I’m sitting on the SS Badger out of Ludington MI, it is approximately 9:35am and we had an on time departure at 9am. We have a State Room, with a single bed and writing desk, and my own personal Head to use (restroom for those not seaworthy). My riding partner Rod Page, now and from hither on referred to as Monkey, grabbed a couple breakfast sandwiches from the galley (kitchen/cafeteria) and we have already explored the ship, and watched from the bow as we departed port.
But let’s roll back to yesterday and how we got to here.
Yesterday goes back to September 2021, at a memorial party, and I ran into an old friend, referred to hereafter as Bunting. Bunting was telling me how he was planning to ride a KTM Adventure motorcycle to Alaska the prior July with his brother, but had to cancel due to other issues. He stated he was pretty disappointed that he didn’t get to do his ride… and after he was done exasperating about that, I piped up that “Hey, that’s in my wheel house, I’ll do the ride with you!”
After a few conversations about the time frame and so and such, and we both decided that July 5, 2022 would be our departure date. Now the games had begun. I needed to acquire an bike!
As time went on, and I was having a few adult beverages with my pal Monkey, and telling him about my next crazy (stupid?) adventure. In mid conversation his jaw dropped, and in typical form, blurted out “I’M IN”. Ok, now he needs to acquire an Adventure Bike!
Fast forward to my annual snowmobile trip in January, and some part of the way thru, I’m sitting in the hotel bar with Ski Doo Matt, and I started telling him about this upcoming crazy (stupid?) motorcycle trip. In what has become fashion, his jaw dropped and asked “Can anyone else join ya?” And just like that a third Adventure bike needed to be acquired.
A couple weeks after that snowmobile trip, back home now, and I get a phone call from Hedgehog Phil and wants to know if we are seriously doing this ride to Alaska. Yes, Hedgehog, it is real. And now a 4th Adventure bike was to be acquired.
So, from mid February through late June, a few Zoom video calls were convened so all the riders could visually meet, and we shared ideas about things each individual would like to experience in our travels, and basically just get a feel for compatibility of our group. We all clicked on Zoom, and you will now have a front row seat to see how it plays out in the real world.
As D-Day (departure day) approached, Bunting, the brain child/genius that planted this seed, had personal issues that prevented him from making this trip with us. I was dis-heartened to say the least. But our group of 4 riders are stupid enough to continue on with our flights of fancy.
Our group of Adventure bikes are 2 Harley Davidson Panamericas’ and 2 KTMs’ one an 890 and one a 1200. There is a mix of hard sided cases and soft sided saddle bags, basically what was available for each brand, as there is quite a back order on accessories, with everything going on in the world.
Monkey and I departed from Flint, MI on Tuesday July 5 at around 11:30am for an approximate 220 mile ride thru the back roads of Michigan, with our destination being Ludington. We are to catch the SS Badger at 8am on the 6th. Naturally, just like in the winter edition, there has to be some issue along the way. About ½ way thru our day’s ride, we pull off the main road, onto a dirt road to take a short break under a shade tree. I passed the spot Monkey chose to rest, and went up the road a bit to turn around. Doing so, I apparently forgot to downshift from 2nd to 1st, and stalled the bike mid turn, and did a 1mph slow motion tip over. My left side big toe got pinched between the shifter and the kick stand, and now I have a big fat purple toe.
We arrived at the Stearns Hotel in Ludington right around 5:30pm, and checked into the time capsule of a hotel promptly. As we were unpacking for our overnight stay, Monkey casually asked in conversation if I had my tie-downs for the boat? Uh? So I made a quick trip to the local Lowes for another set of ratchet straps, because I don’t have about 20 pairs of these back home in my trailers and shop, what is one more set.
After that quick trip for another set of ratchet straps, we ventured down the block to find a place to serve us some food and adult beverages. I was ready for dinner, as we didn’t stop for lunch, we only snacked on some Banana Bread at rest breaks, that my pal Red had baked for me. (Thanks Red). We found an upstairs bar/restaurant that I can’t remember the name of, and after sitting in the setting sun and melting during dinner, we moved to the shaded bar afterwards. We ran into a couple from Illinois on a bike ride to the Upper Penninsula and had a great time/conversation with Baldo and his gal. Hope to see you guys in SW Florida!
At the time we were leaving Flint, Ski Doo Matt and Hedgehog were leaving Indiana on their way to the port in Manitowoc WI, to greet us as we disembark the Badger. They overnighted at the hotel right across from the port. While I don’t know the details of their ride, I do know they rode through Chicago, it was 94 degress, and it was miserable until that leg was passed. According to this morning’s report from Hedgehog, the hotel receptionist offered to let them park their bikes under the hotel canopy, they politely declined due to fair weather, and came out this morning to find their bikes were used as target practice by the local seagulls.
Monkey and I were out of our room by 7am this morning (Wednesday, July 6) and headed down the road to top off our fuel tanks and get a quick bite to eat. The fueling was successful, but the food had to wait until we got on the Badger. The Badger departs at 9am, with a required one hour prior check in at the dock. We were in line by 7:45, and we were the first 2 bikes in line out of probably 10 that are on board. They load cars, trucks, vans RV’s and such first, so we didn’t board until about 8:45, and hopefully that will put us at the front of the line for unloading.
I’m ready for a break writing this blog for the day ( I am still asking myself how I got roped into writing this stupid thing on another adventure), but I will do my best to keep you posted, fill in the blanks of how the Pacific Ocean came into play, what Road Apples means/are, and our general follies on the road.
So, until then…
Bye for now,
Stick
PS: If you have followed FrostBytes, the winter edition then you are familiar with Chip Nasty. Chip texted me last night to tell me he was in St Johns MI, visiting his sister, and that he had rode 600 miles yesterday, and we was going with us on the Badger, and riding with us for a day. This was super exciting news! This morning on our drive to the port, Nasty sent me another text that his bike was giving him issues and he was not going to make the port, and was returning to his sister’s for repairs. This was super disappointing news. I hope it works out Nasty, good luck , and ride safe my friend. ( I wish I could make some smart comments that he was just hungover and overslept, but unless they’ve changed the formula of Diet Pepsi, I know that’s not it!)
