Last Video!

I got the last two days done. I'd like to add that I had a fantastic time riding the Great Lakes with the team and I can't wait for our next adventure!

Day 8 - Newaygo, MI to HOME!

We actually got up and on the road by 8am, so apparently it is possible to get out early when we put our minds to it. We made a quick stop for breakfast and were rolling on the miles by 8:30am. The day was mostly just pushing through the 290 miles to get back home on time to turn my rental bike in. We took a few breaks here and there but not for anything scenic, just butt and lunch breaks. I decorated Fat Bob with some pretty flowers at one of the rest stops, but they promptly blew off as soon as we headed down the road. We made it to Dad's around 3pm and I unloaded my bike. Then we headed to the public beach in Port Clinton to dip our fingers in Lake Erie, our last of the five lakes. Done! We then headed to the Sandusky Harley dealer to turn in "Fat Bob". Steve had to pull me off the bike, I just didn't want to say goodbye :( I put a total of 2,463 miles on FB, so that was the total loop around the lakes. Dad put about 50 more miles getting to and from the dealer, and Steve put on about 750 more miles driving to/from Ohio from Illinois. What a great trip we had!
Click here for pictures from our last day of riding.

Videos from Days 3 &4 and 5 & 6

Steve had these videos ready a while ago (he did one while doing his laundry at 7am at a St. Ignace laundromat) but we never had good enough connections to get them uploaded. Here you go!
Day 3 & 4

Day 5 & 6

Day 7 - St. Ignace, MI to Newaygo, MI

For some reason no matter how early we wake up and get moving, it seems like we don't get on the road until around 10 or 11am. This morning was no exception. We were all showered and ready by 9:30, but then the boys decided to try and fix Dad's speedometer which has been broken this whole trip. After fiddling with that we headed in to town for gas and a stop at the local beach so we could dip our fingers in Lake Huron. We finally made it out of town around 10:45, geesh. Our first big adventure was right outside of St. Ignace...crossing the Mackinac Bridge, which is the third longest suspension bridge in the US. Just our luck that the outside, paved lane was closed for construction for a good strtech so we had to ride the inside lane which is steel grating. That's a very wobbly experience on two wheels but we made it across okay. We proceded to cruise the lower peninsula of Michigan, following the Lake Michigan coast line. We drove through lots of little resort towns that were packed with people enjoying the summer weather. It was sunny and warm all day today, which was a pleasant surprise because the weather channel had predicted thunder storms. It's nice when they're wrong in our favor :) We passed through several national forests on our tour, including the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Our route provided lots of twisties for us, much more than the rest of our trip so far. "Fat Bob" and I had a great time winding through the trees...weeee! I'm getting pretty attached to the ol' bike, it's going to stink to turn it in tomorrow :( We made a stop at the Point Betsie Light House for a butt break and photo opportunity. We took our 4th lake picture, dipping our fingers in a much-cleaner-than-yesterday Lake Michigan. Only one more to go, Lake Erie, and we'll do that when we get back to Ohio tomorrow. After our break at the beach we started heading inland through the Manistee Nat'l Forest and we saw several wild turkeys hanging out on the side of the road. We finally made it in to Newaygo, our stopping point for the day after putting 320 miles on the bikes. We had a great ride in the sunshine and tomorrow we head home to Ohio to finish off our trip.
Click here for pics from today.

By the way, Steve has two videos completed and ready to post, but we haven't had a strong enough wi-fi connection to get them uploaded. We should be able to get them up tomorrow once we get to Dad's.

Notes from the Old Guy

Just wanted to say that it has been a lot of fun trying to keep up with the young-uns.
Mostly just follow along and pose for pictures--great way to spend a week.