Going north makes my bike go south.

So, I've been a fan of this site for a bit and I've realized that life is short, I'm sick of being nothing more than a commuter, and i have nine days off!! Screw it, I'm outta here. I laid some loose planning groundwork, very loose, figured I had just enough time to visit my family outside of Detroit then do an Iron Butt around Lake Superior, then go shopping at Aerostich, then head home. 'Bout 3200 miles, no biggie. Well, my planning was loose at best, shit broke, I ate slim jims for dinner, I broke down in the middle of nowhere, and I made it home in one piece a true adventure rider!!! So here goes.

I left early on a cool Thursday morning, and headed north on I-75. I was pretty excited to see my nephews, and my niece, and was pretty excited to test my endurance level. I had just gotten my HPN 43ltr fuel tank and was looking forward to not stopping every 200 miles, but just as I thought that I was passing a semi somewhere near the Cumberland Gap and I caught a nasty case of VAPOR LOCK! WTF?! I just spent, well, an assload of cash on this tank and now it decides to vapor lock?! Messed with the vent tube, took the cap off, took it about 3 miles to get back to normal, but it became a frequent occurance on my trip. Not a cool thing while you're in the fast lane going uphill. whatever. Then I noticed my front brake had some air in the line, great, thats what i need. Searched for an auto parts store off the highway in middle tennessee, and found the o'reillys.

Bought my little brake bleeder and syringe and got to work. Rolled myself a cigarette and drank the rest of my coffee, perfect morning. Back to the slab. Pretty uneventful the rest of the day. I-75 was closed through dowtown Detroit so I had to take a bit of a detour to a side I'd never seen.

Here's lunch. Awesome jamacian patties at this place in the West End of Atlanta, can't get enough of them. And of course the token "WAKE YOUR ASS UP" Red Bull.

Well got to my dads house and got to park the bike next to this!!

1963, good year. not completly original, but still nice to look at. I'm guessing he's sunk about 30 grand in her over the last 10years. It used to be a faded yellow and we called it the "banana bomber". my mom and I got pulled over in it when I was about 6 for not having a liscence plate on the front, that was the last time anyone drove it until my dad got it back up and going. that was in '78. go ahead, do the math. anyway, he drives it maybe once a year, sad, very very sad.

....Keep It coming!!!

Cheers

So, I hung out with my family and went on a cider mill tour. That was a pretty big thing when I was a kid in Royal Oak MI. As soon as the leaves began to turn we started begging our parents to take us to the mills. Homemade cider, carmel apples, and warm cake donuts...ugggg. So I went to 4 cider mills in two days!! it was awesome, and a gained some traction management while I was at it!!! At one of the mills there was a hay ride to the pumpkin patch, when we got there the pumkins were staged. So my oldest newphew and my neice and I decided to turn all the pumkins to their bad side. Nice, these kids are cool and they think I'm a nut-job for riding my bike up to see them.

Harrison...

Vivienne...

Jules...

My Dad and I...

One thing that sucks about kids is germs. I caught a nasty cold from someone, and it always happens when I spend time with them. At least it wasn't strep!!! But I wasn't sick enough to prevent me from stopping to take this shot!!!

If you can't see the exit number, it's 69. That sign has always cracked me up, since I can remember being a nasty minded little fucker. Anyway, my plan was to head up to Munising just shy of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. I was going to start my Iron butt from there on wednesday morn'. I found a campground and took up a spot there. Left feeling like shit to find some dinner. It ended up being a can of campbells chicken noodle and some hot tea with whiskey and honey. The woman working at the citgo was a total crotch to me, then I realized I was going to need a witness for the Iron Butt. "She's perfect.." is exactly what I thought. I love trying to think I can charm people into being nice...I love experiments! So got back to the campground and dumped the bike in frickin' sugar sand! Awsome! Photo op. I notice no sign concerning bears, then I went down to the shore and low and behold, a crap ton of bear prints. I put all my smelly crap in one of my happy trail knock offs and wedged it in a tree. nighty nite...

Forgot to mention my trip across the Mackinaw Bridge. I've never ridden across a suspended bridge that long, and it scared the bejesus out of me. It was very windy, 40degrees and pouring down rain. If I looked off to my left or right just a bit I would be on the verge of a major panic attack...It was awesome!!!

Bridge...

I made it!!

Yupper!!!

What a nice bike. That thing has RTW written all over it...

Great report. Looking forward to more.

Endurance.

Cute, but sinister children.

A kickass bike, a challenge.