SATURDAY 16th JULY 2016 - MORE SWAP MEET & FERRY ACROSS LAKE MICHIGAN

We arose early and immediately began checking out the Swap Meet again.  There was so much we didn't get to see yesterday.  It was a great way to start the day.  Paul got a touch of the shakes when he walked past the 1947 Indian basket case which was still looking for a new home.

These next two pictures are for you Howard... (it's a Yale)

Time was marching on and we really had to do some miles  today.  We'd spent a good deal of time chatting with Jeff, Gary & Sal and now it was time to say farewell.

Jeff, Sal and us stopped for fuel and parted ways at the crossroad.  It was a sad farewell.  We will miss Jeff and his family.

We stopped not far up the road at Fayette (Ohio) and had some fruit before crossing the border to Michigan.

We were passing through Cement City and happened across the well-known Artesian Wells.  Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of motorcycles on display in an upstairs window.   We pulled in and discovered the Artesian Wells has been a stopping place for travelers for almost one hundred years.  And right next door was a massive motorcycle shop selling Harley, Triumph, CanAm and all the Japanese brands.  It took five minutes to rumage through the shop and the only thing of interest found was this delightful book.  I read it from cover to cover.

We decided to have lunch at the Artesian Wells and boy, weren't we surprised when we found the Easy Rider's Captain America chopper on display.  This was the one actually used in the movie (we think there were a few made and used on set).  Unfortunately the light was against me to get a decent photo.

We still had a few miles to do if we wanted to make our destination.  We rode through Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids and on to our final destination, Muskegon.  There were so many bikes on the road that we figured there must be some event happening.  As we rode through the suburbs we decided to tack on to a group of Harley's and one BMW and see where they led us.  We discovered a HUGE motorcycle show right in the centre of town.   Bikes only allowed in to the city's main street.  It was so noisy and Harley orientated that we weren't terribly impressed.  We suspected it was like a mini-Sturgis. 

We'd been warned not to stay in the outer areas, it wasn't safe.  The city motels were over-the-top expensive and out of the question. We decided to go to the ferry to make a booking for tomorrow only to discover that because of the bike show the ferry was booked out for the next two days.  But, they did have a spot on that evenings crossing, departing at 11.00pm.  We took it.  While we waited for the next two hours to roll around we did get to watch a lovely sunset over the harbour. 

With Ellie safely tied down we went upstairs and settled in for the two-and-half hour crossing across Lake Michigan to Milwaukee.

We'd made a booking for a motel near the airport (a seedy part of town but it was all that was available).  We stopped along the way to check we were going in the right direction. Turns out we were only about 3 blocks from our destination.   It was now nearly 2.00am and we were desperate for some sleep.