The rhythm of the ride. Its not just the mechanics of motorcycling. Its the bonding of people involved. The acceptance of experience.

Started this morning by sitting in my camp chair watching the sun come up over the Missouri river. I am pretty much still on eastern time and the campsite is near the facilities. Great sunrise over the hills of South Dakota. Boys got up and they fired up one of the backpacker stoves and we had starbucks instant coffee. Continue reading →

Late start this morning. Thunderstorms were moving through and finally abated 830ish. We took our time loading and decided to dress in full weather gear. This will be one of the wisest decisions on the trip… Continue reading →

It was 530a by the time we got saddled up, dressed and said goodbye to Irena. I usually hate the I-75 trek. On Friday’s its an autobahn of those trying to get ‘up north’ for the weekend. This Saturday morning traffic was fairly light. We had almost 90 minutes before the sun came up.

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The anticipation of a trip is a great way to stretch it out.  Planning, prepping, discussing.  Its been going on most of the summer.  The first talk of it was last year.

The garage has been a mess.  I mean like a mess.  3 car garage and I can’t get one car in.  Usually the ‘toys’ are relegated to one bay and one bay only.  Two bays are typically wide open and the cars easily fit.  Irena’s on the left, mine on the right. Continue reading →

About 7 weeks out. Starting to prep. The boys and I are working on journey 2015 (not yet named). When the summer journeys were on the boat we called them scotch runs. We stepped on the boat and about 30 years of maturity fell into the water. Heading north into the Georgian Bay and North Channel for a couple of weeks we would meander during the day and anchoring off islands or small harbor towns at night, have a few scotches on the back deck, waiting for the northern lights. Since I sold the boat, we took up motorcycles. Last year we circled Lake Superior. Continue reading →

Day 12. July 8. The end. Woke up at zero dark thirty and checked the ole weather bug app and saw a big system coming across Lake Michigan. Rousted the boys and advised it was load and scoot time. Time to brush our teeth, strap on the gear, hug my brother goodbye and head east with the boys.

Nice ride for the first hundred some miles Continue reading →

Day 11, July 7th. Wolverine to Greenville. Great sleep last night. Babbling stream, dead quiet and middle of nowhere dark… Took our time gearing up the bikes. Forgot the leftover pizza in the fridge. Stopped at Betty’s for breakfast. 6 or 7 tables and you can watch her make it right there! Amazing.🙂 Another regular stop when heading south…

The ride was uneventful. Sunny but cool. As we rode we stopped and peeled off layers as the day warmed. Continue reading →

Day 10. Paradise to Wolverine. End of day. Sort of. It’s 7p and we are hunkered down. Went out for dinner in one of my favorite haunts in Northern Michigan

Today we hit weather again. Got out of Paradise and kept our rain gear handy. Spent time in the morning talking to other bikers who were traveling to all sorts of points, from all sorts of points. Two couples on Honda gold wings Continue reading →