Back on 2 Wheels

No place exotic, just on my way to work this morning.

It's said timing is everything....

Grosse Pointe Yacht Club

Gorgeous sunrise !!! Sorry you had to work on such a nice Saturday, but at least you were able to ride the Wing and experience that sunrise.

Thanks Jeff!

Looks like you guys have been covering some serious pavement as of late!

I was able to ride toward the Ohio border after work. Primarily to see a bunch of friends that I haven't seen since my trip to Florida in March.

Phukking snowbirds....

Got out this morning for some ghetto pics. I'll need to pick your brain on that GOPro. There's just too much stopping in very marginal territory along the way! (and my TMPS came on) Just what I needed a punctured wheel in a very desirable neighborhood....
It must be on the fritz. Pressure's fine....

I'll post a few tomorrow. Just wild how humans can live within such an environment...

Maybe they're not, or don't have a choice...... Just fucking unreal!

Oppressive conditions in Detroit are for real. When visiting these areas the stigma hangs heavy in the air. I think conditioning and ignorance keeps some people living in desolate conditions such as these. There is always a better way, for anybody, if they would just pursue it.



Getting a flat in the ghetto crosses my mind occasionally too. There is so much junk and debris in areas that it can happen easily. A couple years ago I was snooping around the old abandoned Packard Plant on my KLR and when I got home, sure enough, had a old rusty spiral nail through my tire and puncturing my tube. Glad I made it home. Often, I will pack when down there, but reaction time would be dismal when on the bike, anyway.



The Go-Pro is an interesting addition to, but no replacement for a camera. The quality of the pictures from my phone are much better. Always wanted to get a REAL camera and software programs and learn how to produce top notch photos but will likely never dedicate the time it takes.



Back around 1996, before we bought everything through the internet, I found a for sale add in the paper for a Ford 428 engine core. Just what I needed for a Mercury Comet Caliente project I was tinkering with. I proceeded to call and was told to meet the guy at the entrance to the old Packard Plant in Detroit. My Dad and I jumped in the truck and ran down there. A black guy was waiting and had us follow him up level after level of winding parking garage like floors till we finally were towards the top and we stopped in front of his locked cage full of engine cores and a bit of everything else.
The guy was straight up and we loaded the engine and made it home, but it was a bit of an unnerving situation. Things could have got real ugly up there.

That story reminds me of getting the shaft back in the early 80's down at Clark Park (SW Detroit).
The 351 in my old hippie van took a shit and I found one down there. It was propped up on some 6x6's and fired right up when fed fuel. Some biker gang was selling it. Got it home, did the upper end, installed the thing just to find out the block was cracked and burning glycol... WTF

Went out Sunday morning to get a little Blight Porn. Sure didn't have far to go...

Just 2 miles into the City on Gratiot Ave it started. For those of you not from our parts, Detroit's main travel arteries are like spokes of a 1/2 wheel.

You have Jefferson running along the Detroit River both East and South toward Toledo, Michigan Ave West toward Chicago, Grand River NW to Lansing and Grand Rapids, Woodward North to Flint and Bay City and Gratiot to Port Huron.











Since these were taken along one of the main arteries, one can only imagine what the adjoining neighborhoods look like. :eek1

Mostly litter-filled with burned out homes.....





I have been meaning to compile photos from different neighborhoods within the City limits for several years. I thought it would be simple, but there's just so much of it that choosing what to shoot (without getting shot or robbed) is very difficult at best!

My next trip will be to expose Detroit's strongest border. Alter Road. It separates the Grosse Pointes and Detroit. From million dollar mansions to what I have posted above... all within a few blocks

Maky - Sites 4 and 5 are reserved at Lake Port State Park for Saturday if you want to come out. Check my thread for details and dinner location. You don't have to camp. You can just hang out, have dinner and ride home if you want.

Been following that, Jeff

I have to open Camp and splash the boat. Too bad, cause that sure sounds like a blast!

Thanks for the invite!

Great ride reports! I'm a little late, but welcome back to the sport! I lived in Wyoming for many years so I understand the need to head south and get some riding in over a long winter.

