Day 4: Traverse City to Benton Harbor

I've not spent any time in this part of Michigan, and I must say that I'm impressed.  I'll be back!  Some beautiful country, great people, wonderful roads and scenery, and great Harley riding!

We left Traverse City around 9am and headed to Northport, on the northern most point of the peninsula just north of Traverse City.  Beautiful riding, cool temperatures, and nice roads.  It was clear when we left, but within about an hour, dark ominous clouds moved in.  Never saw any rain, but it did keep us a bit anxious.

The welcome sign

The marina at Northport had some great ships.  :)

When you're a biker, you see the clouds, not the boats....

Kevin...

...and his daughter Devon.  

Then, we started heading south again, setting our sights on Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.  While I thought the ride to Northport was great riding, this stretch was even better.  We found our way to the Sleeping Bear Point Maritime Museum.  It wasn't open yet, so we walked around, and touched the water of Lake Michigan.

The walkway to the beach.

The ominous clouds still there...and, it was only about 50 degrees...

Looking out along the beach

Pat, checking out the beach.

Kevin and Pat, saying, "Can we find some hot coffee soon?"

Kevin finally touches Lake Michigan!

The Coast Guard station

Same, but wider view

A tugboat that you can walk around and see.

It was a windy day.  The good news is that it was a tailwind, resulting in our getting 50mpg!!

We enjoy trying to find local "mom and pop" places to eat.  But, all too often, they're not convenient to find, so we end up at a McDonalds, or something like that.  But, today, we found a nice place for lunch.  Our waitress apologized in advance that their deep fryer was broken, so no fries.  Then, while we were eating coleslaw instead of fries, the repair man showed up to work on the fryer.  Instantly, it seemed like we were all friends.  :)

This was the place where we had lunch.  We're getting ready to hit the road again.  

This was the entrance to the restaurant.  We figured that out after carefully reading the sign above the door...  

Tomorrow, we head home.  We don't expect to do much but ride hard.  Hopefully, we'll be home mid-afternoon.  Looks like some rain ahead, according to the current radar.  But, who cares?  It's been a great ride around Lake Michigan!

--Mike