To start off I would like to list a few things I have learned on this trip.
- No matter how comfortable you think your Goldwing seat is... it's not..LOL
- There is nothing more important than a clean windshield and face shield
- Your face "CAN" get sunburned even with a helmet on..LOL
- When your butt starts to get sore from riding...STOP!!! it doesn't get better by sliding forward on the seat and using your highway pegs
- Always, Always, Always have fun spending time with the ones you love and your Goldwing.
This trip was kind of quick planned. It turned out to be great fun. Even sitting here writing this blog with a sore butt, I am still ready to jump back on my bike and go some more. My only regret about this trip.......it wasn't longer. I am ready for the next one!!!!
Friday August 31st
(left, Jackie and Lisa : right, Dean and Donna)
Here's a picture of Jackie and Lisa cruising down I80 in Illinois on our way to South Haven, Michigan.
This is a steel bridge in Illinois crossing the Mississippi. The bridge really holds no significant value, I just thought it looked cool, so I had Donna snap a picture of it.
This is our first view when we got to the beach at South Haven, Michigan. I've lived in Iowa most of my life and the only places close to Iowa that I knew of that was this beautiful, was Panama City Florida. Who would have thought that we lived so close to a place like this.
One other thing is that the city of South Haven actually charges you $5 per vehicle to park at the beach. I guess that's not too bad considering you only had to pay to park between the hours of 9am and 6pm. Also there is no time limit like a parking meter.
This is Donna and I at one of the waterway markers in South Haven. You can see the guy in the back of the photo fishing. We saw allot of people fishing from the pier while we were there. I believe the largest fish I saw anyone catch was a Perch that was "maybe" 6 inches long. It didn't seem to me that the fishing was real great off of the pier.
This is Jackie and Lisa at the same waterway marker on the pier. I'm not exactly sure what is with his leg. I think he was watching the seagulls resting one one leg, so he thought he would try it....?
This is just a photo we took while we were out on the pier by the waterway marker. You can see from the photo that the beach goes on forever, it seems like.
Here is a photo of the boats making their way through the waterway from the Marina to the opening of Lake Michigan. The waterway leading back to the Marina must have been close to a mile long. This was a no wake waterway, so it is a great spot to take photos of some gorgeous boats and yachts.
Here's Donna posing by her dream boat...or is it called a yacht ? .... either way, it's just a dream. If you look inside the boat, on the left wall, you will see a black screen. This was a flat screen plasma t.v. Some people just have too much money. The name of the boat was "WISH", imagine that.
This was the "Friends Good Will" sail boat. They did cruising in Lake Michigan 3 times a day. At a cost of $40 each for a 2 hour ride, we didn't go. We actually found this boat while we were walking around the South Haven Marina and saw a GIGANTIC mast towering all others mast in the harbor. The photo does no justice to the size of the mast. This mast was HUGE ! There must have been 100 ropes attached to the mast to hoist the sails.
We took a break from the lake and drove about 40 miles north to Holland, Michigan. When we arrived we went to the Windmill Island. We all actually debated about going for a while because they wanted $7 each to tour the Windmill Island. After laughing about paying $5 to park at a beach we decided $7 wasn't bad to actually get some good photos and spend some time relaxing.
This was one of the small windmills you see when you first come into Windmill Island. I don't know much about it, but it made for a great photo.
This is Donna (right) and Lisa (left), with the main windmill that the Island is centered around, in the rear. Donna has some Dutch origin in her, so I think secretly she was more excited than she acted, about being here.
This is a photo of the windmill. The windmill was shipped to Holland, Michigan from the Netherlands, and reassembled . The photo doesn't really show the size very well. The tour guide told us that the blades are 120 feet tall from tip to tip ! This windmill is still in working order, in fact they still grind grain into flour with it 1 to 2 times a month. Also if you look at the photo you will see near the top that it is green. This green part, including the blades, can actually rotate to turn the blades into the wind. There is a large "wheel" that resembles a wagon wheel hung vertically, with a cable attached to it that the miller actually walks on like a ladder. As he does this it turns the top of the windmill that is sitting on 30 huge rollers. I will honestly say that I'm not really excited about windmills but I will say that I learned allot about them that I never knew.
This is a photo of the store fronts on Windmill Island. They had a nice gift shop, and a mini Dutch village set up inside.
This is one of the old windmill blades. It was kept and put on show for one reason..... if you look closely at the front of it, you will see a bunch of hole in the steel. these holes were made by gun fire during World War 2. Keep in mind that this steel was 1/4 inch thick. According to the tour guide, the windmill was used as a look out during the war. Some of the holes actually look like tears caused by the bullet hitting from an angle and ripping through the steel.
The following photos were all taken at sunset in South Haven.
I will let them speak for them selves.
Sunday September 2nd
Here we are, back at home.
879 miles round trip
3 days of no kids
Being with the ones you love and your Goldwing.....PRICELESS
Me (Dean) and Donna after getting home.