I had to laugh at your comments about Little Red doing just fine two-up. We were in Myrtle Beach once and came across this sight - that's one tough little scooter!



My next trip will be to expose Detroit's strongest border. Alter Road. It separates the Grosse Pointes and Detroit. From million dollar mansions to what I have posted above... all within a few blocks

I took my daughter over to Lynchburg, Virginia one day to see some gorgeous old Civil War era mansions, just amazingly fine old homes, very well-tended, on the historical register, etc. In many cases there were two or three nice homes grouped together and then falling down shacks and crack houses literally right across the alley, very sad and I'm sure dismaying to the owners of the cool old mansions. Can't do anything about the neighbors... I had to wonder if the old shacks were the former slave quarters??

Doug<!-- / message -->

Thanks for looking in, Doug!

That scooter pic is just crazy! He must have been late for the weigh-in at the fairground.

Sweet: A train station, some rolling stock and a big bridge all in one picture.

I figured you'd like that, John!

This weekend was earmarked as a "working" one, but sometimes one needs to be smarter than the task at hand!

Instead of relying on the cage for tools, deck furniture and basic Summer essentials and not being able to ride during our best weekend yet, I made a midnight run to deliver such items.

Sometimes (ok, most of the time) I like the way I think!


Got up Sunday to catch the sunrise on Erie, while the ST Boys were catching theirs on Huron.







These were taken at Sterling State Park just up the road from our camp.

A little History...



Too early to operate equipment and piss-off the neighbors (at least that what I told myself, see.... thinking again!) I took the long way along the Huron River toward Ann Arbor.

First stop Flat Rock

The silvers (white bass) were starting their annual spawning run.



I caught this bear and wondered its significance since most of the bear population is several hours north of us.



OK, now I get it



A little Flat Rock history

One of the backwaters along the River. Our trees are finally starting to bud!



Another one for Popscycle



Ah, yes Spring!!!!



Ended up in A2 and after a wrong turn, ran out of time. Hit Whole Foods and everyone wondered where that was. Well, about 50 miles NW.....

Another installment of Blight Porn....

This time along Mack Avenue. I call it the transition from the Elite to the direct opposite. Hardly any traffic, well honestly there's nothing to drive to.... Entire blocks where nature is reclaiming the once vibrant neighborhood.

The first few pics were taken with the iPhone, since my point and shoot was charging on the bike. :ddog They still tell the story!



Ya think?



A few blocks toward the Riverfront.





To say one could buy acreage within the City would be an understatement.



Here's the kicker.... Only 3 blocks to the East!!!!







I have to make a run into Hamtramck later on. Here I'll help ya. (Hamtramok)

Originally a Polish Community within the City of Detroit. It still has Polish roots, although a good portion is now geared toward Islam. It's like leaving the Country. :eek1

Stayed off the slab and worked my way on East Grand Boulevard. No sign of "Grand" at this point. And considering it was the tail-end of Rush Hour, no traffic!

The old Packard Plant



Opened in 1903 at 3.5 million square feet.



Closed in 1958



Once said to be the most modern automotive facility in the World

It sits on 40 acres



Been auctioned off several times, but each time bidders pulled the plug.

So it just rots away...



Just up the road a few, the back side of the current Chevy Volt Plant.

The Plant was recently idled for 5 weeks do to a 6 month supply of vehicles



My final destination. Srodek's Market. These guys/gals smoke some of the best chunky kielbasa in the world. During Holidays (Easter, X-Mas, Thanksgiving) they are lined up around the building.






Always a smile holding sausage....



But like most shopping districts within Detroit, many vacancies





Most of the homes are row houses. The garages in the back and accessed through the alley.



St Florian Church. The picture doesn't do it justice. It actually towers over the City



More Sausage.... Been in business over 90 years!



American Axle.



Continuing on East Grand Boulevard it turns to West Grand Boulevard as it crosses Woodward Avenue.

The Building I spent 18 years of my life in. The old GM World Headquarters (now owned by the State)



Another abandoned Factory. The old Fisher Body Plant. Opened in 1919 and produced its last GM part in 1984. And so it sits....



