Day 2
After the events of yesterday, I had lots of time last night to watch TV. Thank god I downloaded a
bunch of TV series to watch while traveling.
So I went with "Pennyworth" first. What a great series. Finally someone at DC is finally going
beyond Batman and Superman.
beyond Batman and Superman.
2 episodes in and I'm hooked. Watch it if you can. Anyway after that it's off to bed. I'm tired.
It's 6 am and time to head down to the ambiguous motel/hotel breakfast room for breakfast.
If you've been to one, you've been to the all. Since I'm not a waffle guy, it's yogurt for me. At least
they have my 2 fav favors, cherry and blueberry. The one thing I've learned the hard way and
talked about on other blogs, is the absolute that motel/hotel coffee is bad. So do yourself a favor and
load up on those freeze dried coffee sticks. For me it's Starbucks, but there are lots of others out there.
I grab my stuff and head back to the room to enjoy my coffee and yogurt, and get ahead on today's
blog.
Now I'm just waiting for the sun to rise, and I'll get started on removing the old trailer hitch. Then
over to the storage locker and spraying up the trailer.
Then it's waiting for FedEx to show up. As the title of today's blog says,
either the trailer fix works or it doesn't, but I need to be on the road today. I'll just be riding with the
basics.
Finally the sun has risen, so off comes the trailer hitch (2 pins) and into the garbage it goes. I did
save the offending piece as a souvenir.
Then it's over to the storage locker, and to see how the patch turned out.
Actually, the patch has cured and it looks good to go. So a quick spray of undercoating to hide
the patch job, and that's one less thing to worry about. Since I'm here, I take off the piece that
started it all .
That's ones a keeper
Now it's time to head back to the Motel. To my surprise the box with the hitch is here.
I was warned by the guy who I talked to that FedEx would be expensive, but wow, I've flown to
Vegas cheaper than what it cost to send this. But all things are relative, as they did deliver it before
7:30 am. So hopefully this will be my one and only super fast overnight delivery. Time to install
it. It was a rather pain in the neck to but on, but finally I'm starting to realize that this whole problem
might actually work out.
Time to head back over to the storage locker and pick up the hopefully dry (from the undercoating)
and finished trailer.
I'm all done and (hopefully )everything works. By now it's 9 am and time to get back my cleaning deposit. Now I
have a $30 cheque that I'll have to deposit when I get back. I have a feeling that photo deposit won't
work on US cheques. So now I'm heading back to the motel to pack and head to the ferry.
I pack the bike, and one last trip to the hardware store for a chain link, as one of my chains does
not want to connect to the hitch (not that it really matters, as we found out earlier). But if I get pulled
over,
it has to look the part. I also had to get a button battery for the TPMS (tire pressure monitor system).
They are easily replaceable, so done and it works.
So now I hit the road and pray that everything works out. The test ride was the ride back from the
storage locker, but it looks good.
The poor SS Badger, it's just not going to work out again, as they went to a fall sailing schedule
and I'm not going to waste a day waiting around. Just in case you were wondering, they sail at 9 am
and I just can't get there that early.
It's a 2 hour drive to Muskegon, MI to catch the Lake Express. I'm thinking that it leaves at 2:45 pm,
so I fly over. I end up getting there around 12:30 pm, only to find out that it doesn't sail until
4:45 pm. The only reason I'm a little pissed is that I could have had a shower before I left, but I was
in a hurry to catch the ferry, I passed. I can have one when I hit tonight's hotel/motel. Anyway, I get
my ferry passage booked, and I end up with a upgrade to the premium lounge on the ferry. Actually
all you get over the regular passengers is Wi-Fi, which they didn't have the last time I was aboard,
and table service.
Anyway I have a couple of hours to kill, so it's off into town and off to Burger King. Why Burger
King you ask? Well Burger King has $1 tacos, and for some reason, I got it into my head that I must
try one. From the processed american cheese slice used as cheese, to what I can only describe as
BBQ sauce, it was by far the worse taco I've ever had. The cheeseburger was ok.
Yep, that's a sliced piece of american cheese in that sad excuse of a taco.
Then to top it off, one of those fancy coke machines with all the flavors in it, was out of most of the
flavors that make it great. So I ended up with a diet Dr. Pepper with vanilla. One disappointing
Burger
King trip. I head over to the $1 store to pick up supplies for the ferry and harbor freight to waste time.
I head back to the ferry to see a line has started and I join in. A couple of minutes later they open the
gate and do the security check with the mirror that looks underneath for things and park in the
staging area.
