Triumphrat

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OK then,

This is the report from my first ever extended motorcycle tour. Basically 4 of us went on a ride from Minnesota, travelling to the Vintage Motorcycle Days motorcycle show in Lexington, Ohio, and then returning to Minnesota via Michigan, and the north shore of Lake Superior in Canada. The whole trip was roughly 2500 miles, and took 6 days.

There were 4 of us on the trip, 3 Bonnevilles and a Honda CBR1000. The Bonnies belonged to Kframe, Lindsayt and Myself. The whole trip was actually the brain child of lindsayt, who was good enough to invite kframe and myself along.

I can tell you, I thoroughly enjoyed this little adventure. OK – it may not have been a mega dual sport expedition, but a trip of this length was new to me, and as departure day got nearer and nearer, I was filled with ever increasing amounts of excitement and apprehension.

As usual, I totally over thought the trip and over prepared for it, but that said it’s better than being under prepared, even if I took a bunch of gear I ended up not using. Nevertheless, I was euipped to tackle various breakdowns, punctures, had emergency first aid kit, energy supplies, water, clothes, waterproofs blah blah blah.

Well, the prep was all part of the fun for me.

The whole planning thing came together nicely in the last week before departure. I gave myself enough time to put brand new tires on the bike for the trip – installed myself with tire irons for practice in case of need on the trip, fitted a brand new chain, changed oil and filter, and other wise gave the bike the best going over I could before setting off.

So, on the evening of 22nd July, I finished packing the bike and attempted to get a nights sleep, which I more or less achieved.

And then the 23rd arrived. Very very early, I said my goodbyes to the cats who looked back with a kind of “Huh” expression, and saddled up.

Day 1 – route map:



Odo at start:



As soon as I swung a leg over the seat, and set off, all my apprehension disippated, and I was away – this was it – I was doing it! Nothing remained now but to ride, and pay attention – and it felt great!

First order of business was to get to Prescott, Wisconsin to meet the others.

Waiting in Prescott, Wisconsin:



Bikes ready for the off:

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7.30 am start from Prescott – and away! Starting off following the Mississippi along wi-35, and then down Mn-61. A nice scenic cruise. We chopped out about a hundred miles, and paused at the Happy Peddler café in Lacrosse Wisconsin, where you can get a damn fine breakfast CHEAP! Should have taken a picture – but didn’t. Oh well. The service is friendly, the food arrives fast, and it is plentiful and delicious. I’ll be sure to head that way again.

We continued to wend our way onwards, crossing from Wi into Iowa, taking US 52.

At first US 52 is straight and boring, heading across prairie land – but it quickly drops into a valley, and begins twisting and turning its way through Guttenburg, Dubuque and Rockdale, through leafy avenues and turny bits, and is, overall, jolly good fun! I wish I had it on camera, but alas my video set up is not satisfactory yet. All in good time. For now, be assured that it’s a good road and go and enjoy it.

We continued on US-67 south through Clinton, Princeton and LeClaire, and crossed the Illinois border (while no one was looking) on I-80, working our way eastwards on I-74, breaking off on US-150 for a while just for a more pleasant ride. The roads were starting to get pretty straight at this point, and we knew that we were facing some pretty straight cruising on day 2, so we started getting into the swing of it straight away.

Some minor drama when we stopped for gas at this point, when kframe had a dead bike. However, this was quickly diagnosed as a loose battery connection, and I reckon we were underway again in about fifteen minutes.

This continued to Peoria, where we made our first overnight stop – the delightful super 8!



Day 2 – and we were ready for some mile crunching. Today we were destined to ride across Illinois and Indiana, to get to Ohio. Not much we could do about it – the glaciers came scraping through here and stopped somewhere between Bloomington and Indianapolis I think, which meant that in the north part of Indiana we were stuck with a straight road

Route map:



So we cruised on US-24 (after a demonstration of an emergency stop – enough said) and breakfast at an excellent small café somewhere in Illinois (Gridley actually).

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We continued on, and eventually got to make our one right turn of the day onto US-224, through Decateur. We stopped in Monticello to gas up, and discovered that there was biker rally happening nearby. Several guys on Harleys felt we really ought to go, but we had our minds on Mid Ohio, and so soldiered on to the Faifield Inn in Findlay Ohio, our home from home for 2 nights.



