Of Lighthouses and Cheese Curds.

[BikerGeek99]

Following the GPS, it took us to a spot where we could view the lighthouse, but it was across a channel. In order to get close to it, we had to backtrack – through that construction, which was kinda gnarly on a fully-loaded, 2-up FJR – and make our way to a park and campground by the lighthouse.

Someone’s home with a lighthouse attached to it.



Pulling in to the park / campground, there was sand that had blown across the pavement. I’d seen this earlier in the day and didn’t think anything of it. Until… TANK-SLAPPER!! That was the first time in all my years and miles riding that I’d ever ‘sperienced a tank slapper. Holy schnikes!! I aboot sharted! The bars whacked back and forth and I thought we were gonna bite it for sure and I thought, “Well, at least we’re not going very fast and have all our gear on.” Once the front tire made it onto clean pavement, the bike straightened right up as if nothing had happened. Sooze asked me, “What in the world was THAT?!” We were wide awake, to say the least. Here is where we did the slapper – you can see where the front tire did its thing.



This one is in South Haven, MI.



Kinda behind where this picture was taken is a campground, right on the beach. There were a few takers, but there were plenty of open spots.



This kinda makes you think a bit…






We were able to walk all the way to the end of the pier on this one – no guard rails, no nothing, so watch yer step!



It was getting later in the afternoon, so we decided to head into town and see if they had any trash ‘n trinkets, and to find a coffee shop for an afternoon cup ‘O joe.



While it wasn’t very busy while we were there, we imagine that during the summer the place is a tourist trap.



After imbibing some coffee and a tasty chocolate chip cookie, we headed on to our next lighthouse of the day.

 

[BikerGeek99]

This one was definitely off the beaten path, but it was also kinda neat. While the other ones kinda all looked alike, this one was unique because it was brick.



Petite Point.






GAAHHH!! There’s a lighthouse growing otta my head!!



This is what the road to the lighthouse was.



This would be our final lighthouse of the day, so with daylight waning, we headed north-ish.



Going through one of the tourist-trap-y spots, we could see the dunes across the lake. I have heard of the massive dunes in this part of the state, but this is the first time I had actually seen them.



Since it was after Labor Day, and the kiddies are back in school, pretty much all the tourist crap was shut down for the season.



A barn for Andrew.



And another.

 

[BikerGeek99]

Heading into our destination for the evening – Manistee, MI – we saw this ship docked.



I’ll admit that I wasn’t really expecting much, but Manistee looked like a pretty quaint little town.



I did a little research and we settled on having dinner at the Bungalow Inn.



Sooze had a steak.



I had prime rib with fungus and onions.



After a kinda chilly day on the bike, having a good ‘ol meat ‘n taters dinner was just what I needed.

I found out that a fella who is a friend of a friend lives in town and owns the local bowling alley, which was right on our way back to the hotel, so I got a hold of him to make sure he was there and we popped in to say hey because we hadn’t seen him in quite a while and he had been having some health issues. So we stopped in at Striketown.



I was happy to see Jeff again.



After sitting and chatting with him, and having some serious laughs, we bode him a good evening and headed to our hotel and called it a night.

 

[BikerGeek99]

Tuesday, September 23, 2014.

Time to head home.

We once again had a nice, clear, crisp morning greet us. We dawdled a bit letting the sun come up and the temperature warm up just a bit before heading out.



A little more fall color starting to show here and there.



The contrast of colors in the spot was rather striking.



We knew we would have a long day in the saddle today so we just tried to enjoy any scenery we could.



I saw a sign for one of those scenic lookout spots and decided to check it out. There was us, and some dude way at the other end changing a tire or something on his truck. I didn’t even realize he was there until we pulled out. I was hoping for some more fall colors, but I guess it was too soon in the season.



But there was just a wee bit of color here and there.



Make up your mind already, tree! Are ya gonna be fall colors or not??






We were on US 131 and eventually found ourselves in Kalamazoo, MI.



We had a stop in mind…

 

[BikerGeek99]

Winding our way through town…



We found what we were looking for: Bell’s Brewing, their tasting room and some grub.



It may not look like much from the outside, but it’s a pretty nice place inside.



We grabbed a couple of seats at the bar.



We didn’t let ‘em know we’re from Ohio, so the bartender took this picture for us.



We had a couple of tasty sammiches and sampled some of their brews.



Back on the road, we were back into farm country.



And eventually back into Indiana.



This was a pretty good-sized grain processing facility.



We were in and out of more Midwestern small towns.

 

[BikerGeek99]

More small town stuff.






And, on the back roads, eventually back to our home state.



On this trip we’ve been in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, ‘Sconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Michigan. This picture could have come from any one of those states.



Same with this one.



We had ooooone more photo op for the trip which took us into Celina, OH. Some of the folks in Celina keep their homes and yards looking very nice.



This isn’t why we’re here, but let’s call it “foreshadowing.”



Yes, there is a lighthouse here.



So we stopped for a couple of pictures and continued our way home.

 

[BikerGeek99]

And, with that, we sucked it up and headed for home.



Total miles on the day was just under 475, and total miles for the trip was 2514.7.



To say we had a blast would be an understatement. It was awesome to ride and hang out with Tyler at NAFO, we wanna go back to Door County and spend more time exploring, and – oh yeah! There are wayyy more lighthouses in ‘Sconsin and Michigan for us to check off our list.

And cheese curds. Definitely more cheese curds.

Thanks for following along with us!
Geek ‘n Sooze.

 

[BikerGeek99]

Oh, yeah - if ya wanna see where we were, here's the SPOT weirdo stalker link: Internet 'weirdos' click here.

 

[Uncle Hud]

Well done, sir! Fab pix and great words.

 

[SwollenRaccoon]

Awesome report, Andy. Just awesome. Sorry I missed meeting you (and everyone else) at NAFO (I'm only 70 miles from Lacrosse), but I had just gotten back from Colorado (my first time) on Thursday of that week. We put 3,045 miles on in 6 days, and I just couldn't get there. My loss. I'll show up next time, I hope. Great ride report.

 

[wnyfjr]

Bravo, Andy! Laura and I are officially jealous as hell! Our summer just got away from us and the only trip we managed was the Wellsboro weekend back in the spring. Maybe next summer...

Anyway, nicely done!!

 

[hppants]

Enjoyed the ride report - every bit of it. My favorite non-riding part was the maritime museum. I would have spent a lot of time there.

A lighthouse tour is a great idea.

Thanks for sharing the journey with us.