We ended up only having 3 bikes going over, me and 2 Harley's. That's when I found out that they
also canceled yesterday Lake Express due to weather also. So the funny part is that the whole trailer
falling off only cost me traveling on the SS Badger. I still would have had to book a night in a motel
for the delay somewhere. They made some announcements on a rough sailing with waves in the 3 to
5 foot range. They did offer free Dramamine. So I popped a couple of pills as when I took my last
ferry I felt rather uncomfortable due to the waves. I had some great conversations with the other
motorcycle riders, and they did love the trailer story. Then the ferry arrives.
There she is, funny, I remember it looking bigger. Maybe after the trip I'll look back and compare
pics from the last time I was on.
Then we loaded the bikes on and tied them down. 8 straps later, the bike isn't going to move. Though
I'm sweating like a pig, I should have taken off my riding sweater. The worse part is, that I didn't get
any pics of the bike all strapped down. I head upstairs and I drop my carry on at my seat, and head
up to the deck to cool off and take some pics of us leaving.
Still there from last time. Maybe one of those days I visit.
Well that cools me off fast.
Once past the lighthouse the Captain opens up those 4 Rolls Royce engines and off to Milwaukee, WI
we go!
I head back downstairs and settle in for the hopefully, not too wavy trip.
Some more Pennyworth, it's got me hooked, but I only brought the first 6 episodes. I just checked
and I'll have to wait till Saturday to download the next one. Anyway 2 1/2 hours later and were
getting ready to dock.
But Pennyworth threw in a kicker on episode 4, which I think is going to make this series
rather darker then it already is. Looking forward to it. How come I like all the different TV series
where the Nazi's won WW2?
Milwaukee coming into view.
Some info on the ship
Milwaukee
All the info that you need to know.
They make an announcement, so it's time to go and unstrap the bikes, and get ready to depart.
The good thing is that it's way easier to unstrap a bike than it is to strap down. All the bikes stayed
up, so no one had any problems. But before you know it, were docked and starting to unload. Well, I
was almost ready to go.
A few minutes later, I'm dockside and putting in my nights motel address, I suit
up and I'm ready to go. The great thing about this ferry terminal, is, you make a left leaving, then a
right turn, and your on the Interstate. Last time I was here, it was a mess, construction everywhere,
10 years later, and the payoff is that I have the fastest and smoothest ride out of a major city at
6:30 pm that I ever have. The nice part about going west is you gain a hour every couple of days
riding. Today is one of those days. So 25 hours for me, and I needed it.
I decided to stay the night in Madison, WI
I've been here before, sometime in the 1990's, when a mad group of us decided to go
to the Madison rally. We were going find Elvis working at Burger King, and yes, we actually went to one, but no Elvis.
It was a great run, and great memories. Anyway, back to the trip, 1 1/2 hours later I arrive at
my motel. For $50 a night, it actually was ok. I fill up the bike for tomorrow, and hit the bed. I'm
tired, so tired that I leave updating the blog to tomorrow.
Which is what I'm doing now, the next morning eating breakfast and a coffee and watching the sun
rise.
Today mileage 255 miles or 410 km
Bonus Ferry miles of 111 miles
Total is 556 miles or 894 km
Finally the sun has risen, so off comes the trailer hitch (2 pins) and into the garbage it goes. I did
save the offending piece as a souvenir.
Then it's over to the storage locker, and to see how the patch turned out.
Actually, the patch has cured and it looks good to go. So a quick spray of undercoating to hide
the patch job, and that's one less thing to worry about. Since I'm here, I take off the piece that
started it all .
That's ones a keeper
Now it's time to head back to the Motel. To my surprise the box with the hitch is here.
I was warned by the guy who I talked to that FedEx would be expensive, but wow, I've flown to
Vegas cheaper than what it cost to send this. But all things are relative, as they did deliver it before
7:30 am. So hopefully this will be my one and only super fast overnight delivery. Time to install
it. It was a rather pain in the neck to but on, but finally I'm starting to realize that this whole problem
might actually work out.
Time to head back over to the storage locker and pick up the hopefully dry (from the undercoating)
and finished trailer.
I'm all done and (hopefully )everything works. By now it's 9 am and time to get back my cleaning deposit. Now I
have a $30 cheque that I'll have to deposit when I get back. I have a feeling that photo deposit won't
work on US cheques. So now I'm heading back to the motel to pack and head to the ferry.
I pack the bike, and one last trip to the hardware store for a chain link, as one of my chains does
not want to connect to the hitch (not that it really matters, as we found out earlier). But if I get pulled
over,
it has to look the part. I also had to get a button battery for the TPMS (tire pressure monitor system).
They are easily replaceable, so done and it works.
So now I hit the road and pray that everything works out. The test ride was the ride back from the
storage locker, but it looks good.
