Prairiehammer
09-19-2011, 01:59 PM
I have been planning this trip since last December; reviewing motels and campgrounds, making reservations, planning sightseeing stops, fuel locations, restaurants, etc. It turned out to be fortuitous that I did. Many places were full up as we made our way around.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=203185958368302937986.0004a85dd1f59f3cdddf e&msa=0
I coordinated our trip to coincide with the Venturers (motorcycle club, Venturers.org) North Central Irregulars and Irregularettes (NCII) Yooper Rally in Ishpeming, MI. We rode 450 miles, 10 hours the first day to get to Ishpeming, but averaged 283 miles per day for entire trip. This was Debbie’s first motorcycle trip; but she handled that first day with no problem. In fact, she had no issues during the entire trip. She is a great co-rider.
After several days of fun with the Venturers at the campground, we headed out on our Circle Tour Sunday morning in the rain. It cleared by the time we got to Tahquamenon Falls and was downright perfect when we stopped at Whitefish Point. We took the Whitefish Bay Scenic Parkway to Sault Ste. Marie and our first night in a motel of the trip. I had reserved a night at the Longship Motel; right across the street from the Soo Locks. Walked less than a block to the Lockview Restaurant where we enjoyed some fresh whitefish and a ten percent discount on our meal because we stayed at the Longship Motel. We met a couple, Deb and Steve going around the Lake on their Gold Wing GL1800. They were from Kansas City and had been touring the Great Lakes for a few weeks already. The Lake Superior leg was their last before heading home.
Monday dawned clear and pleasant and as we finished breakfast at the Lockview, Deb and Steve came in. A short chat and we walked back to pack and get on the road. I fueled the bike and immediately encountered construction delays but, we cleared the border without issue and headed for Wawa. We happened upon Deb and Steve at the Ontario Welcome Center and traveled with them for some of the morning. Getting through Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario was arduous. Lots of traffic, lots of traffic lights, long wait for a train creeping through, and my bike was getting hot with a seriously fast idle of 3000 rpm or more. The high hot idle was the only issue with bike during the entire trip. Averaged 42 mpg with a gross vehicle weight of about 1200 pounds.
We fueled up at Young’s General Store (they still utilize an attendant, no self service or pay at the pump) and rode downtown to sample the local fare for lunch at the Embassy Restaurant. I ordered poutine. Debbie thought it bizarre when I pointed it out on the menu, but she liked it. Look up “poutine”. Try it when you get a chance. We shopped in downtown Wawa at Canadian Tire; different and fun. I was getting anxious to get on the road; we still had some miles to our next stop, but we had to stop at the Wawa Goose and take some pics. Lo and behold as we were leaving, several bikers, some on Ventures (Second Generation) pulled in. Well, I HAD to talk to them. Keith (Bikenut) Yedica and I had a lengthy conversation about bikes in general, our trip so far and of course Ventures. (Did I mention I was anxious to get on the road?) We got to our next stop at a Mom and Pop motel at Jackfish Lake in the evening. Unloaded and rode to Terrace Bay for supper. Enjoyed some excellent salmon and fresh whitefish. To my chagrin, we discovered that there were no packaged beer sales in Terrace Bay. “You’ll have to go back to Marathon.” the restaurant cashier said. “Gots to buy beer at the ‘Government Store.’”
Next morning it was raining HARD! Waited for it to let up and headed into Terrace Bay for fuel and breakfast. Several bikers were lounging in the restaurant killing time waiting for the rain and fog to lift. We visited with Deb and Steve once again and chatted with a young couple, Brent and Tina, heading around the lake on another Wing. They were from Milwaukee. We finally ventured out (no pun intended) about 1000hours and visited the Aquabason Falls, then headed for Ouimet Canyon where we encountered rain and Brent and Tina. Together we headed for Kakabeka Falls outside Thunder Bay. The weather broke as we neared the falls. Brent and Tina went by while we fueled up in Kakabeka Falls (the village). Having done our requisite pictures we headed for the border. Clearing it in a couple minutes (I didn’t even have to take off my helmet) we made for the Wedgewood Motel (47.764698,-90.283086) north of Grand Marais, Minnesota. Settled in, we rode the two and a half miles to Grand Marais for supper and noticed Steve and Deb in a motel parking lot. They were searching for a place to stay. They had not made reservations for any nights on this trip and were continuing to have difficulty finding rooms. We told them where we were going to have supper and invited them to join us. It took them about an hour, but they finally got a room outside town and joined us for supper at the Gunflint Tavern and some shopping and strolling around downtown Grand Marais.
