I am mid-way through a 2 week tour that will take me from my home in VA to northern MN, down the Great River Road (follows the Mississippi) to St Louis, MO and then turn east and head back home. Riding 2-up on this trip, when the spouse comes along ride dynamics change: average daily mileage is 300 or so, meals are taken at a table rather than eaten at the gas-pump and nightly lodging costs increase significantly! It's nice to have her along and I'm still glad that she has the gumption to saddle-up once in a while.
My first stop was Mackinac Island (it's pronounced mackinaw, regardless of spelling) for two nights at the Grand Hotel. This destination was on my wife's "bucket" list and this trip provided an opportune way to cross it off. There are no vehicles allowed on the island, you must leave your ride at one of two departure points and ride a ferry to island. I chose to depart from town of St Ignace on the upper peninsula of Michigan. Once on island you get around by foot, bicycle or horse and carriage. Quiant! It was a nice stay, hotel is, in fact, Grand (though pricey) two days was plenty.
Left Mackinac Isalnd, reunited with scoot and traversed the upper-peninsula, stopped in Green Bay, Wisconsin to visit with friends and spent a night there. Go Packers.
The next 2 days took me east to Eau Claire, north through Duluth and then on up to my destination at Lake Kabetogama. This is the Great White North, just a stone's throw from International Falls, MN home of brutal winters, record snowfalls, sub-zero temperatures but in June the place is lovely.
I'll add pictures as I mosey along but my first pictures will be the reason for this rather insane trip. You see, Voyageurs is on the way to no where. It is a destination unto itself, worth the trip mind you but not somewhere you just decide to visit while passing through.
So what was my motivation? Why a National Parks passport stamp of course! How many of you folks collect stamps? Not the postal sort but the ones that are "stamped" on a worn and tattered page of your Passport book? It's an addiction of sorts, according to my spouse and often the reason for unannounced side-trips of several hundred miles. "Hey Hon, there's a stamp location just down the road, what say you?"
First couple of pics are of Passport book followed by a few from the road.
some pics:
porch of the Grand Hotel, 6/10th mile long, claimed to be longest in USA.
you can rent your own surrey and tour the island!
day hike in Voyageurs.
riding the giant walleye at Lake "Kab"
rented a boat and did a bit of motoring on the lake.
