Holland, MI: A First Timer's Long Trek Experience

[specialist8]

180 miles from Chicago to Holland, MI. The skies were clear, the sun was alive and well (a little too much at times), and the roads were decidedly barren as we left on a Friday morning to arrive in Holland. This was a two-up ride that had to handle the supplies of one man and woman for a 4day/3nights stay. Surprisingly, my girlfriend made it pretty easy on me to accommodate her belongings. It was a good start to the trip. This being our first trip together and as well one that spanned further than the 60mi rides I'm used to, we both trekked into the unknown that is a proper motorcycle trip.

We were able to use to it's full extent our Sena SMH10 headsets on this trip. Don't think this trip would have been half as fun without the ability to chat between songs and turn-by-turn directions. I had a hell of a time pairing our headsets so that we could intercom and listen to music. It was a very aggravating process that showed no pattern of repetition in what steps to take in pairing successfully. It was mere chance we were able to connect every time we did, but I'm going to troubleshoot this again as to allay this situation for next time.

This was our pre-departure setup. Chrome backpack (from my bicycling days), Cortech tank bag, and Nelson-Rigg soft saddles. And also, a Michael Kors purse my girlfriend insisted on having strapped to her the majority of the ride:



No good trip starts without leaving your sunglasses in the McDonald's parking lot. So that was our first blunder. McDonald's parking lot. Fresh full of caffeine and oblivious to the looming setbacks:

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A few miles into getting on the highway we saw that the right saddle bag was sagging just a bit too close to the exhaust. I do wish that the angle of the exhaust didn't go up so high, but thus is life. Bungee-corded the bags as to lift them higher and this patch paid off for the rest of the trip. This incident resulted in new makeup purchases for the girlfriend. She's a sport though and didn't let it get to her. Onward we go...

It was decided that we'd bypass the concrete jungles of Chicagoland as quickly as we could and take the toll-roads/interstate until we hit Indiana Dunes State Park area. Getting to this area was the first true state of ruralness of our trip. My amusement with getting into the "rough" never disappoints me. I'm a true fiend of the outdoors and getting to experience this kind of scenery with my girlfriend, a finely tuned machine, and no worries ahead is a privilege I never take for granted. It's at this point that however you define what "riding" is, this is how I interpret that definition. It's not a constant feeling, but when it emerges you know for sure that you'll go out and seek it again and again.

We pull up to the Dunes State Park in IN and find that there's some kind of fee, so we turn around and head to a Meijer for some quick R&R. Keep in mind I'm riding the 2013 standard with stock seat, so the breaks were certainly needed every 60mi or so. I was unaware of the fees associated with visiting state parks and will certainly be more diligent about this in the future.

I was pretty keen on trying to make "good timing" (isn't any guy who's in charge of driving like this?) so I wanted to take as little of breaks as possible. We're back on the road taking Route 12 up until we get to St. Joseph's.

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It was here we posted up trying to find some food and drink. I was starting to feel the fatigue of our journey and found some solace in a restaurant called 221 Main. Some amazing food and a nice beer were just what we needed. Would recommend this place if you're nearby. The mahi fish tacos were very fresh and wait staff was on point. Located in a beautiful town too, so there's lots to do around there if you find yourself there.

Away we go again, and we find ourselves getting onto Blue Star Hwy. This was a true farm road and had some fun traversing the many bumps and uneven surfaces that are all too common in these parts of town. It was about here I was starting to wonder when the hell I'd be arriving close to Holland. It was pretty sunny that day and to avoid having to stop to pee every hour, I tried to forego liquids as much as possible, so some minor dehydration was imminent.

We get to the hotel after about 6 hours of leaving from Chicago. Was dead tired, so we unpacked for the night and stuck around the hotel for the remainder.

The next day we went to Mt. Pisgah. A little foothill that had some pretty great views of Macatawa Bay and beautiful Lake Michigan.

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The weather was so beautiful we decided to stretch our legs once again out onto Lake Shore Dr in Holland. Freshly paved with no stop signs or traffic. This was definitely a gem to randomly come upon. Got some video footage of this you can see here:

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After that ride we went to New Holland Brew Pub. Downtown Holland was as quaint as Mayberry. Lovely little strip of shops, though they were all closed because it was dusk already. The brew pub was a really cool place. Huge setup, with an outside dining space in front and back of the restaurant. Looked like this place was the pride and joy of Holland as there were folks from all kinds of walks there. Good food and tried their Ichabod Pumpkin Beer. Freshly on tap and was pretty good for being more flavorful than the normal beers I drink. Not overly pumpkin.

The next day we decided to travel halfway back home and stop at Michigan City, IN for the night. We were still semi-recovering from our trip to Holland and knew that it'd be taking too much out of us to venture back in one bout. On our way back from Holland south to IN, there was about a mile of stopped traffic of people trying to get into Warren Dunes. People were plain getting out of their cars and shooting the cuss it was that bad. Glad I was on the opposite side of that as all the traffic was coming from the south that day.

Made it to the Cool Springs Inn and got a nice little room for $56. Really good price for the quality of rooming we got. Went to Wal-Mart later that day to get us some food and come to find that Indiana doesn't sell alcohol on Sundays. Lived in IL my whole life and never once heard about this. Ridiculous to say the least, but maybe it was the universe telling me to hydrate.

The next day was our last leg home and the sun was showing its full fury that day. I don't know how you guys can sustain the ATGATT adage, but even my mesh jacket which has great ventilation would've been tough to don. I rode with just my helmet, gloves, and boots. Couldn't have stood anything more.

Arrived at my girlfriends in about 2 hours and I proceeded to go to a Labor Day BBQ shortly after that. My friend owns a smoker and he prepared almost 40 lbs of ribs in it that day. Pretty cool setup and great output as the meat was delicious:

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Had a blast being able to plan this kind of trip. I will certainly upgrade the seat and maybe get some hardbags for the next time, but everything worked out very well for a first test run of this kind. Averaged about 45-48 mpg this time around. I've heard that having an added passenger really doesn't effect your mpg that much, but regardless these are the highest numbers I've been able to get so far on my bike. As you can see, I'm not a huge picture taker, so I apologize for the ratio of text to images. It's quite a big gap. Hope you guys enjoy this post as much as I did writing it.

Peace and Axle Grease