The next morning, following breakfast in a nice café on the waterfront and some shopping in the Ben Franklin store (don’t laugh, Debbie found some very nice stuff in there, $230 worth of stuff) we headed for Duluth. We stopped for fuel in Two Harbors and waved as Brent and Tina hummed past. As for seemingly every city we passed through on this trip, road construction had traffic snarled. By the time we cleared that mess, I was ready for some easy riding, so I turned off US 2 onto Wisconsin 13 that wends its relaxing way through Port Wing, Herbster, Cornucopia, Red Cliff and along the Apostle Island National Lakeshore to Bayfield. We picked up some smoked whitefish at the fish house next to the Coast Guard Station and enjoyed crackers, beer and smoked fish “lupper” on a park bench overlooking the harbor, watching the ferries come and go to Madeline Island. An easy jaunt south to Ashland and the Prentice City Park campground completed our day. (46.579124,-90.921661)
Thursday dawned beautiful and after fuel and breakfast we rode to Hurley then south on US51 to Pine Lake and County Road G. We take an annual vacation to these parts and I had always wanted to ride this “Wisconsin Rustic Road” on a motorcycle. I was having a great time until I came around a curve and discovered a warning sign of “Loose Gravel” and a freshly constructed road bed of very loose gravel. The Venture definitely does not like gravel but after instructing Debbie to become part of the bike, I rode on for five nervous miles until reaching asphalt again. The remaining ten miles was wonderful. Tight curves, roller coaster hills and pretty little lakes glimpsed through the tunnels of trees. Onward to Wakefield, Silver City and Ontonagon with a stop in Greenland for fuel. Predicatively, we encountered construction in Houghton/Hancock as we rode onto the Keweenaw Peninsula. Upon the recommendation of several guide books we rode the Brockway Mountain Drive. This is not a very good road; very rough pavement, very steep declines. The steep declines wouldn’t be such an issue if one were to use engine braking, but with my engine racing at idle, the brakes took a lot of abuse. The view from the top of Brockway Mountain was spectacular. We descended to Copper Harbor and Ft. Wilkins State Park, where I had reserved a campsite for the night. Having finished setting up camp, we were riding downtown to get supper and met Brent and Tina on their bike heading into the State Park. I hung a “youie” and followed them to the park where we helped them set up their camp next to us. (They had made no reservations. A lot of good my reservation was! And it cost me $8.00 for the reservation fee.) Together we rode to supper in Copper Harbor and shared road tales and beer around the campfire that night. (47.465726,-87.856986)
Friday dawned gray and feeling of rain. After a lingering breakfast with Brent and Tina we bid our farewells and Deb and I headed for the “Gay Bar” in Gay, Michigan. Soon after the picture was taken in front of the Gay Bar sign, it began to rain and rained all the way to Baraga. It was a dry ride to Iron River and Rhinelander, Wisconsin. But the rain started again near Wausau as we ventured south on state and county roads. We stayed the night with an old primary and high school classmate who are also bikers. In fact, Mike just completed a SS1000/BB1500 on a Softail. My hat is off to him. I’ll bet that bike didn’t seem like such a "softail" when he was done with that ride.
Saturday looked like it was gonna be wet, too, so we donned our rain suits for hopefully the last time and headed for home. After awhile, the skies started showing some blue and we got off the Interstate and just started taking county roads that were heading in the general direction of home. By the time we got to Freeport, Illinois thunderheads were building and rain could be seen in the distance. I jumped back on the Expressway to Rockford and Interstate 39 trying to beat the rain, but I was too slow and we were getting wet as we fueled in Rockford. We arrived home dry though and unpacked in 90 degree heat; something we hadn’t experienced on Lake Superior.
