twitch

We have settled on a date and a location, now we need to look at ride destinations. Wannabeyooper has suggested the Sleeping Bear Dunes, the Tunnel of Trees and the Mackinac Bridge. All sound very cool to me, but I consider the Tunnel of Trees a must do.

I also like the idea of riding around Leelanau and Old Mission Peninsulas north of Traverse City. I know Old Mission very well; my family has some property up there. I have always wanted to ride those peninsulas but never have.

So, in this poll, pick your favorite ride or post a new one.

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2008 Rebel 250 - 11,500 miles

People are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it's safer to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs. -- Alexei Sayle

oneway

Tunnel of trees and old mission sound good. Or anything I dont really know whats up there.

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Buickguy

You might want to think about seeing the National Music Camp / Interlochen Arts Academy. During the summer the NMC will be in session. It would only be about five miles from the campground.

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1987 CMX250C Rebel

2002 FSC600 SilverWing

1983 Yamaha Midnight Virago XV920MK

Put your bike's year and size in your signature.
It helps others help you.

Guba

I finally had a chance to research some of these places. I gotta say, they all look good to me.

The tunnel of trees is supposed to take around 90 minutes to ride through, excluding stops along the way. But it looks like it's about 3/4 of the way to Mackinac.

The dunes are kind of on the way to Leeland peninsula.

It's hard for me to pick becouse I don't really know the area and what's to see. I guess it boils down to how much riding everyone wants to do.

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Some days beer tastes good...other days beer tastes better!

'07 Rebel 250 26,000 miles

twitch

Alright, I have done up a couple of routes on Google maps. Here's the Tunnel of Trees/Mackinac Bridge route. It would make for a LONG day--6 hours round trip, not including any stops and/or breakdowns. Realistically, it would be more like 8 or 9 hours.

Here is a link I found about the Tunnel of Trees: http://www.motorcycleroads.com/route.../MI/MI_3.shtml

Attached Images

mackinac.jpg (93.4 KB, 5 views)

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2008 Rebel 250 - 11,500 miles

People are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it's safer to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs. -- Alexei Sayle

twitch

And here is a nice route that covers Old Mission and Leelanau Peninsulas, as well as the Sleeping Bear dunes. We would start by riding through Traverse City and up the western shore of Old Mission Peninsula--beautiful scenery here. Continuing on to point B on the map, we could stop at a very cool retired lighthouse.

From there, we would head down Route 37 past the vineyards of Grand Traverse. If memory serves, the speed limit here is mostly 45 MPH and has some very nice curves! Then, it's over to Leelanau along the south shore of Grand Traverse Bay and up to Sutton's Bay, which is a very popular tourist destination. From there, we could continue up to Northport. I haven't been there in over 20 years, but I remember it was a beautiful place.

From Northport, we would proceed down the western shore of Leelanau and over to the Sleeping Bear Dunes. I don't know much at all about this area; I went once when I was a kid and haven't been back since. From the map, it looks the actual dunes are out on an island. If we wanted to visit them, I'm guessing we'd have to take a ferry? We'll probably need to wait for wannabeyooper to return from the Dragon to fill in this info.

After the Dunes, back to Interlochen. Total riding time: 3 1/2 hours. With all the stops, probably more like 5 or 6.

Attached Images

peninsulas-dunes.jpg (95.1 KB, 5 views)

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2008 Rebel 250 - 11,500 miles

People are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it's safer to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs. -- Alexei Sayle

twitch

If everyone is coming in on Friday, planning Saturday as ride day, and leaving Sunday, then, obviously, we'll have to choose one ride or the other. I might be able to come up Thursday and have both Friday and Saturday available for riding, depending on whether my friend is coming and how many days he can get away. The closer we get to the date, the more I'll know about this.

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2008 Rebel 250 - 11,500 miles

People are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it's safer to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs. -- Alexei Sayle

Guba

From what I've found online, there's 7 miles of shoreline that are dunes...at least. And that's on the mainland. Taking the ferry across to the island brings you to the 500+ year old trees. Carving my name in them would really look cool! Just kidding. LOL

Mackinac is a good days ride! At least a couple of hours to get to from Interlochen. Add in a detour through the trees and it gets longer. However, as I stated earlier, it's already most of the way to Mackinac. It all boils down to how long people want to ride. Different riders, different riding abilities. And what everyone wants to see. Me personally, I'm already making a 400 mile trip one way. I like riding somewhere and seeing different things, so a long days ride is okay by me. Others might not enjoy it so much.

Buickguy, maybe you can call in sick with Ebola. I'm sure they'll understand.

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Some days beer tastes good...other days beer tastes better!

'07 Rebel 250 26,000 miles

twitch

Yeah, I'm up for the long Mackinac trip, too. I REALLY want to ride the Tunnel of Trees, so it would be worth the sore butt to me to do that and ride the Bridge. But, if others aren't comfortable with such a long ride, the peninsulas and dunes are a much shorter ride and a very good consolation prize. We could even shorten it up more by only doing one peninsula or the other, or cutting Northport out of the mix. Lots of options.

Maybe we should kidnap Buickguy. That way it wouldn't be his fault--he would have a great excuse. A ransom note is as good as a doctor's note, right? By the time the authorities pick up our trail, we would already have him back home!

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2008 Rebel 250 - 11,500 miles

People are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it's safer to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs. -- Alexei Sayle

Buickguy

Thanks Twitch! I appreciate the sentiment but my boss is a real jerk. There are no sick days, no doctors notes and even a note from my mortician would be tough.
You see, I'm self employed and I'm the worst boss I ever had!
That weekend is one of my biggest classes of the year and really makes my bottom line for the quarter. I love riding and would love to do the tunnel of trees and the Leelanua but I'm also quite fond of eating.

__________________

1987 CMX250C Rebel

2002 FSC600 SilverWing

1983 Yamaha Midnight Virago XV920MK

Put your bike's year and size in your signature.
It helps others help you.