Ride Around the Lake

Ride Around Lake Michigan

August 2-15, 2018

8/2/18, Thursday. We left at 5:30 am with three-fourths of our group headed for Michigan! We stopped in Cedar at McDonald's, then Filmore for gas. We stopped at Timpanogos Harley and had lunch at Marley’s. We are waiting for the other couple to catch up with us. Didn’t this happen last year too?

We rode up through Provo Canyon, took pictures at Deer Creek Reservoir, passed Jordanelle Reservoir, and stopped at Mirror Lake for pictures. The next stop was Little America for ice cream. Stopped for the day at Rock’s Springs Days Inn and had dinner at Santa Fe Grill. 

8/3/18, Friday. Headed to Sidney, NE. We stopped in Laramie, WY for lunch and gas. Stopped at the Lincoln Memorial, stretched our legs, and took some pictures. Stopped in Cheyenne High Country Harley Davidson for a break. Beautiful country, out of the sagebrush, and into the mountains. Stayed at the Best Western and ate dinner at Applebee’s just behind the hotel. 

8/4/18, Saturday. Lots of straight roads, farmland, and cornfields. Beautiful sunrise and sunset, the weather was a little warmer. At North Platte, NE, we stopped at Buffalo Bill Cody Museum. Stayed at Lincoln, NE, and dinner at the Chinese Place. 

8/5/18, Sunday. Went to the Mormon Trail Center, Winter Quarters cemetery, and temple. Had a great tour with a private testimony by one of the guides (couple missionary). We crossed the bridge over to Council Bluffs, IA, and visited the Kanesville Tabernacle and Visitor’s Center, again a great tour, and the senior couple elder gave us a great testimony. President Nelson had been there just previously, and he shared his experience of the prophet’s visit. He also told us about a black man, Green Flake, he was the first person into the Salt Lake Valley with the pioneers. Flake was a wagon driver. We had lunch at Subway next door. In the afternoon we stopped for a break in Anita, IA, “Whale of a Town.” We got our first tornado warning for the area we were headed to! Stopped at Big Barn Harley Davidson to wait out the storm. After looking at the weather radar we decided we could move on and beat the storm to Newton, IA. We had dinner at Perkins. 

8/6/18, Monday. Headed to Oak Creek, WI. Stopped at two Harley stores one in Coralville, IA, they had a very large bronze pig in front of the store, and the second one, in Dubuque, IA, had a large bronze eagle outside. We stopped and visited Mack’s cousin’s family in Cedar rapids at a Catholic school, it was fun to meet his extended family. We crossed the Mississippi River, had lunch in Platteville, WI, and dinner at Applebee’s again (all you can eat riblets). 

8/7/18, Tuesday. Short day today mileage wise. Headed to the Harley Museum. The museum is awesome, spent all morning there, and had lunch there too. Rode out the main headquarters and to the plant but got there after it had closed. Only rode about a hundred miles, got to the Baymont Hotel in Manitowoc, WI, and met Brian Cool’s father, Stan, who is riding with us for a few days. The hotel is on the shore of Lake Michigan. We went to dinner at the Courthouse Pub, great food, then we went and did laundry. The ride around the lake begins. 

8/8/18, Wednesday. Headed to St. Ignace, MI, where we will spend two days. The road is alongside Lake Michigan all day. Stop at Greenbay, WI, and saw Lambeau Field and a Harley store. The countryside is pretty flat with lots of trees. We stopped at Two Rivers WI, for lunch at Schlagle’s, good clam chowder. Manistique Boardwalk by the Lake. Dinner at Northern Lights restaurant and had Pasties – kinda like a pot pie in a burrito shape, deep-fried. It has beef, carrots, potatoes, and rutabagas and brown gravy over the top. Not too bad. Did the hot tube and pool afterward. 

8/9/18, Thursday. Spent the day at Mackinac Island. Traveled over on the Hydro-Jet ferry, Star Line, they took a big loop down by the Mackinac Bridge. The boat shoots up a big rooster tail as it goes. Walked to Arch Rock, Mack, Laurie & Cyndy climbed the 204 stairs up to the arch. We had lunch in the little park, had brats – too much $ for too little food! Went up to the Grand Hotel, Mack was pushing Tami in a wheelchair and Stan was with them, they pushed past the guard and got to go through the hotel. We went to the ice cream shop and had a Sunday. Laurie and Cyndy rented bikes and rode around the entire island in about 45 minutes. Rode the ferry back and had dinner at a little café called B-M-L, I had ribs and coleslaw with fries. It was a laundry night for us, then we went on a short ride around town. 

8/10/18, Friday. Left St. Ignace and headed to Wyoming, MI. Crossed the Mackinac Bridge, it was open grate and you can see down over 100 feet to the water as you ride along. Not too far after the bridge, we were alongside the lake again and then rode the famous “Tunnel of Trees” road, way cool. A narrow winding road where the trees on both sides overlap the road and make a tunnel. I stopped at a couple of Harley stores and ate lunch at the Big Apple Diner in Arcadia, MI. We stopped in Grand haven and had ice cream by the river. Stayed at the Super 8 in Wyoming, MI, it was a dump. Mack & Tami bought us dinner, pizza, and we ate in the room of all places. 

