Leaving tomorrow morning for our circle tour! Hopefully the weather man will be wrong about all the rain tomorrow. Thanks again for all the suggestions!

 

More info to follow but thought I'd throw up a few quick picks of our trip.

Riding the Tunnel of Trees



Crossing the Mackinac Bridge



Tahquamenon Falls



Pictured Rocks National Lake Shore by Munising Michigan



My FXDWG loaded for touring on a pier by Mackinac City Michigan



My GF by the Old Mission Peninsula Lighthouse by Traverse City, Michigan



Worst weather was the first day, so we didn't get a chance to ride M22 since the whole area was covered in fog. The rest of the trip was great! Highly recommended!

 

Hope ya dug your trip..I did the same area last year! We left from SD up through MN and crossed into Ontario via Thunder Bay. Back into the States at Sault Ste Marie and waited FOREVER to get through port.. Tunnel of Trees is still one of my favorite little stretches! We took the ferry across to Milwaukee and then home but what a great trip! I would very much like to take the South Shore of Superior through Upper Wisconsin / Michigan! Lots of good riding up there!

 

Our tastes run pretty close to being the same. We did almost the exact trip 6-24 thru 7-1. We did get to ride M28 though. some really awesome views along the way. Saw something in Northpoint didn't quite understand. Pink blouse, really short blue denim skirt, the brightest pink leggings that I have every seen and a 4 day beard. Get me the HELL OUT A HERE. Had to ride the grates across the bridge and was terribly windy, had a death grip on the bars. The falls were great but what's up with Michigan charging you a PASSPORT FEE for out of state vehicles. Cost me a ruddy fortune and my bike was made in the USA not a foreign country. Took the boat tour of Pictured Rocks but as the captain put it, "The water is a little lumpy." That was putting it mildly. The 4 os us were on the upper deck and had NO problems, we had a ball. The ones down on the lower deck weren't quite as fortunate. If there were 45 people on the boat, 35 of them were chumming for fish. There were lots of red biohazard bags full. Rode down to Milwaukee the the Museum only to be accosted by security for lening over the exhibits and, Heaven forbid, touching one of the bikes. After our warning, it seemed as if every time we turned around the Gunny Sargent was watching us. He really had a good sense of humor though. Off to catch the high speed ferry back across Lake Michigan only to be told that they had no room for our 3 bikes on any trip for the next 5 days, guess it had something to do with summer fest. We had to drive back. I lobbied for a route way out around Chicago but was out voted so the route was I-94 East t0 I-294 South to I-94 east to I-65 south. Being from Ohio and only familiar with the way toll roads work here, enter the toll road, get a ticket and pay when you get off, we promptly blew through at least 4 toll plazas. Come to find out that this is a common occurance. They give you 7 days to pay a toll if you miss one, quite a hassel but might save you some bucks in the long run. Great mom and pop restraunt in Kendallville, Indiana on the main drag, fine service and a great Philly cheese. All in all, a DAMN GOOD trip.

 

Sounds like a great trip! My Dad and I had a great time riding together and took a very similar route. All in all a fun week. After the ride back to Denver from Chicago I was ready to get off the bike for a couple days... Now I need to clean the 3600 miles of bugs and grime off of it

 

Hmm... I didn't get charged a fee at Tahquamenon falls, just $8 for my bike. The girl at the entrance booth was a total dingbat though, so maybe she forgot.

We had a GREAT day to do the Pictured Rocks cruise. It was 75 and Sunny and NO WIND. Ship wasn't rocking at all! Fantastic!

One of the coolest things we saw was on our boat ride back from Mackinac Island. We passed within a few hundred yards of a 1000' great lakes iron ore freighter. Certainly cool to see something like that up close on the water!

I really should post some more pics, cuz I've got a ton!

 

That's what I was talking about, the $8.00 fee for my out of state bike. Guess that's how they keep their parks so clean, that and the deposit charged on all bottles and cans. We found ourselves in a little town called Baldwin just off route 10 near Ludington. Made our way to an ice cream place called Jone's Ice Cream. Try their toasted coconut, it's the only place you'll find it. Ice cream once a day is desert, two times in a day is a vacation and three times in the same day, well, that's just plain Heaven and a diabetic coma. I should know.

 

No one else has yet and I will do this in a complimentary and with all respect. You look to have a great looking riding partner!!! Glad you see you enjoyed your trip and I will keep an eye on it for further info. BTW all the pics are very nice.
Kris

 

Boarding the Ferry in Milwaukee



Lighthouse on Old Mission Peninsula by Traverse City Michigan



My lovely GF by Old Mission Peninsula Lighthouse



Vineyard on Old Mission Peninsula



Mushroom house in Charlevoix, Michigan



Mackinac Bridge







Mackinac Island











My lovely GF and I on Mackinac Island



More Tehquamenon Falls - the root beer color of the water is not pollution, but is from the natural tannin in woods that drain into the river.











The bay in Grand Marais Michigan before heading down H58

 

1000' ore freighter that we passed on return trip from Mackinac Island



More Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore by Munising, Michigan





This picture really shows what the rocks look like. A camera doesn't do it justice. The streaking is the minerals leaching out of the rock. It's quite impressive!