Happy Labor Day Weekend!

A great night it was at Maybury Recreation Area tonight. It was actually a record attendance for the bike tour with five of us total, matching the September 13, 2007, ride at Island Lake (check the records). It was good to see everyone out there for a great ride. I almost witnessed a biker running into a deer when Mark rode around a corner and there was Bambi with the look of a deer in the headlights, and it was a deer, just jumping out of the way from him.

The post ride involved some tasty Johnsonville brats and chips. Poor Ed had to listen to us fellas giggling about Milford/Highland stories. He didn't know a soul who we were talking about but was a trooper.

As far as the pictures, Jim claimed that he was tallest and we learned that reflectors, like the ones on Ed's bike, reflect when you take a picture of them.

Have a great weekend.

Trail Head

Floating Down the Chip

It was off to Mt. Pleasant this weekend for the second annual former CMU-er's canoe trip down the mighty Chippewa River. We met up with Mike, coming from Portage, at The Bird in downtown Mt. Pleasant. We weren't sure when CMU started classes but found our answer the minute we came off the Mt. Pleasant exit onto Mission Road. Based on the volume of traffic, the students were definitely starting classes on Monday. The classic scene was while driving through the student houses around University Drive, we came across a guy pushing a keg down the street with a skateboard. I wish I had the camera handy there. That is the college education paying off again. We had planned to camp but mother nature was calling for some rain so the hotel was the sleeping quarters.

After clearing our clogged brains from the extra soda pops we had the night before, we ventured over to the Chippewa River Outfitters on the west side of town for our float. We didn't think we would need a reservation based on our

experience the year before. It turns out they had reservations set throughout the day and we got lucky when another group cancelled. The float itself was great. Al and I had a few "wo wo's" but managed to keep afloat the entire time. Al, Greg, and I probably caught 30 or so fish total. They weren't much on size but fun to catch all the same. We must have came across 50 students tubing down the river. I wouldn't even classify them as floating. It was more or less wading with one tube designated to hold their coolers. I'll bet they are still floating out there as I'm typing this. I felt for them (okay, not really) because some storms came through about an hour after we got off the river. I would have to say they started moving a little faster when that happened. A great time it was. Hopefully we can get some more former Chippewas out there next year.

Trail Head

Bike Tour Heads North

The Molson Bike Tour headed north this past week. With the help of the Michigan Mountain Biking Association (MMBA) web site, I set out for a final destination of the Keweenaw Peninsula with biking stops along the way.

The first stop on the tour was Rob's cabin up in Irons, Michigan, about 20 miles or so east of Manistee. The area is an outdoorsman's paradise with plenty of rivers, lakes, and trails throughout. My first riding stop on Saturday was the Big M trails within the Manistee National Forest, only about 10 minutes from Rob's. I had cross country skied on the trail but had never ridden it. With the North Country Trail (trail that runs from New York to North Dakota) also running through the heart of the Big M trails, you can ride pretty much all day here. That I did, with a nice soaking rain greeting me within 10 minutes of the ride. It was a quick rain and the sun came out shortly thereafter so all was not lost. While relaxing back in the parking lot after the ride, I came upon a pack of lady mountain bikers. They brought a Suburban with a huge trailer on the back for their bikes. I told them about my final destination in the U.P. and two told me they knew all about the area because they went to Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech. After talking with them some more, I came to the conclusion, as Jerry Seinfeld says, "I think they were playing for the other team." The Big M and parts of the North Country Trail were some good riding.

Sunday morning's ride was at the Arcadia Dunes area, right off of M-22 along Lake Michigan. A contact at MMBA told me about the trail as it wasn't on their site. The 10 mile "Dry Hill Trail" was exactly what I was looking for. The majority of the ride took you through some thick forest and the trail was well maintained by the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy.

I was expecting Sunday afternoon's ride at Boyne Mountain to be even better than the morning ride but I was a bit disappointed with the Boyne scene. They have signs EVERYWHERE within the resort for this and that but not one for the biking trails. I ended up going into one of the shops and asking. "The trailhead is over behind the tennis courts," I was told. After finding the tennis courts, I was able to see some markings on a tree at the forest edge. The trail itself was okay but it looked as it someone had ripped off some of the trail markers so I got twisted around a bit. Overall, I wasn't too impressed with the trails there. Maybe it was that there were way too many minivans in the area or the fact that my cell phone had no service two miles from the place and five bar service the minute I turned onto Boyne Mountain Road. It isn't a word but I guess you can classify it as too "resorty."