Total mileage for the trip was 2830 miles. We were gone ten days, but two days were spent with the Venturers.
Go here for some pics of the trip:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.206158916104329.53771.100001306650761
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=203185958368302937986.0004a85dd1f59f3cdddf e&msa=0
I coordinated our trip to coincide with the Venturers (motorcycle club, Venturers.org) North Central Irregulars and Irregularettes (NCII) Yooper Rally in Ishpeming, MI. We rode 450 miles, 10 hours the first day to get to Ishpeming, but averaged 283 miles per day for entire trip. This was Debbie’s first motorcycle trip; but she handled that first day with no problem. In fact, she had no issues during the entire trip. She is a great co-rider.
After several days of fun with the Venturers at the campground, we headed out on our Circle Tour Sunday morning in the rain. It cleared by the time we got to Tahquamenon Falls and was downright perfect when we stopped at Whitefish Point. We took the Whitefish Bay Scenic Parkway to Sault Ste. Marie and our first night in a motel of the trip. I had reserved a night at the Longship Motel; right across the street from the Soo Locks. Walked less than a block to the Lockview Restaurant where we enjoyed some fresh whitefish and a ten percent discount on our meal because we stayed at the Longship Motel. We met a couple, Deb and Steve going around the Lake on their Gold Wing GL1800. They were from Kansas City and had been touring the Great Lakes for a few weeks already. The Lake Superior leg was their last before heading home.
Monday dawned clear and pleasant and as we finished breakfast at the Lockview, Deb and Steve came in. A short chat and we walked back to pack and get on the road. I fueled the bike and immediately encountered construction delays but, we cleared the border without issue and headed for Wawa. We happened upon Deb and Steve at the Ontario Welcome Center and traveled with them for some of the morning. Getting through Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario was arduous. Lots of traffic, lots of traffic lights, long wait for a train creeping through, and my bike was getting hot with a seriously fast idle of 3000 rpm or more. The high hot idle was the only issue with bike during the entire trip. Averaged 42 mpg with a gross vehicle weight of about 1200 pounds.
We fueled up at Young’s General Store (they still utilize an attendant, no self service or pay at the pump) and rode downtown to sample the local fare for lunch at the Embassy Restaurant. I ordered poutine. Debbie thought it bizarre when I pointed it out on the menu, but she liked it. Look up “poutine”. Try it when you get a chance. We shopped in downtown Wawa at Canadian Tire; different and fun. I was getting anxious to get on the road; we still had some miles to our next stop, but we had to stop at the Wawa Goose and take some pics. Lo and behold as we were leaving, several bikers, some on Ventures (Second Generation) pulled in. Well, I HAD to talk to them. Keith (Bikenut) Yedica and I had a lengthy conversation about bikes in general, our trip so far and of course Ventures. (Did I mention I was anxious to get on the road?) We got to our next stop at a Mom and Pop motel at Jackfish Lake in the evening. Unloaded and rode to Terrace Bay for supper. Enjoyed some excellent salmon and fresh whitefish. To my chagrin, we discovered that there were no packaged beer sales in Terrace Bay. “You’ll have to go back to Marathon.” the restaurant cashier said. “Gots to buy beer at the ‘Government Store.’”
Next morning it was raining HARD! Waited for it to let up and headed into Terrace Bay for fuel and breakfast. Several bikers were lounging in the restaurant killing time waiting for the rain and fog to lift. We visited with Deb and Steve once again and chatted with a young couple, Brent and Tina, heading around the lake on another Wing. They were from Milwaukee. We finally ventured out (no pun intended) about 1000hours and visited the Aquabason Falls, then headed for Ouimet Canyon where we encountered rain and Brent and Tina. Together we headed for Kakabeka Falls outside Thunder Bay. The weather broke as we neared the falls. Brent and Tina went by while we fueled up in Kakabeka Falls (the village). Having done our requisite pictures we headed for the border. Clearing it in a couple minutes (I didn’t even have to take off my helmet) we made for the Wedgewood Motel (47.764698,-90.283086) north of Grand Marais, Minnesota. Settled in, we rode the two and a half miles to Grand Marais for supper and noticed Steve and Deb in a motel parking lot. They were searching for a place to stay. They had not made reservations for any nights on this trip and were continuing to have difficulty finding rooms. We told them where we were going to have supper and invited them to join us. It took them about an hour, but they finally got a room outside town and joined us for supper at the Gunflint Tavern and some shopping and strolling around downtown Grand Marais.