I'm getting increasingly more comfortable riding through the ruins of Detroit. Not sure if that's a good thing. (just don't tell my wife :eek1 )

Wow what a difference 40 years makes. Spent 6 months in Monroe, playing hooky from college, helping my friend restore his El Camino, getting paid in food, beer and lodging. I remember driving all through Detroit on my Honda CB 450, thinking what vibrant city it was and nearly getting run over by people driving 100 mph:eek1. It was quite a shock for a Florida country boy. I attended my first NFL game in Pontiac. I'm sorry to see the city suffer like that.

Great ride report!

Thank You!

For some reason Monroe held its own, although drug use is at an all time high, especially heroin.

Pontiac's ills are much like Detroit, but on a much smaller scale. They all have the same in common. As vehicle production moves out, the neighborhoods suffer. Flint probably got hit the most.

The Silverdome is also in major disrepair. I remember Elvis there and saw Led Zeppelin in '77. Then there was the Superbowl. That was a cold bastard! My furnace went out and a 100 gallon fish tank froze to a solid ice cube.

BTW, welcome to the forum!

Thank you for the welcome, been lurking for several months, recovering from a broken leg and then a ruptured appendix. But all is well now, I will be heading out to Sturgis in a couple of months (crossing off a line on my bucket list). It will be my first major ride in over a year.
That drug use in Monroe ia at an all time high doesn't surprise me. Even 40 years ago it was a major presence.

Alot of missing people and dead bodies lately in Monroe also. As always the drugs and alcohol surely play the biggest role, and yes, it seems we all know or have friends or family who have succumbed to or are battling heroin or some form of narcotics addiction these days. Not to mention, Toledo is know to have the largest sex slave operation in the midwest. Maky, your thread is depressing.

The Monroe Camp is now officially open

Meet some of my neighbors

A pair of these guys have been around for the last 4 years



Then there's that crazy Canadian



And my riding partner....

Put-in-Bay was never the same.






Even found a few fish that wanted to play

Not quite sure where to start this one, OK in Detroit!


Annual Summer pilgrimage to the Mountains. As per usual we’ve been booking through a Real Estate Agent in Townsend for a few years and really love the setting. Right on the Laurel Valley Golf Course (we don’t golf, but…). Awesome view, club house with pool and away from the madness of Gatlingburg/Pigeon Forge area.






All the creature comforts and dog friendly (therefore the hound’s critters on the floor)


The View!








The weather wasn’t the greatest, but not a complete wash-out. Most days it would rain a bit and clear up at some point. I should have known better when my riding partner and his wife mentioned coming down later in the week. This cat’s a buzzard when it comes to weather. If he were to go North in July, it would snow… No Shit!


Got up at the crack the day 1 and made my first loop. The customary Foothills/Dragon/Fontana/Bryson/Cherokee/Newfound loop.


I always try to hit the Dragon before 9am, even during the week. After that it just scares the shit out me. I’m quite confident of my own riding skills, but some of these clowns…


In the wee hours at the Gap





Somewhere along the way









Fontana








Just outside of Bryson





Not sure of the History of this place at the foot of the RR bridge





Stopped to hydrate at the Visitor Center outside of Cherokee





And the monument. By noon it started to get busy











Nights were spectacular, especially without all the light pollution us city folk are accustomed to.

Oh yeah, cruiser face and too cheap to spend 7 bucks






Day 2 started marginal weather wise and we took the cage to Maggie Valley


This joint fries a mean catfish!





I keep forgetting to take the customary plate of food pictures ADV style.


Seems like everything down there is geared toward Moonshine (more on that later)








Pat and his wife showed up a day early and out comes the wine… Oh Boy!





Their cabin wasn’t booked until the next day. We had a 2 bedroom/2 bath place, might as well move in!





So we’re sitting on the porch enjoying a cocktail and the view and Pat looks at the place next door. “Hey, we might be neighbors”. No Way! There’s probably 100-some houses in this complex and you never really know the location until you get the keys. Sure enough! Booked months apart from 2 different agencies…


Get the fuck out!