One of the items on my bucket list, due mostly from where I grew up, was to go over the Mackinac Bridge on a motorcycle. I grew up putzing around the Farm on motorbikes and I always wanted to cross that bridge (the epitome of adventure). Yeah, maybe it seems kind of silly now but at the time, that was big in my mind.
Planning this trip was practically non-existent. I didn't think it really needed any, My only concern is that my front tire was worn a bit oddly and I didn't want to have a blowout up in the woods of the UP. Believe me, I didn't want to have an accident or any other trouble up there. It was a long drive and fairly isolated. It wasn't that I was unfamiliar with the drive, as I had traversed that route several times. My only real concern was rain. We've been getting a lot of rain this summer. About every other day was rain-filled. I made sure that those involved knew that the date was tenuous at best.
The day of the trip started fairly early, as most days do with me. I think I woke up around 3am, as usual. I immediately looked at the radar and found that an odd "bow-wave" of rain had settled over our area. Elgin already had the rain but there was a long line of rain south and north of us. My concern, of course, was in the north. That line of showers stretched all the way across Wisconsin. Crap! I was getting so sick of the rain.
At some point around 7:30 or 8, I looked at the map with Tracy and said, "If I leave now, I might be able to make it between these two cells." She responded, "Then you better go now." I got on the bike and took off. The trip was uneventful until just over the border. The cell I was hoping to move off east didn't move and I hit rain south of East Troy. Rain isn't that big of a deal, as I've driven through rain before. My concerns were with getting drenched. One other trip, I was soaked and it took all the heat out of me. On that trip, by the time I got home, I was shivering uncontrollably and probably suffering from mild hypothermia. I didn't want to deal with being cold on this trip. It was mid-June for heaven's sake! Anyway, I did get wet and I stopped at a corner McD's to dry off and see what the rain was doing. I found a cell to the east that was combining with another....and it wasn't moving. I couldn't see an easy way around it. It isn't like I can do complex navigation while riding a bike. After about half and hour, I decided I couldn't stay there all day and it was warm enough to not make it too uncomfortable. Milwaukee was just on the other side and at best, maybe 5 miles in the rain. So, it wasn't that bad and North of Milwaukee, I needed to pull over, dry off and soak up some sun...maybe get a short nap.
The drive up to Green Bay was uneventful. I had to pull over at one stretch, along with another biker, and put on warmer clothes. It was a cold wind coming off the lake right then and I was getting chilled to the bone. So, lunch at Green Bay. Not much civilization from here to Escanaba, maybe even St. Ignace. I had to make a final check of the bike and the weather. All clear.
Turning onto 35 at Marinette became a mistake. They were grinding down the road. All I could think was that this stuff is grinding into my front tire and I'll soon have a flat. About 20 miles of that made me question if this would be the normal all the way to Escanaba. At some point, it did stop but the sky then became as grey as steel. The lake was incredibly uninviting and it and the sky became darker. Dang it! More rain! It wasn't warm at all. It eventually subsided and I stopped at a state park to check the weather. No coverage. Great. I went a bit farther north to Cedar River and stopped at a gas station to warm up. I checked my phone and it was dead. Not just no coverage. It was bricked. Great. I'm in the middle of nowhere and my phone is out. After about 20 minutes longer, my phone rebooted and it was up and going again. More rain north but it was moving out over the lake and might be clear in a few. I eventually decided to brave it and head out again.
I wasn't on the road but 5 minutes and the rain started up, as expected. I moved my visor down to cover my face and it fell off. I mean, I've had one side pop out of the bracket before. This time one side came completely off the helmet. I pulled over, realizing that I'm in mud at this point. I take the helmet off and find that the screws came out of the helmet, but luckily the were held in by the visor. Thank God for some foresighted design engineers. I'm sitting slightly off the road, bracing my bike up with my legs as the ground is too soft for me to use the kickstand, trying to screw in my visor with my fingernails. A couple of bikers slowed down and via gestures asked if things wore okay. Yep, Got this. I did, but come on! It was raining and my helmet was messed up. The sky did eventually clear. My helmet became functional. I rolled into Escanaba with the expectation that the day would be better and a clear 2 hours or so would find me at the bridge.
