Great Lakes Ride II

[Bustanut joker]

My attempt to turn this into a BB was foiled early today.. I had a good route,easy and just a few stops but it wasn't to be.

0700 start found my battery rather sluggish, Ran down to the gas station a mile away for my start receipt and she was really ornery and just about needed a push. I figured because I shut it off with the kill and left the lights on for awhile maybe it just needed a longer run.

Nope.. I got as far as St. Johns 18 miles down the road for my first corner and had to push start the beast. At this point the game was called as the expected heat today would have made this a potential health hazard.

Guess yesterdays heat finally killed it..

Anyway

I didn't take a whole lot of pictures as I don't have a camera mount and I've dropped two cameras on the road.. :dribble: :assassin:

0315 start time was nice.. 70 and a slight breeze but the heat warnings were already in effect.

Oh damn! I forgot It's a genI and don't take temperatures.. My hand was unsteady as Dolly was all frisky at the prospect of a ride..

Our leader. Or at least the guy who inspired me to do this..

Tony was awake maybe 5 minutes before this was taken.. Sleeping without any type of shelter, just finds a dry semi sheltered area and lays down

Wayne isn't talking to me at this point... He discovered I'd ate all his cookies and poked holes in his Camelback.. The dudes a Marine and I didn't need him making me look bad, so sabotage was the obvious answer..

Obviously no explanation needed here.. Bungie was leading and you know what happens :dribble: ..

So while these three discussed survival in the bear and moose infested area I decided to check out the local girls..

Somehow we found a way back to civilization.. Steve had one last trick before we arrived here. Three consecutive left turns brought back memories of Quebec Notice how's his pointing the blame at me?

Hotter than a sombitch here.. 104 from what I remember. We left here heading into Toronto and ran into traffic backups that nearly took us outa the game.. Stop and go for 1/2-3/4 of an hour on blacktop is brutal.. No piccys, my brain was cooking :dribble:

Tony was getting cold at this point.. Maybe 100 miles left for Wayne and I, but he was still looking at 300 plus..

Wayne drinking water from a bottle.. I did my best by ruining his Camelbacks but he's a tough nut and managed to do it without em!

I want to thank Tony, Wayne, Steve, and Ray.. Without you guys I never would have gotten past the first mile. Great time and I'm looking forward to doing it again .

Soon as it cools down. :lol:

 

[wheatonFJR]

Good piccies.

Buy a battery.

 

[BikerGeek99]

Cool...

 

[yamafitter]

...Wayne isn't talking to me at this point... He discovered I'd ate all his cookies and poked holes in his Camelback.. The dudes a Marine and I didn't need him making me look bad, so sabotage was the obvious answer..

Have you no shame?? Stealing a guy's cookies is as low as it gets. It wasn't the fact that you poked holes in his Camelback, it's what you poked the holes with.

Obviously no explanation needed here.. Bungie was leading and you know what happens :dribble: ..

Somehow we found a way back to civilization.. Steve had one last trick before we arrived here. Three consecutive left turns brought back memories of Quebec Notice how's his pointing the blame at me?

Have I not given you fair warning about letting Steve lead??

What were you thinking

 

[Bustanut joker]

I know Bill.. I think the heat got to me. :blink:

He did entertain us with his attempt at becoming a hood ornament though hno-smiley02: .. It's in the other great lakes thread.

 

[griff]

Hey Bust - do you know what Tony's route and schedule might be for the Great Lakes Gold. I might try to intercept him on Friday as he comes through Indiana. I see he is going way the hell south on his Lake Michigan SS. I guess that's to get the mileage?

 

[Bustanut joker]

Hey Bust - do you know what Tony's route and schedule might be for the Great Lakes Gold. I might try to intercept him on Friday as he comes through Indiana. I see he is going way the hell south on his Lake Michigan SS. I guess that's to get the mileage?

His south route was exactly as you stated.. He'd cut some miles somewhere and needed to add a few I suggested the over and down to avoid Joliet.. That's a feckin mess, and with the stop and go??

He had some of his routes up here someplace but I don't see 'em anymore.. He said me might call one day this week. If he does I'll let you know what his plans are.

 

[griff]

His south route was exactly as you stated.. He'd cut some miles somewhere and needed to add a few I suggested the over and down to avoid Joliet.. That's a feckin mess, and with the stop and go??

He had some of his routes up here someplace but I don't see 'em anymore.. He said me might call one day this week. If he does I'll let you know what his plans are.

10-4 on that Joliet mess. I was going west through that crap today about 11 and it was backed up, hot and raining. Felt sorry for those dudes on bikes.

I do have his schedule, but would like to try to figger out a closer time. I have his cell number, so if I don't hear anything by Thursday, I may try to call him.

 

[Old Michael]

Ya know, Barry (you handsome bastard), I have NO IDEA what this report is all about, ...or what the hell happened,

...or why you did it,...or where you went,.....BUT, .....it was STILL entertaining.

(And, as I'd guessed, it didn't get more than a few photos into it before there were SHEEP!)

 

[Bustanut joker]

Damn! I did forget something didn't I? :dribble:

Just a short lil jaunt as Wayne said..Somewhere in the neighborhood of 1047 miles, Just over 18.5 hours.

 

[Bustanut joker]

His south route was exactly as you stated.. He'd cut some miles somewhere and needed to add a few I suggested the over and down to avoid Joliet.. That's a feckin mess, and with the stop and go??

He had some of his routes up here someplace but I don't see 'em anymore.. He said me might call one day this week. If he does I'll let you know what his plans are.

10-4 on that Joliet mess. I was going west through that crap today about 11 and it was backed up, hot and raining. Felt sorry for those dudes on bikes.

