While our blog is called "Kim n Karen...On the Road" in general, each trip has a different title or subheading. This trip's working title is Heads or Tails. As usual the daily title will vary based on whatever song title seems relevant.
Prologue:
Somewhere during our 8 years of riding together, Kim and I set
ourselves a goal: ride in all 50 states.
As of today if we ride through 10 northeastern states plus Hawaii we’ll
have attained that exact goal. But, honestly,
riding in Hawaii has lost some of its appeal with all we’ve seen about the prices
and current state of air travel, so I’ve amended the goal to riding in every
state in the lower 48 plus Alaska; Hawaii will just count as a bonus. Get those 10 New England states and I’ll put
a check mark on the list. J
This was going to be the year
of our very own “Nor’eastern Storm” so we blocked out a couple of weeks in
September to get ‘er done. However, due
to a busy, family oriented summer I didn’t do any of my usual ride preparations. Not only did I not squirrel away money so our
monthly budget wouldn’t take a big hit but I didn’t scout out which route would
allow us to hit all 10 states in less than 2 weeks, keep us off major highways
and allow us to camp along the way. To
say that I wasn’t feeling real confident about this trip as September
approached is a very accurate statement.
When I expressed my hesitation with doing this ride under those
circumstances and suggested that we push the trip off until next summer, Kim
agreed. However, we both wanted to take
a bike trip so he looked to the west and suggested heading to South Dakota…the
Badlands, Custer State Park, the Heads (Mt. Rushmore), Crazy Horse Monument,
Devils Tower, buffalo, prairie dogs and plenty of open road between here and
there. So, no lobster tail this year but
Kim knows that seeing the Heads and Crazy Horse never gets old for me.
We still don’t have that
extra money squirreled away…we still don’t have a route planned out…but a
change of plans to a familiar area feels right.
So the bike trailer is loaded
with the camping gear, the bikes are packed with our t-bags, rain and cold
weather gear and we’ll figure out the rest as we go along. Sounds like a typical Kim n Karen adventure
to me. 👍
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In case anyone is concerned
about this blog announcing to the world that we’re on vacation with all that
entails, please know that we have left our house in capable hands. Not only are the neighbors keeping their eyes
open for unexpected activity but our good buddy Mike will be hanging out, too. Oh, and our very capable attack cats Bert,
Ernie and Sam will also be on the job.
Let the Adventure begin....
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| Ready to rock n roll |
Technically our adventures begin when we leave
the driveway…but in my mind, any trip where we head north officially begins when we cross the Mackinac Bridge. We travel the very familiar US 31 up to I-75
which brings us into Mackinaw City…the very top of the Mitten. Crossing the Mac Bridge allows us to
figuratively bust out of the Mitten…to me that bridge has always been and will
be the official Gateway to Adventure when heading north. 😊
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To get out to South Dakota,
we have to get to the other side of Lake Michigan. We usually go through the U.P. instead of
dealing with the traffic challenges of Chicago even though it may be shorter. A bonus of the U.P. route is visiting with
Kim’s two oldest grandkids, Kevin and Tia.
Both have moved from the downstate Holland area to the Bessemer/Ironwood
area at the western end of the Upper Peninsula. Tonight we were able to have
supper with Tia and Matt and their 3 young’uns…Kevin, Britt, and her son Cody
met up with us later. Unfortunately we didn’t get to spend a lot of time with
them or see Kevin’s little boy Lucca this trip because we were a little late in
contacting them…seems my/our lack of planning has affected many aspects of this
trip. But we’ll take whatever time with them that
we can get.
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Kim and I usually take longer
to travel from Point A to Point B than Google Maps indicates it should
take. Today was no exception to
that. Charlevoix to Ironwood is supposed
to be just under a 7 hour trip…we managed to turn it into a 9 hour trip. There were a couple of road construction
delays but mostly the time was extended because we stopped at Lehto’s Pasties
to get lunch and then there were several photo ops that I couldn’t pass
up. And all those “little minutes” add
up. As usual when it comes to this type
of delay, I have to take credit or blame as the case may be.
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Had great riding weather
today…sunny and in the 70s. My face is
feeling the heat and slight discomfort of not using sunscreen. Can’t do anything about that now but tomorrow
I will be more diligent in that regard.
Our route had us heading west into the late afternoon/early evening sun
and it was sure brutal on the eyes. Kim’s
eyes always have issues with bright sunshine so riding west during into a
descending sun is always intense for him.
It was great that the sun was out and the air was warm but the last hour
of the ride was tough on me, too. Since
we are heading west on the front end of the trip we’ll have to get off the road
earlier in the day to avoid the which will mean getting on the bikes earlier in
the day to get in any kind of decent mileage.
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I’ve been a little apprehensive about tent camping
because Charlevoix nighttime temps have been getting slightly cooler…it is
heading on autumn, after all. So I snuck
in an extra blanket when packing to help ward off any nighttime chill. Leggings, socks and sweatshirts may also be
called upon. I hope it doesn’t come to
that but I’m prepared if it does. 😊
We knew camping in the cool wouldn’t
be a factor tonight (Monday) because our plans with the grandkids in Ironwood
didn’t allow for campsite set up time…we knew we’d be staying in a hotel. From this point forward, we intend to camp…but
we are keeping our options open.
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It’s been a couple of seasons
since we headed out pulling a trailer behind Kim’s bike. Over the last year Kim made some modifications
to the trailer that we used on The Epic Ride in 2013 and The Final Four in 2015…he
rebuilt it. It had consisted of two heavy duty plastic truck boxes bolted on
the trailer frame…now we have a single wood frame box with a wood top. We packed it full of our gear and Kim reports
that he’s very pleased with the way Flame feels when pulling it.
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Monday’s miles: 384
Total miles: 384
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