Had a good run last weekend...

[drumgod]

I wish I'd taken more pics though. I was too busy having fun.

Here's the route we took on google maps:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&ms ... 546b0b3ec8

We started at my friend's shop and hi-tailed through Indiana into Michigan. Once we got up north a ways we headed off the highway to cruise the lake front. We ended up camping in Arcadia, MI the first night. The second day was beautiful so we continued up M22, around the peninsula through Northport and back down through Traverse City. From there we hopped on M31 until we picked up M119 "The Tunnel of Trees Road". From there we crossed over the Mackinac Bridge and picked up scenic route 2. The mosquitoes were so bad we decide to hit a motel for the evening. Breakfast was bright and early and we took a look at our route. A quick look at the weather showed a high chance of severe thunderstorms on our return route the next day. We discussed the possibility of another night of camping but decided to head home...

Am, me, Brian and Sarah:



A deer that wandered through our campsite the first night:


A break at Crystal Lake in Michigan:




Overlook hi-jinks on "The Tunnel of Trees Road":




Mackinac Bridge:


Breakfast at Country Girl Cafe in Naubinway, MI:



No pics from the last leg. There were no real problems with any of the bikes. 3 fun days, 1072 miles on the odometer, and a good trip overall...

[Dangeruss]

Looks like a fun trip! .... so did you get soaked on the way home?

[Sagebrush]

Michigan can be a nice state to ride a bike in, you missed the best part up around Copper Harbor though. I guess you'll just have to go back

[brokentoe]

That looks great. So that's what the tunnel of trees looks like... I have started on a similar trip around Lake Michigan on three different occasions and broke down all three times and never completed it. You have just whet my appetite to try again. Your bikes look great.

[sunnbobb]

[Brant]

Thanks for sharing your ride with us.

[macka]

Do the circle tour of Lake Superior.

[drumgod]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the comments and input. We missed the rain by skipping one of our overnight stops and heading straight home. It made for a lot of highway miles, but it was a beautiful day and the miles just melted away. My buddy and I have bluetooth helmet systems and they worked great. We could plan routes, keep track of everyone and generally shoot-the-sh!t while we were riding.

"The Tunnel of Trees" was interesting. It's a lane-and-a-half wide road that's fairly twisty and, at parts, has trees right up to the edge. The speed limit was 45mph for most of it but people were generally doing 25 or so. It was a rather peaceful ride. Watch for sand/silt washed onto the corners though. It seemed like every other house was for sale.

I definitely plan on heading north again. There's tons of stuff I still want to check out. Maybe a two week camping tour that circumnavigates both Lake Michigan *and* Lake superior. That'd be like 2500 miles and hit Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Canada, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Hmm...

[brokentoe]

How did you like the part of the Mackinac bridge where it was just a metal grate? I've heard that some folks are scared to go across it and they get someone else to take their vehicle across. I don't know if that's just an urban legend or if there is some truth in it.

[macka]

the odd person wigs out on the mac, but I think its really cool to look down and see the lake below. Its only crappy if its windy and then if its too windy they shut traffic down on the bridge.

[drumgod]

No problems with the bridge. Am took a video of most of the crossing... until we HAD to ride on the grate. He shut the recorder off then so he could have both hands on the bars. I think what most people find disconcerting is the squirrelly handling on metal grate road beds. Couple that with a fear of heights and I can see how it might make some people really uncomfortable.