The next morning, following breakfast in a nice café on the waterfront and some shopping in the Ben Franklin store (don’t laugh, Debbie found some very nice stuff in there, $230 worth of stuff) we headed for Duluth. We stopped for fuel in Two Harbors and waved as Brent and Tina hummed past. As for seemingly every city we passed through on this trip, road construction had traffic snarled. By the time we cleared that mess, I was ready for some easy riding, so I turned off US 2 onto Wisconsin 13 that wends its relaxing way through Port Wing, Herbster, Cornucopia, Red Cliff and along the Apostle Island National Lakeshore to Bayfield. We picked up some smoked whitefish at the fish house next to the Coast Guard Station and enjoyed crackers, beer and smoked fish “lupper” on a park bench overlooking the harbor, watching the ferries come and go to Madeline Island. An easy jaunt south to Ashland and the Prentice City Park campground completed our day. (46.579124,-90.921661)
Thursday dawned beautiful and after fuel and breakfast we rode to Hurley then south on US51 to Pine Lake and County Road G. We take an annual vacation to these parts and I had always wanted to ride this “Wisconsin Rustic Road” on a motorcycle. I was having a great time until I came around a curve and discovered a warning sign of “Loose Gravel” and a freshly constructed road bed of very loose gravel. The Venture definitely does not like gravel but after instructing Debbie to become part of the bike, I rode on for five nervous miles until reaching asphalt again. The remaining ten miles was wonderful. Tight curves, roller coaster hills and pretty little lakes glimpsed through the tunnels of trees. Onward to Wakefield, Silver City and Ontonagon with a stop in Greenland for fuel. Predicatively, we encountered construction in Houghton/Hancock as we rode onto the Keweenaw Peninsula. Upon the recommendation of several guide books we rode the Brockway Mountain Drive. This is not a very good road; very rough pavement, very steep declines. The steep declines wouldn’t be such an issue if one were to use engine braking, but with my engine racing at idle, the brakes took a lot of abuse. The view from the top of Brockway Mountain was spectacular. We descended to Copper Harbor and Ft. Wilkins State Park, where I had reserved a campsite for the night. Having finished setting up camp, we were riding downtown to get supper and met Brent and Tina on their bike heading into the State Park. I hung a “youie” and followed them to the park where we helped them set up their camp next to us. (They had made no reservations. A lot of good my reservation was! And it cost me $8.00 for the reservation fee.) Together we rode to supper in Copper Harbor and shared road tales and beer around the campfire that night. (47.465726,-87.856986)
Friday dawned gray and feeling of rain. After a lingering breakfast with Brent and Tina we bid our farewells and Deb and I headed for the “Gay Bar” in Gay, Michigan. Soon after the picture was taken in front of the Gay Bar sign, it began to rain and rained all the way to Baraga. It was a dry ride to Iron River and Rhinelander, Wisconsin. But the rain started again near Wausau as we ventured south on state and county roads. We stayed the night with an old primary and high school classmate who are also bikers. In fact, Mike just completed a SS1000/BB1500 on a Softail. My hat is off to him. I’ll bet that bike didn’t seem like such a "softail" when he was done with that ride.
Saturday looked like it was gonna be wet, too, so we donned our rain suits for hopefully the last time and headed for home. After awhile, the skies started showing some blue and we got off the Interstate and just started taking county roads that were heading in the general direction of home. By the time we got to Freeport, Illinois thunderheads were building and rain could be seen in the distance. I jumped back on the Expressway to Rockford and Interstate 39 trying to beat the rain, but I was too slow and we were getting wet as we fueled in Rockford. We arrived home dry though and unpacked in 90 degree heat; something we hadn’t experienced on Lake Superior.
Total mileage for the trip was 2830 miles. We were gone ten days, but two days were spent with the Venturers.
Go here for some pics of the trip:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.206158916104329.53771.100001306650761