Coast Guard Tour - 2004

First of all, let me say that Holly outdid herself! This was Carolyn's first ride of this year, and she thoroughly enjoyed herself. Earlier in the year, Holly had stated that we were getting a reputation for not riding very much - and she set out to correct that misperception. She floated quite a few possible rides and this one seemed like a good bet for an interesting day.
It was just a bit nippy when we left the house to ride over the the Beaver Road/M-13 McDonalds. According to the temperature display on my bike, it was a bracing 48 degrees. Holly stated that it was 41 degrees in Mt. Pleasant when they'd started off. Already sitting in the McDonalds when we arrived were Dennis & Holly, Ron Yaekel, and Gary & Deb Blank. Shortly after Carolyn and I sat down with our breakfasts, Mike & Judy Gorthy showed up. We chatted over coffee until several minutes after our official "departing" time of 9:00 AM, and decided that our group was going to be pretty small ... but at least that would make Holly's job of tailgunner a little easier.
Dennis led off and we rode north on M-13 to Pinconning, and then a short bit further to State road. We enjoyed the back roads - except for one close call for Dennis when a fawn decided to try out for the Olympics - until we rejoined the main road - US-23 at the north end of Omer, and rode down US-23 for a short distance before leading north on M-65. We had a pleasant and uneventful ride on M-65 to the junction of M-55 and M-65, where we took a short break. Back on M-65 north until we reached scenic River Road east into Oscoda and then onto the Wurtsmith air base to visit the air museum.
We had a very interesting visit ... it would have been more interesting, of course, if I had remembered my camera. As I rooted through the trunk looking for it, I suddenly remembered it was hanging on the door at home! Oh well, I know that Mike and Dennis took pictures, so we'll hopefully see those in the Picture Gallery sometime soon! Due to the short amount of time we had available to view the air museum, we opted not to spend any time inside - leaving that for another ride and day. Outside, moreover, we could view a truly interesting sight .. the sole remaining flying B25D bomber! We all spent a great deal of time peering at and in the aircraft, especially marveling at how little room the flight crew had - when one considers they had to have insulated flying suits (as the thing aircraft skin certainly wouldn't provide any protection from the cold air aloft!) We joking considering pooling all our resources and raffling off a ride in the B25 ... but it appeared as though we wouldn't be able to scratch up enough amongst us - it being $375 a flight! I did, however, support their efforts to raise funds for the Yankee Air Force to keep the B25 airworthy, by purchasing a t-shirt.
After getting pictures of our group in front of the bomber, we headed back to our bikes to suit up and fly on over to Tawas to the US Coast Guard station. Dennis tried to lead us into the Tawas Yacht Club instead ... but we knew that our Wings really weren't Water Wings, so we ignored his detour and rode into the USCG station parking lot where he caught up to us. Turning around with a trailer attached is a little bit more difficult! When we parked, we were immediately met by engineer Toledo, who had been assigned to do our tour. During the tour, we discovered that he was from Hawaii but after 4 years in Tawas, was starting to become acclimated to our temperatures.
The tour was truly amazing and most everyone felt it one of the best tours we'd ever take. We saw just about everything there and got answers to every single question we asked. The station is pretty well self-contained as it is a 24/7 operation. The folks at the station are on duty for 48 hours at a time, so there is an exercise room , a cafeteria. After we saw everything there was to see in the station, we walked out to the dock where the vessels were tied. We looked down at the dinky Zodiac type boat used for close-in work, and then boarded the 47 foot vessel. For those of us used to small personal watercraft, or fishing or ski boats, this was VERY different. We were shown every part of the vessels, including the twin Detroit Diesels in the belly - imagine having the power of twin 235HP diesels at your disposal. It was very interesting to see that everything was computer controlled ... if you think we have some serious electronics on our bikes, I have to say "you ain't seen nothin' yet! Even the rudder is controlled by servos and computer signals. And ... where I thought my cruise control was pretty cool, and my GPS quite handy .... I was in awe when I saw what this boat had! Can you imagine an auto-pilot linked to the GPS ... boy, talk about "home Jeeves." Our tour guide even started up the engines to give us a real taste of what power the boat had available, and demonstrated the computer control of that power.
When we could no longer think of any questions, even dumb ones, we headed back to the station and our bikes, but before we departed, we had a group picture taken with our tour guide in front of the USCG sign. Did you know that the Coast Guard actually stared in 1790? That's what the sign said! After a round of thanks and handshakes, we were back on our bikes with the idea of finally getting some respite from hunger. Gary and Deb left us to visit relatives and the rest of us continued on into Tawas to find Mulligan's. Oh, we found Mulligan's alright ... but getting rid of the hunger pangs wasn't to be a quick process. There seemed to be a party going on in the smoking section and it took quite awhile before we got any attention, and even longer to get our drinks and food. After about 3 reminders I finally got my milkshake .... good, but I sure wouldn't recommend it .... $2.75 seems reasonable for a milkshake until it comes out ... in a wineglass. Oh well, the clam chowder was good, the Reuben was excellent ... and I had no room left for dessert!
After the food and conversation, we broke up - Ron wanted to head back south and the rest wanted to see what we could trade money for in town. Mike & Judy and Dennis & Holly left a short time later and Carolyn seemed to be serious about shopping .... but I finally got her back on the bike (one good thing about shopping when you're riding is the lack of space for "treasures"!) ... and we headed south to Pinconning and our favorite ice cream stop. I know we Wingers are supposed to be DQ fans, but we seem to find Purtell's treats superior!
All in all, a fantastic day .... I enjoy riding even more when Carolyn comes along. Great company, a fantastic itinery - as I said, Holly outdid herself, great roads and the tours were outstanding! An entirely pleasant day that I'll remember for some time to come!

    Pete Dahl