I do have his schedule, but would like to try to figger out a closer time. I have his cell number, so if I don't hear anything by Thursday, I may try to call him.

Good idea Griff.. I know yesterday was a rough sombitch sitting in backed up traffic. Don't think two days in a row would have done him any good.

Supposed to stay like this all week.

 

[wheatonFJR]

yep. Those roads are as straight as they look.

But I think this ride was more about cameraderie (and seeing who would be the last person to pass out from the heat)

Thanks for the report. That path finder guy is feckin maniac..and I mean that in a bad way. :lol:

 

[Old Michael]

Damn! I did forget something didn't I? :dribble:

Just a short lil jaunt as Wayne said..Somewhere in the neighborhood of 1047 miles, Just over 18.5 hours.

It's like a giant square!

Amazing, Cassandra!

...I mean that any border guard would let you through.

 

[Bustanut joker]

yep. Those roads are as straight as they look.

But I think this ride was more about cameraderie (and seeing who would be the last person to pass out from the heat)

Thanks for the report. That path finder guy is feckin maniac..and I mean that in a bad way. :lol:

They are actually straighter.. Through the magic of photochop I twisted them up some :lol:

And yer right Tony is a rare breed. A hellofa nice guy who just can't get enough seat time.

He keeps telling how he's in awe of some of the Iron Butt guys when he himself has done over a dozen SS1K's maybe the same amount of BB's and Golds.. Plus IIRC one 11 48 and two 10 10's.

Nope, the guy is an animal in the seat.. I see where he's on a pace for the Soo around 4am.. Just like he planed.

 

[Bustanut joker]

Are ya gonna post up your pics Wayne??

 

[extrememarine]

Are ya gonna post up your pics Wayne??

I'm still scraping the bugs off the camera, but should get to it tonight.

...I mean that any border guard would let you through.

Funny you should mention border crossings...

So there we were, just over 4 hours into our Lake Huron IBA Saddle Sore attempt. We had just shook Tony lose at the rest area, gotten fuel and headed into the great white north, eh. We rolled across the bridge, I was the lead bike, then Bust, then Tony. There were a couple of cars in front of us, and as we worked our way forward, I could see the distinct silhouette of a ponytail in the booth. Awesome, nothing better than a Hot Canadian Customs Agent to chat with; throw down some, "I'm a Marine" and have a nice day - smooth sailing for sure...

Big Negitive on that one.

As the car in front of me rolled away, shift change. Hot Canadian Customs Agent was replaced with Hoomer Fookin Simpson & Barny Fife love child disgruntled Canadian Customs Agent. So I move up to the booth and hit the kill switch.

Homer takes my ID and says, "shut yer bike off."

It was off, but I turned the key off, and realize that Bust has crept up past the "Stop here until vehicle at booth departs" sign.

Homer asks typical "whatcha doin & whereyaheadin' ? " questions, ending with, "SHUT YOUR BIKE OFF".

I respond, "it is off, sir".

Homer then huffs and leans out booth window, screaming at Bust, "SHUT YER BIKE OFF, EH! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO HEAR ANYTHING WITH ALL THAT RACKET!"

At this point, I'm thinking great, we're all in for an extended stay at hotel cavity search.

Homer lets me through with a "here" and hands me back my ID.

Bust is up next; I watch his helmet bob, arms talking, etc. So when he departs the booth, Bust for some odd reason chooses that exact moment in time to clear the carbon out of his exhaust system. 7k rpm out of a Trooper modified cans probably made Homer crap himself. And now I'm certain we're going to be surrounded by Homer's comrades for an extended Q&A session.

Tony rolls through, probably apologizing for the sheep fooker and we beat feet east…

 

 

 

[Bustanut joker]

Actually it was 8500.. Poor bastage is still cleaning shit off the chair. :lol: :lol: :lol:

The guy was a complete ass.. When he took over the station he sat his ass there for an extended period adjusting his newspaper and sipping his drink before opening the window. When he asked if I had any smokes or booze I was sure he was going to want to bum some..

Tony said the right stuff coming back into the U.S. The agent there had us all pull up took maybe half a minute..

Commented on the heat, didn't ask me or Wayne anything, and said have a nice trip..

Never suspected I'd rustled me a few lambs...

 

[extrememarine]

Ok, here are the pictures I managed to get before, during, and after the fog of the ride.

Again, this is Bust and me riding along with 101stpathfinder on his Lake Huron saddlesore (which was part of his 10n10 run around all of the Great Lakes). We were successful in our SS1K attempt, running about 1050 miles about 19 hours.

Beginning witness forms signed at the Owosso Fire Department

Northbound on US-127 in the pre dawn hours. We saw a handful of deer, but none wandered into our direct path.

Sunrise in northern Michigan along I-75

Crossing the Mackinaw Bridge

Linking up with Tony at Hotel Ironbutt just south of Sault Ste Marie, Michigan.

Somewhere in Northern Ontario

Ok, what really happened here is as we passed Steve (Bungie), we had pulled over, and while Bust was quizzing Steve about where the closest Sheeps were, I suddenly realized that my eyeballz were floating and dove for a side road to drain the tank.

It was hot.

Our escort through Toronto, Ray. Thanks!

Man of the hour, 101stpathfinder.

Bluewater Bridge, sunset, crossing back into Michigan.

Back in Owosso. Easy day. Tony pressed on back to Sault Ste Marie.

 

[Bustanut joker]

Ok, here are the pictures I managed to get before, during, and after the fog of the ride.

Crossing the Mackinaw Bridge

Dang! I don't remember walking across. :blink: