To Michigan!

That damn garage

It took me a while to make 3 trips to Lucille with my gear. The garage was down the block, and around the corner, and I was carrying all my stuff. Funny story. I forgot that I had set the alarm on Lucille. Truthfully, it had never gone off, so I assumed it didn’t work. When I started to strap on my bag to the back seat, it went off. The funny part is, I didn’t realize it was Lucille. My first thought was, I hope whoever that is shuts it off soon! I can be so silly.

Lucille loaded and everything securely tied down, I only had to get out of this garage. Now I know I’ve said it before but Lucille is a BIG bike. Tall and heavy. I am a decent rider, and I’ve been riding a long time, but having a bike that you cannot put your feet flat on the ground or that is so heavy you know you will never be able to lift it up does not inspire confidence.

I am not a confident person and I have severe anxiety. When I get Lucille into a situation where I cannot completely control the outcome, I get really anxious. This was such a situation. I needed to back Lucille down the steep ramp in order to get her out of the parking spot. In case you don’t know, Lucille does not have a reverse gear, so my feet is her back up. And my feet can only touch the ground to the balls of my feet.

I carefully backed Lucille out of her parking spot and prepared to drive up to the 4th floor in order to head down to the street. I hoped that I would not stall her or have her roll backwards as I tried to take off up the hill. Piece of cake! I had no trouble at all, except that which was in my head. The turns in the garage were really tight, it was almost a circle I was going in, so it took a lot of finesse on the clutch and gas, but I made it out of the garage without any trouble. Why was I worried?

Mean streets

The city streets in Cleveland were TERRIBLE! Holy smokes! They were torn up. Lucille handled this like a champ but eventually I came to a street that had been removed. There was about a 5 inch drop down to the missing street and up the 5 inch ledge. There was no ramp to make this easier to negotiate. I worried Lucille would pop a tire or bend a rim going over that. Fortunately there was a cop directing traffic, so if she fell over, at least he’d be able to help me pick her up!

I stood on my pegs and went off the ledge and up the other side. Piece of cake!! I’m getting so much better at this! I had set up the navigation to take me through back roads to get to family, so I continued through the beat up city streets.

Bridge

All through Cleveland seemed to be throwing the worst at me, but it wasn’t done! I got gas and I rolled up to a bridge, red lights started flashing and protective arms came down. A drawbridge!

I didn’t get any photos of this, I had no idea how long it would take and didn’t want to hold up traffic removing my phone and putting it back on its mount. The bridge didn’t open in the middle. The whole thing rose up like an elevator! I’d never seen anything like this and watched in fascination as it went up and a tugboat pushing what looked like a pier came through. I’d guess the whole operation took 15-20 minutes and it was pretty cool to see. Once the bridge came down and the arms went up, I drove over the bridge. It was a grate, which freaked me out, but I didn’t have any trouble. I guess I’m ready for the Mighty Mac in Michigan!

At this point, I was very eager to get to my family so I told the navigator to just get me to their house the easiest way. And it did.

Made it to Michigan! I was so close to family, it was all I could think about. 

I eventually needed to get more gas and to deposit some morning coffee. I was also hungry, so I found a gas station that had a Taco Bell attached. Believe it or not, Taco Bell is one fast food place a vegan can reliably find food to eat. I pulled in, got my gas, and pulled out of the way to get something to eat.

Drive through

The Taco Bell’s open sign was lit, but the doors were locked. I looked and there was a sign on the door saying only the drive through was open. I couldn’t very well take Lucille through a drive through window, so I walked up to the window. I’ve tried this once before, in California, and they wouldn’t serve me. While the woman working the window looked pretty ticked off that I would walk to her window, she could see by my clothes that I was riding a motorcycle. I ordered a spicy potato taco and a bean burrito and made my way back to Lucille.

My view while sitting in the grass eating my lunch. Isn’t she pretty? 

The final push

After lunch, I only had about an hour and a half to get to my family’s house.  The desire to see loved ones after so long consumed my mind, and I couldn’t wait.  I’d committed to drive the speed limits wherever I was, but on this last stretch it was hard!  I wanted to race to my family.

My BFG had told me his parents lived on a paved road and their driveway was flat.  He knows that I am the nervous type, and he thought if I’d had time to think about it, I might change my mind.  In this case, he was wrong.  When my GPS told me to turn left at the unpaved road, I groaned, not wanting to drive on dirt, but not going to miss my family either.  I turned onto the unpaved road.  Their driveway was not flat either, but a hill covered in gravel and grass.  Well, this was a challenge.  I was up for it though and rode Lucille straight to the top like a pro!

Glenn’s parents were waiting outside for me.  Tracking me through my phone, he’d kept them updated as to my location, so they knew the exact moment I’d roll up the driveway.  I was so happy to see them!!!  After some discussion about where to put Lucille, we decided I should pull her into the garage.  I got her in and turned around to make her easy to pull out in a couple of days.

Lucille in the garage with Toby standing guard over her.

Glenn’s mother Inge next to Lucille.  I told you Lucille was big!

They wanted a photo of me on Lucille.

Inge is thinking about taking her for a spin.  She’s a small woman, but she looks even smaller on Lucille!

Glenn’s dad Art decided he would take her out!  He used to ride and I told him he could.

Their home

I had never been to visit my BFG’s parents at their home, though they have been to ours many times in the years I’ve lived with Glenn and Becky.  I was excited to see where they lived and to see my 48th state!  They have a beautiful house and yard, and everything is GREEN!  At this time of year in California, there isn’t much that is green unless it’s heavily watered, which is a bit irresponsible, considering California’s ongoing water shortages.

Some flowers near Art and Inge’s house.

Another pretty flower we found walking around the neighborhood.

Part of their gorgeous yard.  

The little fountain off their back deck.  Truthfully, the property is too big for me to photograph all of.

Their dog Toby and I became fast friends!  It was really good to share some space with an animal.  I was missing mine.

I wore him out!

Soon the day was about over, but the sunset pulled me outside again.

The sunset from Art and Inge’s yard.

I’d be spending the day here with Art and Inge tomorrow and headed further north the following day to meet up with my BFB and BFG!  I was excited to see Becky and Glenn, but I was just going to enjoy my time with these two wonderful people for now.  I was grateful beyond belief and just really happy to be with people I cared about.  And, a day of no riding would be a nice break!