We had agreed to start an hour earlier on this day in an attempt to avoid heat.  Great ride N on 127. It was about 70 degrees under clouds.  For the first several miles there was a partial rainbow in the east from the mist in the clouds.  But it did not rain–yet.

I had told Andy that I wanted to stop and take a picture at the state line.  So we did.  Here it is:

While stopped, I checked the radar; good thing; massive storm over almost all of Michigan just N of us.  Andy pulled in at a McDonald’s.  We sat there after coffee for just about 5 hours!  We felt like part of the staff by the end.  We munched, read our books, munched, and sat there the whole 5 hours.  This was our corner nook:

Verlin Rice, Andy’s friend from Ft. Wayne called Andy while we were there.  He had read the blog and knew that we were going up 127.  He and his friend Doug had been touring Michigan and were heading home.  Verlin had bike trouble (needed plugs) and had stopped at a shop just 20 miles N or us.  They also were waiting out the storm.  We agreed to call if we left McD’s; they agreed to call if they left the motorcycle shop.  Turns out that they called first and came down to meet us.  We had stopped at about 10:00 AM, and we met them at about 4:00 PM.

We had a great visit at McD’s until it was time for us all to part ways–Andy and I north, and Verlin and Doug South.  Here we all are in front of Doug’s Honda VTX 1300.  First, Andy, Verlin, and Doug.

Then Andy, Doug, and Bob:

It cleared up and was sunny when we left.  It did stay cool and eventually clouded over again, but we did not have more rain.  We wanted to get to Port Huron, but we got tired.  So we snuck on I-69 East for 45 minutes (snuck on because we usually brag about not doing Interstates).  Got tired in Lapeer, MI and stopped for the night at about 7:00 PM.  Night all.