The lodging Sunday night was just over the Mackinac Bridge into the Brevort Lake campground. With Rob's place in Irons, Eric's place in Gay, and camping, the lodging was quite inexpensive on the trip.

I heard the classic U.P. question and answer during breakfast Monday morning. The lady at the table near me asked the waiter what exactly a pasty was. Of course she pronounced it "paste-ee" instead of "past-ee." The waiter replied, "I'd have to take you to Las Vegas to show you what a pasty is." He chuckled then gave her the history of the pasty.

Monday's ride was at Bruno's Run within the Hiawatha National Forest just south of Munising. The 9 mile trail runs around four or five lakes, a river, and through a great campground I had stayed at awhile back, Pete's Lake. The sites are right on the lake and once you had one too many soda pops, you can giggle with your friends when you start saying "oh, for Pete's Lake!!" There were some serious tree roots along the lake shorelines, but overall the trail was pretty good. I was waiting for a black bear to jump on me at sometime along the ride but it didn't happen I am happy to report. Besides some deer near Rob's place and some wild turkeys in the U.P., not many animal sightings on the trip.

After taking a cold but refreshing dip in Moccasin Lake near the trailhead, I was off to my final destination to Gay in the Keweenaw Peninsula. Eric has quite a bit of family history up there on his dad's side. The town of Gay is small, very small, residing right on the shores of Lake Superior about 30 minutes or so northeast of Houghton. There are no stop lights, about thirty houses, a ball field with a well right in the middle of left field, and of course one bar (the Gay Bar, what else). Eric was up there with his family for the week at his place so I got to hang with the blonde pack for a couple of days.

Eric and I took his canoe out Tuesday morning to Gratiot Lake which is a little north of Gay. What a beautiful lake it is. The conditions I guess were too perfect because besides a few nibbles, no fish made it in the boat. Oh well, a great morning it was anyway. It was off for beach time with the Gustafson ladies Tuesday afternoon at Big Traverse. I was pretty much a slug lying on the beach and loved every minute of it. The water in Lake Superior was cold but bearable. Tuesday evening was spent listening to the locals at the Gay Bar. The locals don't have much on education but they can sure throw out an opinion. Good people though.

Wednesday morning was back on the mountain bike up to some trails up at Copper Harbor that I had read about. On the ride up there, we drove by the Keweenaw snow gage, a tourist attraction if there ever was one. I can't imagine some of the winters they have up here. Our first ride was on a trail called Paul's Plunge that led into a trail called the Kamikazee. Well, Paul did plunge, quite a bit, and the Kamikazee was a chore to say the least. That ride got pretty low marks so we ventured down the road for a couple others on the map. The Red Trail was thankfully more downhill than uphill but had some serious rocks on it. I managed to bend my rear derailer and my water bottle holder broke off. The bike was still rideable, however. The trail heading back to the parking lot, the Ma Maki and Blue Trail, were probably the best of all of them. Thankfully the black fly activity up there were pretty minimal, if at all.

On the ride back to Gay we stopped off at a Keweenaw landmark in Eagle River, the Jampot. The place has jam, hence the name, and also baked goods. It is ran by a group of monks. They work in the robes and all. I must say, the place smelled like no bakery I had ever been too. Good stuff in there.

A great trip it was. If only I could get around the drive in getting up to the U.P., that would be ideal. That ride from around the L'Anse/Barraga area up into the heart of the Keweenaw is one of the better drives out there. The detour around the Zilwaukee Bridge, however.....

Trail Head

Day of Mourning

It was a day of mourning in Detroit Saturday afternoon. One part of the mourn was seeing Tiger Stadium looking like it got the crap beat out of it in a fight. The other part of the mourn was seeing the Detroit Lions practice later that day.

