Sunday Oct 14th, Meet time is 10am at the Mobil station I96 and Alden Nash Rd "Exit 52 Lowell"........we're shooting for a 10-3 ride with a lunch stop in the middle at the Black Hawk Inn M89 and M43, hopefully the colors will be good!........Looking foreward to probally the last group ride of the season, if the weather is not favorable I will cancel by 7am on this thread..........Tom.
Aw, man! You're killing' me, guys! That's right in my old stomping grounds! I had my fortieth class high school reunion at the Black Hawk Inn! I graduated from an old W.P.A. construction "New Deal" building which was the WK Kellogg (yes, as-in Kellogg's Corn Flakes) Agricultural and Technical School, just down the road from the Gilmore Auto Museum in Hickory Corners, which is about 4 miles from the Black Hawk Inn. There are some great roads around Gull Lake and then going towards Yankee Springs State Rec Area. Not really suited for triple-digit speeds, but curvy & w/elevation changes, and if you like those "roller-coaster" roads to get the front end light, then east of Gull Lake there are plenty! For color it should be good. My wife & I have continued looking for a home in that area on Gull Lake, but the prices are about twice what they are nearly anyplace else around there because of it being Gull Lake.
Anyway, have a fun time and if you want to stop in Richland before you get to Black Hawk Inn, I highly recommend Serafino's Party Store which is where you turn off Gull Road to continue on M-43 w/the Black Hawk about another mile outside of Richland. They have a deli & both wine and spirits, save the latter for the after-event refreshments. That place is by now, third generation-owned, and I went to school w/the Gesmundos who own it. Good people.
Have fun and ride safe, I like to see those Hooligan GoPro camera videos & stills!
If you go north on M43 after the Black Hawk Inn, you will come to West Sheffield Rd. where M43 takes a left turn north. W. Sheffield Rd is a perimeter road around part of the east side of Gull Lake. If you take that, for about 1/2 mi., you will come to Williams Rd., which is a left turn (heading south). That becomes Gull Lake Dr. East, which is also East Gull Lake Dr. (dyslexic mapmakers?) That will run around the perimeter of the east side of Gull Lake, until you get to D Ave. East, which you can take a right turn onto, and it goes around the south end of Gull Lake ("the Bay") and shortly becomes Gull Lake Dr. South. M-89 is a few hundred feet beyond this. Gull Lkae Dr. South is curvy, it has some ups & downs, but is not really anything 'fast' but when the color is in-season, it should be a beautiful run. It will dead-end at D Ave. East, (turn right there) which you then could follow and will now have you heading north on the west side of Gull Lake. Again, not 'fast,' but lots of rolling, hilly roadway, and pretty w/the autumn color. If you go straight where Gull Lake Dr. hits D Ave. East (D Ave. East makes a abrupt left-hand turn, and heads back towards M-43), you will continue around the west side of Gull Lake. Soon you hit CD Ave. East (turn left- heading you west), in about 1/2 mile you come to 36 St. North (turn right-heading north), which will run-into Gull Lake Dr. West in < 1/4 mile. That will carry you to M43 at the north end of Gull Lake. If you look at the route on a map, you'll see you are just going around Gull Lake from north-to east-to south-to west, and you are back where you started. There are lots of beautiful homes, lots of curvy roads going up & down, and lots of pretty views this time of year. Plus, when you finish, you are probably not-even 10 minutes from
http://www.gilmorecarmuseum.org/html/events.php one of the best automotive museums in the country. Well-worth a trip by-itself, and they are open during the day, weekends too.
Yeah, I'm shilling for the area, it's pretty, and the museum is neat. Plus, M-43 going north will take you to M-37 by Hastings, which is another nice ride, and M-37 north will take you to US 131 and I-96 south of Grand Rapids, convenient for those of you needing to head east towards Lansing or eastern MI, and it's nicer than I-94. "The Beekeeper" should be < 10 min. from home at that point! Have fun!