jeff conlin - The Trip

Woke up tired from not getting much sleep, but sunrise on the lakeshore was pretty nice.

Decided to stay on M-25 and work my way into Michigan's thumb. That sounded bad. Not much to see but a few lake views from the road... until I got to the Pointe Aux Barques lighthouse. I felt like I needed a small hike, so climbing down the rocks and wading into the lake a bit felt good, and gave the best view.

I realized I was running low on gas, unfortunately all this place could offer was leaded... 50+ years ago.

The day's not over... but I am posting now because it may be a few more days before I'm in civilization again. I'm about to head over to Lake Michigan for a quick peek, then up to Mackinaw, then Sault Ste. Marie. Tomorrow I'll go topside around Lake Superior over to Thunder Bay, then down through Duluth and into Minneapolis.

I'm trying to keep this light on personal self-help-like insight that some folks try to force out of trips like this... but today had a little revelation that I should spin into an Oprah's Book Club cash-in. The only difference between dread and excitement is confidence (or faith... often, they're the same)

* CONTINUED *

I left the wi-fi havin' coffeehouse and decided that it'd be best to find a campsite early, enjoy the evening, get good sleep, then get an early start the next day.

I got onto the interstate and worked my way up to Mackinaw City, first going into town to get the ubiquitous bridge picture.

As I was standing there, a nice older gentleman from Minnesota asked me if I wanted to be in a shot as well. Why not?

i am not a large man, this is not a small bike

Looking at this now, I realize that I'm not very big. And that bike is not very small. I must look ridiculous in motion with all that gear.

There's not really much to see or do there in Mackinaw... its just hotels and fudge shops... more or less a holding pen for the ferry to Mackinac Island.

But as I rode around, I caught a glimpse of something very cool (at least to me) on the horizon, but couldn't figure out how to get to it. GPS and maps showed nothing. Then I found a small unlocked gate on the old pre-interstate main road into town. Here we go again.

I've always been fascinated by wind turbines... and didn't Suzuki's original PR bullshit mention something about "the German spirit of the wind"? Either way, where I come from, these suckers are rare, and make for cool photo ops.

I worked my way over to Wilderness State Park, and was treated to 5 miles of surprisingly fun sweepers as the park entrance road twisted and turned along the coastline. Set up camp right on the beach, and jumped into the water. It was amazing... perfect temperature... comfortable... something about it was just so enjoyable. Then I realized it was the first time this Easterner has ever swam in freshwater and not that terribly salty green gel we call the Atlantic (or even the Chesapeake).

Sleep came strong and swiftly as I finished my 24 oz. Budweiser and listened to some Sufjan Stevens.

Stuck to my plan and woke up this morning at 6:30, feeling pretty damn good.

Took a quick swim, showered, changed, had the bike packed and was back on the road by 8:00. As I was making my way towards Sault Ste. Marie, I realized that even though Sunday was the first day that I'd actually gone WEST on this trip, today would be the first time my longitude met that of my actual starting point in Texarkana. So in the grand scheme of things, this trip is only beginning.

The GPS also ticked over 100 hours of actual in-saddle time since this all began.

I should also mention that I'm eternally grateful to Joe Thorne, not only for his hospitality this past weekend, but also for his donation of a beat up old 3MP digicam. With a little tinkering, this sucker takes very good road pix (well, way better than nothing).

The border crossing at Sault Ste. Marie was effortless (especially thanks to the uber-hot Canadian border agent), and I was situated onto Canada 17 with a full tank of gas and a Tim Horton's donut by 10:00 or so.

17 started out as classic sprawl, but then it just flat ended at a point. From there the road started to climb, but not much. The landscape was pretty uninteresting, and I wondered if I'd have been better off just cutting through the UP and making time. Then you come around a turn and it gets a little more promising. (I'm actually a good bit happier than the picture would lead you to believe.)

The road then swung towards Lake Superior, and the views only got better.

small stacked rocks were everywhere on Canada 17

Those little rock stacks (I forget the proper name for them) were everywhere on the cliff walls... sometimes in very intricate designs, sometimes even as sculptures.

