I just completed a very interesting trip from Chicago to Traverse City, where our family has a summer cottage on a small series of lakes. I chose different routes for my trip up there and the trip home - avoiding expressways whenever possible. My wife and her mom drove up in the car with our three children
The trip up was 329 miles, and the trip home was 384 miles. While I was up there, I explored the area and put on another 280 miles.
I left my house and took I-294 South into Indiana, which as anyone in the area knows means neverending road construction.
I then got off the tollway so that I could follow Rt 12 close to the lakefront of Lake Michigan.
Rt 12 took me through Michigan City, In.
A short while later, I was thinking about all the power that my right hand was connected to when I came upon....
I continued north on Red Arrow Highway, where I encountered about a mile a road resurfacing project. That fine gravel is not fun on sport tires.
I stopped in St. Joseph Michigan to stretch my legs and look at the lake.
North of Lake Michigan Beach I was on the Blue Star Memorial Highway. A very long curvy section of it was brand new blacktop.
I jumped on 196 for a while and got off in Grand Rapids so I could take 37 North.
This Is Sparta!
I continuted north and entered the Manistee National Forest. There was something like 80 miles of nothing but forest, with a few houses here and there thrown in.
A couple of hours and a few turns later, I was getting close to our cottage.
The ride was great, but I was glad to be there. I took the rest of the day and the next morning to relax with my wife and kids.
The next day we decided to go up to Old Mission on Grand Traverse Bay. The ride up into this peninsula was awesome. We took Peninsula Drive north, and then continued north on 37.
Old Mission Lighthouse.
The biting flies at Old Mission were the worst thing I have ever experienced. They literally swarmed every one of us and one of my kids was in tears because it was so unrelenting. We decided to go to a different beach in Traverse City instead.
The next day we wanted to take the kids to Suttons Bay to swim. I left them there for a couple of hours and rode up Rt 22 to Northport, and then continued as far north as I could. I ended up at Leelanau State Park.
Just north of Suttons Bay I crossed the 45th Parallel. I was half way to the North Pole!
Sone ships in Traverse City
I took some time to go canoeing with my wife on the lake next to our cottage.
I explored many roads around our cottage, and they were great.
It briefly rained and the sun came back out.
When I woke up on our final day, it was 54 degrees and raining.
I rode about 40 miles in some heavy rain, but along the way passed a cop on the side of the road who gave me a smile and a fist in the air - telling me to press on!
The rain stopped as I headed south on Rt 31. Along the way, the skies were very threatening for a while.
In Mainstee things cleared up nicely and I was able to remove my rain pants.
Just south of Manistee, Rt 31 was closed and I was sent on a detour all the way east to Rt 37 (which is the way I came up). It was a long way out of my planned route and I just decided to go home the way I came up. I sort of stopped taking pictures at this point, since it was all sights that I had already seen.
Back on 196, I saw my wife's car up ahead, carrying my wife, my three children, and my mother in law.
I ended up slabbing it almost all the way home from there. Approaching 400 miles today, I was happy to sneak back into my town on the side roads.
994 miles in all, with the only glitch on the bike being the seat latch coming loose. I didn't notice that the seat would not latch until I washed it the next day, and with a little fiddling, I was able to retrieve the small parts that make up the mechanism and get it all back together with some blue Loctite.
I tried to limit the number of pictures in this report, but if you are interested please feel free to take a look at my Photobucket album for lots more!
Chicago to Traverse City June 2008 - Photobucket