By Wayne Koppa
We rolled out, Justin Andre – Tim Somers and I, at 6:57 a.m. After having 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, (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 it’s 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 Leggs Inn in Cross Village and headed south through the Tunnel of Trees towards Harbor Springs.
M-119 is one of those roads that is not wide enough to have a center line. Moreover, it has curves no more 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 of hours to Manistee and enjoyed the ride through Sleeping Bear National Park that features curves on par with McKinley, Tunnel of Trees North and South. I almost did not run out of gas this year which slowed Justin and I down in 2022. Not many gas stations around Sleeping Bear.
We traveled through 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 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 for a short time but was not known to mention it.
We refueled in Cadillac, snuck through Lake City 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, some 750 miles long. Thats a story for another time.
We arrived at Spikes Keg of Nails (Meeting Place of the North) at 8:37 p.m. Spikes runs their grill until 11 p.m. so we enjoyed a celebratory burger and a couple of 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.
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