It just kept going and going and going... at no point was it terribly tight or technical, but just a constant chain of high speed sweepers with great views and plenty of passing lanes. As the road veers off from the coast, its flanked by lakes and waterfalls, occasionally stringing through a deep cut through the center of a rocky hill. Honestly, I couldn't imagine a more perfect scenic travel road. (Only real complaint were the tar snakes that only seemed to go right down the middle of the road. Not enough to worry about, just enough to constantly remind you they're there)

It was mostly truck traffic and a few cars. The bikes I did see where nearly all cruisers... save for a few GSs and an older road warrior on a KLR with a faded Stich and plenty of camping gear. I was curious where he was headed, but my cruising speed and his didn't quite line up, and as the day wore on, the more ground I wanted to cover.

There wasn't a lot of traffic, but it wasn't too hard to find a rabbit. Luckily the tractor trailers do about 110-130km/h on the downhills, then you get a very wide passing lane when the climbs start. There were gas stops about every 80-100 miles, so no danger there, either.

The day just flew by... I pulled into Thunder Bay right around dinner time and got some light fast food. My original plan was to camp in Canada, but at the rate I was going, I figured I could make it to Duluth, so that's what I did.

Leaving Thunder Bay, there were some amazing buttes along the route. I imagine if I had another day to spare, there are probably some fantastic trails leading up to and around these... next time.

The sun was going down, and the shadows were getting longer. For some reason, I figured there would be more between Thunder Bay and Duluth... but that's not the case. Save for some vacation houses, it was a fairly solitary ride... which is fine with me.

sunset near the Ontario / Minnesota border

The temperature was swinging wildly from about 60F to 80F every few miles. A fine fog was developing just over the water as the sun went down... it was turning from beautiful to spooky.

Then I realized why... I was Arriving at Castle Danger!! (that needs to be the title of a Johnny Quest or Venture Brothers episode)

Sorry, I just find that really funny. A quick check of the side roads revealed no skull-shaped castle perched on a cliff with a narrow singletrack entrance twisting towards it like I hoped...

Oh, but there was MURDER!

Well, more of a mass slaughter... all of the stories I'd heard about Minnesota's mosquitoes are true. The bugs have been about average on this trip (I've made a promise to not clean my windshield until Seattle). But today's insect carcass volume nearly doubled.

I noticed my precious Ortleib/BMW duffel wasn't quite centered on the bike. Aerodynamics is not the Strom's strong suit.

After another hour or so, I was back onto an Interstate. I know I didn't really go deep into the wilds of Nunavut... but even the 700 or so miles I did today of rustic, nature-soaked two-laner with strange looking money and the constant scent of evergreen got me well out of my urban United Statesian routine. I always saw Duluth as a charming little outpost... but today it looked like a bustling urban giant... and the Interstate and tunnels snaking through the city at high speed were actually fun.

About 14 hours after the day began, I declared it over. Found a cheap motel just outside the city, so tomorrow I'll only have a short hop to Minneapolis, and will be arriving about the same time as Sara comes back from taking the Washington State Bar.

First off - two more examples of the Minnesota mosquito legend. I love the aerodynamic splatter patterns.

Sorry I've been out of touch. Sometimes you even need to unplug from unplugging. My girlfriend just finished law school at U of M, and the day I arrived in Minneapolis, she had just flown in from taking the WA state bar. Needless to say, we both needed some re-centering time. Minneapolis is such a cool city. Good food, lots to do, courteous, clean... save for the disastrous engineering catastrophes that effect the entire lifeblood of the metropolitan area, and greater economic region, its a wonderful place to be.

So I gave it an extra day (or two) here... but tomorrow I'll get back on the road. Unfortunately, I forgot that Sturgis was this week. I'll have to do what some ADV'er (i forget exactly whom) did and tape a giant "No, I'm NOT going to Sturgis" sign to my helmet's chinbar.

My plan is to head west towards the Black Hills, then cut down into Colorado. Hopefully I'll be able to stop by the Fat Tire brewery in Ft. Collins, then snake my way over to the family ranch in Collbran that I've never seen.

