Thank you all for your generous support of our 600 Mile ride!!
The Long Day Around 2023 (Through Justin’s eyes)
Immediately following our 2022 Adventure around the Tip of the Mitt, you would think that I would have had my fill of 14 hours of saddle time. Well, that all went out the door on Oct. 25th 2022, when Wayne and I started to discuss the 2023 format. We had all kinds of great ideas on how to grow the event. 1st idea was to move it to the Summer, where we would have the opportunity to enlist more riders and more donors. We also had the idea to split the ride into two options. Option #1 would have one person lead a 2-day adventure with an overnight in Mackinaw, which would serve as a more site seeing ride. Option #2 would have the other person lead the one day 600-mile charge. I’m not sure what didn’t happen after that, all I can recall is that we figured the 600-mile one day charge is the “CHALLENGE”, and the next thing I knew we had the online donation portal open and we were locked in to ride on WORLD POLIO DAY October 24, 2023 with a goal to double our funds raised ($5,000 in 2022) to $10,000 in 2023.
So… Here we go! The Long Day Around October 24th, 2023.
6:00am: Felt like I was in the movie Ground Hog Day, as we welcomed the pull of the OPEN sign light string at the Grayling Restaurant. Myself, Long Day Virgin Tim Somers, Annette Hritz, Ande Hentchel, Mike Frisbie and Marcia Koppa were present…. I know, you are thinking where is WAYNE? We were all thinking the same thing, it turns out the Colonel has become accustomed to sleeping in during his retirement. Marcia was a bit concerned about his tardiness and went into a bit of a panic thinking a Michigan pothole may have claimed a BMW and as she walked out the door, Wayne pulled up to the restaurant fashionably late. Now that the crew was complete, we ordered our last meal for 14 hours, and had some entertaining conversations.
6:43am: With our belly’s satisfied we put our gear on for our obligatory START photo. Wayne clocked our official start time at 6:53am. I was waved to lead the pack of 3 Riders (Wayne/Myself/Tim) out of town. Once we hit M-72 East, the lyrics of Jerry Reed’s Eastbound and Down was playing in my head; (sing along with me)
“East bound and down, loaded up and truckin',
we gonna do what they say can't be done
We've got a long way to go, and a short time to get there
I'm east bound, just watch ol' "Bandit" run
Keep your foot hard on the pedal
Son, never mind them brakes
Let it all hang out 'cause we got a run to make!!”
It was easy riding to MIO in the dark, there were not too many vehicles to contend with. The real fun begins on Mckinley Rd. Twisting, winding roads that follow the AuSable River make for fun entertainment on a motorcycle. Tim was pulling some unnecessary wheelies “to get his blood flowing”, while I was testing my cornering abilities. Wayne, I believe, was still asleep as it was well before 9:00am.
7:55am: We pulled into the High Banks Overlook. If you have never, been it is worth the 200 meter detour off the pavement. Gorgeous view overlooking the AuSable River and the valley below. Wayne in his endless wealth of knowledge mentioned something about dinosaur remains and fellow Rotarian Monte Burmeister. Not sure on the connection, as the view disrupted my listening ability. After our quick pit stop, we headed out to a second overlook along River road on our way into Oscoda. I didn’t record the time at the next stop. However as soon as we pulled up to the overlook, a gentleman hopped out of his van walked over and started to admire our motorcycles. Then a dreaded three letter word came out of his mouth (B.M.W.) that had Wayne fully engaged in conversation. Turns out the guy was a former member of the Saginaw BMW club, and with Waynes’s charm he ended up donating cash to our cause!!
Our travels then continued into Oscoda, onto US-23 where we followed the shoreline of Lake Huron which provided us with a gorgeous calm view of the Lake, orange and red hue sky and beautiful autumn-colored leaves that continued all the way to Alpena. Shortly after passing through Alpena the sky opened and dumped heavy rain and lighting on us, we pulled into a Dollar General and put on some additional protective gear and continued down the road. Not 1 mile from the dollar general I started feeling water dripping into my… let’s just say nether region. Confused, that I may have a weak bladder, I quickly observed that the water was cold… not body temp. “Whew!” right? Anyhow, I battled this to Rogers city.
