Munising MI to Weidman MI

June 18, 2025

I woke up at 7, late for me. I walked to the restroom quite a distance, but it was clean and newer than the rest of the place. They had nice lanscaping with flower gardens around the store. I also had a planter of johnny jump ups on my cabin deck, I returned to my cabin and thought about making coffee. The thought of sharing it with the mosquitoes made the decision for me, to skip the coffee. I instead planned my route on my phone and then asked the GPS to go to my first stop, Seney Crossing Breakfast Diner. It ended up being a small local place, the kind we like to stop at my trips with Rob. There was a customer in the diner that had bicycled all over Canada. He was now traveling down through Michigan and is going to end in NH. I thought I was on a journey. The cook, waiter etc was named Randy. He reminded me of our friend Nate. He seemed to be a relaxed, talkative, and down to earth guy. We talked about motorcycles and batteries. He lives locally. There were four choices for breakfast on his menu. I ordered the scrambled eggs and bacon, with Rye toast and coffee. Good food and great company.

After breakfast I plotted the next couple of points into the GPS for a route. It actually worked. Yay. I was making my way towards the Machinaw Bridge. I followed Route 77 to Route 2. Randy had suggested I stop in a little hamlet called Germfast. It is home to a large wooden Troll, like the Breckenridge Troll , named Bonny the Beard. It is part of a campground, so it would not have been an easy stop, so I passed it by. It was already 10:30am. I have been getting later starts as I moved farther east.

Route 2 follows the shoreline of Lake Michigan. There was a section that was all dunes on both sides of the road. There were many rest areas to stop and view the lake. I stopped at one and took a walk down to the beach. There was a husband and wife having a picnic lunch looking out at the water. The water was calm. I closed my eyes and took in the quiet lapping of the water. I could have stayed there all day. It was so calm and quiet, a nice change from the busy road.

I stopped to gas up and pee, and grabbed a sandwich to eat later. Now to navigate the Mackinaw Bridge. It costs $14 for a motorcycle to go over the bridge. Luckily, it was not too windy today. Though I did notice that the water on the Lake Michigan side seemed calmer than that on the Lake Huron side. I did fine going over the bridge, however I didn't like that the right lane was paved and the left lane was metal grate. The semi trucks have to stay in the right lane. Some of the trucks were having to go quite slowly, making passing a neccessity. Riding on the metal grate surface made Kim move side to side, a bit like riding on grooved pavement. I had to pass two trucks, but managed to get over the bridge just fine. I have noticed that the roads in certain areas in the colder states are slightly grooved on purpose. It feels a bit weird to drive on, but I got used to it.

My next road takes me to the Tunnel of Trees. A 12-15 mile almost single lane road along the edge of Lake Michigan. Route 119 is a beautiful tree lined road. Among the trees there are carefully placed homes with manicured lawns and mossy stone walls. I stopped at one point by a pretty horse farm to put on my rain jacket. Though the lake was not visible through the trees, it only made the road more magical in the misty fog. As I was nearing the end of the road, I went around a curve and there was a big red barn with large fields of sheep. A deer on the side of the road desided against crossing, and ran back into the woods. Eventually, the road opened up and there was a fancy golf club and a huge equestrian operation Brek-N-Ridge Farm. The road ends in Harbor Springs. A fancy golf and boating town. I found a little rest area, so I stopped to eat my lunch as the light rain had let up. A look at the weather radar helped me decide that I would not stop at Petosky Park. Rob and Tucker had stopped there before on a bike trip, so I had wanted to stop, but not in the rain. The rain was chasing me again.

I mounted up, after a nice chat with Sarah and with Brooke. I continued on through Petosky, but took a wrong turn on 31 instead of 131. I stopped and realized that my cardo( the cardo allows me to talk to others, hear directions and listen to music in my helmet) had a low battery. I put the charger pack in my pocket and the cord onto the Cardo. That worked fine until I was going highway speeds and the magnet was not strong enough. Oh well.... The GPS was working, so that would have to do for now.

I took Route 32 over to Interstate 75. I stopped for coffee as it was getting later in the day. It had rained some on Route 32, but now on 75 it was just cloudy. After a few days off the Interstate, it felt strange going 75-77 again. I got off of 75 onto Route 127. It wasn't much different with the speed limit still 75 mph. I made it down to Claire and decided to stop for gas and food. I checked the weather. I would get wet regardless of where I went and the showers were to continue all night. I stopped at a Culvers for dinner. I had a yummy chicken sandwich and a side of broccoli. I havent had many veggies on this trip, so the broccoli tasted great. I guess Culvers is known for their shakes, but it was a bit cold for ice cream. I texted with Rob a bit and then headed next door the auto zone to get some more WD 40 for my chain. I believe I need to clean and lube the chain again, as I was hearing it making some noise this afternoon. A job for tomorrow when I should see the sun shine again.

I went down the street for gas and suited up, just as the rain started again. It was only light rain, and I only had 20 minutes to ride to get to Weidman, MI. As I approached Weidman I was riding on a straight road for 10 miles. The road was flat and took me through farmland. The interesting thing to see were all the huge windmills all over the area. It was strange and so different a terrain, from the forested roads of the last two days. The rain was coming down harder, so I had to periodically move my head into the wind to clear my face shield of the rain drops. Luckily, it wasn't fogging up. When the GPS navigated me to a side street in Weidman, I realized that I had forgotten to plug in the KOA into the GPS. I set the course, and in about 2 miles I arrived at the Weidman KOA.

A nice young guy( He reminded me of our friend Rob Callan) was the host. He apologized for not seeing my reservation, as he had been out mowing trying to get it done before the rain. He escorted me to my cabin. With the rain predicted to last all night, a cabin was the right choice. He made sure I had everything I needed and showed me where the bathroom and showners were located. This was a slightly nicer cabin than the previous nights. There was a queen size bed, a table with two chairs, AC, Heat, a mircowave, and a mini fridge. I think they get alot of fishermen and hunters and they stay in all seasons. I get settled, turn on the AC and sit down at the table to write. The pitter patter of rain on the roof will lull me to sleep tonight. Till tomorrow......