Findlay has a Tim Hortons, much to the delight of a certain member of our crew, so it was cool to take a walk down there and experience the excellent Honey Crueller and English Toffee Coffee





As well as

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Mention must also be given to Jeds Sports Bar and Barbeque, which was next to our Hotel.



We went on there, and started getting a quite bad vibe in terms of service and food. We ordered beers anyway, and began to peruse the menus – quite the most confusing menus I have ever seen. Ludicrously filled with crazy pictures of super heros and sport players, sauces named but not described – we didn’t know what was going on with it. We nearly gave it up as a bad lot and went somewhere else, but in the end stuck it out. We were glad we did because the burgers and ribs were in fact EXCELLENT – and cheap. Thirteen bucks for two tall Blue moons and a loaded half pounder and fries. Wicked. Sometimes things work out I guess.

Day 3 was Saturday – and Vintage Motorcycle Days day. The day was a lot wetter than I would have liked, but we weren’t rained off. We were about 80 miles from the venue, so after the main thunderstorm had passed through we rode down there and enjoyed the many bikes. Here are a couple of slideshows of the event:





After the bike show, kframe and our Honda rider went and found a cycling shop to obtain cycling shorts with gel pads in, to aid in the next stage of riding. They informed us that they were pleased to be gellin’, though when not riding the shorts allegedly give the sensation of having soiled ones self. I myself have not endeavored to either confirm or disprove this.

We then enjoyed Steak and Sushi at the Tokyo Japanese Steakhouse in Findlay, which was excellent. Not the best sushi I have ever had, but pretty darn good, and delicious.

Inside the steakhouse:

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So, back to the hotel for an early night. Day 4 was to be the big mileage day.

Day 4 route map:



We set off on Sunday 26th at 5.00 am. Credit has to be given to the girl on the desk of the Fairfield Inn, who at 4.00am, proceeded to make us coffee and get breakfast stuff available for us, even though we hadn’t requested it. This was a big help. The Fairfield Inn, Findlay, Oh is Motorcyclist friendly, clean, reasonably priced and I recommend them thoroughly.

So – away! And a 300 mile blast along the interstates to get across Michigan to the lake. This was the prize – the east coast of Lake Michigan is a treat, and not to be missed, so we decided we would pound out the miles and get there, and that is exactly what we did. 90 to 100 mph all the way from Findlay Oh on I75, I475 around Toledo and on I94 and I96 to Muskegon, stopping only to fuel up.

To those who declare the Bonnevilles “a nice little bike, but not up to touring or highway travel” – I say Bah! Humbug! They are MORE than up to it, and then some.

Refuelling:



Muskegon was, as I recall, our breakfast stop. We found an excellent little café for more biscuits and gravy, and farmer style Omelettes depending on your choice. Suitably fueled, we could chill back a bit, and make ourselves ready for the best bit of the day, a nice ride up the coast of Michigan on Rte 22.

The day got a bit damp at this point – and we quickly donned our waterproof gear, including carefully applying the waterproof covers to my luggage.

A few minutes later, we lost site of kframe and our Honda rider, and paused to see what was up.

What was up was that my damn rain covers blew off my luggage, and kframe stopped to get them.

Ooops. I put them away after that. Turns out that the damp spell only lasted a few minutes anyway, and although it kept threatening to rain, never really did.

Rte 22 took us through such towns as Onekama, Arcadia, Elberta and Empire, and for a while I was sure I had been transported to a fantasy land to fight dragons or something, given the names.

Lake Michigan was excellent of course, and lindsayt and Honda rider are quite sure that there is a freshwater stingray in the lake. No really.

Lake Michigan:



The ride continued through Traverse City, and soon the weather ACTUALLY cleared up, so we paused in Charlevoix, on US 31, to divest ourselves of raingear, dry out a bit and have a burger at a local café.

I really need to keep a better journal on these trips and write down the establishments – though you can see it here:

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Downtown Charlevoix (tourist trap – but nice)


From Charlevoix, on to I 75 and over the Mackinaw Bridge – quite awe inspiring when doing it on a motorcycle!

