Day 4 - Port Austin to Cheboygan

Good evening! We've made it all the way to Cheboygan, almost to the top of Michigan. We woke up late (9am!) after a fantastic sleep (thanks again Boomers!), and the first thing we noticed is that it was quite chilly outside - only about 60!  So we packed up and layered up and headed out. We headed north on rt 23, following the lake, and chilly it was. It was quite windy and never got above 70! Thankfully we had good warm gear and stayed nice and warm. 

We had planned to drive about 3 hrs to Alpena or maybe even go a bit further to Rogers City, but somehow, even against the wind, we kept on going and made it all the way up here to Cheboygan.  We rode from 10am until 6pm, stopping for a delicious pizza lunch and a couple fuel stops.  So it was a long day, but gorgeous riding.

Highlights of the day: we passed the 1,000 mile mark on our trip and we rode across the 45th parallel - we're officially closer to the north pole than the equator!

Since we drove so long today we decided we'd spring for a motel.  Plus, we were basically out of clean clothes, so finding a washer/dryer was ideal (our plan to wash our clothes in our room backfired in Niagara - the washing part was great, but half the clothes didn't dry over night!).  We found a great little motel with a coin-op laundry, wi-fi (hooray!) and in a really cute town. We had dinner in a great restaurant down the road called the Rusty Anchor.  Now it's off to another solid night's sleep.  Good night!

I've attached pictures of the view of the lake from the road (note all the white caps from the wind!), the bike parked by the lake when we stopped for lunch, and a welcome to Cheboygan sign from town.

Day 3: Port Huron to Port Austin

Sorry for the late/multiple updates, but it turns out that Michigan and T-Mobile are not close friends outide of major cities! I've been composing as we go and will be posting whenever we get service or find free wi-fi.

Day 3 was a nice, easy ride.  It was only about 70 or so miles, and on a nice quiet road along the lake.  Though it was a bit hot whenever we stopped (around 80), the temperature was lovely while we were riding. After packing up our campsite, we headed off, taking a quick detour to try to get some new gloves for me (no luck, but Jay stitched up the hole so all is well).  We also found a Walmart and Jay got a plastic picture frame and some clear duct tape to fashion a windshield extension out of - it's not the prettiest, but it's surpisingly fitting, and it works well to give him a little more protection from the wind.  And boy is it windy here! 

We headed towards Port Austin along Rt 25, a lovely two lane road that follows the lake. We stopped for lunch in a small town called Harbor Beach. Jay liked the looked of a little cafe called the Anchorage, so we stopped in for a bite. It was really cute inside and when the owner seated us, we found out he was British! His name was Mick and he and Jay had a great chat about their homeland, and Mick made me the best fish sandwich I've ever had! 

After our lovely lunch, it was off to see the Boomers in Port Austin.  What a marvelous little area they live in! Mr. and Mrs. Boomer gave us a great welcome, giving us a wonderful tour of the area and treating us to a lovely dinner at a local restaurant (I had perch for the first time, caught fresh from the lake, and it was delicious!)  We finished off the night with some amazing ice cream - I had rasberry bug-a-boo, and though Jay's Mackinaw fudge was good, he was totally jealous of my choice.  Then it was early to bed - the fresh Michigan air definitely made us sleepy.  We had the great pleasure of staying in Ellen's room (thanks Ellen!) which has a gorgeous view of the lake.  And we must have been tired because we fell fast asleep! A HUGE, heartfelt thank-you to the Boomers for showing us such amazing hospitality and generosity!!!

I attached a picture of one of the many roadside parks we drove by on our way to Port Austin.

That's all for now. Day 4 will be up soon!

Day 2 - Niagara Falls to Port Huron

Good morning from Michigan!  Since Toronto got taken off the menu yesterday, we were left with an exta couple of hours of riding time, so we decided to just stop for lunch in London, Ontario, and then move on to Port Huron, MI.  It was a relatively easy, though windy and rather boring, ride.  We did get some great views of Lake Eerie though!  The border crossing took a while, but we were sent through with no problems - having diplomatic plates on the motorcycle really speeds things along!

On the way to Port Huron we stopped to fill up on a few supplies, like chain oil for the bike, and some drinks and dinner.  Then using our trusty G1 phone, we were able to find a nearby state park to camp in, Lakeport.  And what a great find it was!  We're nestled under some trees just a stones throw from Lake Huron.  We managed to set up camp just as a huge thunderstorm rolled in, but Jay was quick getting the tarp up and we teamed up on the tent, and though we got a bit wet, all of our stuffed stayed nice and dry. We rode out the rest of the storm chilling under the tarp with the bike with a couple adult beverages. Thankfully the storm blew over in no time and the rest of the evening was lovely. 

Now we're up and going to enjoy a bit of time here at the park and then it's off to Port Austin to visit the Boomers!  First, though, we'll need to stop at a motorcycle store because a small hole in my glove quickly grew during yesterday's ride!

I've attached pictures of our campsite, the view from our campsite, and the beach.  We took a ton of pictures of Niagara, but sadly didn't think to take any on my phone!  More to come soon (c:

Day 1 has been successful so far - we've made it to our hotel in Niagara Falls, Ontario! We had a long, but lovely, day of riding. We took Rt 219 nearly the entire way, from the PA/MD border through Du Bois and Bradford, PA up into NY through Boston (!) and then to Buffalo. Then it was onto Rt 190 and across the Rainbow Bridge into Canada (my 1st time!) and to our hotel. Tonight will be a bit of wandering and then tomorrow checking out the falls before heading to camp near London, Ontario. We were going to stop through Toronto for lunch tomorrow, but given what we're seeing on the news, we may be changing those plans. I'm updating by text message right now, so hopefully it goes through. I'll try to do the same again tomorrow!

Day One!

Well, here goes nothing. We're about to head out on our 3000+ mile motorcycle adventure. This is my first attempt at mobile blogging, so hopefully it works well. I've attached a pic of Jay with the packed up bike!

Wish us luck!

The Big Trip

On June 26th, Jay and I are heading out on a two week motorcycle tour of the Great Lakes! Here's where we're planning to stay each night...

6/26 - Niagara Falls (Canadian side)
6/27 - London, Ontario, Canada
6/28 - Port Austin, Michigan
6/29 - Cheboygan, Michigan
6/30 - Interlochen, Michigan
7/01 - Muskegon, Michigan
7/02 - Chicago, Illinois
7/03 - Chicago, Illinois
7/04 - Green Bay, Wisconsin
7/05 - St Ignace, Michigan (northern peninsula)
7/06 - Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
7/07 - Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
7/08 - Montreal, Quebec, Canda
7/09 - Albany, NY
7/10 - Philadelphia, PA (for our nephew's christening!)
7/11 - Home in DC

...the boldfaced dates are already reserved, so they're pretty much set in stone. The other dates are just goals/ideas and are subject to change.

We hope to post pictures and updates as we go (thank goodness for our smart phones), so stay tuned!