[sammyseaman]

In the summer of '07 I was going through some heavy ****. Death in the family and the demise of my relationship with my wife was really pushing me to dark places. Well, I went to work one morning and was feeling like I might lose it and decided to just ride. I told my boss that I have to split and hopped on the bike and rode. I had no idea where I was headed or how far to ride. I just knew that the best thing for me was to get the **** away from everything and ride. Riding has always been great head clearing. Anyhoo, boring story short, I spent three days riding beautiful NW Michigan with just the clothes I was wearing. Didn't even have my raingear. And it was the most therapeutic thing I've ever done.

So since then I've taken the same three day sanity trip. This year I was lucky enough to have some riding companions. Friends Clay, Derick, Ed and Cal were heading to visit Brickside Brewery in Copper Harbor. I had family obligations Saturday so I was only able to ride with them Thursday and Friday. The plan was to meet up after work Thursday in Grand Rapids and blast up to Traverse City. Well, I woke up Thursday morning and decided to skip pesky 'ol work and get to ridin'. So I split and would take "the scenic route" and meet up with the guys later.

Looks like a lot of crap but I was gonna be camping and I decided to bring a real pillow. Sleeping with a real pillow beats the heck out of a rolled up jacket. I apologize about the cloudy pictures. I didn't realize how grubby the lens was until later.

Rode to my pop's place in Bitely for lunch. Ended up helping him with a couple things and back on the road.

Manistee

Arcadia

Empire

Sleeping Bear Dunes

 

[sammyseaman]

Leland

 

[sammyseaman]

I've been to Northport many times but never been to the lighthouse at Leelanau State Park. Having all the time in the world (or the day at least) I finally rode to the point. They were having a Lobster Fest Cookout that I didn't get in on Twas a cool park though.

My old Sprint coulda used this for a headlight

 

[sammyseaman]

The revised plan was to meet up with the guys at Clay's sister's place in Traverse City. We did and Clay's sister Christy and brother in law Bryan were incredible hosts. They set us up with sleeping quarters so we didn't even have to set our tents up. Also they made us an amazing breakfast the next morning. I actually thought about ditching the guys and riding the greater Grand Traverse area. Beds and breakfasts beat tents and nothing any day :lol: . Seriously Clay's a great cat and his family is too :thumbsup: Anyhoo, we decide to catch a ride with Bryan in his van and grab a couple beers at Right Brain Brewery. It was a great decision.

The next morning we woke up to a giant breakfast.
The morning view

Off we go

The only construction I ran into. Surprising for Michigan.

 

[sammyseaman]

I didn't get any pics of M119 the Tunnel of Trees because I was too busy trying to impress the guys with my squidly-ness and a little worried about sand in the corners :crazy:

The end of 119 is Leggs Inn in Cross Village. It's a quirky Polish restaurant with good eats. Any time I'm within 2 hrs. of the place I have to stop in. There's only one other place I feel the same way. I'll get to that later...

The back of Leggs Inn

 

[sammyseaman]

The quirky inside of Leggs Inn

Clay, Derick, Ed and Cal are cool guys and good riders and it was great riding with them but all god things must come to an end.

 

[sammyseaman]

One of the things about my annual trip is that I set aside one night to get drunk. I loves me some microbrew and Shorts Brewery in Bellaire has some delicious beer so I thought that might be a good spot to get my annual "therapy". Also they have a nice city park to camp in and my buddy Joe decided to drive up Friday after work and help me with my "therapy" :lol:

This is the only pic of Pearl's. It's the other restaurant I have ti hit if I'm anywhere in the area code of the place. I used to do a lot of service work in northern Michigan and really miss places like this.

Our dates for the evening

Shorts

What's a motorcycle trip without a picture of a store named the Sassy Sunflower?

Or a picture of a very tall duck

 

[sammyseaman]

Me and Joe may have "therapized" a little too much and we were feeling a wee bit rough the next morning.

And the family obligation Saturday? I had to meet the wife and peanut back at Grandpa's

Therapy indeed

 

[echoraven]

What a wonderful tradition and unfortunate it was born of sadness.

Great pictures. It's something I really need to do myself.

 

[Coroja]

Sammy - thnks for the memories (pics); mostly all places I've been, albeit a good while ago. There is no place like Michigan!

 

[tntriumph]

Thanks for sharing the pics. Michigan is much more scenic than I expected. We all need motorcycle therapy sessions from time to time.

 

[mistermellow001]

Sammy, I have a feeling your annual Therapy Run will grow in numbers over the years. The circumstances that led you to ride off on that first trip sound awful, but you did what you had to do, and I'm glad it worked for you. Thanks for the report!