The Plan is...There is no Plan

 With all great adventures there must be spontaneity. Being tightly scheduled may work at work but this is play we are talking about. As much as I would like to create an itinerary and follow it to a T (it's my job you know) being planned forces you into tunnel vision and you will likely miss some amazing things that are right in front of you. At the behest of my wife and sister in law, I have limited our trip planning to studying POSSIBLE stops and anchorages. Heck, we may end up sailing to an anchorage and just hanging out a few days--it's our vacation, we will just do whatever we feel like. If Salty Kisses is still in the area, maybe we will meet up with them too. It's been quite fun to follow their voyage and life journey. Kudos to all those who go out and chase their dreams.

 Meanwhile, back in Milwaukee, we have rededicated ourselves to our Yoga program and man, what a difference! We are both feeling amazing and looking better too. I feel Yoga really should be part of everyone's daily routine as there is just no beating the calmness that comes from yoga practice. If you are in the Milwaukee area give Hot Yoga MKE a try. Great folks!

 We are packing for the Christmas Holiday in Arizona as we speak and boy is it going to be a whirlwind down there. I am returning just after Christmas day to get back to work and just a few weeks later, Voila! off we go. I decided to add in this photo (taken from google earth) that shows some initial planning I did for the trip. Unlikely we follow it but hey, who knows?

Moorings Trip update

 The airline flights are booked, vacation time has been granted by our employer and the final payment for the trip has been made! Needless to say we are very excited about our week in January in the BVI. We are now pondering and planning various itineraries, deciding where we want to overnight and what sight seeing spots we simply can't miss. Winter in Wisconsin appears to be starting even earlier than usual and I believe we will be more than ready for a break by mid January. The booking process with moorings has been very easy and smooth. The website is informative and fairly simple to use, my biggest complaint being the fact you need a separate sign in for the food and drink ordering for your trip. I am not sure why this just isn't another tab on the "my moorings" webpage.
 The above photo is the Moorings 42 by Beneteau, the SV we will be using for our trip. Below is the cabin layout and it should do quite nicely for the week. We are a small group of four but the two head setup seemed a no-brainer for us as our wives are pretty spoiled. ;)

  So far so good. Although not exactly a cheap vacation, the Moorings experience has been great to this point and we fully expect that to be the case throughout the actual vacation. As we get closer to finalizing itineraries and plans, the blog will be updated. Have an amazing week!! 

Summertime in Northern Michigan!

 A few weeks back, we decided our 30th wedding anniversary should be celebrated on our 2014 Harley Davidson Electra Glide Limited. We were blessed with absolutely perfect riding weather and what an amazing ride it was. I used the HD ride planner and it really is a great tool, check out this link http://bit.ly/1urN4nd to see what the ride plan looked like.
 We left Pewaukee August 14 and rode to Hartford where we ate breakfast at the Mineshaft restaurant (excellent!) and then headed for Marinette WI near the UP. Green Bay freeways were under construction and rough but we survived them. After Marinette, we headed for the Mackinaw bridge (a four hour ride), keeping a good pace so we could make Petoskey MI before 4 PM. After cleaning up, we jumped on the back and rode an hour north to the famous legs inn, just outside of Harbor Springs MI. Legs is a gorgeous incredible place with amazing Polska food. After dinner, we were back on the bike and through the tunnel of trees to Petoskey before the sun set. We spent 10 hours on the bike that day and both of us were ready for more. HD really builds a comfortable cruiser!

Hartford WI Mineshaft restaurant

Legs Inn Harbor Springs MI

Gorgeous views at Legs

  August 15 found us riding to sleeping bear dunes state park near Empire MI to hit the beach, check out the photos below...

