I had forgotten that Ironwood was still on Central Time, so I was all messed up. For me to leave at 6 AM Detroit time meant leaving Ironwood at 5 AM. That’s just crazy. I did manage to get up and out of the motel by 5:45 Central/6:45 Eastern. I gassed up, bought a couple bottles of water and headed east on US-2.
I knew the ride was going to be long, all the way to Detroit. About 600 miles total. I told myself to keep pushing and minimize stops, and that if I kept focused I could make the bridge by lunch and Detroit by dinner. So, I cranked out the miles on US-2 through the U.P. The weather was cold but clear and sunny. I had checked the map before I left and knew that Route 28 was better (shorter) than staying on US-2. I found Route 28 in Wakefield and kept going. Everything was fine until I realized I was just about to hit a deer. There was a doe standing on the side of the road, and as I’m heading that way I’m thinking “what does that sign say? that’s a weird shape for a sign…it almost looks like it has a head…wait, it does have a head…wait, that’s a deer!” I stepped on the brakes as hard as I could without losing control and as I coasted past the doe she looked right at me before turning around and jumping back into the brush. Close call, but keep pushing.
Got to Marquette about 9:30. I was really hungry and wanted to gas up because I wasn’t sure where I would find gas again…Munising was next on the route but it was too close to Marquette to be worth a stop. I grabbed some food and gassed up and on my way out of town on 28 saw that they had a nice harborside park that looked brand new. I had to stop, if only for 10 minutes. I took a break sitting right on the water and just enjoying the sun, then got back on the road.
28 runs along the south side of Superior…it was a lot like 61 in Minnesota. Long stretches of water views and then into Munising. I liked Munising. Then there was a killer stretch of 28 called the “Seney Stretch”. It was perfectly straight. I think it went on for an hour or more, it was crazy how monotonous it was. The map said I had a connection to M-123 coming up in Newberry but I wasn’t sure exactly where and had lost cell coverage so couldn’t check. I went through Newberry and saw the signs for M-123 but only for northbound and I needed south. I kept going but after 10 miles or so and not seeing M-123 south I thought I had screwed up so I turned around and went back. I got cell coverage in Newberry for a brief moment and was able to find out that M-123 was a good bit past where I had turned around. So I ended up retracing my route east and going further until I found it.
Heading south on M-123 for St. Ignace, my bike glitched. I thought I had hit a bump and didn’t think anything of it and kept rolling. Another couple of miles and it glitched again. And then again. And again. With a sinking heart I realized I was running out of gas. Retracing my route for 30 miles in Newberry had thrown off my calculations and I had skipped gas in Newberry because I wanted to keep pushing. Now I was paying the price.
The sign said that I-75 was 5 miles farther on. I kept the bike rolling but it was hesitating more and more. I was nervous I would run out of gas and wasn’t sure if the EFI on my bike would take kindly to being run dry and what I would do to get it running again without having my manual with me. I figured there had to be a gas station at M-123 and I-75. But there wasn’t…there was only a small beat up building that said “Tom’s Tires”. There was a tractor outside, and a house behind it. I coasted into the driveway and an old man came out. I asked him if he had any gas he could sell me, even just a gallon, and he said no. He told me St. Ignace was a good 8 miles down I-75 and I knew I didn’t have 8 miles of gas left. Then he told me there was a Native American gas station on the other side of I-75 about 2-3 miles down a side road. I made sure I knew where he was talking about asked him twice if it was open to the public and not tribe-only. He assured me it was open to anyone. I thanked him, started the bike back up and headed over that way, real slow.
The bike would run for awhile, then glitch. I was taking it slow, about 30 MPH. Trying not to interrupt the flow of what little gas I had left to the engine. I got to the service road the old man had told me about and turned down it. I watched the odometer and after 2 miles there was nothing. I thought I was in for an unfun experience. 2.5 miles, still no station but I could see some sort of building. And then the bike quit. I couldn’t get it started. I left it and walked down towards the building to see what it was…I wasn’t going to push my bike down there unless I knew what was there. It was a gas station! Only a couple pumps but there they were!! I walked back to the bike and started it rolling down the road. Luckily there was no traffic. I got to the pumps and filled up. According to the amount I pumped, my tank had been dry. What a freaking relief to find that station and thanks to the old man. I never would have thought to look down that side road and would have been stuck on the side of I-75 waiting for a tow instead. It sucked pushing my bike that far but I knew it could have been far, far worse. New rule: get gas at every stop, even if it only a couple of dollars to fill!!
With newfound energy and a full tank I sprinted back up to I-75 on the bike and zoomed down to the Mackinac Bridge. I crossed over, my first southbound crossing and continued south on I-75 headed for Detroit. Nothing to see here, just freeway and I had seen it all and driven/ridden it all before anyway. I started to get a little fuzzy near Grayling (pushing the bike to the gas station was catching up to me) and pulled off for an energy drink and break sitting under a tree. According to the map I had 210 miles to go to home, all freeway. I-75 S to US-23 S to I-96 E to home. It was already almost 2 PM. I knew I had to do it, that stopping and getting a room was not an option even if I was bone tired.
I got back on the freeway and just went for it. I kept the throttle open to 75-80 MPH and passed everyone I could. Traffic didn’t get heavy until the Zilwaukee bridge and then it got really heavy and really nasty. Lots of idiot drivers. People yapping on cell phones, eating, texting, you name it. It made me wish for Canada or even the U.P. again, where I often had the road to myself. Anyway, I rode on. Got on Us-23 and it was packed. Made it to I-96 and finally rolled into my driveway at 6:04 PM. What a relief to be home. Even hitting my personal best motorcycle pace took second to how good it felt to be home. I grabbed the stuff off my bike and went in to crash. Day 4 mileage: 601 miles, 11.33 hours, 53.04 MPH average
Just kidding. No, seriously….) Anyway, I’ve been reading as much as I can about studio design, acoustic room treatment, etc. I don’t really get all the math, but I don’t really have to, as there’s lots of people out there that can do the heavy lifting and distill it down to plain language for the rest of us. 
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