One Lap of Lake Michigan

Otter74 · 04:02 PM

I spent the July 4th weekend with my girlfriend and her family at their house in the north woods of Wisconsin, near the UP. I remember on this trip last year how I was obsessively looking at classifieds, etc. I bought my car a couple of weeks later, and now I got to drive it up there for the first time. Despite 10 years living in Michigan and now 8 in Chicago, I had never been to the UP (except on a technicality), which felt like I was breaking some kind of Michigan law. I have been itching to take my car on some kind of road trip this summer and interesting geography is in pretty short supply in my part of the country, but the UP was right there, I had a day to spare, and the weather was great, so I drove home to Chicago via the UP, the bridge, and the left side of the mitten, with a long stop at Pictured Rocks. It was a long day (7AM - 3AM) but lots of fun, and the car was terrific.

Forgive me if this is in the wrong sub-forum - if so, I'll move it.

In the woods at the house:

Pictured Rocks (there's not much you can see without being in the water):

Not afraid of dirt roads:

I think my next such trip in the car will be up to Copper Harbor and back. A year and 5000 miles later, I love driving this car!

Otter74 · 12:44 PM

First time at the Mackinac Bridge, which is rather impressive:

My kind of road, for bikes and cars:

Joe Bob · Joe Bob's Garage

Nice, how big were the Skeeters?

3literpwr · 07-10-2016, 04:32 PM

Nice! I just took my '87 up to Torch lake! Highway 58 between Grand Marais and Munising is a great stretch of road.

Farrell · 07-10-2016, 05:31 PM

you can drive the roads in the UP for days. Michigan is a great spot to live. down in the LP along lake Michigan has great roads for driving.

Otter74 · 07-10-2016, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Bob

Nice, how big were the Skeeters?

They made up in quantity what they lacked in size. IME nothing approaches the Denali wilderness in summer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3literpwr

Nice! I just took my '87 up to Torch lake! Highway 58 between Grand Marais and Munising is a great stretch of road.

It looked good on the map, and I would have liked to make some detours along the north shore, but I didn't have time, alas.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Farrell

you can drive the roads in the UP for days. Michigan is a great spot to live. down in the LP along lake Michigan has great roads for driving.

I'm happy to take any particular recommendations you have for the Lake Michigan shore on the lower peninsula!

Flieger · Flieger's Garage

very pretty

kach22i · kach22i's Garage

Looks like a memorable trip.

Great car to do it in.

I'm guessing the top was off 90% of the driving time.

Been shy on rain, parts of state have been declared "drought" areas, but this has sure kept the mosquito population down - so far.

Part of Michigan just placed in moderate drought
http://www.mlive.com/weather/index.ssf/2016/07/part_of_michigan_just_placed_i.html

Otter74 · 07-11-2016, 06:55 AM

Top was off 100% of driving time

I put it on at the house to keep stuff out of the interior, at the Pictured Rocks beach parking lot to keep dust out, and after 4 days of sunny skies it started raining 10 minutes from home as I drove past the Loop. I thought I could just drive though it but then it got so thunderously hard that I had to stop 1/4 mile from home to put the top on under an overpass at my off-ramp.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kach22i

Looks like a memorable trip.

Great car to do it in.

I'm guessing the top was off 90% of the driving time.

Been shy on rain, parts of state have been declared "drought" areas, but this has sure kept the mosquito population down - so far.

Part of Michigan just placed in moderate drought
Part of Michigan just placed in moderate drought | MLive.com

matthewb0051 · matthewb0051's Garage

This is awesome, thanks for sharing.

Glad to see the technical tip on when to use and store the targa roof so that it fits in the technical forum

Otter74 · 07-11-2016, 11:39 AM

Oh, technical content

OK, some notes:

I put a new clutch cable on the night before I left. This effected a drastic improvement in clutch feel. I had previously had trouble disconnecting the end from the pedal cluster, but once I removed all tension from the pin it wasn't hard - the bushing in the arm was fine, but there was a little bit of wear on the bore of the pin on the retaining clip, which I replaced. Adjusted it according to the book (no foot board, so no stop adjustment) and it feels perfect. I forgot to shoot some lithium grease down the new cable, but I can do that later. Second gear is sometimes a little hard to get and I think I need to go back and tweak the coupler a little bit, as it was easier before my last adjustment.

Also put on a set of Conti DWSes the day before. I can notice the difference in turn-in response between these and the summer Dunlops that were on there before, but it's not large. They did fine in the brief, but very intense, rain, something that I could not have said about my worn-out rear Dunlops.

bbturbo · 07-11-2016, 11:41 AM

Awesome! I would love to do this when I am back in Indiana next with a running 911 lol.

Discseven · Discseven's Garage

Nice ride Otter! Great share!

Otter74 · 07-11-2016, 02:27 PM

Michigan's state motto is, "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you." Even my route was peninsular!

cgarr · cgarr's Garage

Damn you should have stopped in GR for a beer!!

stevej37 · 07-11-2016, 04:05 PM

The only thing I would recommend is...instead of taking the interstate from the Mac bridge south, take the lake Mi lakeshore route thru Petoskey, Harbor Springs, Traverse and down to Ludington and Muskegon and then joining the interstate again. A whole diff drive..lots of great roads and small towns. It will add an hour or more to the trip.

Spark Chaser · Spark Chaser's Garage

M22 from Manistee to Traverse City is my favorite stretch of road. It winds through Sleeping Bear National Park.

Otter74 · 09:39 PM

I didn't cross the bridge until almost 8PM, so I wasn't in much of a position to have time for beer stops, though I would have enjoyed a pint at Founders or that place that's in the little former church. Or, hell, dinner at Marie Catrib's. Map is a little off - I took 131 and 31 (went through Petoskey), not I-75. I would have preferred 31 along the coast but, again, time. I had to take a nap and didn't get home til 3AM. I have been to Sleeping Bear and the Leelanau Peninsula and etc. and it's beautiful and I do agree that the west part of M22 is nice. I e driven up the coast from the IN border to at least Muskegon.

Rennsport77 · 07-12-2016, 04:22 AM

The copper harbor trip is a must! I go up to Houghton every year for the Rally America race up there and the second I get north of the bridge (I drive up from near Kalamazoo) the drive is amazing. I love coming into Munising in between the high ridges with the bay straight in front of you, its gorgeous. Once you get out of Marquette and Ishpiming and start towards Lans and the Baraga plains you start to get really fun ribbons of road and very interesting geography. Of course Houghton is a really awesome little town and once you're passed that the drive and scenery get even better. That whole area is in my top 3 fave places in the world

Otter74 · 07-12-2016, 05:45 AM

@Rennsport, I took US141 north from WI and then M28 east and bypassed L'Anse - sounds like I should have taken a slightly different route

The mountain west and the west coast are the parts of the country that have always called to me the most, and they still are, but when it comes to beautiful country that is nice to drive, I am glad to finally be able to fully appreciate the UP, which is only 6ish hours away. When is the Rally America race? Is this what was a long time ago called the Press On Regardless rally, or is that still in the Atlanta (MI) area?