Goodman4
Pressing on
Over the 4th my wife and I took the Goldwing for a trip around Lake Michigan. We love mountains and twisty roads so we knew it wasn’t going to be our favorite trip, but we haven’t been in Michigan or Wisconsin on the bike so it seemed like a decent option. When you factor in the crazy heat, heavy 4th of July traffic in Michigan and me being sick with a cold the whole time, it definitely wasn’t our favorite trip.
Still, we were off work and got some decent pics. I bit the bullet and got a Flickr account and figured out how to link an image so here’s my trip report:
We left from Western KY on Saturday and got off Interstate to ride through Hoosier National Forrest, Santa Claus, and French Lick Indiana. West Baden Springs is just north of French Lick.
Here is a pretty farm near Paoli. They actually have a mountain with snow skiing in Indiana here.
We stayed in Indy and left early to try to avoid some of the heat. There were excessive heat warnings all the way up with temp around 95 and heat index at 105. We used the LD Comfort cooling sleeves we got to replace our cooling vests. They made my arms itch but Tammy liked them. I like my bandana with ice though. We just toughed it out up the boring roads to Michigan and it stayed hot along the south east side of the lake. But the traffic got pretty heavy with everyone headed to the beaches.
Here we finally made it to South Haven and sweated through the stalled traffic to see the lighthouse at the beach
I thought we would see more of the lake in that area but it isn’t scenic unless you get off the main road and it was just too hot and crowded for that. We made it to Manistee where we spent the night. After checking in we went out to see the Manistee Lighthouse and a bad storm was coming in so it scared most people off the beach which was great.
We had a good evening in Manistee and waited out the storm in a restaurant. It quit storming but we were enjoying the downtime when I saw on my phone a second round was coming in. We high-tailed it out and made it to the hotel in a moderate rain before it really started pouring again.
The next day was the only decent temperature day. I thought we were on M22 which is supposed to be 55 mph, but we weren’t there yet when I passed a trooper doing just over 55. I looked down and my GPS said the speed limit was 35 and sure enough he came after me. He was really nice and said the sport bikers drive like crazy there. He only gave me a warning.
M22 was a fun and scenic road and the traffic wasn’t too bad. We stopped at Point Betsie on M22 and enjoyed the lighthouse and the view of the lake
We went up 109 to go to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park. Thanks to my National Park Pass the $15 admission was free. I liked the drive through the park. There was some traffic, but I was able to enjoy the curves and the scenery was nice.
We didn’t go all the way up M22 and instead took 72 over to Traverse City which was crazy with the Cherry Festival going on. It would have been cool to have been through a couple hours later because the Blue Angels were doing a show over the lake.
Traffic was so bad in Charlevoix we turned around and found a place to eat hoping it would get better. Instead it was worse. By the time we got through there and Petoskey, we almost cut out the tunnel of trees to get back on schedule. But this was our original plan and so we did it. It was good traffic and kind of fun. I can see how it would be beautiful (and crowded) in the fall.
Here’s the point where the road goes from two lanes to 1.5 lanes
And what the rest looks like for 20 miles
We were warned by Dutch that the roads getting back over to 31 were terrible and he was right. Tammy complained so much in my headset I finally said “I need a break” and turned off the intercom. I paid for that one for a while.
Finally we made it to the Mackinac Bridge and took pics of it and the Old Mackinac Lighthouse.
Crossing the bridge
Check out the two guys walking up there on the right. It was really windy.
From the UP side
There was a detour on 2 and my stupid Zumo 396 was convinced I needed to go 50 miles out of the way. But I went with my iphone and the detour was only a few miles and a better quality road than hwy 2. As we got closer Zumo was telling me to take dirt roads and long gravel options out of the way. I am not a fan of the new Garmin routing.
We stopped at Seul Choix Lighthouse near Manistique and it was our favorite lighthouse of the trip. Maybe that was because it was late and the tours were closed so we had the place to ourselves.
We stayed in Manistique and walked along the beach a little. In the morning we drove by the Manistique East Breakwater Lighthouse.
We went a few miles north of 2 near Indian Lake to an odd place called Kitch-iti-kipi
It’s a big spring that has 10,000 gallons of spring water flowing into it every minute. It’s 45 feet deep but you can see through it to the bottom like the water in your glass.
The raft takes you out on the spring for viewing. There’s no fishing.
One more lighthouse – Sand Point in Escanaba
It was getting way too hot again so instead of braving traffic in door county, we stopped in Green Bay and went through the Packer Hall of Fame.
And then headed to Tammy’s uncle’s house in Waupaca where we had a nice visit.
The next day it was crazy hot. We were going to ride the Great River Road but just couldn’t do it. Instead we picked alphabet roads heading south until they stopped and then drove east or west until we found another alphabet road heading south.
It was kind of fun and we saw some interesting farmlands
We finally made it to Peoria where I had booked the Holiday Inn on the Riverfront in East Peoria where we could watch the fireworks without having to get out into the crowd of 200,000 people. It was a really good show and so nice to just walk upstairs afterward. This final pic is just before the festivities started.
The next day didn’t start well with getting alerted to a problem at work. We had to rush to get done with breakfast so I could have a 45 minute meeting with management in Denmark. My 6 year old Scala Cardio Riders are so clear that they never even knew I was on a bike.
