DAY 16 Tuesday, May 17, 2011

I hate it when that happens! I woke up 10 minutes before my alarm sounded. Chuck was up also. I got up, got dressed and packed. Chuck did the same thing. I told Chuck that I was going out to my Motor to get it ready for the ride today. I took one bag with me. Chuck did the same, however, he took out two bags. As I was cleaning my Motor, Ken peeked out of his window by the Motors and asked how the weather was. I told him that it wasn't very cold, although the TV reported that the temperature was 37 degrees. He closed the window and I continued. Jan was rooming next door and he opened his window also and spoke with me. I was finally able to finish and went to have breakfast. The breakfast room was very crowded this morning. There was a tour bus parked out on the parking lot. As Chuck and I were having breakfast, Jan and C.E. came in. A little bit later, Ken walked in and then even later, Bruce came in. We all had our breakfast and as we were all eating, the tour bus left. The room wasn't as crowded. We all finished breakfast and really didn't want to go out because of the cold, but we had to! We returned to our rooms and gathered all of our belongings and took them out and packed our Motors. We knew that we were going to go over the Mackinaw Bridge and there is a toll. The toll was $3.50 per Motorcycle and, with Bruce leading, he needed to pay for it. We all gave Bruce $3.50 for him to pay for all of us. We were ready to leave and guess what? All of the Motors started without any problems. We left at 8:47 AM.

Bruce led us over the Mackinaw Bridge. It was cool, both in temperature and going over the bridge. While on the bridge, on the left side of the bridge is Lake Michigan and on the right side of the bridge is Lake Huron. Chuck, Bruce, Jan and I have now seen four of the five Great Lakes during our rides. Lake Superior is the only one we have not seen. We went over the bridge and we had to stop at the toll booth. Bruce paid the attendant the money for all six of us and she asked that we entered one at a time. We did. After we were all through, we continued north on I-75. We soon got on the on ramp for Highway 2, westbound. We were now westbound on Highway 2, headed for Duluth, Minnesota. As we rode past St. Ignace, MI, I waved to the town and people for Sean, a friend who grew up in this town. Sean, I took care of that for you! We rode for 50 miles and at 9:52 AM we stopped in Naubinway, MI for gas. We were going west and the gas station was on the south side of the Highway. After we gassed up, we parked by the west end of the parking lot next to the west exit. This was a good move since we were going to leave the parking lot and turn left, westbound. An older gentleman approached us and spoke with us. He was 74 years old and looked like he was in his middle to late 60's. He told us about his Motorcycle riding and that he does the Iron Butt Rides. The Iron Butt Rides are rides that are for 1,000 miles to be ridden in a 24 hours time. He was telling us how he gets pissed at his group because they all want to stop and stay in a hotel where he wants to camp out. We all wish we look that good when we reach his age! It was now C.E.'s turn to lead. Chuck got out the map and showed C.E. which direction to go and which town we had hoped to stop in for lunch, Escanaba, MI. It was time to leave and we all mounted our Motors and started them. With C.E. leading the Group, the movie, Forest Gump comes to mind. He's like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get. C.E. started out and rode east in the parking lot and stopped in front of the pumps. OK, I can understand this. We need to line up to get ready to leave as a Group. We left at 10:22 AM. C.E. led us to the east exit and we all stopped. C.E. looked to make sure that it was clear to leave and he turned...right...eastbound. We all stood still. We didn't follow because we needed to turn...left...westbound. We all watched C.E. ride for about 200 yards and stop. He looked back at us for a few seconds and finally made a u-turn and headed westbound. After he passed our location, we all followed behind him.

