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Lake Superior Circle Tour Club  Member
Comments Join today. Send comments and trip details to: Circle Tour Club P.O. Box 16417 Duluth, MN 55816-0417 or E-Mail: CircleTourClub@lakesuperior.com |
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Lake Superior Circle Tour Club Member
Comments Join today. Send comments and trip details to: Circle Tour Club P.O. Box 16417 Duluth, MN 55816-0417 or E-Mail: CircleTourClub@lakesuperior.com |
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September 14, 2007 Friday, September 7, 2007 - Departed downtown Minneapolis at 3 p.m. (Tim, Mark, Matt). After a short stop for fuel for the bikes and a liquid for us, we headed to our first rest stop- Cameron, Wisconsin. Saturday, September 8 - Departed Cameron (8:30 a.m.) after some breakfast at Crossroads Cafe. Do not recommend the biscuits and gravy. Arrived at the "official" start of the Circle Tour (Choo Choo Bar & Grill) at about 10:30 a.m. Great Bloody Mary (at least we thought, but not the case. You get an entire salad with this drink. Pickle, celery stick filled with cheese, olive, mushroom, martini onion, salami and shrimp). Headed up towards Grand Marais, Minnesota. Took the two-lane road that went along the shore. Came upon a Soo Line Steam engine on the tracks. Stops at Gooseberry Falls, Split Rock Lighthouse and Beaver Bay for lunch (2 p.m.). Arrived at our second rest stop - Nelson's Traveler's Rest at 4:30pm. Discounts for cash. Nice clean non-smoking cabins. Dinner with my aunt and uncle at Devil's Track Lake. Food did not have a lot of flavor and the tap beer was skunked. Went to visit with my two cousins and Jennifer’s home. Nice place on the lake. Great location. Ride back to the cabin was wet and our first incident with a deer. Sunday, September 9 - Departed at 7:30 a.m. and headed for the border. Stopped at Grand Portage Casino for breakfast. High falls were nice to see, but it was a hike. Crossed the border into Canada and headed to Kakabeka Falls, Ontario. Roads were better than I remembered and some were new. First instance of moose-crossing signs. After some photos of a true "falls," our nest stop was Eagle Canyon which boasted Canada's longest suspension bridge (600 feet). Quite a hike to that one and not only one bridge, but two. Stopped in Nipigon (Gus' Diner). To date, have not had a decent meal yet! A quick stop in Rossport was depressing. Heard they had a good place to eat, but looked more like a ghost town. Arrived at 6:30 p.m. in Schreiber (Voyageur's Motel). It is a motel, gas/service station and restaurant. Host Birgit allowed us to park our bikes in one of the service bays. Hotel allowed smoking and a cozy room for 3 guys. Two beds and a cot didn't leave much room to move. Spent the rest of the night at the restaurant enjoying some beverages. Monday, September 10 - Departed at 9 a.m. after another so-so meal. A few sprinkles, but nothing major. Headed to Wawa and the big Goose. Finally had a decent meal at the Viking Lounge in Wawa. Most of this ride was through the woods, but still a great ride. Arrived at Blueberry Hill Motel and Campground. Curator Denise - very nice person and room was spacious. Dinner at The Zone was still the best yet. Great home cooked food and fresh pie. Tuesday, September 11 - 6-year anniversary of the attack on our country. First real threat of rain for the entire trip. We were coming up with plans 'B' and 'C' in the event of downpours. Another crappy meal (were teased into thinking that we would have blueberry muffins), but it was cold cereal instead. Made it to Sault Ste. Marie and back into the good old USA without incident. A driver's license was all we needed. As we got close to Mackinac City, the skies got darker. We made it across the bridge, but ducked for cover to don our rain gear. Sprinkles greeted us as we got back over the bridge, but we paid the second toll. It was constant rain from the bridge to Paradise, Michigan. Made the journey up to Whitefish Point and the Shipwreck Museum. Spent a few dry moments here, but we soon had to suit up again for more rain. We decided to forego the actual museum tour and make our way towards Munising. From Whitefish Point to Munising we had driving rain and 25+mph headwinds. Arrived