Month: August 2015

Saturday was the “Big Ride” day. After a good breakfast we headed north out of Houghton into the Upper Peninsula. (Da UP.)

One stop was at the ruins of the Calumet Brewery, once one of the largest breweries in the state. (1899 – 1919.) Prohibition put an end to this and many other breweries in the country. The remains of the building are impressive but are being taken over by vegetation.

Jerry at ruins of Calumet Brewery

We made a few other stops, then took off for a ride around the south side of the peninsula, going through the town of Gay. Of course, we had to stop at the Gay Bar for refreshment and to take photos.

Our group at the Gay Bar

A scenic stop was part of the Brockway Mountain drive, with views out over the town of Copper Harbor and Lake Superior.

Brockway Mountain overlook

After a 200+ mile day we ate dinner at the Red Jacket Brewery in Calumet. The room was a bit warm but the locally-brewed beer (I had the Downtown Brown) served with the broiled lake trout was excellent. The trout, fresh caught, was delicious.

Our motorcycles lined up in Calumet

After dinner it was back to the hotel to clean up, talk, and relax after the long day.

Sunday was short ride day as some of the guys had to start home. Erik led us out to the end of the shipping canal, dredged to open a natural passage though the peninsula for ships to pass through instead of having to go around. With the decline in copper and coal mining the canal does not see a lot of use but large freighters occasionally pass through. The lift bridge in Houghton goes up for ship passage then down for auto travel. In winter the bridge drops to it’s lowest position so snowmobiles can use the bottom level to cross the canal.

Lift bridge over shipping canal in Houghton

After lunch we returned to the motel and another fellow (Brent) and I decided to ride some local roads we had not been on before. Part of the afternoon was spent sitting under a pavilion overlooking the lake, watching the lake traffic and swapping stories about riding motorcycles. Later we rode some back roads and returned to the motel just in time to hook up with several other guys for dinner. We ate at Joey’s Fish Market in Houghton. Advice: Don’t order the 3 piece cod dinner unless you are very hungry!

Brent has a fondness for cigars

Back to the motel where farewells were said as all of us would be heading out our separate ways on Monday morning. It had been a good gathering with nice roads to ride, stops that combined a mix of history and scenery, and good company.

Next post: Visiting family in Wisconsin and the trip home.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

While Fields was cycling da UP, I was driving back and forth to work with not-totally-healed bursitis.  Ouch.

Happy Trails.

This is going to be a long post; I will split it up into three segments.

The first and second parts will cover the “Lost in Da UP” motorcycle rally I attended August 14, 15, and 16. The third part will cover my Wisconsin visit and trip home.

This narrative will be in chronological order, starting with my departure on August 11th. I left from work early with the goal of making it to North Platte, Nebraska the first night. A nail in a tire slowed me down a bit as I had to run into Sterling, Colorado, and find a tire shop who could make the repair. However, I did make it to North Platte.

The next morning, still in North Platte, I had another flat tire. The local tire shop said the damage could not be repaired so I ended up buying a used tire. The shop also had a barely-used set of Michelin truck tires in the size I needed, but I decided to pass. After a long day’s drive, I stayed the night just south of Minneapolis.

Thursday I made it to Houghton, Michigan, and my motel, Julie’s Motor Inn.

Base Camp for rally

The motel is right out of the ’50s but the A/C worked. (Temps were in the high 80s and low 90s.)

Motel office

I checked in, got my gear into the room, unloaded the bike, then went for a ride. I ended up getting a burger in a local steak house, then it was back to Julie’s for a night’s rest.

The rally didn’t officially begin until Friday evening, so Friday morning I took off on a ride of my own. I enjoyed the many icons of small-town America are in this area, as large cities are few and far between. Here are a few  examples:

Typical General Store

Well-kept rural church

This one made me laugh – decorated hay bales

Waysides had a mix of scenic views and historical information,

View of Lake Superior from Chassell Cliff roadside park

Reynold-Corliss steam engine was in service from 1912 to 1968.

And, it turns out, there are waterfalls in the area.

Bond Falls

Water views are always an attraction, and this ride got me close to Lake Superior on a few occasions.

North side of Upper Peninsula has many small beaches

After a ride of about 235 miles I returned to Julie’s Motor Inn where Erik, the rally organizer, was setting up the meet-and-greet cookout.

Erik (The Red) sets up Friday evening cookout

I am going to jump ahead just a bit and include this photo of the nine rally attendees:

Arlan, Greg, Harry, James, Brent, Ian, Erik, Todd, and Jerry

That’s it for now. More rally and trip commentary in my next post. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

While Fields was on his Midwest junket, I carried on here at home.  I did visit the eye glasses folks to order new spectacles; they’ve arrived since.  When I’m stylin’ the new frames, a person faintly resembling my Uncle Don looks back at me from the mirror.  So much for going “retro” with the new glasses.

I’m going on my annual extended motorcycle trip beginning next Tuesday; the Upper Peninsula of Michigan  (Houghton) is calling me. The rally is being held on August 14, 15, and 16th. I’ll attend the rally, then head to central Wisconsin on the 17th, see my mother for a few days, and get to Bloomer to see Craig and Dianne’s new home.