We were doing good on the ride, however, the speed limit was only 55 mph. C.E. had us going about 62 mph. That was a better speed to ride. We had heard that there were many deer and wildlife in the Upper Peninsula, especially at night. I had hoped to see some deer or elk. As we rode, I didn't seen anything, other than "road kill." We had been riding for a while and I needed to make a pit stop. I rode up next to C.E. and asked him to stop so that I could answer Mother Nature's call. He nodded. We rode for a few miles more because there weren't any good places to stop, like a gas station or mini-mart. C.E. started to slow down and had his left turn signal on to turn left. There was an old rickety motel that looked abandoned on the left side of the street. C.E. turned into the parking lot of the rickety motel. I guess he was expecting me to go in and use the facilities. I told him to just keep going until we found a place. C.E. continued with the rest following. We rode a couple more miles and stopped at a Mobil gas station in Rapid River, MI, 87 miles since C.E. started to lead and it was 11:56 AM. Chuck asked a general question. Chuck asked if we were stopping to pee or stopping so that C.E. could fix his "Highway Peg." The Highway Peg was loose and dangling like a wet noodle. The rule is: The one who asks to make a pit stop, gets to be the first one in. I was allowed to go in first. We all "took care of business" and also bought some water and snacks. C.E. tightened up his Highway Peg. No one took any pictures. I was in the Mini-mart at the time. C.E. asked us if we were hungry and maybe we should stop at a Subway for lunch. We all said that we were not hungry yet. As we were getting ready to leave, Jan asked C.E. which direction we were going to turn and leave. C.E. pointed towards the west...the correct way. We left at 12:12 PM.

We continued on and C.E. did make the correct turn. We rode for 8 miles and C.E. saw a Subway on the left side of the Highway in Gladstone, MI. No, J.B., it was not Gladstone, MO. He turned and led us to the Subway and we stopped at 11:23 PM. This was not the city that Chuck had asked C.E. to stop at, but that was OK. Escanaba, MI was further west. C.E. was leading. We had lunch and we left at 1:04 PM.

We continued west. We rode for 35 more miles and stopped at a restaurant in Hermansville, MI at 12:44 PM for a pit stop. Jan noticed that we had crossed over into Central Standard Time and verified the time on his cell phone. We had gained an hour. We didn't stay very long and left at 12:58 PM.

We rode westbound again. We left Michigan for a short time and enter Wisconsin. We rode for 12 miles in Wisconsin and then we crossed over into Michigan again. We rode into a small town named Crystal Falls, MI. We stopped after 56 miles and at 2:00 PM, we stopped for gas. We all gassed up and had some snacks and water. C.E. pointed to an old building to me and told me that that was an old building. I told C.E. that the entire town was full of old buildings! It was ready to leave so we saddled up. We left at 2:23 PM.

It was Chuck's turn to lead. We headed west on Highway 2. I was behind Chuck then Jan, Ken, Bruce and C.E. We had been riding for a while doing about 65 mph. The scenery all looked the same. My music was low, it was warmer, riding between two Harley's with the lull of their engine noise, I was getting sleepy. I noticed a doe, a deer, a female deer, etc. to my left grazing. I had been wondering when I would get to see some wildlife! I'm sure that we were all tired. We rode for 90 miles and stopped at 3:47 PM in Wakefield, MI at a gas station/mini-mart. We made a pit stop and bought water and snacks. We all needed to wake up! For some unknown reason, we were all tired and sleepy. We noticed a Michigan State Patrol Station across the street. The bright blue patrol cars were parked in the parking lot and we talked about the "old fashioned" gum ball light on top of the roofs of the cars. We checked the Best Western book and found a hotel in Ashland, WI. I got the address and put it in my navigation system. It was 52 miles away. We left at 4:15 PM.

We continued west and soon rode into a small town named, "Ironwood." As we were riding in the middle of downtown, we had to come to a complete stop because of a car ahead of us that needed to stop because of two deer (does) crossing in front of us. I got my camera out and took pictures of the does. We continued on and soon crossed over into Wisconsin, again. We rode for 56 miles and got to the address on the navigation system, however, it was not a Best Western. It had been sold about 6 months ago. We also saw Lake Superior, the last of the Great Lakes that we needed to see. We arrived at 5:15 PM. I made the contact with Rose, the Front Desk clerk. I made the deal and we got a good price. We all got our room keys and rode to our rooms. We took our bags to our rooms upstairs and went out the back doors onto the balcony. The view of Lake Superior was spectacular! After a while, we walked next door to the restaurant and lounge, had a drink (alcohol) and dinner. We walked back to the hotel and tucked our Motors in for the night.

We rode for 382 miles today, and none of it on any interstate. We looked at the map and saw that tomorrow, we will probably get to Lake Itasca. Lake Itasca is the Official start of the Mississippi River, on the north end. Lake Itasca is not too far from where we are tonight. After we get to Lake Itasca, it is southbound! So, until tomorrow...