Trip to Wisconsin and Michigan

Monday, July 6

I have to say this was the most Roadside America trip i have taken.  We got atleast 8 sights from there in.  I hope I get all of the pics for them on here.

Everyone (Susan, Dru & Cathy) is to meet at my house at 9:00, I go out to gas up and can't move my bike.  The tire is flat!  We had just gotten new tires a couple weeks earlier and I rode it for 100 miles, so I didn't check tires until that morning.  Wrong thing to do, I called the Honda shop in a panic and had some strong words with them. I had hopes they would come out and take care of it.  I pumped up the tire, gased up and we all headed to Honda.  They got it in right away and found that it was the steam, fixed it and we were on our way by 10:00.  As we waited in the repair we got our scala to sync and they stayed connected the whole trip.  Once in a while they would get staticky, but worked great for the most part.

We drove back roads to Berne, In. (Amish country) stopped and had lunch at a nice resturant. We stopped to see the Swiss Clock Tower.  We stopped to take pictures but I wish we would have walked around to see it.  This was on roadside America.

Once as we were driving we had a deer and her two fawns walk out in front of us.  Thank the Man upstairs, we saw it soon enough.  We were all able to slow down and let them pass.

Riverside Restaurant

We got to Monticello and the hotel, Best Western around 4:30.  The usual routine was I jumped in the shower soon after we would stop.  Then after relaxing a bit we went to the riverside resturant for dinner.  We sat outside with the Tippecanoe river running beside us.  Then onto the Sycamore ice cream shop for frozen custard. 

I went to Walmart to pick up some supplies, saw a lady with a dinosaur tail, weird.

We all hit the sack around 9:00.

Tuesday, July 7

Woke up to rain, the hotel let us keep our bikes under the car port.  We left around 8:00am in our rain    sssuites.  The older man who was doing the breakfast set up was very nice, he gave me a towel to     wipe  down the bike and said he hated to see us leave in the rain.
It rained a lot and got windy and cold.  We road until about 11:00, when we stopped for a break at McDonalds.  After that it stopped raining, but was still cold.  We headed out with warmer cloths on until we got to Woodstock, then we could start pilling them off.  We drove around the historical square but the place was packed so we moved on.  At this point we quit using the route I had planned out and just punched into our GPSs.  My GPS just wanted us to go back to the square, I must not have hit the waypoint.  We found a cute little resturant called the Busy Bee, I had the meatloaf.  The GPS took us on some real nice routs to get to the hotel.  We got into Oconomowoc, WI around 4:30. Was fun meeting up with Margaret and Rosemarie we did pizza take out.  Everyone went to the Wow social except Susan and I, we walked around the place and checked out all the bikes and accessories.  Stayed in separate rooms the first night and then joined back up to save on money.

Wednesday, July 8

grave sight of the smallest man

We got up and went to breakfast walked the long way to a subway which was just  next door.  After breakfast we move our things to Dru and Cathy, room. Dru and Cathy went to convention stuff and Susan and I jumped on our bikes and did some roadside America stuff.  The grave site of the smallest man, the honey museum and the cheese place that had a giant mouse with a hunk of cheese.  We ate lunch at the cheese place, salads which were very good.  I didnt get any pictures of the honey museum.    Then headed
 back to the hotel.  Was a fun time of seeing the farms and local scenery.
Dinner was ice cream since we had eaten lunch so late.  Hung out in our room with the whole group till about 9:00 then we all hit the sack.

Thurs. July 9

Head out at 8:30 as we head north using the GPS with no highways.    I had a bad night with COPD like symtoms.  I really blame the bad foods I ate the day before.  Lots of dairy and sugar, when will I learn.
So as we were traveling I decided to try to remember the roads we traveled since many were alphabets. So here they are- Zingy Pickle Nibs Explode Under Forced Fuel Every Bombs Juicy.  Very entertaining for the trip.  The scenery was also intretaining  the farms were beautiful.  Cathy was leading most of this day, with a bad head ache.  She was thinking of this was she blew thru a stop sign. Thank the Lord it was an empty intersection.





For lunch I looked for a place on my GPS and I found Herbal Life under restaurants, we thought that sounded like a health food place so we head for it. Ha, it takes us to a house in a residential place they must sell HL.  Then a place close to that came up as Chives, great place with a great atmusphere.   This was close to Green Bay.  We shopped in a littles store in this cute little village.  We make it to the hotel around 6:30 and walk to a restaurant called 3 seasons.  Cathy and I shared a pastie, was good. Walked home thru the woods, many bugs, I was paranoid they would get in my hair.

Our hotel for the night

       

I ran and snaped his picture (RSA) while others were picking up their evening supplies

Friday July 10

Nice breakfast of eggs, sausage, and good coffee. We traveled the U.P.   Just before we crossed the bridge we wanted to get some of the smoked fish and pasties  so we stopped at  Susy's Pasties (the best in MI) Really good and now to cross the Macinaw Bridge.

I didnt get to many pictures on the bridge it was so windy,  Susan and Dru mounted their cameras and got some good pictures.  

