What a great start to a day…  I was up fairly early and decided to work on the blog.  Sat out looking over the lake.  Walked over to the lodge where they had coffee, homemade muffins and all sort of stuff.  Nice.

Blustery out.  As I sat out the wind kept picking up. Sunny.  After a bit the owner comes walking over with fresh biscotti she just pulled out of the oven.  Yeah. Can I have 2?   After about 4 cups of coffee we pulled our gear together and mounted up.  20 miles and we were on I-75.  10 more miles and we were at the bridge.  Through the toll booths and prayed the paved lanes were open, they were.  The big LED signs flashing the high wind warnings.  Probably 30-35mph.  We were stopped in the middle for about 5-10 minutes.  Working on the grates.  Just hoping the bike wouldn’t blow over…

Once on the lower peninsula we got off on US-31.  Passed through Pelston, Brutus, Alanson and fueled up in Petosky.  Continued hugging the Lake Michigan shore through Charlevoix and into Elk Rapids.  Stopped for a burger and a beer a the local watering hole.  Mike inquired about the beer growlers on the wall and asked the waitress while she was pulling a beer out of the coolers, ‘Hey, what about those jugs?’ She stood straight and asked ‘which ones?’  Big chuckles and grins from all at the bar..

Headed south again through Traverse City.  We took the back way around the city to avoid the downtown traffic.  30-40 miles farther south we found our cabin on the Platte River.  Just a few miles upstream from the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park.  Nice clean little mom and pop resort.  Pulled some gear off the bikes, I went to the Dollar Store and got a bag of ice.  Time for a cocktail.   Nice deck with patio furniture next to our cabin.

Decided before we had too many to head out for dinner.  Took the bikes into Frankfort.  Nice quick drive.  Dozens of lakes in the area.  Frankfort is right on Lake Michigan with a big lake (Crystal Lake) that has a channel out to the bigger lake.  Dinner at Dinghy’s.  Been there before.  Place was packed with locals.  As we began discussing whatever we were discussing, Mike noticed a mounted fish on the wall with a sign ‘World Record Brown Trout, 36lbs’ caught in Frankfort.  Mike said ‘bullshit’  ‘The biggest was in Wyoming, 50lbs.’   ‘It’s in the Green Gander Bar in Green River, Wy.’

I couldn’t let that go and called him on it.  We went back and forth.  Mike dialed up the Green Gander bar… This is what I could hear…’Hey, so you know that trout?’….   ‘on the wall’…  ‘a trout’…   ‘the big one’….  ‘no, not the Budweiser sign’…  ‘it’s not there?’….  At this point Mike was rubbing his head while talking on the phone.  It went like that for a few minutes.  I could only think of the old skits on the Bob Newhart show, I was laughing so hard.  Mike hung up.  ‘Apparently, its not there.  New owners.  Old ones took it with’

Back to the cabin.  We were the only ones at the resort save the owners..  We had poured our first drink and the owners started a fire for us. We settled into the evening with a fire, a wheel barrow full of wood, a bottle of scotch and a bag of ice…

While we were settling into the fire, we heard dogs begin to howl.  The owners have 3 dogs.  They hook them up to their mountain bikes with these harnesses they made and the dogs pull them.  The dogs were so excited they were howling to get going.  They were gone about an hour.  It seems they pull them up and down hills, through the woods, all over.  The harness is hooked to the back sides of the bike, well you would have to see it.  Pretty ingenious..  Dogs were pooped and quiet when they got back.

Just a great evening.  Talked with the owners for awhile.  Learned about their plans for the resort and the dog harnesses.  Nice people.  We listened to Pandora.  Told more stories and smoked cigars.  We didn’t finish all the wood but we did the scotch…  Called it a night close to midnight..

Woke at 8am.  Big rain.  Looked at the weatherbug app.  Verified – Big rain.  Went to the office for some of their free coffee.  It wasn’t ready yet.  The owner saw me and brought out their pot for me and told me to just bring that to my room…  Wasn’t in the mood for the blog.  Started packing and showered.

Weather geared up again.  Got on the bikes.  Owner came out in the rain to shake our hands.  Fueled up down the road and started heading for home.  Wheels finally rolling about 10a..  About 250-300 miles to go.  Mike’s flight out of Detroit at 730p.  Rain.  Big rain at times.  Windy.  Visibility way down.  For the most part we kept our speed up.  Traffic fairly light.  Long stretches of road.  Typical MI.  Forests, lakes, rolling hills, passing lanes.  Rain extra special heavy just outside Cadillac.  Got onto freeways near Clare.  Weather starting to moderate.  Kept speed up.  Around 65 when road spray was heavy.  Around 75 when it wasn’t.

Fueled up about 50 miles north of Lansing.  Took off the rain gear.  Not a cloud in the sky.  Still windy but sun felt good..  Bikes running great.  Taking our time.  Got to Lansing and headed east on I-69 for a few miles and took the back roads for about 80 miles or so back to Brighton..  Just how you want a ride to end..  Perfect.

Irena was waiting for us.  Had drink.  Unloaded the bikes Showered, changed and got Mike to the airport an hour and a half before his flight.  Plans already being formulated for next year.

Life is good.