Keep your suits on? Didn't see any problems

Super soft sand

Gorgeous beach views

 After some beach time, we had planned to head to Luddington MI but saw a small leak from our lower left rear shock and decided to head for Muskegon, MI to the closest HD dealer.
 We dialed Hotrod HD into the boom box and away we went-- Michigan roads are simply amazing and we were there in no time. I had it in my mind we would just have them verify it wasn't something more than a shock and take it to my dealer in Oconomowoc WI when I got home. I walked up to the service counter, they came and looked at the bike and said they would replace the shock (under warranty) right then! Not only did they have it fixed in 30 minutes, but they gave it a good wash job to boot. Needless to say, I am a big fan of HD on the road support program-- it cannot be beat. Kudos to all the guys at HotrodHD in Muskegon for the great efffort-- THANK YOU!!

 That completed, we grabbed an early dinner at Boatyard BBQ and then rode a short distance to the beach, taking a nice long walk out to the Muskegon light house for some photos, see below

 As the sun set on a perfect day, we headed over to the high speed car ferry to carry us across lake Michigan and back home to Milwaukee!! I would highly recommend this ride to anyone. Enjoy!

car ferry from Muskegon

Home!

Two of us strapped down

Chicago Mac Race, MC Tour of Lake Michigan and finally a Lake Michigan crossing!!

What an amazing weekend!

You could almost forget how cold last winter was in Wisconsin if you were here these last few weeks--almost! It has been absolutely gorgeous here and what a weekend for a nice MC tour of Lake Michigan. My wife was out of town so my riding partner Brendon and I made a last minute plan and met in Port Washington WI Friday morning at 0700. After a quick breakfast, we rolled up through Green Bay, Marinette MI (upper peninsula), Escanaba and on to St Ignace. After crossing the Mackinac bridge to mainland Michigan, we grabbed a hotel in Mackinaw City MI and hopped the ferry to Mackinac island for dinner. After a quick sleep we bailed early and headed for the tunnel of trees near Harbor Springs MI. I can't put into words how amazing it was but there is a video link below the pics so enjoy it! After the tunnel, we hit Charlevoix, Traverse City and Manistee. After a quick stop in Luddington, we headed for Muskegon to catch the High Speed ferry from Muskegon (where of course there was a GIGANTIC motorcycle rally) to Milwaukee and home. Check out the photos and videos below-- a simply amazing weekend!!

Breakfast in Port

Marinette MI

Mackinaw City

Mackinac island ferry

Mackinaw island lighthouse

Charlevoix MI

Luddington MI

getting on the ferry in Muskegon MI

gotta strap it down

leaving Muskegon

upper deck

Nice accommodations inside

41 knots!!

High Speed ferry-- AMAZING!

Now on to You Tube!!

Tunnel of Trees MC ride

Harley-Davidson Museum tour

HD Museum Milwaukee WI

American Icon-- I doubt any single entity demonstrates the true meaning of these two words better than the Harley Davidson Motorcycle Company of Milwaukee WI. Founded in 1903 by two childhood friends, HD has grown into one of the worlds most recognizable companies. Love them or hate them, they have withstood wars, depression and many other challenges to personify the American dream of hard work, innovation and a never say die attitude. If you love motorcycles, the HD museum is a must. If you hate motorcycles, the HD museum is a must. It really is that good. The photo tour in this blog does not do the museum any sort of justice and is only a sampling of bikes, live demos and hands on display available for anyone to experience. Enjoy!!

Serial Number 1-- while controversial because of a few suspect parts (ie maybe not #1 in every aspect), it is the oldest Harley Davidson motorcycle in existence

1906 and 1909 Harleys- sweet!!

Mr.Harley on display with his invention

First generation V-twin 

HD Late 1920's

My favorites--- the 1930's

In 1937, this Harley went 136.5 MPH !!

Special use and Military 1940's

Likely one of the most recognizable Harleys from the movie Easy Rider (a copy of the original)

Harleys racing heritage from various era's

The Rhinestone Hog--obviously from Texas

assuming the postion

hard charging with the sidecar

Warning! Hot Lady on bike