Tonight, though, Sara made ratatouille with a caprese salad... how in the world can I go back to roadside burger stands and powerbars with gatorade I don't know.

Barney hasn't made much of an effort to hog this trip report since his attempted Harley-jacking in New Orleans. Here, dirty and short on sleep from the road, he was reunited with his mom.

Everything was fine until we got him around the wine.

I know this is all tired old blather thats just not worth going into, but... I really pity those who spend over $20,000 on a fully loaded TOURING motorcycle, only to throw it on the back of a trailer and drive your $45,000 fully loaded pickup truck out to a big riding event.

YEAH! WE'RE GOIN' TO STURGIS!!! FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!

Why bother wearing matching gay sex club outfits and going at parade speed with thousands of others that look and act like you in the name of "freedom" when in the same time, in the same place, you can have a little moment all to yourself (and your bike) like this?

i pity the guy towing his Road King up I-90

but I'm getting ahead of myself.

The day started all snuggly-like with my baby. Woke up late, had freshly roasted coffee and dark cocoa/brown ale truffles for breakfast. Why was I getting back on the road again?

But I did. Got out of the greater Minneapolis area via MN-7, which quickly became nothing but farmland and tractor trailers. Not a bad travel road in the least... definitely beats the long trek down to I-90. I needed gas, but was a little late to this place.

It was in the low 70s and was overcast and occasionally misty. For the first time on this trip, I was feeling almost cold. After a few hours, I pulled into a Subway for a hot sandwich and some map consultation (I never really figured out where the heck I was aimed today to begin with), and found this two wheeled marvel (an F4i, I think) owned by a fresh faced 18 year old Minnesotan boy who looks like he just crawled out of a Lake Wobegon story.

Dig that rear sprocket! Mad stunta skillz! He said he was "new to riding." As he pulled out of the parking lot, he was in 5th gear by the time he reached the end of the street... doing about 40mph.

There were a few detours along the way, and out in the plains everything's a grid anyway, so I just headed due west on a combination of paved and gravel roads. Getting to the point now where I can sustain about 45-50 on gravel and still have decent control and confidence. So far on my trip, gravel always leads to cool stuff (big surprise).

I counted over 100 but couldn't see far enough into the haze. Good to see. Last time I rode through corn country years and years ago, I wondered aloud why no one was harnessing the constant 20 mph crosswind.

So I found my way to MN-23 and jumped onto I-90 for a little while to make up for lost time this morning. The number of Harleys was impressive. The number of pickup trucks pulling Harleys was hilarious. But... to each their own.

There was a darker spot on the horizon that got bigger the further west I went. It grew to the point that it covered ther northern half of the horizon, bisected by 90, so I got off on SD-50 which ran due south. Looking back after a few miles, I figured I'd just slip under the storm.

As ferocious as the storm front looked, it was also alluring. I pulled over to get a few photographs...

The storm was smarter than I thought. I had SD-50 all to myself, and couldn't hide. It moved quickly around me. Just as I was packing the camera up, a family drove by in a pickup truck shouting with a heavy MN/SD dialect, "Ya better get gooing! Noow!"

Gravel to the rescue again... I got on the farm roads and moved southeast quickly... down to SD-44. Its not like I didn't have decent raingear, but by this point, it was kind of fun to be dancing with this big storm. Once I was about 30 miles to the south, still on the banks of the Missouri, the system softened up and I returned west, crossing the river and finding some great sweepers in the valley. All that was left from the fierce storm was the occasional little patch of mist.

As I got close to the town of Winner, the sky (as it is known to do in the plains states) put on an amazing show as the sun hit the horizon.

Having changed latitude and longitude so many times in the last month, I don't know what sunset means anymore. Turns out it means 9pm here. The last state park was 40 miles back, and the next is 70 miles away. Turns out Winner had a Super 8 Motel with free breakfast, wireless and a nice front desk lady who gave me a room (with comfy recliner) for $42. Throw in some cheap beer scored at the last gas stop, and its sleepytime.

Oh, but before I go... anyone know what those little streamlined grey birds with white markings under their wings that love to fly up out of the fields and hit my bike are? I killed four of them today!