10:43am: We pulled into Rogers City where we hunkered under a gas station awning to hide from the scary Lightning. Tim and I had some wardrobe malfunctions… or so we thought. I was confused at why my under region was wet. My best guess is that my coat had folded, and water was being blown underneath my coat and making my base layer wet and that was soaking and draining to my underwear. Tims coat was getting wet in the armpits… Luckily (you will all laugh at this later) I had some “extra” waterproof, super expensive gear that if you read last year’s recap, I bought from Wayne’s garage sale. I wore all this last year and stayed dry as a bone. I offered Tim the Gore-tex jacket which he gladly accepted, and I threw on the Gore-tex pants and tried my best to keep my jacket from folding and allowing water underneath. Problem solved! Right? Where was Wayne? He was on the phone with the National Weather Service (I am sure he knows someone) trying to decide if we should wait out the storm or press on. He was also troubleshooting his Garmin Spot Tracker, which was having issues early on and reassuring Marcia that we were OK.
11:20am-ish: We decided that we were not going to wait two and a half hours for the storm to pass, we had a short clearing in the radar that we thought we could make it through. So, we rolled the dice and pressed on to Cheboygan. Light rain for the next 25 minutes and then the sky cleared up. Gear Update: Tim stayed dry with the addition of the coat through the rain. I continued to get wet….??? Just before Cheboygan we came across a fallen tree across the highway. With the help of a couple of friendly Texan motorists (Tim) was able to clear it from the road.
12:30pm-ish: Smooth riding all the way into Mackinaw City, where we topped off the tanks. When we stopped for fuel, I noticed my jacket was pouring water out of the sleeves and bottom cuff… Mystery solved… Turns out my jacket was not waterproof at all… my jacket was soaked, and my underlayers were getting saturated and all that was draining downwards into my pants and my sleeve cuffs were draining into my gloves. Due to great base layers and heated gear, I was not aware that my whole upper body was wet. (there may have been some regrets handing off that other jacket). I swapped my gloves out and used an old trick of putting rubber gloves on before my insulated gloves. This would keep my hands dry and comfortable if my gloves were to become wet again… On with the adventure. A quick stop at the Bridge where our TEXAS tree moving friends shared the video of the tree removal, and traded group photos in front of the bridge.
1:00pm-ish: We departed Mackinaw City and headed to the Wilderness State Park area, Wayne calls this the Tunnel of the Trees – NORTH. The road from Mackinaw City to Cross Village is amazing, follows the shoreline and is so much fun on a motorcycle. There may have been a couple of tire tracks on the beach, but I assure you they were not from a BMW. Good news is my gear seemed to be drying out…
1:45pm: Arrived at the Legs Inn for our annual photo, then kept rolling on through the Tunnel of Trees – SOUTH as Wayne calls it. (Most are familiar with this). Beautiful colors, lots of leaves on the road and a lot of vehicles in this section. Just beautiful all the way into Harbor Springs/Petosky area. Upon leaving Petosky enroute to Charlevoix, we encountered a second storm. We did not break stride, Wayne was awake at this point as he became the bike to follow with his aggressive maneuvers around what seemed to be all STANLEY STEAMER Trucks, visibility was poor to fair, the water was still wet, as it drained into my layers, and my perma-smile was just a big as ever. Heavy Rain as we cruised from ELK Rapids through Traverse City where we were dodging bike swallowing puddles (TC received over 3 inches of rain) through the city. Rain continued all the way to Suttons Bay where it eased up.
4:45pm: We pulled into a church parking lot in Northport. Tim decided his boots were full and poured the water out and changed socks. Despite the delays and poor weather, we were still making very good time.
