 – Tues

Happy Birthday to me!

We met for breakfast in the hotel at 6:30 before going for a train ride. We were told that mosquitoes were a problem at the end of the train trip so we detoured into WalMart for insect repellant before going to the depot.

The train left promptly at 8 for the trip through the Agawa Canyon. It is 114 miles each way and as the name indicates it drops into a canyon at the end. Elsie, Bob, Claudia and I went on a scenic walk with 300+ steps that ends up overlooking the train station and wonderful scenery. The rest of the group wandered around and ate in the dining car. When we returned from our hike we ate as well. We used the insect repellent and either it was really good or the mosquitoes weren't nearly as bad as reported. The train returned at 6:00. It was a fun experience with great, goofy friends.

We went to a nice restaurant for a very good dinner ($$) to celebrate my birthday. We had additional coupons for $10 free play so most of us returned to the casino. No rain so we walked back this time.

7/8 – Wed

We had breakfast at the hotel, loaded up and were on the road about 9:30. Back across the the bridge, thru customs and west on 28. We went to the end of Whitefish Point which is the site of many shipwrecks. We wandered around in lovely sunshine & took pictures. Then south to Newberry, west to Seney and north to Grand Marais. We were headed to Pictured Rocks but realized you can only see them from a boat or a hike. From there we followed closer to the coast to Munising (liquor store) and then Marquette where we stayed the night. When we made a turn in Marquette, we were surprised by a blast of cool air from Lake Superior.

It was a long day including 300 miles of riding but of course we were all up for drinks in the room before dinner. Most of us relaxed in the hot tub after dinner.

7/9 – Thurs

We had a slightly later breakfast at McDonalds and were at Copper Harbor by noon. Copper Harbor is on the end of a peninsula in Lake Superior and is the most northerly point in Michigan. We had to partake of pasties for lunch and I doubt I will order them again. Part of the way back was on a road closer to the lake with lovely views. We didn't find a motel in Ontonagon so we turned south and stayed at Silver City. Around 300 miles again today.

Our usual drinks in the room and dinner at the motel. Terry choose some songs on a “juke box” and we did a 2 step to one song – in the nearly empty restaurant.

7/10 – Fri

We had a nice “continental” breakfast in the hotel and then onto Hwy 2 to Escanaba which is on Lake Michigan. We will drive many miles on Hwy 2 which is the main southern highway across the UP. Bob & Claudia led us on a scenic drive around the boat harbor in Escanaba.

We were originally planning to stay in St Ignace on the north side of the Mackinac Bridge but decided to stop earlier. Al spotted a motel near Brevort which at first had us looking for the “Bates Motel” sign rather than the correct name of White Tail Resort! The rooms ended up being basic but clean (Elsie panicked about no hairdryer until Linda said she had one!), the very thin lady repainting lines in the parking lot turned out to be the owner who later helped out in the restaurant and the food was excellent. Our usual happy hour was held on the walkway in front of the rooms – very enjoyable.

It was Bob's birthday today so Terry ordered birthday cake at dinner. 2 small cakes and the employees joining in singing increased our usual fun quota.

7/11 – Sat

Breakfast at the motel at 9 (food just as good as dinner) and back across the Mackinac Bridge. It was quite windy today and I was surprised to realize that the rhythmic gusts were caused by the pairs of suspension cables. About noon we were at Cross Village and walked through the grounds of the Legs Restaurant. It is a fascinating place with sculptures, murals, plants and whimsical “stuff” everywhere.

From there it was south on a beautiful drive thru the Tunnel Of Trees which is exactly that – a winding road with trees on both sides that meet overhead and occasional views of Lake Michigan. We followed the coast thru Harbor Springs, Petoskey and Charlevois and ended at Traverse City. There was lots of traffic due to the Cherry Festival and an outdoor market, neither of which we choose to take in. After lunch at McDonalds, we backtracked a bit and headed east to Grayling where we spent the night.

Motels were very full so we had to make some phone calls and ended a little ways out of town. We got our rooms, went back for a bit of shopping and dinner at Spike's which is a fixture in Grayling. We had been talking about a stop at Dairy Queen so we did that before heading back to the motel for a drink and TV – that is, everyone in our room! We also made some signs for a picture tomorrow.

7/12 – Sun

We had coffee and a doughnut (provided by the motel) while we were getting packed and organized for our group picture which was obligingly taken by the manager. We did McDonalds again for breakfast and then hit hwy 127 south which was not my favorite part of the trip. Lots of traffic at high speeds made passing slower cars in the right lane a little hair-raising. We had to backtrack at one point when a secondary road was closed and this put us on the highway longer. We pulled off near Lansing to hug goodbye to Bob & Claudia who would head to Brighton. The rest of us followed Al to his place where we left our vehicles.

We got Ralph & Elsie's bike loaded on the trailer and covered and they headed out for Canada. Al's daughter Gina ordered & picked up pizza for everyone for dinner so we didn't even have to make a decision, cook or go anywhere. Love this “resort”!

7/13 – Mon

We had coffee & loaded the bike before getting Al to help me mark our motorcycle route in our Atlas. Hugs goodbye and we were on the road – heading back northwest in Michigan to Big Rapids. Yesterday we drove close to today's destination! We are going to visit friends Harold & Joann who we met in 2007 in a “memorable” RV park in Welton AZ.

I guess timing is everything as we hit heavy rain less than an hour into our drive after no daytime rain for 8 days on the bikes! Sure glad we “insured” no rain by buying rain gear. We stopped for a late breakfast and pulled into Harold & Joanne's spacious yard around noon. A short time later we parked by their barn/garage and got down to serious catching up.

Joann is going to be taking her motorcycle driving test soon so we went for a ride so she could practice and we could see more of the area and make a stop for ice cream cones. Joann made dinner and we went to bed fairly early.

7/14 - Tues

We went out for breakfast and then took a little road trip to find out why Harold & Joann's new fifth-wheel toy hauler is still in the shop for warranty repairs – after 53 days! It was about an hour away just south of Grand Rapids. The service guy in charge of their rig couldn't even find the work order. It turned out that he had totally dropped the ball (!!!) and the shop was arguing with the factory about how one repair to a wall should be done and who was going to pay. Harold got the “head honcho” into the picture and it ended up that they would do the repair tomorrow so Harold could pick up the rig on Thursday.

We went a little further to a casino where we all signed up for cards and received slot play to get us started. My $10 winnings covered Terry's $5 loss and neither Harold or Joann lost much so it was a good detour. We came back to relax a bit and then went out for dinner.