Down Lower Michigan, Heading for Home....

Nick and I were up early on Saturday, seems he is still on pre-retirement time, and is up half the freaking night, and out of bed by 5am....so up we were, me a shower, then down to the "kitchen" for some mini donuts and coffee....Kurt managed to sleep awhile longer and really wasn't ready to roll...but packed and on the TWs we were by 8am....

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360 miles to go to Kurt's Ranch outside Auburn, Indiana, we had planned originally to take our time, ride half or so of the 360 and pull into Kurt's on Sunday afternoon...well once we got started, and zigzagged our way from east to west, then southeast, to south, we ended up finishing up our non Ohio portion of the ride by 7pm Saturday.


Nick in South Central Michigan, in the LDS Church Parking lot, about as close as Nick will get to a real Church, anytime soon....
Pulling out of Atlanta, we stayed on the State Highways for awhile, then dirt, gravel, etc, across I-75 into central areas, then back on Michigan 66 where we did some more zigging and sagging across the sandy flats and back roads....somewhere past half way, we met a young street biker, who help lead us out of his town{forget it at the moment} and shadow state roads on more dirt and pavement, and on to Olivet where we stopped and decided our next move....seeing we were along I-69 we decided to forego the meal and motel, and did some more shadowing, this time riding Old US 27 along and beside I-69.  Kurt had called ahead from our last gas stop in Coldwater, Michigan, and ask his wife, Peggy, to pick up some beers, and that we would arrive before dark....

<<< The last of the mechanical issues, Kurt's ride, probably part of the aftermath of the previous Sunday's wreck, had the real brake dragging causing the break light to stay on....a quick fix was in order in the LDS Lot and we headed out for the final push to Auburn...

And we did, what a ride, Nick and I would stay the night in Kurt's "Barn" and down more than a few beers, while Peggy went some 23 miles and bought us a selection of Chinese Food....we fought the Mosquitoes with fogger and campfire, but exhausted and filled with food an brews, we realized than we had just about finished what most folks, especially our ages, 55, 65, and 66, could only dream about....1500+ miles on 200cc Dual Sport, big tires, and all, Motorcycles..."What a Ride Indeed"!

Nick and I still had 70 mile of back roads to run, and we were up, grabbed a quick breakfast Sammy and Coffee, thanks to Peggy, and were on our way by 9am....home by 11:30am we had been gone from one Sunday afternoon to the next Sunday, late morning.

Would I try something like this again?  Perhaps....however next time, I would hope to be able to ride more dirt and back roads, and take it a bit slower....but this time we got done what we needed and saw much of what we wanted and accomplished plenty in the time allotted.

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