I won’t be posting from on the road so there will be a break in the action. Check back in a couple of weeks!

There is some news to report from this past Saturday. I drove to the mountain property Friday night with a list of items to accomplish on Saturday. Everything was to be done on Saturday, as I had arrived too late on Friday to get any real work done. Except for checking the mousetraps. (Yes, one mouse in one trap – again.)

Saturday arrived. First of all, I took the last of the landscape blocks out of the bed of the truck  and put them in place along the driveway. I re-arranged some of the existing railroad ties for better appearance and function as part of the landscape block project. Next, I cut up the small aspen we had removed from the carport area. Finally, I pumped water and filled the RV’s fresh water tank. In my spare time, I took a load of wood to the burn pit. Checking off all the items on my Sanderling list, I drove past a couple of For Sale properties in the Fairplay area before returning home around dark Saturday night.

Here is a short clip – 2:38 – of me cutting the firewood. The action is a bit repetitive due to the nature of the job, but I have not posted any video for a while so thought I would throw this one in.

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When I am cutting small aspen, this method is faster and safer than using the chainsaw. It is only possible with a working generator, another reason I’m glad to have the generator fixed.

Today I installed the motorcycle wheel chock on the trailer, changed oil in the Honda and checked all Honda fluid levels (for Pam’s use while I’m away), and began preparing for my upcoming trip. I will be taking the truck and trailering the bike; this is the first time ever that I will be trailering instead of riding the full distance. But I ask you: How many times riding a cycle across Nebraska is enough? I am looking forward to the trip with the truck.

Bike loaded on trailer and ready to go

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

While Fields drives across the middle of the U.S. and back, I will be enjoying a few days of annual leave here-and-there myself while he’s gone.  Eating when I want, watching my programs on the living room TV – pretty much a vacation for me too.

Happy Trails.

Since my last post, a bit has happened regarding the Sanderling lot. Here is an update.

The maiden voyage of the cistern trailer went very well. It pulls behind the truck better than the aluminum trailer. I have not yet used it for hauling the cistern or honey wagon tanks, but below is a photo of it loaded with slash wood to be taken to the fire pit.

New trailer loaded with burn pit wood

I have decided to add stake bed sides and a motorcycle wheel chock to make the trailer more of an all-purpose utility platform.

I did get my generator fixed (about $70.00) and I took it to The Lot this past weekend. It now runs just like new, and I was able to use it to power the honey wagon pump and empty The Box’s holding tanks. (I put the honey wagon tank in the back of the truck.) This means we no longer have to pull The Box over to the nearest dump station, the goal we were hoping for when we embarked on this project. Below is a photo (Pam says it is gross) of the honey wagon system in use:

Honey wagon kit working as advertised

I still need to work on getting the cistern tank and associated systems functioning, but that is a lower priority as I can still pump water by hand when needed. Still, the cistern project is progressing — I received some fittings I needed and ordered on-line and fitted them to (and tested) my pump. Not a lot of progress, but some.

This is the second trip to The Lot with some of my landscaping blocks in the truck. The blocks have been put in a few spots along The Lot’s driveway, a lot of work considering I have to dig out dirt and gravel  to get the blocks in place. So far, 132 in, 32 more still to transport and place. The blocks look like this:

Landscape blocks in place – upper drive

Landscape blocks along lower drive

We relocated the front half of the dog run in order to make way for another project, a car port. This is prep work; the car port itself will probably not get installed until next spring but could happen sooner. We had to remove quite a few trees, mostly very small aspen, to make a 12 foot by 24 foot opening along the driveway. Now we will have to level it off and get some gravel down before the port can be assembled. It is nice to have an off-driveway parking spot for the trailer; we were getting tired of having to maneuver around it when going to or from The Box.

Car port will be the newly cleared area left of trailer

I had one disagreeable task; the last time I was up alone the furnace kicked on and a bad smell came out of it—burned mouse hair. This trip I had to remove a grill, plus the front cover of the furnace burner, and scrape out the charred remains of a mouse that had – somehow – found its way into the furnace and died. Ba-a-a-a-d smell, and it took me a while to scrape the remains off the furnace burner. I did not turn the furnace on this trip; it was warm enough at night not to need it, but on my next solo trip I will turn the furnace on with the windows open and see how good a job I did. No photos of this particular task… 🙂

There was much to get done this past weekend, and we actually accomplished everything! Dog pen reconfigured, car port preparations started, landscape blocks placed, and holding tanks emptied. I have some trees to cut into firewood next trip, and a load of stuff to take to the burn pit. The generator runs like a champ. We returned home very tired but very pleased with what was accomplished. Now if we could just keep the mice out of The Box….

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

These darned mice. Mother Nature laughs at the family, with over a dozen domesticated + feral cats, that has mice in their RV.

I was pleased this weekend; my ailing hip allowed me some measure of mobility around the property. Still not 100%, but health improvement.

Happy Trails.