So finally getting around to posting about my recent trip up to Leland Michigan from Champaign Illinois. The main reason for going to Leland was to catch the boat out to North Manitou Island which is a 15k sq. acre wilderness that is part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. I backpacked/camped/hiked out there for a week. The other reason was the last time I went up there, I drove and thought to myself, I HAVE to get a freakin bike up here. The roads up near Leland(Traverse City area) are bikers heaven, specifically route 22 which hugs the coast of Lake Michigan and goes through a bunch of little towns situated around beautiful inland lakes, breathtaking. Not to mention all the twisties! I stayed almost entirely off interstate the entire ride up and was very glad I did. It was great going through all the little towns and having old guys sitting out on their porches giving you a wave, or the random gas station attendant, biker,or guy pumping gas accross from you striking up 15+minute conversations about life in general. I guess theres something about a little vintage Jap bike loaded down with a 65lb frame pack and ammo box saddle bags that says, this guy is going somplace and I wanna learn about his adventure! So yeah, I met alot of cool people and burned a good hour or more all told just shootin the #$%*, but thats part of the whole thing and I enjoyed it.
So heres the route I took:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=112785698571017320969.00000112975d1ace69509&ll=42.488302,-83.562012&spn=7.046659,14.80957&z=6&om=1I left on a Saturday morning and the plan was to make it to a campsite mabey 50 miles or so from my final destination, so as such I planned to get to bed at a good time that Friday night. Well, out of nowhere my uncle and cousin I hadnt seen in ages drive up while my neighbor and I are out BSing. Next thing you know, we have a few beers and light up the tiki torches and chat till about 2am. So I get to bed about 3am, get up at 6am and start loading up the bike. I was off by about 8:30am or so Saturday morning. It ended up taking me 12 hours to make it up to a campsite! I remeber after the first 100 miles I was thinking, man, I dont know if Im gonna make it all the way, but then another 100 miles into it my body got used to it, found all the ways to make myself as comfortable as possible, and I was good until the last 100 miles or so. At about that point I realized that I had lost an hour when I changed time zones and it was time to go balls to the wall to make it to a campsite on time. The ranger station closed at 9:00pm not to mention its alot easier to set a tent up when theres light. So for a good 50 miles or so I was running 90+ on the only streatch of interstate I hit: 31 just north of Grand Haven. I was sore, tired, and hungry and ready to get the hell off that bike! But then, I hit route 22 and it just became so beautiful and I was having so much fun in the twisties that my pain and fatigue became an afterthought. I quickly figured out that the suggested speed signs for the curves were WAAAAY conservative
Id go into a 40 at about 55, working the gears, then accelerate out of the turns often doing 75 or better. That big-ass pack actually helped stabilize the bike(since I had saddle bags on) and helped it dig into those curves. So anyway I make it to a campsite 15 minutes before the station closed, set up camp, and by then its 10 o clock and I havnt eaten supper. I was half starved and ended up eating all the beef jerky I brought for the island. So the next day I get up at 5am, load everything back up and ride the last 75 beautiful miles up to leland in time to get a good breakfast and jump on the boat. Then I hauled ass to my campsite, way off on the west side of the island(the boat docks on the East) and do 15 miles with my 65 lb pack over some tough elevation and through some serious brush where I had to navigate by compass, only way to get to the premo camp site I found last time I was out there, 2 years ago. Now remember this was all after the previous days marathon! The island was more beautifull than I remember!
To be continued....
