Today we did about 270 miles from Rice Lake, Wi, to Grand Rapids, MN. We had a great breakfast at the Northside Cafe, determined by the helpful recommendation from our server at dinner the night before. We called a start time of 8am, and breakfast was done by 9am, and on the road we were.
But I need to take a minute and back up to the SS Badger ferry ride from Ludington. If you are going to take that ferry, choose the “State Room” option. It’s the only way to travel. Because we were the last to board the ferry, all the tables and adjoining open seating were taken by the first boarders. But… if you have a state room, as I have already said in the last blog you know the amenities, but we got to take a nap as well. That’s worth the price of admission alone.
So we disembarked the Badger around 1pm, first off fortunately, and we hooked up with Hedgehog and SkiDoo Matt outside the Kwik Trip gas market on 8th street. After a quick knuckle punch greeting, we were off for Rice Lake, WI. But… we had to make a quick stop in Appleton, WI, at the Appleton Boat Shop to hook Ski Doo up with a new pair of riding pants, because he has eaten to many “salads” (Coors Light) and blew the elastic our of his first pair. Since the restroom was occupied, he had to do a trial run of his new pants right at the parts counter. Quite a sight for the showroom shoppers, I must say.
The new pants were satisfactory, and back on the trail we were. Riding along, we stopped about evey hour and a quarter for a break to stretch and rest. One of our breaks was at the Bad Habits bar outside I don’t know what town. A quick pop, a short conversation with the couple locals, and an attempt to find the rightful owner of a couple stray dogs hanging outside the bar, and we were back on the road.
We did about 275 miles yesterday, not counting my and Monkey’s 60 mile sail across Lake Michigan, and we got in to the MicroTel in Rice Lake, WI, around 6:30pm local Central time. While there was an Applebee’s across the road, which if The Kid, Kyle, was with us I am sure we would have eaten at, the hotel clerk recommended the Adventurer Grill just down the road. A great meal was shared with chicken fajitas, bbq ribs, and Ski doo had pine apple chicken teryaki, which didn’t quite do the job so he also ordered a set of wings to finish.
After dinner, we enjoyed a few cold adult beverages, and the friendly server informed us they were getting ready to close. So, being as resourceful as we are, we inquired about the availability of a couple growlers of our favorite beverage to go. She was very accommodating and we each walked out with a growler of our favorite beverage.
We adjourned in the MicroTell lobby, and enjoyed our growlers and conversation about the day we just had.
After breakfast this morning, we were on the road by about 9am. At this point, I should make you aware of how the stalk us on our jouney. At the darksideadventures.com website, go to the “Tracking” tab, click it. When the map comes up, click on either 7 days or 1 day or your choice, and you will get our up to date location. I also need to disclose that our tracking is dependant upon my memory to turn on my spot tracker each day. So, if you don’t see a current update, be patient, I will eventually realize I forgot to activate it. I don’t need reminders from the peanut gallery, I am trying to enjoy a ride here, ok.
Our path today was to run a portion of the coastline of Lake Superior, have lunch along the way, then high tail it to Grand Rapids, MN. Mission accomplished. We ran thru Duluth, MN, and promptly found the 2 lane road along the lake we were looking for. Beautiful views, nice riding, and lunch at the Scenic Cafe. After lunch, Ski Doo found us some nice 2 lane county roads to run. Now this is the trip across the west I am looking for. 2 lanes, 4 dudes on bikes, and smooth back roads. Great ride all afternoon.
We got in to the Timber Lakes Resort around 5:30pm, and our truck/trailer driver Brian that runs ahead of us, had ice cold Coor’s Lights in a cooler on the tailgate of the truck waiting for our arriveal. And did we take advantage of it. I never even went to the room, I got my bags off the bike set them on the bag cart under the portico, and proceeded to enjoy the tasty cold beverages. Two hours later, and only 2 Coors left in the cooler, I took my bags to the room, and am now sitting at the dinner table writing this stupid blog.
While we were enjoying those tasty beverages in the parking lot, we ran into three guys from Quebec on a motorcycle ride going west to Yellowstone and then north to Saskatchewan. We shared stories of our snowmobiling in Quebec, and they shared stories of their bike rides in the U.S. Internation relations at it’s best.
We are riding to Devil’s Lake, ND, tomorrow. We plan to travel mostly local county roads, and veer off the beaten path and take in the sights along the way.
I am sure I missed a few details, but I will do my best to fill in the blanks when I remember them. Until then…
Bye for now,
Stick