We drove south and got on 119 to do the tunnel of trees and then had a late lunch at the Legs Inn.  Back up to the Mackinaw City to stay at the BridgeVeiw Inn, was great we were right on the lake Hurron.   They had Ice Cream for  dinner, I had more smoked fish.  Cute little town with lots of tourist. 

View of bridge from hotel

Saturday  July 11

Nice spot for a hotel but wasn't all that nice of up keep and staff.  We had to have them put clean sheets on our bed.  Also was the worst breakfast of any where we have staryed.  I had peanutbutter and instant oatmeal.  Oh well it happens some time and you just roll with it.   We changed plans again and stay futher south and more central.  Decided we didnt need to ride along the Lake Michigan.  So we stayed in Jackson, MI.  Traveled south on Mich 66 was a nice country road.  Lunch was at a small down home restaurant called Crystal Fountain.  Got into the Beymont hotel around 4:00 and then rode to dinner, after settling in @ AKA Sushi.  Really good food, we then walked around a small mall looking for a cord for Susans GPS.  

Sunday July 12

Another very nice breakfast and we were thinking we might avoid the rain today.  Not, really hit hard once we crossed into OH.  We were able to gear up before we got to wet.  Once again the GPS picked nice back roads for us.  Was fun seeing how all three GPS would sometimes pick different routes.  Always so many different ways to get to one destination.  

We stopped at Wendys in Kenton for our last meal together.  Took 31 south and then I broke off on 739.    I pulled into home around 2:30.  

One other incident of road rage  that happend,  not sure when or what day, we had a guy passing us but didnt get around Susan (leading) so Dru laid on her horn at him.  He road between them for a while until a road come up and he turned squealing his tires and then stopped.  Wow some ppl are scary.  

NICE RIDE!!  We all got along so well together I would be glad to have these ladies as travel buddies more trips!

Loveland Castle Ride

Today was just Susan C. and I riding, we decided to meet in Mechanicburg around 9:10.  I took the VTX and on the way to meet her the bike started chugging as I went around the big curve in Ewrin. I pulled the chocke and it was fine, so when Susan got there we talked about if it is smart to go that far with a bike that might be in trouble.  She said that is exactly how her bike acted when the gas pump messed up. So we head back for home thinking I would swap out bikes, but it felt so good on the way back that I changed my mind.  We got to 36 and headed for 68, the bike ran perfect the rest of the ride.  Maybe old gas in the tank from winter.
We took 68 to Xenia the 42 to 48 to rt. 3 into Loveland and then back little roads to the castle.  How fun, castle was built by on man by using the s&s ones for the little Miami river, which was very close to the castle.  When he need brick he made them himself by pouring cement in to orange juice boxes. This was his life long work.  Very interesting to see.
We left around 1:00 and found a nice place for lunch called Balance Cafe & Smoothie.  Good food very fresh.
Felt a few drops when we came out but no more. Yeah and it was much warmer for the trip home.  Came Rt. 3 to 380 to 42 we separated in South Charleston and we both got home around 4:10.  Good ride, one not though the road down to the castle was very steep and curvy, I was fine going to but had a scare coming up on one of the curves there was a pot hole that in trying to avoid I went way left of center thank goodness no cars were coming down.  It got my heart a racin!
Would be a good trip for the whole group some day to do.

X

Our trip to Michigan

Day 1. Aug. 1, 2014    We met at Kroger in Marysville and took off close to 8:00

We rode 400 miles I lead most of the way.  We stop near Baldwin, MI at Whispering Oaks campsite, very nice.  Had some guys next to us that were a bit noisy but no big deal.  We ate at restaurant next to campsite.  All u can eat fish and chips we both got Pollock, was a cute place with the daughter being the only waitress and the small place was packed.   Pictures of our first camp sight.

Day 2.    Next morning walked back to same restaurant  for breakfast.  Come back, loaded up camp  and leave by 9:20. Cathy leads today, we travel about 244 miles and stay at Wilderness State Park, cost us each 22$.  

We went through the tunnel of trees, awesome, on Rt. 119, and then we ate at Legs Inn, at Cross Village, in the garden, beautiful. Right on the coast of lake Michigan.

We were talking to some people and they thought we would have a hard time finding a place to camp and we could not get any signal on our phones, so I go to the host desk and they help me call WSP.  This guy that answered acted like he only had 2 openings for tent camping and we better get over there fast if we want a spot. So we had to hurry out of the restaurant rather then slowly leaving and getting pictures, I got two of the garden where we ate. 

Our second camp sight was a very busy place with a family surrounding us having their family reunion.   A very friendly bunch with much advice. 

We had a system when we get to a gas station one would go in right away and use the facilities and the other would pump, that way our bike were not left alone. 

Day3  I lead this morning, we leave early from the Wilderness State Park  sight and go to Mackinaw city for breakfast.  Then back on the bike to do Mackinaw bridge, wow I was nervous.  It didn't help that I almost got ran into when i pulled out of my parking spot with a van blocking my view.  I almost dropped my bike but held on tight.  So the nerves were really bad,  I had heard stories of how scary it is with the bridge being grated and wind coming up through.  Well that is only the fast lane, so we were good.  Great experience!

