Day 9, Saturday, 7/5. Munising to Paradise. First thing I got to do this morning was the mosquito dance trying to load my bike. Not only that, I couldn’t find the repellant so I had to put my helmet on to try and keep them off my face. It’s a good thing no one saw me waving my arms, repeating the same expletive, with my helmet on. I am a very self conscious individual….. 🙂
H58 is a county highway from Munising to Grand Marias. About 50 miles. It follows the bluffs above Lake Superior. A couple of years ago it was paved and it has become something of a legendary road for motorcyclists. The ‘Hurricane highway’ ( no I didn’t name it) The final 30-40 miles has a reportedly 190 curves. Unbelievable. Again at speed. Bikes laid over for 30-40 minutes. Left, right, left, right passing cars at speeds I won’t mention. The left foot peg on my bike is now bent. Yes I had a grin on my face. Between the mosquito dance and me grinning for 45 minutes are visions probably best left behind. 🙂
Grand Marias is a little town 50 miles from anywhere. I recommend it. On the Lake and and designated as a safe harbor We happened to stumble upon a small brewery just as there were opening for the day. Life is opportunity. I recommend the blueberry wheat.
On our way to leave, one of us left the lights on, on the bike. I won’t mention my brother’s name. We entertained the locals for a while pushing him up and down the middle of town trying to start the bike. Eventually successful, and to thumbs up from the crowd, we paraded through town on the way out. Only to return because I went the wrong way.
We wanted to see moose and bear. We took a side trip through a national wildlife refuge to see what we could see. Even took a gravel road for about 10 miles. Saw some ducks, swans and a few loons. Beautiful ride No moose. No bears. Just ducks, swans and loons. Oh yeah, a turtle too.
60 miles to Paradise. Very windy. One of those winds where a gust takes 5 mph off your speed like now…. Looked for bears and moose on the way. Saw none.
Went up to Whitefish point to visit the Great Lakes ship wreck museum and light house. Decided the museum was too expensive so we went out and looked at the lake for a while. Whitefish point is where the Edmond Fitzgerald went down. So now I will climb into the way back machine for a minute
Most probably don’t realize but between high school and college I spent 4 years on a Coast Guard icebreaker stationed on the Great Lakes. We used to bring ore freighters down from Duluth and other iron ore ports through the locks in Sault Ste Marie into the lower lakes One of the ships was the Edmond Fitzgerald For those of you not familiar, that ship sunk with all hands in the seventies…
Back to today. Dinner was at the Fish House. As they said, it was swimming this morning. Fish and chips has become kind of a thing on these trips. I love the water and finding these little mom and pop restaurants provides entertainment. It was excellent
Now once again, we are gathered outside on a picnic table, with a bucket of ice, a few bottles of bottom shelf spirits feeling weather move in. As my son said, we will talk the sun down again.
Tomorrow, we will complete the lake tour. We could have done it today but we need to pace ourselves. We need a few more days…. The trip home will take a while.