By the end of the call it was already steaming hot. Later in the day my temp gauge on the bike was actually at 100 while driving. That was a first. The heat index according to my phone was 109.
Nevertheless, we made it home safe and got to cross off a couple states while seeing some lighthouses and family.
Still, we were off work and got some decent pics. I bit the bullet and got a Flickr account and figured out how to link an image so here’s my trip report:
We left from Western KY on Saturday and got off Interstate to ride through Hoosier National Forrest, Santa Claus, and French Lick Indiana. West Baden Springs is just north of French Lick.
Here is a pretty farm near Paoli. They actually have a mountain with snow skiing in Indiana here.
We stayed in Indy and left early to try to avoid some of the heat. There were excessive heat warnings all the way up with temp around 95 and heat index at 105. We used the LD Comfort cooling sleeves we got to replace our cooling vests. They made my arms itch but Tammy liked them. I like my bandana with ice though. We just toughed it out up the boring roads to Michigan and it stayed hot along the south east side of the lake. But the traffic got pretty heavy with everyone headed to the beaches.
Here we finally made it to South Haven and sweated through the stalled traffic to see the lighthouse at the beach
I thought we would see more of the lake in that area but it isn’t scenic unless you get off the main road and it was just too hot and crowded for that. We made it to Manistee where we spent the night. After checking in we went out to see the Manistee Lighthouse and a bad storm was coming in so it scared most people off the beach which was great.
We had a good evening in Manistee and waited out the storm in a restaurant. It quit storming but we were enjoying the downtime when I saw on my phone a second round was coming in. We high-tailed it out and made it to the hotel in a moderate rain before it really started pouring again.
The next day was the only decent temperature day. I thought we were on M22 which is supposed to be 55 mph, but we weren’t there yet when I passed a trooper doing just over 55. I looked down and my GPS said the speed limit was 35 and sure enough he came after me. He was really nice and said the sport bikers drive like crazy there. He only gave me a warning.
M22 was a fun and scenic road and the traffic wasn’t too bad. We stopped at Point Betsie on M22 and enjoyed the lighthouse and the view of the lake
We went up 109 to go to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park. Thanks to my National Park Pass the $15 admission was free. I liked the drive through the park. There was some traffic, but I was able to enjoy the curves and the scenery was nice.
We didn’t go all the way up M22 and instead took 72 over to Traverse City which was crazy with the Cherry Festival going on. It would have been cool to have been through a couple hours later because the Blue Angels were doing a show over the lake.
Traffic was so bad in Charlevoix we turned around and found a place to eat hoping it would get better. Instead it was worse. By the time we got through there and Petoskey, we almost cut out the tunnel of trees to get back on schedule. But this was our original plan and so we did it. It was good traffic and kind of fun. I can see how it would be beautiful (and crowded) in the fall.
Here’s the point where the road goes from two lanes to 1.5 lanes
And what the rest looks like for 20 miles
We were warned by Dutch that the roads getting back over to 31 were terrible and he was right. Tammy complained so much in my headset I finally said “I need a break” and turned off the intercom. I paid for that one for a while.
Finally we made it to the Mackinac Bridge and took pics of it and the Old Mackinac Lighthouse.
Crossing the bridge
Check out the two guys walking up there on the right. It was really windy.
From the UP side
There was a detour on 2 and my stupid Zumo 396 was convinced I needed to go 50 miles out of the way. But I went with my iphone and the detour was only a few miles and a better quality road than hwy 2. As we got closer Zumo was telling me to take dirt roads and long gravel options out of the way. I am not a fan of the new Garmin routing.
We stopped at Seul Choix Lighthouse near Manistique and it was our favorite lighthouse of the trip. Maybe that was because it was late and the tours were closed so we had the place to ourselves.
We stayed in Manistique and walked along the beach a little. In the morning we drove by the Manistique East Breakwater Lighthouse.
We went a few miles north of 2 near Indian Lake to an odd place called Kitch-iti-kipi
It’s a big spring that has 10,000 gallons of spring water flowing into it every minute. It’s 45 feet deep but you can see through it to the bottom like the water in your glass.
The raft takes you out on the spring for viewing. There’s no fishing.
One more lighthouse – Sand Point in Escanaba
It was getting way too hot again so instead of braving traffic in door county, we stopped in Green Bay and went through the Packer Hall of Fame.
And then headed to Tammy’s uncle’s house in Waupaca where we had a nice visit.
The next day it was crazy hot. We were going to ride the Great River Road but just couldn’t do it. Instead we picked alphabet roads heading south until they stopped and then drove east or west until we found another alphabet road heading south.
It was kind of fun and we saw some interesting farmlands
We finally made it to Peoria where I had booked the Holiday Inn on the Riverfront in East Peoria where we could watch the fireworks without having to get out into the crowd of 200,000 people. It was a really good show and so nice to just walk upstairs afterward. This final pic is just before the festivities started.
The next day didn’t start well with getting alerted to a problem at work. We had to rush to get done with breakfast so I could have a 45 minute meeting with management in Denmark. My 6 year old Scala Cardio Riders are so clear that they never even knew I was on a bike.
By the end of the call it was already steaming hot. Later in the day my temp gauge on the bike was actually at 100 while driving. That was a first. The heat index according to my phone was 109.
Nevertheless, we made it home safe and got to cross off a couple states while seeing some lighthouses and family.
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