After a quick fill up of the bike, I was off. Let me add here that one thing I have learned is to never ride with my mouth open. The reasons should be obvious. I like to think and sometimes that does include an occasional spoken word or perhaps traffic might elicit some words but in general, I don't open my mouth. The wind and speed I at which I was traveling made me slide down my visor to half cover my face. So, as I hit the going rate of traffic on the open road, I clamped my mouth shut and prepared for a 2 hour ride through the pines. For those of you that have travelled in the north during a snowstorm, you know that optical illusion where it seems that the snow is falling and then turning directly at you. That is just your eyes seeing different things, mostly your rushing towards the snow that is falling down. It give you that tunnel effect. Well, let me tell you, the same works for bugs. You see a movement to your left. You focus your eyes on it just to see it shoot towards you on some kamikaze mission to splatter you with its internal organs. I saw that coming at me and then it kind of followed some odd slow motion. The white blob that was rushing towards me clipped the bottom of my visor, not doubt to increase the gore, and then bulleted right towards my lips. At this time, I still don't know what it was, but its innards were all over my face and my lower face hurt, hurt as in I felt I was slugged in the face. While I sped down the road, trying to wipe whatever it was that hit me off my face, I made the conscious effort to keep my mouth shut. Who knew what was down there. I pulled off the side of the road to clean myself off and realized that my lips were swelling. Great, I might now have to explain my physical condition when I arrive at the farm.
I'm not sure who sold the UP on the motel business, but it seems that every third structure was an empty, abandoned hotel. Also, there seems to be an unusual number of casinos. None of them appeared to be doing well because, well, who would go to this empty landscape to gamble? It isn't like you could do successful shows here either.
As you can tell, I made it. This was my longest one-day travel on my bike. I had put over 600 miles on it. The trip over the bridge wasn't very eventful. I luckily didn't have to go on the metal grate and I could stay on the concrete lane, farthest from the edge. Having a bike that rides so high is a little disconcerting when you can see over the railing. I'm being honest when I mention this wasn't nearly my scariest ride on a bridge. That is reserved for a bridge over the Mississippi. That thing scared the daylights out of me.
The trip south was uneventful. I went past a few more casinos that starved for business. I saw a gorgeous sunset but was too busy navigating my way in the rain to enjoy it much. (I had seen some sunsets from photographers in Oregon on this particular night. It seems the sunset was gorgeous all across the country that evening.) I stopped in Kalkaska around 9:45pm to grab a drink and was rewarded with the most sub-par hamburger ever made. That's saying something. I was McDonald's after all. Also, I realized that 10:30 at night in Northern Michigan doesn't lend itself to gas stations being open. Thankfully, the station at Fife Lake was open so I could get gas for the next day.
After arriving at the farm, I was rewarded with a short sleep before I once again was on the road, this time north to Traverse City to talk to my sister. I stopped at the High Rollaways on the Manistee River. Last time there, my phone was doing its brick impression and at least now it was operating, so I could get some pictures. It was nice to be back in woods that felt so familiar to me.
I also stopped at the place where Boardman Lake used to be. They drained it as the dam was failing and no one wanted to spend the money to fix it. I have some memories there. I walked there once with my sister's dog....scary walk and I'll never do that again. I remember once throwing her into the lake, just to see her swim. She loved the water, but needed encouragement this time. I got the truck stuck in the sand once and someone pulled me out. This was where I went as a teen to get away from people. Now it was empty. Life goes on, I guess.
I talked a while with my sister, I had a turtle sundae at Wares and I was headed back down to the farm. My parents and I argued about life and politics and belief, kind of like we always do. The next morning I was on the road back to Elgin. The next day it was going to rain so I cut my stay short. Before I left, I took a few pictures of the place. I really do love it there. Maybe it doesn't have the hold it used to have on me, but it still has some.
On my way out, I passed by this guy. I think I had seen him/her there the previous day but I wasn't sure. I turned back, parked the bike and got him out of the middle of the road. Yeah, it was warm there, but I hate seeing squished turtles.
I also admired the daisies to the side of the road. While I was finding a good one to shoot, I saw the danger within. Beauty and death combined.
I put over 1200 miles on the bike that weekend. Time well spent, but I could have done without the rain.