8/11/18, Saturday. Headed to Peoria, IL, I picked up a few more ABCs on the way i.e., Zeeland. Stopped at Windmill Island to see some windmills, they were not open yet and we could only see the top half on one. Got onto the freeway mess south of Chicago got off onto a side highway and had to stop at a ton of lights in the ghetto. Stop finally at Popeye’s for lunch. Lots of riders out for a Sunday ride, no one was wearing helmets. Saw a bike crash that had happened just minutes prior, the bagger bike was spread out for a block, at the end a guy was sitting in the median with blood running from his head, bet he wished he had a helmet on! Stay at a very nice Spring Hill Suites. Rick and Roland went to a dirt track race. Tami stayed in the room and the rest of us went to Panera Bread for dinner. 

8/12/18, Sunday. Drove through miles and miles of corn and soybean fields. Rode through a corner of Indiana, more miles and miles of corn and soybean fields. Stopped at the Nauvoo Visitor Center, saw Larry & Shawn Hogge from Providence. Took some pictures and saw some movies in the center. Went to go find some lunch, nothing was open, had to eat at a gas station. We went back to Nauvoo and saw the blacksmith’s shop and the Young Performing Missionary fireside & concert, totally awesome. We went and checked into the hotel across the river, then back to Nauvoo for the Trail of Hope. It was very nice. Very cool sunset over the Mississippi River. Ate dinner at the Burger King at 10:30 pm. 

8/13/18, Monday. Decided not to attend the temple and went and saw more of Nauvoo. Went to Carthage Jail, we asked our tour guide to share their testimony (we did this for each tour we took, which was way cool). We saw the Riser Boot Shop, Browning Gun Shop, Brigham Young’s home, Wilford Woodruff’s home, brick mason shop, and Post Office. We ate lunch at the Mill Bakery and later went to a cheese shop Nauvoo Nibbles for a drink and cheese (not worth it). Then went and saw the Community of Christ sites, they were all closed. Dinner at Vel’s Amigos in Ft. Madison. 

8/14/18, Tuesday. Headed to Kanas. Rode into Quincy (ABC stop) to the Harley store. Stopped in Hannibal, MO, home of Mark Twain, saw a few sites, and took pictures. Lots of straight roads and it looked like rain so we stopped for gas and put on rain gear. A sure thing to make sure it doesn’t rain, wrong! Lite rain for a while, then the heavens opened. Stopped at the Missouri Quilt Company to get out of the rain. Had lunch in two restaurants half the group in one, half in the other. We made a big mess with all the wet rain gear. Rained hard the whole we were there, they were having a drought, so they were glad to have it. Got to shop in the quilt stores it was so much fun. Onto Kanas City and stopped at the Harley factory. The store and museum were closed so we took some pictures and headed to the hotel. The hotel was being remodeled but was not too bad. We had dinner at Burnt Ends BBQ and it was pretty good. 

8/15/18, Wednesday. We returned to the Harley factory, the store was open, and we saw a movie about their operations there. Tours were no longer being taken as the plant was in the process of shutting down. I think everyone bought a souvenir as everything was 20% off. Everyone is running out of space on their bikes. Drove through miles and miles of corn and soybean fields. And here I was worried we wouldn’t see any cornfields. We stopped in a town called Wamego and went to the Wizard of OZ museum. Most thought it was fun. Lunch was at Toto’s Tacos, which was amazingly good. We stayed in Hays Kanas and had dinner at Sake2me. 

8/16/18, Thursday. Headed to Lone Tree, CO. The trip is winding down, this is the last day we are all riding together, Laurie & I have to get home a day early because family is coming for the weekend. More straight roads, however, the cornfields are diminishing. Stopped at Limon CO for lunch. There are living snow fences – rows of pine trees in the fields to block the wind and snow. Stayed at the Hilton Hotel in Lone Tree, CO. We went to the mall and had dinner at Panda Express. The mall was new and very nice. There was a Tesla car dealership there too. It was very fun looking at cars and talking to the salesman. 

 8/17/18, Friday. Laurie and I had about 700 miles to go to get home, the rest of the group was stopping in Grand Junction. We left at 5:00 am and it was 40 degrees riding over Vail Pass (10,000 feet). It was very beautiful and awesome riding with a great sunrise. We stopped in Vail to thaw out and have some breakfast at McDonald's. Just kept riding after that…stopped in Green River at Ray’s Tavern. It is a great place and has really good food. The temperature stayed pretty cool until we pass the Black Ridge and dropped down toward St. George, then it was HOT. We rode 648 miles in 11 ½ hours, I was sick when we got home for a few days, I could not stand the heat at all during those days. 

Till next year!