 Then took Rt. 2 around the coast  in the Upper Peninsula and did a loop.  We stopped at the Tahquamenon Falls  and walked around viewed the falls and got a drink. 

 We stopped at a few light houses, this was the first one and was free to go up into the tower.  

 Cathy eating some wild blue berries.

 We had lunch in Paradise and had a pasty for the first time in my life at a cute little restaurant that was so busy they had a hard time handling all the people. We ended up driving to Sault Saint Marie along the coast,  Advised by our waitress,  then to Walmart to get some supplies. It is clouding up. We travel the S. Mackinac Trails to get to St Ignace.  The Reddman sleepy Hollow campground was on a dirt road so we turned around and found hotel,stayed at the Pine motel due to the fact we rode thru rain. We ate next door at a gas station for supper. 

Day 4  Our hotel supplied breakfast ( a sandwich next door at the gas station).  Cathy leading, we take off around 8:00 cross back over the bridge in very foggy weather and got on23 south and traveled along the coast seeing a couple of light houses.  This one was a ghost light house because the light comes on once in a while even though there is no electricity connected to it.  We met a very nice lady that told us the whole story about it.

We come inland to get gas. We came in to Lincoln got gas and then for lunch we did Backwoods Bristo very good food even though it took a long time to get it.  

We were told that there is road work on 23, byanice talkative lady,( who was there with another lady that 102 yrs. old) in the restaurant advised us to take 72 over to 65 but another older man said we could take 30.  The lady said it was gravel and the man said no that has been paved for years, and it was curvy. So we took his advise.  Well we travel along and then all of a sudden the road is gravel.  Cathy stopped and asked should we turn around I thought we could drive through. Wish we had turned around, but we took off and then next thing I see Cathy fishtailing big time and then down.  I get there and two men behind me get there before I can get off the bike.  Cathy is up but has a bloody knee and pain.  The guys pickup the bike and move it up on to the other side of the road. The road has a huge curve and is slanted way up with a lot of loose gravel.  Cathy climbs back on after turning the engine a few times we head into town.  Glenna, they have no medical places but thought there was one in Hale, was closed so we went to Tawas hospital and she got 5 stitches.   After she picked up a script at pharmacy we ride for an hour or so.  End up at an econo lodge in Midland, MI.

Day 5  Woke up to rain, loaded up as it lightened up and left around 8:30.  Road the slab all the way to Findley to make it home at a descent time.  Good to be home, was a great trip !!

Our Trip to South Carolina

Mohican State Park

 I rode 212 miles up to Mohican State Park, walked around there and drove thru the park roads ended up on the other side of the park.  I figured my way back and then went to Malabar Farm.  Went into the visitors center and visited with an older lady.  She was so impressed that I had ridden all the way from Marysville in one day.  She was sweet.

 After I left the Farm I wanted to head out to Butler to get a bite to eat but there was Rt. 603 which I had visited for the first time on my Rebel. Was one of my first longer rides by myself.  Love this road really big hills.  So I took it got a couple pictures then my camera died.  Got gas in Lucas and then took 39 to 603 again and rode it back to 95, was beautiful. I then headed into Butler, stopped at the Whilffletree for lunch.  Nice little small town restaurant.

 From Butler I headed to Bellville, we use to go to church in Butler and this was the way we went home.  was fun to see these roads again.  From Bellville I took Bellville - Johnsville Rd.   fun little road took me to Johhnsville.  I went past our old (new) Highschool then past our old home.  The stone quary m brothers use to swim in is now a pond in front of a house.  It looked so small compared what I use to remember.   Then past our poor poor house that use to be so pretty.  Needs a paint job so badly.  Wish we could get that house and fix up.  Two men were working around the yard.                 I was going to go to Iberia and take 309 to Marion and then 739 to Raymond and then home.  But the clouds started to look dark and so I decided to just head home.  Took the road from our house to Mt Gilead and then 42 toward home but then took Cty rd. 24  since it was so windy there was much more protection from the wind this way.  Great Ride!

March 17 ride to Washington Courthouse

54">Beautiful ride to WC. to watch my nephew play his tuba in a band concert. The sky and the clouds were amazing on the way down and back. I did get sprinkled on and thought oh no not a year like last year. I got soaked so many times last year I lost count. I need to buy a new rain suite.
Any way the concert was good, I enjoy watching them all play reminds me of years passed. I met a friend of my sister, and they pulled up to me getting ready to ride in the parking lot. She said " You just went up a bunch on notches on the cool factor in my book". That was a nice complement.
I got the camera out for the ride home and had a fun time taking shots mainly of the clouds. They got darker and darker as I came home, the roads were wet but not one drop on my coming home. Yeah
This is the first I have used the iPad to do this blog and for some reason it will not let me up load my pictures. I will do that later on my real computer.