Motorcycle Rally

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.