The old lady at Michigan and Trumbull looks pretty stripped to say the least. I am happy to report, however, that the center field flag pole is still standing strong amid all the rubble. Doke and I made Nemos on Michigan Avenue home base and saw some others in the parking lot tailgating. Were they tailgating to see the stadium? I found out later that Kenny Chesney was playing at Ford Field that evening so my stadium fan appreciation theory was put to rest. There were, however, about 30 of us looking in on the gutted left field. It brought back memories (cue the "way back machine") of my dad talking with the scalpers looking for "the deal." Or stories of him and his brother Joe working at the stadium as kids. Of that first game that I can actually remember with the Tigers and the Royals playing. Walking out of the concourse onto where the playing area was, it was utopia. I think the fact that all of the concourse was closed to seeing the field until you walked to your seats really added to the mystique. The sound delay of the ball coming off the bat when you were sitting in the bleachers. Pitchers warming up in the bullpen were RIGHT THERE! There were the select few that were able to hit a ball completely out of the park. Could you imagine if you were walking into Brooks Lumber that day when Gibson hit one onto the roof there? And what a great view the announcers had; right over the game. I'm glad Al, Doke and myself were able to catch a game in the last month of Tiger Stadium back in 1999. The ushers were being pretty cool

that day letting the fans get a last glimpse of the many great angles the park has to offer. Okay, back to reality. It looks like they are going to keep tearing it down up to the first base area to the third base area. If they are able to keep that portion, what a cool museum that could be for people coming from out of town. Ernie Harwell's baseball memorabilia alone (especially the stadium urinal that he managed to purchase), I would definitely pay to see.

After giving our condolences there, we went to give our condolences to the Lions in Allen Park. Their scrimmage was WAY too structured with minimal hitting. They had Dan Miller from Fox 2 over the PA telling us what drill they were doing next, talking to us like we were idiots. "Oh, they are going to do a punt now, I never would have known." A bit on the cheesy side but it is good to see football again.

Trail Head

Last Day of July - Highland Recreation Area

What a beautiful evening the last day of July was. The humidity was at minimum and if you are into badminton, you couldn't ask for better conditions. The ride at Highland Recreation Area was pretty dusty with quite a few tree roots grabbing my front tire. A fun ride it was, however.

On the ride home from Highland to Novi, I drove through my old stomping grounds of Wixom to see what was up in Apartmentville (my first apartment ever was there). I must say the city looked great. They created more or less a Main St. right along Pontiac Trail and Wixom Road with a pretty sweet fountain near the administrative offices. They have a little park and had a band there when I drove by (total local 80's band). I caught the last song and they didn't sound too bad. I must say the area looked great.

Trail Head

Hello East Coast

It was off to the east coast for three Michiganders and their motorcycles this past week. Quite an adventure it was.

We ventured out on Friday and got through to Windsor pretty efficiently. Not too many people seem to be heading over there lately. Better for us I guess. We went by my old place in Kingsville for a visit down memory lane. The place still looks good. After a nice ride not too far from Lake Erie, we made it to St. Thomas before calling it a day. The initial mission was to make it to the motorcycle races near Oshawa on Saturday afternoon. We made it to the track with ample time to see the sights around the track (some nice sights and some crazy ones out there).

What we experienced weather-wise at the track was wild. The race was delayed because rain was on the track on the south end but we were up on the north end with somewhat sunny skies. We didn't get a drop, until......the ride back to the hotel. We thought we dodged the rain but got soaked pretty well. We were not too far from the hotel and decided to ride it out rather than pull over and put our rain suits on. It was the sign of things to come.

Our mission on Sunday was to see Ottawa but woke Sunday morning with nothing but rain in the Oshawa area. We did see a gap in the rain towards the north (we became Weather Channel addicts by the time this trip was over) so we found some great back roads in going the roundabout way to Ottawa and stayed dry for the most part. We had lunch in a town called Renfrew who were having their 150 year anniversary celebration while we were there. Charlie's Restaurant & Pub gave us the history lesson on the town. The town is known for having started the roots of professional hockey that lead to the NHL (I looked it up--legit facts). The attached auditorium picture is where they played hockey. The ride was great and we ended up in Ottawa with time to see the area. What a beautiful city that is. The parliment buildings are quite a sight to see and the city is pretty darn clean. After getting our Canadian Football League update at a tavern downtown (they love their CFL over there), we had dinner at a place called the "Canal Ritz" which is right on the Rideau Canal that runs through the city. It was quite a setting there.

