ST 1300 ride..7 states..1957 miles

[the Ferret]

Guth...posting this even though its not my CB 1100. If you want to delete it, that's fine.

The background: Before I retired a month ago, I had decided my next long trip would be up to visit an old friend, Mark, who I hadn't seen in a few years. Mark was originally from Minneapolis, Mn. but retired a couple years ago to a cabin on a lake in northwest Wisconsin. Mark and I became good friends thru an internet primitive bowhunting and bow building forum and we ended up sharing hunts in Manitoba Canada for black bear, Arizona for Javelina, Florida for wild hogs and Wisconsin for whitetails. Great guy, architect by trade, Viet Nam vet, and the most laid back optimistic person I had ever met.

My travels on this trip would take me from my sw Ohio home thru the cornfields of Indiana, and Illinois into Iowa, along the Mississippi river up to Red Wing, Minnesota then north up to Marks place near Spooner, Wisconsin. After my visit my return trip would take me further north into the north woods to the shore of Lake Superior, then across the bottom of Michigan's U.P., across the Mackinac bridge, down thru lower Michigan and further south thru Ohio to the banks of the Ohio river to home.

Normally my wife would accompany me on a ride of this magnitude. She has been my riding partner for 42 years, ridden all over the U.S. with me, and 5 countries in Europe. At 61 she has had 2 replacement knees and is due for a replacement hip. In the last year she has been having trouble mounting and dismounting the bike, so this time it would be a solo trip. I would discover I don't like being totally alone in such desolate territory for such a long time. I missed her company and reassurance that everything would always be alright. Anyhow here are some pics from the trip I hope you enjoy them.

I ran into some strange things on this trip

Giant beavers

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/DSCF0023-2_zps64fa52cf.jpg.html]

And an alien space ship

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/Aliens_zpsbcb1e80b.jpg.html]
A lot of the trip, this was the view in front of me

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/DSCF0063-1_zpsdbf46ea1.jpg.html]

And behind me

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/DSCF0054_zpsf4e7d14d.jpg.html]

And this guy was my only traveling companion

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/Shadow_zpsbf984dd2.jpg.html]

I rode thru lots of beautiful state forests and scenic byways

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/DSCF0040-1_zps04348f71.jpg.html]

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/DSCF0047_zps453bacff.jpg.html]
2 of the Great Lakes

Superior

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/DSCF0058-1_zps7f6a0c8b.jpg.html]

And Michigan

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/DSCF0083_zpse56fb25c.jpg.html]
Saw a beautiful sunrise over Mackinac Island

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/DSCF0117_zps490a241c.jpg.html]

And rode across the grates on the Mackinac bridge

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/DSCF0129-2_zps598581d8.jpg.html]

For a motorcycle tourer there is only the road ahead. I like this picture because in the reflection of my glasses, you can see that road ahead


[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/DSCF0062-1_zps1554c0e8.jpg.html]

I took lots of pics but these represent the flavor of the trip.