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UP ride wrap up Aug. 4th

dltang

Very Handy Member
Monday Aug. 4th.

Monday morning, finally upon us, and it is time to head home. No one really looks forward to going home I don’t think. Dan and Karen loaded their vehicles back into the trailer for the ride all the way back to Romulus. Bob and Joan were planning on stopping and visiting some relatives in West Branch before going back to Brighton. Damion lives on the west side of the state and was planning on taking the Lake Michigan Shore Ride home so we decided to head that way with him for a little more scenery. Ray said he would join us as well.

As it turns out, I think this was the best ride of all. There is a place between Cross Village and Harbor Springs called the Tunnel of Trees. It is very cool and very curvy. Michigan’s version of The Dragon I would guess. I will be taking that trip again, I am sure. We stopped for lunch in Harbor Springs and then headed south for about another hour or so. We had to get our photo under the 45th parallel sign. For those of you that don’t know, the 45th parallel is half way between the Equator and the North Pole. This is where we said goodbye once again. We now had to start heading east and south for our ride home. Damion was planning on continuing along the lake and riding up into the “pinky” of Michigan. You will have to look at a map to truly understand if you are not from here. Brian and Ray and I headed out. We rode for a bit longer together and then we too parted ways.
All, in all, I would say it was a successful weekend. I met a lot of new and wonderful spyder friends. We will be doing some more rides soon I am sure. This is most definitely our 1st ANNUAL ride. I learned some things and will probably change some things for next year but it is all about the ride and the great people. I hope more of you can join us next time. The beauty and hospitality is amazing.
 
Monday Aug. 4th.

Monday morning, finally upon us, and it is time to head home. No one really looks forward to going home I don’t think. Dan and Karen loaded their vehicles back into the trailer for the ride all the way back to Romulus. Bob and Joan were planning on stopping and visiting some relatives in West Branch before going back to Brighton. Damion lives on the west side of the state and was planning on taking the Lake Michigan Shore Ride home so we decided to head that way with him for a little more scenery. Ray said he would join us as well.

DSC00144.jpg


dltang said:
As it turns out, I think this was the best ride of all. There is a place between Cross Village and Harbor Springs called the Tunnel of Trees. It is very cool and very curvy. Michigan’s version of The Dragon I would guess. I will be taking that trip again, I am sure. We stopped for lunch in Harbor Springs and then headed south for about another hour or so. We had to get our photo under the 45th parallel sign. For those of you that don’t know, the 45th parallel is half way between the Equator and the North Pole. This is where we said goodbye once again.

DSC00154.jpg


dltang said:
We now had to start heading east and south for our ride home. Damion was planning on continuing along the lake and riding up into the “pinky” of Michigan. You will have to look at a map to truly understand if you are not from here. Brian and Ray and I headed out. We rode for a bit longer together and then we too parted ways.
All, in all, I would say it was a successful weekend. I met a lot of new and wonderful spyder friends. We will be doing some more rides soon I am sure. This is most definitely our 1st ANNUAL ride. I learned some things and will probably change some things for next year but it is all about the ride and the great people. I hope more of you can join us next time. The beauty and hospitality is amazing.

Here is the route until the last of the group finally parted ways.

Mondayride.jpg
 
Thanks for the write up! The trip and the people sound great. What did you learn that you would change to make the next trip better?
 
Thanks for the write up! The trip and the people sound great. What did you learn that you would change to make the next trip better?


The big thing is that we had too much ride time and not enough visit time. We were a bit ambitious in trying to see two or three sites in one day and a 400 mile round trip run for a barbeque was just too much. Being out riding and site seeing from 9am until 9pm is too tiring.

Another suggestion was to go to one motel the first night, ride to another motel (200 - 300 miles) for the second night and head back and stay in a third motel on the last night. One downfall of that is it's not convenient for everyone to have to carry all of their luggage every day.

We also learned that one of the best rides we took needs to happen the first or second day, not the last day. By the last day, people tended to go their own way instead of attempt one more scenic ride and I think that they all missed the nicest ride of the weekend. I vote that next time we will set up a few nice scenic rides and then allow riders to see the tourist attractions at their leisure.
 
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Thanks for the write up! The trip and the people sound great. What did you learn that you would change to make the next trip better?

Yup, like bjt said, the biggest thing we learned is not to try to ride and see so much. I think what I would really like to do is go to one place and have a short day ride planned for each day we are there, and the rest of the time have available for local riding and site seeing and visiting with our spyder friends.
 
Yup, like bjt said, the biggest thing we learned is not to try to ride and see so much. I think what I would really like to do is go to one place and have a short day ride planned for each day we are there, and the rest of the time have available for local riding and site seeing and visiting with our spyder friends.

That sounds like sage advice. Looking forward to our first trip to Big Bend State Park. Will definitely save time to stop, rest, visit and explore.

Great write up. Thanks
 
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