Day 13, Friday,
May 12, 2017
It was my
second night of being a single. I worked
late on the Blog and pictures. As I was
working, I also did my laundry. I was
done with my laundry, Blog and pictures and finally went to bed at 1:27
AM. My alarm sounded at 6:30 AM and I
turned it off immediately. I was tired
and I don’t think that I even moved as I slept.
I woke up in the same position as I went to sleep. I got up, got dressed and packed my
bags. I took my bags out to my Motor and
put them away. It felt good to be
outside without a jacket. It was 47
degrees. I finished with my Motor and
went to have breakfast. Expecting to
find others from the Group having breakfast, there were none. I walked in at 7 AM, ate and finished. At 7:33 AM, Ken and C.E. walked in. I don’t believe I got the memo about sleeping
in late. I could have used the extra
time! The others came in and ate. I gave Chuck my thumb drive with pictures so
that he could post them onto the website.
We were all at our Motors and prepared to leave when Chuck came out and
handed my thumb drive. He told me that
he had posted them. We all started our
Motors and Chuck started. We all thought
that he was going to turn right and go out of the parking lot. Chuck turned left and rode to the other exit
and, just before he exited, he made a U-turn to the left, causing everyone to
follow and make the U-turn. Chuck rode
to the end of the parking lot and then made another circle and then headed out
to the street, another circle for everyone.
We left at 9:13 AM.
Chuck led
the Group onto US 32 and turned west. I
was next, then Jan, J.B., Ken, C.E. and Jake.
The weather had warmed to 55 degrees.
We rode for and then changed over to US 131. We rode for 35 miles and at 9:52 AM, we
pulled into a Meijer’s Gas station in Petoskey, MI. for a necessary pit stop…and
coffee. Years ago when Laura and I took
our Daughter, Lori, to Notre Dame for college, we got her a place to stay and
bought all of her stuff at Meijer’s store.
I loved that store. I wanted to
go into the Meijer’s store today while the others were taking a break at the
gas station. I didn’t go. We were ready to leave and did so at 9:52 AM.
Since I was
next to Chuck, Chuck told me to keep an eye open for US 119. He didn’t want to miss it. I told him that it was a few miles away. We left the Meijer’s and onto US 31. We drove through the town of Petoskey and
rode onto US 119. The reason Chuck didn’t
want to miss US 119 is that this road is called, “The Tunnel of Trees.” The road was a narrow two lane road with
hills and valleys, twisties and Lake Michigan on the left side. There were many trees that lined the roadway
and it looked like a tunnel. I bet it
would be more awesome to ride this road when the trees had their leaves and
were in bloom. The surrounding homes
were spectacular. Everything was
green. The humidity was high and it felt
cold, although it was 61 degrees. There
were only a handful of cars that came from the opposite direction. There were several bicycle riders. Many homes were for sale and some homes were
in the building process. This has to be
in the top two roads that we have ridden.
We rode for approximately 25 miles and US 119 ended. We continued on what was called, “Shore
Drive.” The road wasn’t maintained as
well at US 119. There was a lot of dirt,
gravel and broken pavement on the roadway.
We got to a point where we were in need of gas, so Chuck stopped by the
side of the road just west of Bliss, MI. at 11:22 AM after riding 39 miles. We checked the maps, had no reception on our
phones and NO restrooms. So, we each
picked a tree and took care of business.
We had an abundance of trees so that was no problem. While we were stopped, there were no cars
that passed us! We continued eastbound
at 11:32 AM.
We rode on
County Road 81 and then County Road 66.
We came up to the town of Levering, MI at 11:49 AM after riding 12
miles. We stopped at a Marathon Gas
station and gassed up. After we gassed
up, we talked about having lunch next door at the Levering Café. It was a “Mom and Pop” café. We all sat together and ate. There was a patron sitting a couple tables
away who struck up a conversation with a couple members of the Group. I would say that he was a little younger than
us, had a big white beard, short and “Hefty.”
