On my first overnight scooter ride in 2009, I rode down to Warren Dunes State Park, stopping in all the harbor towns along the way, kind of like today’s ride but a bit more leisurely. But St. Joseph surprised me. 

In 2008, the downtown/harbor/beach area was pretty desolate. I could see some publi works projects underway, showing that the city (with some combo of private investment and government grants) was trying to revitalize it. There was a funky pizza place sharing the old train station with the token Amtrak kiosk, which is where I had dinner before continuing to the state park. But not many people. 

Today it was different. The downtown retail blocks were full of people: young couple with children, small packs of teenagers, older couples. It looked almost like Saugatuck or South Haven. The beach area (which you can see from a neat overlook at the edge of the shopping district) was busy too. 

Now some of the difference may be the time/day I was there, but I don’t think that accounts for all of it. And I was in adjacent Benton Harbor a few nights ago and it still looked like a city in decline. So I’m not proclaiming an economic miracle. But still: downtown Saint Joe is looking better. 

  
New Buffalo (which I hadn’t been to before) was my next stop. It… hasn’t quite hit the tourist vibe that Saint Joe has, but it’s working on it. 

Next was Michigan City. I didn’t stop. The huge power plant cooling tower looming over it kinda kills the atmosphere. 

I got to Indiana Dunes State Park around 7pm … make that 6pm local time. Nice enough campground, but all I’ve done so far is pitch the tent and head off to get dinner at Leroy’s, a bar and grill on the highway a few miles away. 

I’ve checked and double-checked the packing list, and loaded everything (except me) on the scooter. This is the first time in a few trips that I haven’t needed to bring a backpack (for days on the trail), which makes it a bit less complicated. Clothes go under the seat; tent, sleeping bag, pad, and pillow go on the rear rack; and rain gear, camera, and everything else go in the bag (which will sit on the seat behind me).   

Figuring out ahead of time the route I’ll be taking each day is usually a fun challenge. Not so much this time. The first day’s ride is obvious; I’ve even done it before. But the second day… Ugh. 

The second day starts east of Gary and ends northwest of Chicago. Normally my strategy for dealing with big cities is simple: avoid them. I stayed away from Detroit, and detoured around Flint, Lansing, and Kalamazoo. But Chicago is too big. And it’s in my way. 

The problem isn’t finding roads to take. The problem is too many roads to choose from. 

Normally I can tell a good road from a bad road by looking at it on a map. But the things I look for don’t work in a megalopolis. A road following a river is probably an expressway, not a scenic drive. A road running alongside an Interstate is probably an overflow route, not a locals-only access road. 

But I think I’ve mapped a route out. It’ll probably suck, and I’m sure I won’t stick to it once I get out there. But at least it’s a route. 

It’s close enough to the big ride that we now have weather forecasts for the whole trip. Here’s the projection for Milwaukee, which is roughly in the middle of the area I’ll be in.

So it’s… not bad, I suppose. There’s some chance of rain around here on Sunday, but I’ve had a few previous rides that started in the rain. As for Thursday and Friday…. typically when the forecast is for variable percentages up to 50% that means off-and-on rain moving through the area. That’s not so bad, compared to the kind of weather where it just rains all day. I’ve ridden in that, and it’s not much fun, even with rain gear.

But I don’t think I’ve gone on a ride of more than a couple days without getting some rain, so if this turns out to be off-and-on rain for a couple days, that’ll be OK.

It’s been almost a year since I finished my quest to visit every county in Michigan by scooter, but I’m not finished scooting.

On my first ride back in 2009, I went half-way around Lake Michigan: up the west coast of the Lower Peninsula, along the south coast of the Upper Peninsula, and down into Wisconsin, before taking a shortcut across the Lake to get back home.  This time I’m going to finish the loop: riding around the south end of the Lake.  I’m still “scooting around Michigan”… it’s just around Lake Michigan this time.

The basic itinerary is this (leaving on the 19th):

• Sunday: Down the Blue Star and Red Arrow Highways to Indiana Dunes State Park, just the other side of the border.
• Monday: Around Chicagary (as best as I can manage) to Chain O’ Lakes State Park, just south of the Wisconsin border in Illinois.
• Tuesday: Up into Wisconsin (steering west of Milwaukenosha) to High Cliff State Park on Lake Winnebago.
• Wednesday: Angle northeastward toward the Door Peninsula (Wisconsin’s analog to Michigan’s Leelanau Peninsula) up to Peninsula State Park.
• Thursday: Ride to the tip of Door and exploring Washington Island, then Rock Island where I’ll camp.
• Friday: Head back south to Manitowoc, where I’ll catch the S.S. Badger‘s overnight crossing to Ludington.
• Saturday: Ride home from Ludington.

On my previous rides, even the last one, which included quite a bit of distance in Wisconsin, I never spent the night outside of Michigan. The closest was sleeping on the Badger while it was crossing the Lake.  This time will be the opposite: I’ll have one night in Indiana, one in Illinois, and three in Wisconsin (with another on the Lake).  So instead of this being a “MI way” expedition it’s more like “INILWI way”. But let’s overlook that, OK? I’m not changing the web site.

I’ll admit that this ride doesn’t excite quite the same anticipation that last year’s ride to Isle Royale had, or the two times I rode across the Mackinac Bridge.  Sunday’s ride will be a repeat of one I’ve done before, Monday is going to be an urban/suburban slog, and the final leg on Friday night/Saturday is a re-re-run.  But on the other hand, Door County should be more scenic than scooting across the southern farmland counties of Michigan a few years ago. 🙂

And any day scooting is better than a day answering support calls.