Lake Michigan Circle Tour by Motorcycle: Day Four
Up early in Paradise, Michigan! Since we figured on a long day of riding across the Upper Peninsula, we agreed to have the bikes packed and be ready to roll at 8 am. By now, my ability to pack and repack my bags was getting better, so I actually met the deadline! We grabbed a free continental breakfast in the motel lobby; I snapped some photos of the beach and lake view behind the motel; then we headed out of town on Highway 123.
We decided to do a quick stop at the Tahquamenon Falls State Park again; this time to check out the Lower Falls. The Lower Falls weren’t quite as breathtaking, but still pretty cool. The Lower Falls empty into a large circular bowl before the water moves on down the river. I’d love to come back and actually spend some time hiking in the area.
Lower Falls, Tahquamenon State Park, Michigan
We got back on 123 for a nice long ride through Newberry State Forest Area and the town of Newberry on the way to Highway 28. We headed west on 28 to 77, then South to Highway 2, which put us on the Northern shores of Lake Michigan/Green Bay.
The ride was long, on two lane highway, so we made good time. We also killed a lot of bugs, especially butterflies, that kept dive bombing our bikes. By the time we stopped for gas, my jacket, helmet and front of my bike was covered in yellowish-orange butterfly innards. The handy wipes I packed finally came in handy!
The gas stop was also where I discovered that my left highway peg had mysteriously sheared off! Gone. Completely. I have no idea when or where it happened, but it was probably as we rolled into town, since I was using the pegs a lot during the ride. Not a huge deal to lose a highway peg, but it did make it harder to stretch my legs and shift my weight around during the ride.
Speaking of stretches, this stretch of riding was the longest bit we’d done so far, at high speed. We covered a lot of ground, but it cost Mike and I some sore hands and butts. Our bikes aren’t really designed for long trips; the seats aren’t very comfortable and we don’t have windshields, so we did a lot of squirming, standing on pegs to stretch legs, and shaking our hands out during the ride. I won’t lie, it was tiring.
Jack's, Rapid River, Michigan
Riding West on Highway 2, we cut across another stretch of the Hiawatha National Forest and finally pulled into Rapid River, Michigan, which sits on Little Bay de Noc. Rapid River is a tiny little town, maybe eight blocks square. We fueled up the bikes and then stopped for lunch at a small local restaurant called Jack’s, on the corner of Washington and S. Main Street (right down the street from the Swallow Inn. You can't make this stuff up).
Jack’s is the kind of place you imagine all the locals meet up at for some hot soup and coffee during the harsh winter months up here. I ordered the M&M Burger with fries and went to town, since our breakfast had been pretty light.
After lunch, we followed 2 down to Highway 35. 35 was a nice ride, right up against the lake shore for a bit. It gave us some very nice views of Green Bay (the actual Bay, not the city). Somewhere before Marinette, we stopped at a nice roadside restaurant just to get off the bikes, stretch our legs and grab something to drink. The owners had just bought the place and were very friendly. We sat and talked with them about the economy, our bikes and their restaurant for about half an hour. Turns out they had owned a jewelry shop in Green Bay, Wisconsin, but the economy was really taking a toll on their business. They had always wanted to run a restaurant and decided to buy this one. They had great personalities, easy to talk to, so I think they'll do well if the business in the Upper Peninsula picks up (Hopefully Mike or Tim will chime in with the name of the place in the comments, since I can't remember it).
Meatski's! Somewhere in northern Wisconsin
At Marinette, we crossed the state line into Wisconsin (with a stop at Meatski's for gas for my poor little 3.3 gallon Sportster) and then took a series of country roads through some gently rolling farmland over to Shawano (pronounced Shaw-no), which is right on the Wolf River.
(As an aside, I have to mention how surprised we were at the number of gas stations in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and even northern Wisconsin that did not take credit cards at the pump. Some of the pumps looked like they'd been in service since the 1970s. Not a big deal, just kind of weird. It added to the sense of being in a foreign land, which was the feeling I had through most of our time in the Upper Peninsula. And I mean that in a good way. Well, mostly.)
It was late afternoon by now. We had two things we wanted to do in the area before leaving on Friday: gambling and white water rafting. Once we got ourselves situated at the local Super 8 Motel, we headed up the road to the Menominee Indian Reservation and the casino they have there to accomplish goal number one.
I’m not really into gambling, but the other guys are, so I contented myself with watching them lose their money at craps and some three card game that looked easy enough, but sure didn’t produce many winning hands.
I got a few strange looks from the Casino employees now and again, who were mostly Menominee Indians, but I just chalked it up to the fact that I wasn’t actually gambling. Only later did I realize I was wearing my Indian Motorcycles hooded sweatshirt. I’m not going to pretend to know if they found it offensive or not; no one ever said anything to me. Still, maybe that’s why I was getting some looks. It probably wasn’t the wisest choice of clothing. Oh well.
After about two hours of gambling, the guys decided that they’d had enough; it was also getting to be dinner time. In the parking lot Mike and Tim agreed that it was a pretty sad casino. It was really dead while we were there, but then again, it was a Thursday evening so maybe that had something to do with it.
It was around 8 pm by now. On the ride back to Shawano, we stopped at a local place downtown on 47/55 called Baumann's Main Street Diner. We managed to sneak in about 15 minutes before they were set to close and we felt kind of bad. But the service was great and the food was good.
Back at the Super 8, we took advantage of the Wi-Fi to connect with the real world again before calling it a night so we could be ready in the morning for the second thing we were planning to do in Shawano: white water rafting on the Wolf River!
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