Thursday, August 30, 2018

Michigan Wrap Up

I had a lot of fun and it was a trip I needed to make when I made it.  Thought about weeks ahead of time, ideas of where to go, a few things I wanted to see or visit, nothing was definite.  West had been an option, a strong one, but going that direction meant another trailer ride, SD or CO for some back roads and a short week, 7 instead of 10 days (Labor Day Weekend means Wildcat Rally back in Wisconsin) just seemed to rushed.  In addition, I wanted to spend the entire time riding rather than driving, to put that sort of miles on the Himalaya.

A self imposed goal of taking even less along, the refinement continues and I regretted only one thing left behind and that was my helmet camera.  It stayed behind very intentionally but more than once I wished that it on my helmet and was being switched on.  The little $65 RCA 7" actually worked well enough and when traveling sans minivan, it will be my communicator of choice.  The only thing I wish that I'd have done differently there was to have taken the time to use my Iphone app to process a few of the photos.....some cropping and some lightening.  I seldom do much more than either one of those anyway and it really isn't that difficult.  Typing (word creation) was cumbersome but certainly doable, the upside being that I wasn't as long winded as I would have been.  The little unit had to be tipped vertically so that the entire soft keyboard didn't obscure where the cursor was.  I can type well enough without watching but that never lasted more than a few characters on the small device.

I'm taking it along tomorrow to our 32nd annual Wildcat Mountain Rally, mostly because I can, doubting that I'll be Posting daily as I tried to do this past week.

Regarding the photos, I took my Lumix camera along and only remember pushing the shutter button once...I haven't even looked yet!  Having no way to upload photos, I used my phone exclusively, Blogger making it easy to grab images directly from the phone.  Normally those two have switched roles.

The total trip, 1836 miles.....


Michigan ......


Ontario, "Searchmont Road" Hwy 556....


A few photos that didn't make the daily posts.....that is if I can remember which ones did.














To my knowledge, he never made it to the campground the next day and I was disappointed.  I got his photo, he got mine.  Just maybe we'll get connected over on good ol' ADV; the most direct common thread we had.












My brother told me that there was a big 115 year HD gathering in Wisconsin...if there were 60 bikes on the ferry, 59 were from Milwaukee.


A long ride for the pup....once upstairs, passengers were not permitted down below.  I;ll bet he wasn't looking forward to it as much as I was.














Recognize this place??  Eric, Jeff, Rod??  I had everything I needed, still a little money left and it wouldn't have taken much.  But....the Wildcat Rally is this weekend, an absolutely necessary event on my calendar.



I stopped for pie but never even finished the Turkey Swiss Cranberry sandwich, so no pie.


Back to my river......home




The Himalaya was the perfect bike for this trip, can't wait for the next trip.

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

On The Boat

So far no one has corrected me; SS Badger ;).  Pretty sure the USS units belong to the Navy.








Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Weather

The upper Midwest is getting the rain that we were missing all summer.  With it, winds and lots of nasty.  Last night was the worst weather my tent has ever protected me from.  Audiobooks, music and BBC.

I was texting Peg last night, she with tornado warnings.  I was camping in Severe Thunderstorm Warnings and now tonight Tornados up where I was last night.   Based on recent and expected weather I gave up my campsite and made a reservation .in Manistee instead.   It seemed wise to be closer and dryer before getting on the USS Badger tomorrow.

In my tent last night....

Currently......



A milestone.....


The nicest it was today....










Dunemobiles.....




Serendipity?  All day I'd been planning to take the next Seasonal Road and not following through.  Finally one was approaching on my screen.....COOPER ROAD!!


Branches in the woods and on major roads, I saw more than one guardrail buckled fromt large trees...cable and power line wires hanging.




I should have stopped Sunday...there was a dump truck, solid axles from front to back.


Arcadia Dunes....




Michigan's version of the Wisconsin Rustic Roads?



I did some dirty and muddy today, some fun roads as I just wandered.  Saturday in Ontario on the Searchmont I essentially ran 80 miles...40mph, 4th gear, 4000rpm.   Today was 2nd gear, sand wet enough to just get me through..  The OEM MT_60 tires are working. (and wearing) SO well .but they aren't sand tires.  I'm no pro but I've come to appreciate the difference.

The Himalaya is working flawlessly; no question it prefers 60 to 70 but then so do I.  It's on the center stand tonight, a wise choice.