at our destination (Sunset Bay Motel). Beautiful place, if it was not raining or windy. Spacious two-room motel. Decided to try Dogpatch for dinner. Heard they had good food and with no lunch, we were pretty hungry. Too bad for us, food was not good. If you have to take it in the Gift Shop, food should at least be worth it. Wednesday, September 12 - Slight mist, but we were dressed for more rain. Short detour to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and cliff on Sand Point. Really cool and imagine it really picturesque in the fall or with the sun out. Stopped in Marquette for lunch, first decent meal of the trip (smothered open-face meatloaf and fries). From Marquette to Houghton, no major rains. Stopped in Houghton for a drink and off to our next stop - Arcadian Motel outside of Calumet. After enjoying the sunshine, headed to Copper Harbor for dinner. At the very end of Highway 41 was a sign indicating the official point of where Highway 41 starts and traverses through seven states (Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia & Florida (Miami). Dined at the Harbor Haus. Good German food, a little spendy, but it was good eats. Matt was low on gas, so we took it slow on the way back. Stopped to see the sun go behind the horizon, but still got a good photo. Stopped at Vanskiller Bar for gas. With a couple seasoned snowmobilers, we found a bar that had a fuel pump. Matt filled up and Mark and I topped off and we headed back to the hotel. Another incident with some deer, but unlike my past experiences, they stayed on their side of the road. Back safely to the hotel, we again discussed other plans. Thursday, September 13 - COLD morning, but there was sunshine. There was continental breakfast available to us. Cinnamon Biscuits and homemade coffee cake. Beat the heck out of the other breakfasts we have had. We headed towards Rockland, Michigan, for a stop at Henry's "Never" Inn. A family run bar and grill. When we arrived, we were hungry and thirsty. Hunger had to wait for Sally to finish up her other orders first. Bloody Mary was made with Henry's Homemade Pepper Vodka. Very interesting flavor, but nonetheless, very good. The main reason we stopped here was for the 1/3-pound Reubens. Not today - no corned beef. We have snowmobiled to this place several times for that Reuben. Not today. THE BEST MEAL OF THE WHOLE TRIP was eaten at Henry's. ?-pound burgers and a toasted ham-and-cheese on a loaf of French bread mixed with a Bloody Mary was the highlight of the trip. After letting our systems digest some of that lunch, we headed toward Silver City. Ten miles west of Rockland, we had to stop to get suited up. Rained from that point to Ontonagon to Ironwood. Stopped at another watering hole that we frequent when snowmobiling - Hoop N Hollar (voted best place to stop by [SnowGoer Magazine]). First time we had seen the Keweenaw Peninsula outside of winter. Arrived in Washburn, Wisconsin, about 2 p.m. Stayed at the North Country Inn. Nice rooms and they had a deck and the sun was out. After we unloaded our stuff and changed into dry socks and shoes, went to the local store and got some beer and brought it back to the hotel. Met another rider from Chetek, Wisconsin, and a group from Iowa. All were headed to Tomahawk, Wisconsin, for a bike rally. As it got dark, we walked down to the Steak Pit for dinner. Good food and decent prices. Friday, September 14 - Final day of the trip. Coldest night yet, but it was not raining and it wouldn't rain outside of a few sprinkles. In a little town called Herbster is Tanya's By the Lake restaurant. If it weren't for Henry's, this would have been the best place to eat. Good plentiful breakfast. We arrived back at the Choo Choo B&G within about 30 minutes of when we started the trip just seven days earlier. We had a Bloody Mary to celebrate the end. Even though it was very good, we missed the pepper vodka from Henry's. We parted ways and Matt and Mark headed back home. Total miles - 1,310; Total time - 144 hours from start to finish; Meals eaten – 16; Good meals eaten – 3; Gas stops – 20; Problems – 0; Deer – 5; Moose – 0; Signs – dozens. Tim Neid, Burnsville, Minnesota Mark Glenzinski Matt Bunnell, St. Paul, Minnesota |
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