The poor SS Badger, it's just not going to work out again, as they went to a fall sailing schedule
and I'm not going to waste a day waiting around. Just in case you were wondering, they sail at 9 am
and I just can't get there that early.
It's a 2 hour drive to Muskegon, MI to catch the Lake Express. I'm thinking that it leaves at 2:45 pm,
so I fly over. I end up getting there around 12:30 pm, only to find out that it doesn't sail until
4:45 pm. The only reason I'm a little pissed is that I could have had a shower before I left, but I was
in a hurry to catch the ferry, I passed. I can have one when I hit tonight's hotel/motel. Anyway, I get
my ferry passage booked, and I end up with a upgrade to the premium lounge on the ferry. Actually
all you get over the regular passengers is Wi-Fi, which they didn't have the last time I was aboard,
and table service.
Anyway I have a couple of hours to kill, so it's off into town and off to Burger King. Why Burger
King you ask? Well Burger King has $1 tacos, and for some reason, I got it into my head that I must
try one. From the processed american cheese slice used as cheese, to what I can only describe as
BBQ sauce, it was by far the worse taco I've ever had. The cheeseburger was ok.
Yep, that's a sliced piece of american cheese in that sad excuse of a taco.
Then to top it off, one of those fancy coke machines with all the flavors in it, was out of most of the
flavors that make it great. So I ended up with a diet Dr. Pepper with vanilla. One disappointing
Burger
King trip. I head over to the $1 store to pick up supplies for the ferry and harbor freight to waste time.
I head back to the ferry to see a line has started and I join in. A couple of minutes later they open the
gate and do the security check with the mirror that looks underneath for things and park in the
staging area.
also canceled yesterday Lake Express due to weather also. So the funny part is that the whole trailer
falling off only cost me traveling on the SS Badger. I still would have had to book a night in a motel
for the delay somewhere. They made some announcements on a rough sailing with waves in the 3 to
5 foot range. They did offer free Dramamine. So I popped a couple of pills as when I took my last
ferry I felt rather uncomfortable due to the waves. I had some great conversations with the other
motorcycle riders, and they did love the trailer story. Then the ferry arrives.
There she is, funny, I remember it looking bigger. Maybe after the trip I'll look back and compare
pics from the last time I was on.
Then we loaded the bikes on and tied them down. 8 straps later, the bike isn't going to move. Though
I'm sweating like a pig, I should have taken off my riding sweater. The worse part is, that I didn't get
any pics of the bike all strapped down. I head upstairs and I drop my carry on at my seat, and head
up to the deck to cool off and take some pics of us leaving.
Well that cools me off fast.
Once past the lighthouse the Captain opens up those 4 Rolls Royce engines and off to Milwaukee, WI
we go!
I head back downstairs and settle in for the hopefully, not too wavy trip.
Some more Pennyworth, it's got me hooked, but I only brought the first 6 episodes. I just checked
and I'll have to wait till Saturday to download the next one. Anyway 2 1/2 hours later and were
getting ready to dock.
But Pennyworth threw in a kicker on episode 4, which I think is going to make this series
rather darker then it already is. Looking forward to it. How come I like all the different TV series
where the Nazi's won WW2?
Milwaukee coming into view.
Some info on the ship
Milwaukee
All the info that you need to know.
They make an announcement, so it's time to go and unstrap the bikes, and get ready to depart.
The good thing is that it's way easier to unstrap a bike than it is to strap down. All the bikes stayed
up, so no one had any problems. But before you know it, were docked and starting to unload. Well, I
was almost ready to go.
A few minutes later, I'm dockside and putting in my nights motel address, I suit
up and I'm ready to go. The great thing about this ferry terminal, is, you make a left leaving, then a
right turn, and your on the Interstate. Last time I was here, it was a mess, construction everywhere,
10 years later, and the payoff is that I have the fastest and smoothest ride out of a major city at
6:30 pm that I ever have. The nice part about going west is you gain a hour every couple of days
riding. Today is one of those days. So 25 hours for me, and I needed it.
I decided to stay the night in Madison, WI
I've been here before, sometime in the 1990's, when a mad group of us decided to go
to the Madison rally. We were going find Elvis working at Burger King, and yes, we actually went to one, but no Elvis.
It was a great run, and great memories. Anyway, back to the trip, 1 1/2 hours later I arrive at
my motel. For $50 a night, it actually was ok. I fill up the bike for tomorrow, and hit the bed. I'm
tired, so tired that I leave updating the blog to tomorrow.
Which is what I'm doing now, the next morning eating breakfast and a coffee and watching the sun
rise.
Today mileage 255 miles or 410 km
Bonus Ferry miles of 111 miles
Total is 556 miles or 894 km
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