We stayed on the Michigan side of Sault Ste Marie that night, in the Best Western hotel. Nice enough, though no decent restaurants, so Applebees it was. Well, they had beer.

While in Sault Ste Marie, we visited the locks:





Day 5 dawned in a watery sort of way, probably pretty normal for Sault Ste Marie. So, we geared up, and hopped across the Peace bridge to Cananada and the promise of excellent north shore type riding. Not until we stopped at Tim Hortons for a bit of brekky though, where we bumped into some other riders doing similar touring. One of them had a little Scottie doggie in his tail bag.



The little chap seemed happy enough, and was leashed so he couldn’t jump out, but had room to move about and be comfy.

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A quick stop to take a look at Lake Superior, and then we were away.





Route map:



The first part of the ride was pretty cold, and we were buried in cloud as we began to work our way westwards on the trans Cananada highway (hwy 17).

I clocked over the 20K mile mark on the way:

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Apparently while we were 212 km east of Wawa:



Anyway, on we went, through the sweeping bends, the clouds occasionally lifting to reveal dramatic scenery and forest on either side, as we went through Superior Provinical Park.

Lots of Moose warnings, and we had to take an appropriate picture, didn’t we?



Before working on to Wawa and having lunch at a Tim Hortons:



You may detect a theme here.

Anyhow, it was shortly after Wawa that the weather really cleared up for a while, and we were treated to just some spectacular riding. Really, I can’t recommend this route enough. Hwy 17 is very well looked after, with an excellent system of passing lanes, so you can really proceed at a good pace, not get hung up, and just swoop and turn and enjoy the view.

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There are lots of places to stop along the way where you can enjoy the natural wonder.







We kept rolling, and experienced some quite interesting weather as we approached Thunder Bay. A storm had come through, but pretty much avoided us. We geared up for it, and as we progressed, we rode along wet roads, through little microcosms of very cold, and then into little humid and hot areas, such that our mirrors would steam up – riding through the steam rising from the road was a surreal experience to say the least!

Still, at about 9.00pm we ended up at the Super 8 in Thunder Bay. This place is not the best hotel around, but was clean enough, and there was a pub across the road where we could enjoy a good Leffe beer, and fish and chips. After which was a brisk walk to Tim Hortons for coffee and donuts, obviously.

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And so Day 6 finally arrived. The last day. A little tired and a little weary, we geared the bikes up, and left Thunder bay (after Breakfast at…..you guessed it…Tim Hortons) and made our way back to the good old US of A, via customs and immigration at Grand Portage, staffed by some very friendly folks who at no time accused me of stealing a Green Card or attempted illegal entry into the United States, and certainly did not hold me up for questioning or a search of my luggage for smuggled goods.

After that little episode, having found propforward to be a man of integrity, honesty and overall with more patience than the border guard, we crossed into Minnesota and rode down Mn 61 to Grand Marais, for brunch at a Not Tim Hortons – in fact called “The South of the Border” café, where you cannot get Mexican food. South is all relative, you know.

Route map:



We kept riding now, just following 61 down the Minnesota side of Superior, and after a minor incident with a Bonneville that cut out (inferior Cananadan gasoline we reckon) we paused at Brighton Beach in Duluth for pictures.



We were getting to the end of the ride now, and it was time to start parting ways. Kframe had a rear brake issue, so he departed the group, and proceeded on Mn 23. Honda Rider, lindsayt and myself took Mn 210 through Jay Cooke State park, 7 miles of very tight twists and turns. Watch out for deer, and mass packs of Harley riders lummoxing their way around in the opposite direction.

It was a lot of fun though, and after that we continued down Mn 61, to Hinckley, where we made our departing stop at Tobies restaurant.



A burger and a refuel here, and the 6 day trip was officially over from a group standpoint. I took myself southwest and repaired to my country estate, lindsayt and Honda rider took I-35 south to the twin cities.

At the end of it all:



2487.2 miles covered according to my odometer.

It was a brilliant and fantastic trip in every way. Lots of varied riding and scenery, a great motorcycle show with loads of classic bikes, and excellent company on the whole trip. No incidents of any seriousness, a couple of hiccups sure, but all resolved quickly and efficiently.

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