Trip of a Lifetime - Alaska, here we come!
It was a cool but sunny start to the day. We left St Thomas around 6:30 am and met up with Brian, Jana and Jerry in Lambeth. After a quick rest break, we headed off in search of Alaska!
Of course, I missed my turn-off to the 402, so we wound up "warming up the tires" for a little but before jumping on the 402 at Delaware. After a maintenance stop in Sarnia, we crossed the Bluewater Bridge into Port Huron - the customs agent was very friendly and we had no troubles with the crossing.
lou.dealmeida
38 chapters
15 Apr 2020
Day 1 - St Thomas. ON to St Ignace, MI
June 14, 2019
It was a cool but sunny start to the day. We left St Thomas around 6:30 am and met up with Brian, Jana and Jerry in Lambeth. After a quick rest break, we headed off in search of Alaska!
Of course, I missed my turn-off to the 402, so we wound up "warming up the tires" for a little but before jumping on the 402 at Delaware. After a maintenance stop in Sarnia, we crossed the Bluewater Bridge into Port Huron - the customs agent was very friendly and we had no troubles with the crossing.
Our first Harley stop of the day was in Lapeer and Ray C's - they've just moved to a new location 3 years ago and have a beautiful new store. Young Mike actually gave us a tour of the place and even offered us a ride in one of the side-by-sides that they have there.
From there, we got off of the interstate and made our way along M15 into Bay City and a stop at Great Lakes HD. They recommended a spot to have lunch about 20 minutes up the highway in Piconning - Sporty's Wing Shack and Smokehouse. By the time we finished lunch, the weather was looking like it was going to turn, so we donned our rain gear and it came in handy, as it rained - not real heavy though - right through until we got to our destination in St Ignace.
We wound up changing our trip plan to accommodate the rain, and stayed on I75 all the remainder of the day, except for a small detour for fuel in Grayling. A a result, we missed one of our Harley dealer stops - Gildner's - along the way. We just might have to make a small detour on the return trip home :-).
As always, the Mackinac Bridge was under construction and, as
always, we had to ride the bikes on the grated lane.
In the end, we all made it to the Bear Cove Inn at around 5 pm, where we all got our "themed rooms". Jerry was in the Waterfalls room. Jana and Brian were in the Bear's Den and Vicki and I were in the Forest room. For dinner, we just walked next door to Pine's Trading Post and picked up some sandwiches and some cold pops :-). Total mileage for the day was just short of 619 kms.
Our official "paparazzi" (Vicki and Jana) were busy getting us pictures of the day.
1.
Pre-Trip Stuff
2.
Planned Trip routing
3.
Day 1 - St Thomas. ON to St Ignace, MI
4.
Day 2 - St Ignace, MI to Copper Harbor, MI
5.
Day 3 - Copper Harbor, MI to Grand Rapids, MN
6.
Day 4 - Grand Rapids, MN to Minot, ND
7.
Day 5 - Minot, ND to Malta, MT
8.
Day 6 - Malta, MT to Choteau, MT
9.
Day 7 - Choteau, MT to Mossleigh, AB
10.
Day 8 - Mossleigh, AB to Canmore, AB
11.
Day 9 - Canmore, AB to Hinton, AB
12.
Day 10 - Hinton, AB to Dawson Creek, BC
13.
Day 11 - Dawson Creek, BC to Fort Nelson, BC
14.
Day 12 - Fort Nelson, BC to Watson Lake, YT
15.
Day 13 - Watson Lake, YT to Whitehorse, YR
16.
Day 14 – Whitehorse, YT to Dawson City, YT
17.
Day 15 – Dawson City, YT to Tok, AK
18.
Day 16 – Tok, AK to Valdez, AK
19.
Day 17 – Valdez, AK to Whittier, AK
20.
Day 18 - Whittier, AK to Homer, AK
21.
Day 19 – Homer, AK to Bird Creek, AK
22.
Day 20 – Bird Creek, AK to Palmer, AK
23.
Day 21 - Palmer, AK to Anderson, AK
24.
Day 22 - Anderson, AK to Tok, AK
25.
Day 23 - Tok, AK to Whitehorse, YT
26.
Day 24 - Whitehorse, YT to Dease Lake, BC
27.
Day 25 - Dease Lake, BC to New Hazelton, BC
28.
Day 26 - New Hazelton, BC to Prince George, BC
29.
Day 27 - Prince George, BC to Entwistle, AB
30.
Day 28 – Entwistle, AB to Red Deer, AB
31.
Day 29 – Red Deer, AB to Drumheller, AB
32.
Day 30 - Drumheller, AB to Regina, SK
33.
Day 31 - Regina, SK to Steinbach, MB
34.
Day 32 - Steinbach, MB to Duluth, MN
35.
Day 33 – Duluth, MN to Sturgeon Bay, WI
36.
Day 34 – Sturgeon Bay, WI to St Ignace, MI
37.
Day 35 – St Ignace, MI to St Thomas, ON
38.
The Final Chapter
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