Member Contributer BrittC Posted June 20, 2008 Member Contributer Share Posted June 20, 2008 I just completed a very interesting trip from Chicago to Traverse City, where our family has a summer cottage on a small series of lakes. I chose different routes for my trip up there and the trip home - avoiding expressways whenever possible. My wife and her mom drove up in the car with our three children The trip up was 329 miles, and the trip home was 384 miles. While I was up there, I explored the area and put on another 280 miles. I left my house and took I-294 South into Indiana, which as anyone in the area knows means neverending road construction. I then got off the tollway so that I could follow Rt 12 close to the lakefront of Lake Michigan. Rt 12 took me through Michigan City, In. A short while later, I was thinking about all the power that my right hand was connected to when I came upon.... I continued north on Red Arrow Highway, where I encountered about a mile a road resurfacing project. That fine gravel is not fun on sport tires. I stopped in St. Joseph Michigan to stretch my legs and look at the lake. North of Lake Michigan Beach I was on the Blue Star Memorial Highway. A very long curvy section of it was brand new blacktop. I jumped on 196 for a while and got off in Grand Rapids so I could take 37 North. This Is Sparta! I continuted north and entered the Manistee National Forest. There was something like 80 miles of nothing but forest, with a few houses here and there thrown in. A couple of hours and a few turns later, I was getting close to our cottage. The ride was great, but I was glad to be there. I took the rest of the day and the next morning to relax with my wife and kids. The next day we decided to go up to Old Mission on Grand Traverse Bay. The ride up into this peninsula was awesome. We took Peninsula Drive north, and then continued north on 37. Old Mission Lighthouse. The biting flies at Old Mission were the worst thing I have ever experienced. They literally swarmed every one of us and one of my kids was in tears because it was so unrelenting. We decided to go to a different beach in Traverse City instead. The next day we wanted to take the kids to Suttons Bay to swim. I left them there for a couple of hours and rode up Rt 22 to Northport, and then continued as far north as I could. I ended up at Leelanau State Park. Just north of Suttons Bay I crossed the 45th Parallel. I was half way to the North Pole! Some ships in Traverse City I took some time to go canoeing with my wife on the lake next to our cottage. I explored many roads around our cottage, and they were great. It briefly rained and the sun came back out. When I woke up on our final day, it was 54 degrees and raining. I rode about 40 miles in some heavy rain, but along the way passed a cop on the side of the road who gave me a smile and a fist in the air - telling me to press on! The rain stopped as I headed south on Rt 31. Along the way, the skies were very threatening for a while. In Mainstee things cleared up nicely and I was able to remove my rain pants. Just south of Manistee, Rt 31 was closed and I was sent on a detour all the way east to Rt 37 (which is the way I came up). It was a long way out of my planned route and I just decided to go home the way I came up. I sort of stopped taking pictures at this point, since it was all sights that I had already seen. Back on 196, I saw my wife's car up ahead, carrying my wife, my three children, and my mother in law. I ended up slabbing it almost all the way home from there. Approaching 400 miles today, I was happy to sneak back into my town on the side roads. 994 miles in all, with the only glitch on the bike being the seat latch coming loose. I didn't notice that the seat would not latch until I washed it the next day, and with a little fiddling, I was able to retrieve the small parts that make up the mechanism and get it all back together with some blue Loctite. I tried to limit the number of pictures in this report, but if you are interested please feel free to take a look at my Photobucket album for lots more! Chicago to Traverse City June 2008 - Photobucket Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Adam30 Posted June 20, 2008 Member Contributer Share Posted June 20, 2008 Great pics.... Every summer I take the early Lake Express ferry across to Muskegon from milwaukee, and then take that day to gradually make my way up to St Ignace/Mackinac City, which takes me up through all the towns on the west coast, including Traverse City. Their side of the like is much nicer than ours Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 20, 2008 Share Posted June 20, 2008 Great report! Nice fish. :biggrin: PM me...I'm in Oak Park. Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer jstanwood Posted June 21, 2008 Member Contributer Share Posted June 21, 2008 Great trip and pics! PM next time...I live 3/4 mile from where you stopped to take your picture! ...and yes, after having lived on both side of the lake, I prefer this side better, too! I think the riding is better in WI, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer chillidown Posted June 22, 2008 Member Contributer Share Posted June 22, 2008 Nice report plus pics. I don't get up that way nearly often enough but used to live near Sutton's Bay. Love the Leelenau and Old Mission peninsulas. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V4 Rosso Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Very nice pics and report. :musik20: Just north of Suttons Bay I crossed the 45th Parallel. I was half way to the North Pole! When you say it like that, it really sounds like an adventure :biggrin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Lobster Posted June 24, 2008 Member Contributer Share Posted June 24, 2008 Great report. I did some of the same roads last September with a buddy. Nice fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vfr_steve Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 very nice report with some varied weather, nice looking 5th gen too :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer BrittC Posted June 25, 2008 Author Member Contributer Share Posted June 25, 2008 Thanks for the nice comments folks. I hope to have bigger/better trip reports to share in the future! Here in the midwest there are not a whole lot of cool places to ride, but since getting my VFR I feel like my horizons have been expanded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 I live in the "tip of the mitt" and you missed one of the best roads we have to offer. M-22 from just north of Manistee to Empire is some beautiful forest with curves and rolling hills. I'll bet that from Empire north to Northport then south to Traverse City is probably pretty cool too, but unfortunately I've never been that route. My brother lives near Grand Rapids and I used to go out of my way to take M-37 because of that great forest, but it is a little straight. If you do that trip again try to work out a day trip up through Harbor Springs to Cross Village on M-119. It is probably considered the best motorcycling road in Michigan by most people. It's very curvy with great scenes of Lake Michigan and a canopy of trees, very cool. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 There is some great riding to do in northern Michigan. I live near the north end of Torch Lake (between Elk Rapids and Charlevoix) on US-31 and there are many curvy and hilly roads in Antrim County as well. I go all over the place and often end up in the U.P. or Ontario. I never really liked M-119 that much. Trees are very close to the road, it is difficult to see the road surface when the sun shines through the trees and there often is slower traffic. But still not too bad. I like the road between the Leland and Northport. Great long and tight curves with a very smooth road surface. Perfect! I just signed up for this forum and it is great to see several others from or visiting this area. There are too many cruisers on the road here.. Great pictures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmythecop Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Great stuff. Two questions: Arnt you worried about funbling your camera while your on the go? And where did you find a 5th generation with only 8000 on the clock??!!? PS: you could have taken 3 hours of that trip if you painted her flat black and hit the warp button that comes with all flat black 5th generations Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Nice! I grew up in Antrim county and Traverse City and am currently in the processing of moving back to TC. Although I will miss the mountain riding in N. Georgia, I think a few seasons of enjoying Northern Michigan summers and some no-traffic back roads will be great. Also, glad to know that there are a few others in the area Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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