RA RALLY PETOSKEY - July 2017

Emmet County Fairgrounds - Petoskey, Michigan
July 2 - 11 (2,469 Miles)

Day 1 - Left the house at 7am destination Wytheville, Virginia

Day 2 -  Wytheville,Virginia to Hawks Nest State Park Lodge, West Virginia.  Today was a short day, 2 1/2 hours riding time. We went to the New River Gorge Bridge Visitor Center and drove the motorcycles on the Fayetteville Station Road tour which took us under the New River Gorge Bridge and around narrow one-way roads with a few hairpin turns and two short wooden bridges.

Fayetteville West Virginia

Lunch at the Cathedral Cafe in historic Fayetteville

Our stop for the night was Hawks Nest State Park Lodge.  Tony and I took the aerial Tram from the lodge to the New River.

View from our room of the aerial tram and New River

New River and railroad bridge

Later in the afternoon Jerry joined us.  The lodge and rooms were great including a swimming pool and beautiful views from our room.  The negative part was the dining room was not operating due to no chef or restaurant management.  This carried over to the breakfast included with the room ... no breakfast as no food arrived from the supplier.  Earlier that day a bracket broke on Tony's windshield.  Once the windshield was removed Jerry broke out the JB weld and the bracket was temporarily attached together.

Day 3 -  Hawks Nest State Park Lodge, West Virginia to Defiance, Ohio.  It was raining when we got up but the forecast was for clearing around 9am.  When the rain stopped, Jerry and Tony put the windshield on and temporarily (turns out that was the fix for the whole trip) supported it with a stick and a bungee cord.

Hawks Nest Lodge

Temporary road fix that lasted the entire trip.

The rain started again when we set out and continued until we reached Charleston.  Jerry went to Dayton and we went to Defiance Ohio.  A long day, 8 hours, but the weather was low 80s and the roads were marvelous.  Our route for the day was 60 to Charleston, 77 to Ohio 33, 117, 115 and 15 to Defiance.  Beautiful country roads in Ohio!

Day 4 - Defiance, Ohio to Petoskey, Michigan.  Long day because of GPS malfunctions and clutch problems.  Good ride on 127 (when we figured it out) and Michigan 131 with a speed limit of 75.  We are staying at a very nice Days Inn next to the fairgrounds.  From the hotel we took a walk to Little Traverse Bay.

Little Traverse Bay

Dinner at Villa Restorante Italiano - the restaurant herb garden

We had 9pm reservations!

Day 5 - First project of the day was to drive to Conway Michigan (about 6 miles) and buy mineral oil to change the clutch fluid.  Luckily the motorcycle shop services KTMs which also use mineral oil as clutch fluid. Next stop was to register for the rally and set up the tent before driving to Ellsworth to visit our friends Pat and Karol (about 40 minutes from the rally).

Rally Registration - fully loaded with our camping gear!

Emmet County Fairgrounds

A trip to Walmart of buy chairs we couldn't carry on bike

Finding our friends house was a bit of a challenge since you couldn't see the house from the road.  It took several passes to narrow down where it was. After a tour of their beautiful house with wall to ceiling living room windows overlooking Lake Ellsworth we all got in the car and drove to East Jordon where they treated us to lunch.  After lunch we had a tour of the 15 acre property in the mule.

The Mule

Back at the rally I found Bill and Nancy in their hi-viz club shirts

Day 6 - Spent time at the vendors (bought t-shirt) and Bill and Nancy drove over to the fairgrounds. Jerry and Tony changed the fluid in the clutch and at 2pm we all (Jerry, Bill, Nancy, Craig, Tony and Jill) drove through the Tunnel of Trees to Cross Village and lunch at Leggs Inn.

Leggs Inn created by Stanley Smolak a polish immigrant in 1921.  The Inn sits on the shore of Lake Michigan and features driftwood, and stones from Lake Michigan.  The menu is authentic polish food.

Sunset Park on way back from Leggs Inn

Friday Night Band

Day 7 - Day to relax at the rally, saw Deb and Bill Gasque who are continuing on to Utah Rally.  Went to the vintage bike display and met Jim Reiner, the coordinator.  One of his sidecars rigs was a 1941  2 x 3 German military BMW. Both the rear wheel and the sidecar wheel are connected to the drive shaft. This vehicle was designed to operate on pavement as well as dirt roads and fields. This was the first GS BMW. GS means Gelande/Strasse, off road/road.  I went for a ride in another of his vintage side car rigs.  My first time in a sidecar ... great fun!  We met so many great people at this rally.  Went for a short ride to get Michigan black cherries and have lunch, then back to take down the tent and get ready for the closing ceremonies.  We spent the night back at the Days Inn.  To our surprise we had a room with a jacuzzi.  Cherries, wine, cheese and a jacuzzi ... its starting to rain, glad not to be camping.

Deb, Bill, Jill, Tony, Nancy, Bill

Jacuzzi Days Inn Petoskey

Day 8 - Petoskey, Michigan to Bellefontaine, Ohio.  Left at 7am with a little drizzle then a beautiful day for the rest of the ride.  The route was Petoskey back to the town of Fort Defiance, this time stopping at the site of Fort Defiance a 1794 fort at the confluence of the Auglaize and Maumee Rivers.  It was the westernmost fort during the Indian Wars.

A stop at the site of Fort Defiance

Auglaize and Maumee Rivers

Another hour and half to our stop for the night, Bellefontaine, Ohio.  I went to the courthouse in the town of Bellefontaine (where I had been on GOBA in 2011)  and to the oldest concrete street in America.

Bellefontaine courthouse

Statue of George Bartholomew who patented the process for making concrete

Day 9 - Bellefontaine, Ohio to Mount Airy, North Carolina.  We took a different route in Ohio than on the way up ... US-33 around Columbus on I-270, US-23, US-35 into West Virginia, I-64 and I-77.  Left at 7am again, got through Columbus with rain threatening then rain (sometimes heavy) until the border.  As we crossed the bridge on the Ohio River to West Virginia the sun came out ... Welcome to West Virginia wild and wonderful!  Got to Mt. Airy around 3:30 and found a newly renovated Quality Inn with a big swimming pool.  For dinner we could walk across the road to Ruby Tuesday and had a steak for our last night on the road.

Day 10 - Straight drive home ... 5 hours, home at 12:30.