The Brothers’ Ride

It seems as though my love of motorcycles and riding is contagious.  It has infected many others, for better or worse, and one of those suffering souls is my brother.  As is pretty common with brothers, we have not always seen eye to eye on things, but as we’ve gotten older and (dare I say) wiser, that shit has worked itself out.  Another way of saying it would be that perhaps I wasn’t always quite as right as I thought I was.  Live and learn.

So last Christmas, my brother hatched the idea that we should take a ride together.  Not just any ride, though: this ride had a purpose.  The purpose was seeing some of the breweries and distilleries that have popped up along the scenic shores of Lake Michigan, along with the better cigar lounges.  In other words, riding motorcycles, drinking, and smoking.  Brilliant!

After much back and forth, the dates were set.  Now for the route.  I typically end up planning routes and stops, often because either no one will do it, or I’m running the ride, or I’m by myself.  This time, my brother started making suggestions on stops and routes, so I quickly appointed him Road Captain for the trip.  Works for me.  I only dropped in my two cents a couple times, and he ended up doing a great job.  It was an especially great job because I didn’t have to do it.  I liked that part.

It just so happened that the ride was to start on my brother’s birthday, so I ditched the office shortly after five and hit the e-way to head north.  I was heading to my parents new place just outside of Midland, and we were going to have a family birthday celebratory dinner.  As is often the case around metro Detroit, traffic was a battle for about 25 miles trying to make my way through the northern suburbs.  Once the flow freed up, I was able to push the dresser and make up some time until heading west on US-10, cautious of both cops and deer.

After enjoying some grilled salmon for dinner, we hung out with the folks for a bit, checked out their new pad, and then rolled to my brother’s place so he could pack.  And by “packing,” I mean we drank whiskey while my sister-in-law diligently packed my brother’s stuff.

We awoke to rainy weather.  I don’t particularly like leaving in the rain, so we milled around for a bit and ate about a dozen sausage croissants for breakfast.  Health food it was not, but they are so delicious, with the added bonus that they travel well on motorcycles.  We rolled out about ten, and at a fuel stop in Manistee, we ran into two ladies on bikes that had rode out from Denver and Las Vegas.  It’s always cool meeting people on the road…

As we continued on our trek along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, we rolled through Arcadia Dunes, up M-22.  One of the most incredible sites was this optical illusion that the lake was actually over us as we wound our way through the hills.

We arrived at our AirBnB and were welcomed by our host Kelly.  It was a beautiful place to stay, and Kelly and her family were fine hosts, even with the very busy activities of a houseful of people.  Our initial resting in the park-like setting of the back yard was shattered by an unwelcome visit from a nest of ground bees, which we had apparently disturbed.  I’m very fortunate I’m not allergic to bees, because those little bastards got me good.

With some recovery and relocation, we chatted with Kelly for a while, and found out that she and her SO also ride, so she insisted we take the ride up and around on M-22, and I was so thankful she did.  It was the most beautiful part of the ride that day, and we made a few refreshment stops along the way, and eventually made are way all the way back to Traverse City to have dinner at Taproot.

Day two took us across the Mighty Mac, the Mackinac Bridge, which connects the Upper and Lower Peninsulas of Michigan.  For those unaware, Michigan is actually not itself contiguous.  The Lower Peninsula, or “mitten,” is separated from the Upper Peninsula (UP) by Lakes Huron and Michigan, and connected only by the Western Hemisphere’s largest suspension bridge, spanning just shy of five miles.  Said bridge can be disconcerting for motorcyclists, to put it mildly.  I personally stick to the paved lane as opposed to the cheese grater.  I’m happy to say we made it across with no issues.

Crossing the Mac is a spectacular view, and the first part of US 2 that travels west along the Lake Michigan shore is beautiful, but then it breaks inland, and you’re stuck with mile after mile of boring, flat, semi swamp land and two lane 55 mph highway.  And there’s a reason it’s 55.  People seem to really enjoy falling asleep on that road, crossing the centerline and playing a bit of one-way chicken with oncoming traffic.  And if the cages don’t get ya, there’s a fine assortment of four legged critters that traverse the road when you least expect.    In fact, you’re far more likely to see furry critters than people; although the UP accounts for nearly 30% of Michigan’s land, it only has 3% of its human population.

After a hard day’s ride, we made it to Green Bay, Wisconsin, where we stayed at a perfectly preserved, family owned single-story 1950’s motel.  A fine meal, some cocktails, and a smoke at Prohibition Cigars and we were ready for a good night’s rest.

After a bite to eat and a requisite breakfast beer, we rolled out to Milwaukee to check out the HD museum.  It’s a must-see for motorcycle enthusiasts, and certainly a worthwhile stop to view an important piece of American cultural history.  As much as I tried, I could not figure out how to sneak out of there on a Panhead.  I did, however, spend some time in their motorcycle archive upstairs, which includes one of every model Harley has ever made.  Pretty awesome.

The Lake Express is a high-speed ferry that traverses Lake Michigan from Milwaukee to Muskegon.  Courtesy of their very glitchy website, we ended up without reservations and had to basically squeeze onto the ship just as they were leaving port.  As the last two on the boat, literally, the ship was underway as we were still struggling to get the bikes tied down.  A quick couple hours and a beer (or two) and we were on shore in Michigan.

Off the ramps and back on the road, we rode side by side as far as Lansing, where our paths diverged.  We said our goodbyes and headed home.