He asked us a question,”Do you guys know what a large dog and a Harley
have in common? They both like to ride
in the back of a ½ ton pickup.” I know
that it’s an old joke, but I think that our Harley riders wanted to flip him
off…but didn’t. It was time to
leave. We left at 12:52 PM.
Jake was
next to lead. Chuck had told him some
directions to ride. Jake led with Ken
following, C.E. was next, then J.B., Jan, Me and Chuck. We rode north on US 31 and it fed us into
I-75 North. We rode north and went over
the Mackinac Bridge…AGAIN! It was so
cool to ride on the grated street, look down and see the water. We went over the bridge, paid the toll and rode
north until we could get off and after riding 19 miles and at 1:14 PM, we
stopped at a Quality Inn parking lot in St. Ignace to check the map. We left at 1:20 PM.
We were on
the right road and followed it until we got to the Lake View Visitor’s Center
at 1:23 PM after riding 1 mile. We
parked our Motors so that Lake Michigan and the Bridge were behind us. We took pictures and J.B. and I asked a Lady
walking her dog if she would take a picture of the Group and the Motors. She happened to be a professional
photographer! While we were there, we
were attacked by many “black flies.”
They were landing on us and going into every orifice they could. We had to leave and did so at 1:43 PM. I don’t know how the locals stand this!
Jake led the
Group away from Lake View Drive and onto US 2.
US 2 headed westbound and bordered Lake Michigan. The speed limit is at 55 MPH and there are
signs that we say that read that US 2 was NOT a freeway. We rode and it got a little colder, since we
were riding next to the Lake. We were
enjoying the ride and Jake had us going about 65 MPH. I was dropping back because Chuck dropped
back. I noticed why Chuck was dropping
back and Jan got a hold of me on the CB asking if the white care behind Chuck
was a Cop car. I told him that it was
and Jan told Jake on the CB that Chuck had a Cop behind him. Jake slowed his speed to just less than 60
MPH. After a while, the Cop car
accelerated past Chuck and the rest of the Group. After the Cop car passed us, we resumed our
speed to 65 MPH. We continued on and
about an hour later, we saw what appeared to be a plume of black smoke ahead of
us. We thought that is was smoke from a semi-tractor
that was ahead of us. The black smoke
got closer and then we realized that it wasn’t smoke, it was a huge swarm of “black
flies!’ We passed under the swarm and I
looked in my rear view mirror and saw a large black cloud to the east of us at
the horizon. I figured that it was a “back
up” swarm going to St. Ignace and the Lake View area. We rode for 78 miles and stopped at 2:59 PM
at a gas station/mini mart in Gulliver, MI. for a much needed pit stop and
coffee. We left at 3:27 PM.
Jake
continued to lead. It was awesome to see
that each time we turn a corner to the left, we saw Lake Michigan. We rode into Escanaba, MI. and Jake told me
and Jan on the CB that he was going to stop for gas for C.E. so that he could
top off. We stopped at 4:38 PM after
riding 68 miles. While C.E. was gassing
up, there was a restroom there and we took advantage. We have decided that we would never pass up
the opportunity. If it’s there, it’s
trying to tell us something. We left at
4:46 PM.
We didn’t
have much farther to go to our destination for the day. As we were riding, we
crossed a time Zone and gained an hour. We rode for 45 miles and at 5:43 PM, or
actually 4:43 PM, we stopped in Iron Mountain, MI. at a Holiday Inn
Express. Jan and I went in to “make the
deal.” The young female Clerk would NOT
deal. We told her that we would go
elsewhere. She suggested the Comfort Inn
next door. She said that they recently
renovated the Hotel and that they are about $20 cheaper. We told the guys that they were very
expensive and that we were going to go to the Comfort Inn. Jan and I went in the Comfort Inn AND “made
the deal.” Jan went outside and motioned
to the guys to come on over. We all
checked in, unloaded our bags and took them to our rooms. We sat for a bit and had coffee in the
breakfast room before it was time to go to dinner. We walked to dinner to Romagnoli’s Italian restaurant. That was a good dinner. We returned to the Hotel and started with the
Blogs. Unfortunately, there is NO Hot
Tub here.
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