2008 Lake Michigan Circle Tour (Motorcycle!)

My neighbor and I are planning to do a motorcycle ride around Lake Michigan for the 2nd weekend of June. The majority of this trip will be right along the lake Michigan shoreline, some along Lake Superior, and is an extremely scenic route. Anyone interested is welcome to join in. I am posting a very tentative plan, and details will firm up as the date draws near.

If you wish to participate in this ride, please know that we will be leaving Thursday night, 8pm, June 12, so you will need to take Fri/Sat/Sun off from work. We will be back in Chicago by 6pm on Sunday the 15th. Several stops will be made along the way, frequently enough to prevent too much soreness and whatnot. Essentially - this will boil down to our usual number of riding hours on any given weekend day, but far more enjoyable as the traffic pretty much vanishes once we get north of Green Bay.

PLEASE NOTE THAT 90% OF THIS RIDE WILL BE IN THE DAYLIGHT

Rough outline (all travel times assume 15 minutes stop time per hour):

Thursday: Leave 294 & Willow @ 8pm, 3 hours to Green Bay, staying at the Marriot Suites for $40/person @ 3 to a room, including breakfast. Stops along the way include Milwaukee at the lakeshore (scenic), Sheboygan, and 2 more for gas/food/stretch/etc.

Friday: Leave Green Bay @ 830am, 3 hours to Gwinn, Michigan @ my dad's house. Lunch will be provided. Stops along the way include Oconto, Marinette/Menominee, scenic stops & parks along the lake, Escanaba marina. There is a sweeping S-curve on this section :) You can see it on the map.

Leave Gwinn @ 1pm, 5 minutes to KI Sawyer AFB (defunct) for a riding tour, visit/touch aircraft on display. Backtrack 5 mins to Gwinn, and take the very curvy & hilly 55mph road "M35" between Gwinn and Negaunee. This road is LOTS of fun - blind roller-coaster type hills and curves, with some great scenery along the way. Continue on this road towards Marquette, stopping at a couple of bike/atv shops along the way, arriving in Marquette about 230pm. Marquette is on the south shore of Lake Superior - quick tour of the city (which is smaller than a single Chicago suburb) including the marina, lakeshore, Northern Michigan University, and if you want - the Kawasaki dealer I used to work at.

Leave Marquette @ 330pm, 1.5 hours to Pictured Rocks State Park - a 150+ foot scenic overlook of Lake Superior & nearby islands after riding about 8 miles through an extremely dense & beautiful state forest. Several very scenic stops along the way as the road is on the coastline & beach of Superior. We will also go through the don't-blink town of "Christmas" and can stop by "Christmas Yamaha" for a breather, as well as along the scenic lakeshore through the city of Munising.

Leave Pictured Rocks by 6pm, 1.5-2 hours to the King's Hotel in Naubinway, on the north shore of Lake Michigan. Spend the night there - $20/person @ 4 to a room. Breakfast is included.

Saturday: Leave hotel @ 830am, 1 hour to Mackinac Bridge - extremely scenic (north side of Lake Michigan) along this stretch - stops along the way for pics. Cross bridge (Approx 5 miles long, 200 feet high) to Mackinaw City, another stop - can see Mackinac Island from there - if time permits - even take the ferry to the island. No motorized vehicles allowed, kinda $.

Leave Mackinaw City @ 1030, 2.5 hours to Traverse City for lunch - very scenic on the northeast side of Lake Michigan. Stops along the way including Petosky, Charlevoix, Torch Lake.

Leave Traverse City @ 2pm, 3 hours to Ludington <4 hours if time permits, by way of Northpoint - very curvy and scenic road along the water, worth it if we are not more than 2 hours behind schedule>, stops along the way including Northpoint, Empire, Frankfort, Manistee, Ludington State Park. Dinner @ Ludington, Hotel info is coming this week.

Sunday: Leave hotel @ 9am, 1 hour to Grand Haven , stops including Whitehall, Silver Lake State Park, Muskegon.

Leave Grand Haven @ 1030am, 1.5 hours to Benton Harbor, lunch.

Leave Benton Harbor @ 2pm, 1 hour to Michigan City, stops include New Buffalo

Leave Michigan City @ 330pm, 30 mins to Indiana Dunes

Leave Indiana Dunes @ 430, 1.5 hours to Chicago, stops for gas, dinner.

Total trip is approximately 1100 miles, but the jaunt to Marquette and Northpoint are optional, and could cut out a little over 100 miles if we are running behind at all.

At 38mpg, that is roughly 30 gallons of gas for the whole trip (your bike may vary). If the average cost is $4.50/gal it is $135 in gas. Eat smart and cheap, plus split the 3 nights of hotel rooms smartly, and it should cost less than $250 per bike for the entire trip... just a little more than we usually spend in a weekend :D

I will be developing the above itinerary as the date draws closer, including hotel details around both stopping points. So long as we do a couple stops per hour for gas/smoke/stretch/picture - this should be no tougher than a regular weekend of riding for us - though a hell of a lot more relaxing without traffic issues, not to mention extremely scenic.

MAPS (ignore white dots, they are for route adjustments. please zoom in, take a look at the details of the route/waypoints):

Day 1 Thursday

Day 2 Friday

Day 3 Saturday

Day 4 Sunday

Entire Route

All Waypoints/potential stops/other points of interest

(Sorry, I cannot figure out how to combine the route with the waypoints - I will work on that)

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS OR WANT MORE DETAILS ABOUT AREAS, ETC - PLEASE POST THEM!

CONFIRMED LIST:

Slavik (ST1300)
Shawn (ZX9)
Rafael & Martha (SV1000)
Chuck (R6) Konrad (GSXR600)

UNCONFIRMED LIST:

Wietek (VTX1800) (Possible +1)
Stanley +1 (Roadstar 1700)

SOME OF WHAT YOU WILL SEE ON THIS TRIP (including pix from my recent bike trip to the UP):

As most of you know, I rode to my dad's place for July 4th weekend last year, approximately 350 miles each way, plus well over 100 miles per day while up there. I got back at 10pm on Saturday, and did a Starved Rock run the next day - total riding in 5 days was well over 1600 miles. Took plenty of breaks while riding, and I felt fine.

Here are some of the sights - which you will also see if you join in for the Lake Michigan Circle Tour trip this June...

Tower Drive Bridge (I-43) crossing the Fox River @ Green Bay