dltang
08-05-2008, 10:06 AM
Here is the link to the photo slide show of the whole ride.
http://s175.photobucket.com/albums/w134/briantangen/UP%20Cruise/
Friday, Aug. 1st
Well, our UP ride was a success! From our driveway and back to our driveway we ended up riding 1316.8 miles over the 4 days. We started by meeting up with 3 other Spyders and a Harley at Nord-Ride in Mt. Morris, MI. Mike, the owner of Nord-Ride had refreshments set up for us to get our day started. That was very nice of him. None of the riders we met with there frequent the forums so you wouldn’t recognize their names but we did tell them to start logging on.
We left from Nord-Ride and decided to take all secondary roads. Damion came over to meet us from Muskegon and he had never been north of Flint he said. He goes on to the BRP SpyderRyder site as Styng or Sting. Anyway, I never thought to stop off in Frankenmuth because we live so close and I used to work in that town. They are known for being a Bavarian village famous for their Chicken dinners and the Christmas shop, Bronners. http://www.bronners.com/ Anyway, he asked why we didn’t stop there and check it out. We did stop in Pinconning and took our photos with a giant mouse and a piece of cheese though. We rode all along the Lake Huron lake shore as we headed up to St. Ignace. At one stop, about an hour south of St. Ignace we saw a Spyder racing almost past us but he pulled in to the roadside park and joined us. It was Duane and his wife Wanda. They couldn’t meet up with us at Nord-Ride but they continued on with us from there. We had met Duane when we went to the Spyder Homecoming; he rode from Port Huron with us.
It was a very long day of riding that’s for sure but it was beautiful weather and great company. We all crossed the 5-mile long Mackinaw Bridge together and that was cool. As we were approaching our hotel we passed another Spyder riding the other way. I recognized him right away. It was Daddydarko (James) he was just leaving our motel. He turned around and joined the group. When we arrived at the motel, I was told there was another rider and her husband that had gone down to the bridge to meet us but we had missed them. I called them and they were already sitting down for dinner. Karen and Dan had trailered up with her Spyder and his Harley. So now our group had grown to 8 Spyders and two Harleys.
Tim and Kathy, the owners of The Cedar’s Motel were great. They were so very accommodating and just so nice. We had a small bon fire every night when we got back to the motel and that was nice. They put out a nice little continental breakfast every morning that was just a bit better than your average continental breakfast. They included French toast and donuts and a nice variety of cereal and bread for toast and some pastries and just nice touches like that. The rooms were very comfortable and very clean and cute as heck. It wasn’t fancy but very homey and just what we needed to come back to each night. They even had the gas grill out and available to us if we wanted to use it. As it turned out, we got back too late until the last night though. Brian and I did grill out a couple of steaks that night.
http://s175.photobucket.com/albums/w134/briantangen/UP%20Cruise/
Friday, Aug. 1st
Well, our UP ride was a success! From our driveway and back to our driveway we ended up riding 1316.8 miles over the 4 days. We started by meeting up with 3 other Spyders and a Harley at Nord-Ride in Mt. Morris, MI. Mike, the owner of Nord-Ride had refreshments set up for us to get our day started. That was very nice of him. None of the riders we met with there frequent the forums so you wouldn’t recognize their names but we did tell them to start logging on.
We left from Nord-Ride and decided to take all secondary roads. Damion came over to meet us from Muskegon and he had never been north of Flint he said. He goes on to the BRP SpyderRyder site as Styng or Sting. Anyway, I never thought to stop off in Frankenmuth because we live so close and I used to work in that town. They are known for being a Bavarian village famous for their Chicken dinners and the Christmas shop, Bronners. http://www.bronners.com/ Anyway, he asked why we didn’t stop there and check it out. We did stop in Pinconning and took our photos with a giant mouse and a piece of cheese though. We rode all along the Lake Huron lake shore as we headed up to St. Ignace. At one stop, about an hour south of St. Ignace we saw a Spyder racing almost past us but he pulled in to the roadside park and joined us. It was Duane and his wife Wanda. They couldn’t meet up with us at Nord-Ride but they continued on with us from there. We had met Duane when we went to the Spyder Homecoming; he rode from Port Huron with us.
It was a very long day of riding that’s for sure but it was beautiful weather and great company. We all crossed the 5-mile long Mackinaw Bridge together and that was cool. As we were approaching our hotel we passed another Spyder riding the other way. I recognized him right away. It was Daddydarko (James) he was just leaving our motel. He turned around and joined the group. When we arrived at the motel, I was told there was another rider and her husband that had gone down to the bridge to meet us but we had missed them. I called them and they were already sitting down for dinner. Karen and Dan had trailered up with her Spyder and his Harley. So now our group had grown to 8 Spyders and two Harleys.
Tim and Kathy, the owners of The Cedar’s Motel were great. They were so very accommodating and just so nice. We had a small bon fire every night when we got back to the motel and that was nice. They put out a nice little continental breakfast every morning that was just a bit better than your average continental breakfast. They included French toast and donuts and a nice variety of cereal and bread for toast and some pastries and just nice touches like that. The rooms were very comfortable and very clean and cute as heck. It wasn’t fancy but very homey and just what we needed to come back to each night. They even had the gas grill out and available to us if we wanted to use it. As it turned out, we got back too late until the last night though. Brian and I did grill out a couple of steaks that night.