5:00pm-ish: M-22 yes please!! If you have never cruised M-22 to Manistee you are missing out. On a motorcycle it is even more enjoyable. Clear skies, dry-ish roads made for a great time!! This section was filled with picturesque views of Lake Michigan, Lake Leelanau, Little Traverse Lake, Glen Lake, and the Sleeping Bear Dunes Area. Again, fall colors were amazing (peak/just past peak). We made another fuel stop in Frankfort. And as always, Wayne found an open ear!!
6:05pm: Depart Frankfort, once we could navigate around a slow paced garbage truck we were able to get back on record setting pace heading to Manistee. Note: The ride along the lake into Onekema is gorgeous.
6:49pm: Manistee!!!! We pulled over just to take a picture and let all our followers our E.T.A. to Grayling (8:45pm). Wayne does not wait for this, after informing me of the E.T.A. He say’s we are on record pace and takes off!! Tim and I have a little chuckle, as Wayne takes advantage of his head start. After getting the phone out and taking Tim’s thumbs up photo and posting the E.T.A. We get back on the road. It is now a drag race (kind of) back to Grayling. M-55 is a Speedway of sorts, just must be mindful of Black Bears (we did not see any) and Semi-Trucks with no running lights. Tim and I ride the same model of motorcycle, so I am sure the vehicles we were passing were doing the old Double Mint Gum “double take”. We caught up with Wayne just before Cadillac. Another quick top off fuel in Cadillac and then M-55 through Lake City onward to Houghton Lake, where we opted to hop on 127 all the way into the business loop where we then pulled into Spikes at 8:37pm.
8:37pm: The neon lit “SPIKES” sign was a welcome sight for my wet butt. Wayne, Tim and I hurried up and took our last group photo of the day. Wayne and I wished Tim a safe journey home as he still had to travel 30 miles north to Gaylord, where his infant daughter and wife along with some dry socks awaited. I immediately ditched my wet coat, heated jacket, and grabbed a dry shirt and sweatshirt out of my bag and changed in the bathroom. Shortly after changing into a dry top (I can deal with the wet butt a little longer), fellow Rotarian Ruth Pilon joined us for a celebratory beer and congratulated us on our efforts. Wayne and I devoured our Spikes Burgers and filled Ruth in on the day’s events.
A NEW RECORD: This only matters to us riders. Last year we set the record at 13hrs 45min. This year we topped that by 5 min. 13hrs 40mins.
Wednesday October 26th… The aftermath…
A bit sore and tired, Wayne and I attended our Rotary Clubs weekly lunch meeting, shared a little about the ride as we promised everyone post ride recaps. After leaving lunch I received a call from Wayne that I had left my jacket at lunch, and he generously met me in town to return it. As he got out of his car, he asked me a great question… “Do you know what was wrong with yesterday’s ride?” You guys have read the recap on the day’s events… The answer is “ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!”
Thank you all for your support.
Thank you, Wayne & Tim, for a memorable experience!!
World Polio Day and The Long Day Around has past, but our Rotarian efforts to eradicate polio remain.
There is still time to donate: https://raise.rotary.org/Justin-Andre/challenge1
Wayne's Recap 2023:
We finished the ride - No Safety Incidents - The Fire Danger Was Very Very Low.
We rolled out, Justin Andre - Tim Somers and I, at 6:57 AM after have a great breakfast at the Grayling, Restaurant.
We rode quickly to Mio, Michigan and then jumped on Mckinley Road with its many curves along the world famous AuSable River. Daylight started to peek at us about an hour into the trip. Heavy on my mind was the mumbo jumbo of weather forecasts that we had seen over the previous days. One day it was good, the next, not so good. We made Oscoda, Michigan and headed north to Alpena. Words were exchanged that there could be weather issues in Alpena. Could have been some mist as we crossed the 45th parallel but it was not significant. What came afterwards was.
