Lake Michigan Circle Tour by Motorcycle: The Night Before
My trip around Lake Michigan by motorcycle starts tomorrow! I've spent the weekend packing and re-packing, trying to get everything down to just the essentials. It's a lot harder than one would think. I'll do a final check and re-pack in the morning, but as of this evening I've got my clothing down to:
- Two pair of jeans
- Two pair of cargo shorts
- Six shirts
- One hooded sweatshirt
- Rain gear
- Seven pair socks and underwear
- One pair of shoes
Add to that the clothes I'll be wearing, a leather motorcycle jacket, boots and riding gloves, plus a full face helmet. In addition to that, I've got a small bag of toiletries, a small medical kit, a Swiss Army camping knife, a digital camera, phone, iPod Touch and a netbook. I also picked up a small 24" duffle bag that folds down into a 6" x 6" square, in case I need more storage.
All of this stuff is packed into a Dowco two piece luggage set (a pack plus a roll bag). You just don't realize how little room you have a motorcycle until you start trying to pack!
I've got a small tool bag full of essential tools that I hope I don't need attached to the front forks as well. All of this stuff is going on my 1994 Harley Sportster. I've got no windscreen or fancy stuff like that.
We were hoping for better weather, but we've been plagued with rain all weekend and the forecasts call for a 60% chance of more rain over the entire Wisconsin/Illinois/Indiana/Michigan area through Tuesday, though it's supposed to be lighter the farther North we go. Guess we'll be breaking the rain gear out on the first day.
We plan on taking Route 30, the old historic Lincoln Highway, out of the Chicago metro area into Indiana in the morning, skirting around Gary and then up to the lakeshore. We'll be sticking close to Lake Michigan and hope to make it to the Muskegon area by the end of the day.
On the second day, we'll be heading up 31 to 22 and on to Sleeping Bear Bay, where we plan on spending some time at Sleeping Bear Dunes, the first real destination of our trip.
With any luck, I'll be adding posts each night, hopefully with pictures! I hope you all enjoy following along; wish me luck!
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