Monday's mission was to head to the Adirondacks and all the area has to offer. We headed back to the U.S. through Ogdensburg over the St. Lawrence River. There were maybe 10 cars in line for the customs check so it was pretty painless for everyone. We made it into the Adirondack Park under cloudy skies and came upon a pretty cool place, the Backwoods Inn (pictured brown place with the bikes in front). It looks like a shack from the outside but is quite nice inside. A whole lot of wood in there. The bartender had quite a few hunting and fishing stories that he was throwing out there. I think in some way he is related to Rob Schmitt. The area sounds like an outdoorsman's paradise.
While we were in there, the rain started up a bit. We headed out but had to stop for a few because it was coming down pretty good. We were intending to head over to the Saranac Lake and Lake Placid areas but the rain was hanging over there and our best chance for dry riding was to the south part of the park. It worked out for the best. The south part of the park was beautiful and the sun came out later in the afternoon. We ended up in Saratoga Springs that night. They love their horse racing there. We walked downtown that night and the place was hopping. It's a Monday and people were out and about. We had some cold beverages at a handful of the many (many) taverns in the area.

Tuesday started out with sunny skies with a great ride along gigantic Lake George. We went up to Fort Ticonderoga from there, a major cog in the Revolutionary War. I manage to get some history in these motorcycle trips every year. History seems more exciting in person rather than hearing a monotone teacher telling you about it. We were going to head to Middlebury, Vermont from there but while we were waiting for the ferry to take us over Lake Champlain, we saw some black clouds heading over to pretty much where we were going. Plan B was put into effect. That is the great thing about these trips, the flexibility. If it's crappy this way, we go that way. There are so many great riding roads out there that sometimes it's a blessing because you find a new road that is even better than Plan A. We stayed dry for most of the ride along the foot of the Green Mountains and eventually ended up in Pittsfield, Massachusetts within the Berkshire Hills that night under wet conditions. The rain moved out that night and we were ready for a nice, dry ride on Wednesday. At least that is what it looked like on the Weather Channel....

Wednesday was wet to say the least. We went through the Catskill Mountains but could only see a portion of them due to the fog (pictured). Just south of the Catskills we ran into Hurricane Dolly East. It rained so hard for so long it was incredible. We stopped at a gas station for shelter for about 30 minutes and it rained the entire time. It let up a bit so we made the choice to head west towards Binghamton. Well, the rain wasn't done yet. We managed to get dry once we were near Binghamton but took quite a shower in getting there. After a nice, dry evening ride in the northern part of Pennsylvania, we ended up in Mansfield for the night.

Thursday morning we saw a mountain goat while riding. He was just hanging there on the side of small cliff, chewing away at some grass. We had a great breakfast at a diner in Jersey Shore. This seventy-something (80?) lady comes out from the kitchen and starts talking motorcycles with the three of us. She said she used to have an Indian bike. I think she had a thing for Chuck. The sun was out for the afternoon ride and we stopped for a beverage at the Spruce Creek Tavern in Spruce Creek, Pennsylvania. The place is known for its french fries. The size of an order was the largest I've seen and of course you can add chilli/cheese, whatever to enhance your heartburn. There was a nice local flavor in the place. Some retirees hanging out, scarfing down french fries, and giving us directions to anywhere and everywhere, even if we didn't ask. We ended up for the night at Ryerson Station State Park. A nice park it was. There were only three other groups camping so we pretty much had our own area. The stars were out and we got a nice fire going for the last night of the trip.

Friday was the long ride home through southern Ohio. Us Michiganders love to rag on Ohio but I must say southeastern Ohio has some great cycle roads and scenery. I let the Chenevert's lead most of the time on the trip because they are pretty much born on motorcycles and hit those turns like it's nothing while I get a "wo, wo, wo" on some of those that sneak up on you.

All and all, a great trip it was. The back roads and small towns of America are a beautiful thing to experience on the motorcycle.

Trail Head