As we made our way to Rogers City, MI (home of the big mining quarry) the rain came down intensely. On the other hand we were geared up for rain. Then came the lightning. We were not geared up for lightning. We pulled in at Rogers City and looked at bright orange and red on the weather map in front of us. As the lightning did not re-appear we headed for Mackinaw City. Stopped briefly to help fellow travelers move a tree from the road. Lots of pooled water on and along the road. Rolled into Mackinaw and riding boss Justin took us down by the bridge for a photo. Ran into some of the tree removal crew from earlier. I bored everyone with history on the second National Park in the United States and the first State Park in the United States. You can figure that out. The rain let up but we could see it down at Traverse City on the weather map in a big way. We would later hear, don't know if its true, that areas around Traverse received three inches of rain.
Headed for Cross Village and the Tunnel of Trees. North of Cross Village there is what I call Tunnel of Trees North. Nobody rides there. They ride or drive north to Cross Village and turn around. Next year Tunnel of the Trees North is scheduled for repaving. You heard it here first. Made a short stop at Legs Inn in Cross Village and headed south thru the Tunnel of Trees towards Harbor Springs, MI. M 119 is one of those roads that is not wide enough to have a center line. Moreover, it has curves what seems to be no further than 20 yards apart, for something like 20 miles. All covered with a canopy of autumn orange and red. This compares well with the fun on McKinley Road as one of best rides in the state.
As we headed for Traverse City then north to Northport, we again got doused. Somebody needs to look at the timing of the light at Garfield in Traverse. Seemed like you could take a nap waiting for green. Headed to Northport. We jumped on M-22 South, as the sky cleared, a great road with lots of curves. We had a couple hours to Manistee and enjoyed the ride thru Sleeping Bear National Park that features curves on par with McKinley, Tunnel of Trees North and South. I did not almost run out of gas this year which slowed Justin and I down in 2022. Not many gas stations around Sleeping Bear.
We travel thru many small communities on M-22 that are very ascetically pleasing and typically hugging the shoreline of the big lake or smaller lakes in the area but I want to mention Arcadia, Michigan. Arcadia was home to Harriet Quimby. Harriet in 1911 was the first female pilot in the world. She was also a successful journalist and film critic.
We were now riding against sundown and wanted to make minimize the dark riding time as best we could. We turned east at Manistee just as dark was upon us. M-55 east from Manistee is 65 MPH and everyone is going 70 MPH, in the dark on a two lane hilly road. If the deer problem in Michigan is not bad enough you see signs coming closer to Cadillac, MI warning of bear crossings. There may be objects harder to see in the dark than black bears but I do not know what they would be. Burt Reynolds supposedly lived in Cadillac, MI for a short time, but was not known to mention it.
Refueled in Cadillac, snuck thru Lake City, MI and headed for US 127 North. Misty weather again. Construction cones and slow moving semi trucks on US 127. US 127 starts in Grayling, MI at 4 mile road and ends in Chattanooga, TN. Something like 750 miles long. Thats another story for another time.
We arrived at Spikes Keg of Nails (Meeting Place of the North) at 8:37 PM. Spikes runs their grill until 11:00 PM so we enjoyed a celebratory burger and a couple beers before heading home. Tim lives in Gaylord and was reporting to Extreme Power Sports in the morning for work. Maybe he had a couple stories to tell.
How long does it take to ride a motorcycle from the Grayling Restaurant to Spikes?
13 hours and 40 minutes if you take the Long Day Around.
Thank you to every one for your support.
Our donation and reporting site will be open for the next two days. Please check out the progress in Ending Polio Now.
https://raise.rotary.org/Justin-Andre/challenge1
5 Days away!!! Remember that we have created a Facebook and Instagram page to help share our 1-day adventure !
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Older updates
We are just a couple weeks away!! Remember that we have created a Facebook and Instagram page to help share our 1-day adventure !
Follow our pages:
https://www.facebook.com/GraylingRotaryRiders1?mibextid=LQQJ4d
https://instagram.com/graylingrotaryriders?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
We have created a Facebook and Instagram page to help share our 1-day adventure !
Follow our pages:
https://www.facebook.com/GraylingRotaryRiders1?mibextid=LQQJ4d
https://instagram.com/graylingrotaryriders?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==