Simon and Deb's Excellent Adventure ........

[simon kuether]

Hey , lookout , I'm back . Got a bit side tracked by life .............. (tryng to get next years trip up and running and such) .

After the BRP , we planned to make no plans for the rest of our trip (except a jaunt up to Detroit) . Take each day as it came sort of deal .
Monday was "kick back" day . Josh , Rob and I spent the day in the shed . Ran a spanner over the bikes . Found a couple of my nuts had come a bit loose , coupla iffy bullet connectors and such . Nothing much , just could develop into pain down the track .


The girls (Deb and Rose - Heidi had to work) hit the shops and , like the wonderful ladies they are , returned with beers , wines (lots of good Aussie wines available which was a bit of a surprise) and a truck load of "nibblies" . Deb knocked up a pretty good spag bol for dinner .

Good food , good drinks , good friends . How can it get any better ?

Next day , after Rob fronted , we headed off for a bit of a ride . Saw a covered bridge (still don't know why you'd bother putting a roof over a bridge - you Americans) that was pretty cool . Ceaser Creek dam and pioneer village were good for a look . The sign at the pioneer village said "You all come back now , you hear" , and we will and hopefully it'll be open next time .







Lunch was at Derr Dutchman . Unbelievable . Amish I do believe . The best by far , bar none , in the universe , $10 buffet we have ever had . AND pie for another $1.50 . We discovered root beer floats . Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm .

I think this lady wanted to take me home for some reason . Deb wanted to know if she should be jealous .



I like my girls a bit mature .

A Rose by any other name ...............



and good mates .................

(I'm the good looking one) .




Red Robins (can't get over the variety of eateries you lot have ) for dinner . Good stuff and all . We got a bit of a chuckle out of the "feckle lemonade" . "Freckle" down here is a colloquialism for sphincter . I wouldn't think it would be a big seller (a bit like catfish) . Still , tasted pretty good . Fresh strawberries always gets me going .

Spent the next day "hangin' " with Josh and Rose . We were wondering if they're getting sick of us yet and were just to polite to say so . I guess they would have .

Bought some Frog Togs . Deadliest wet weather gear I've seen . I reckon I could sell a truck load of them here . Any of you Aussies or Kiwi's Should have a look at these . Breathable wets . Not a sauna like all the other plastic gear I've tried over the years . $70 , no more to pay .

Chillin' with the chillen that night and pack for our first solo trip . Unguided , the next morning Deb and I set of for another adventure ....................To Detroit .

Lookout Steve Conlan , we're coming to get you (and your 150 something cousins) .

Cheers , Simon and Deb .

[ddaniels]

Simon, you'll be sorry to hear that the Derr Dutchman resteraunt had a terrible fire last week I think and fairly destroyed the place. Such a shame as it is definitely one of the best eateries in the area. I hear they will rebuild though. Those Amish can come together and get things done quickly and done extremely well, so I doubt it'll take very long.

[Steve]

I had not heard of that, since I am not home, but it did not take much to see the story.

Click HERE, you can see updates for the restaurant.

.

[mottyl]

Well I have been internetless for almost two months. I am now back on line and find this excellent thread.

Thank you Simon and Deb for sharing.

Chris

[Steve]

Well I have been internetless for almost two months. I am now back on line ...

Nice to see you survived. Welcom back.

.

[Redman]

Simon,

Thanks for the update to the story. I look for more everyday.

Oh, I understand that the cover over the bridge was to keep weather off the bridge deck so it lasted longer, and the side walls were to block the view of horses (so horses did not see the water).

.

[simon kuether]

Ah , very interesting about the bridges Redman old mate .

Very sad to hear about Der Dutchman .
The food and all was the best , but more sorrierer to think of all that beautiful furniture that must have been lost . Can all be replaced I guess . At least no one was hurt .

Hope it's up and running before next May/June .

Cheers , Simon .

[BassCliff]

Hi Simon,

Dave is right about the covered bridges. Back in the day, when most bridges were made of wood, it was cheaper to replace the roof than replace the bridge. Winter is hard on wood bridges.

Thanks for sharing our country through your eyes. It's quite a treat. I guess this is not such a bad place to live.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[simon kuether]

Armed with directions from Steve and Josh , we headed off for Detroit at about 9.00am . Safely through Dayton and onto the interstate .
Your road systems are really easy to follow . We don't have a "grid" of north/south and east/west highways as in America . We went all the way to Steve's and didn't get lost once . Absolutely amazing for me . Deb was impressed .
We rode the slab for about an hour between stops .


Fairly boring stuff , but you sure chew up some miles .


Lots of this .
The plan was not to go any where near "the middle of town" as I'm a bit fright for that . We headed a bit west , then north to St Clair Shores .

4.00pm , Detroit and us on the 750 ...................
Weirdly , that was some of the most exhillirating riding I've done . Bear in mind , we come from a town where 4 cars in the main street at once IS peak hour . We were warned not to take too much notice of the speed limits but rather , stay with the flow of traffic , or "those crazy barstards will run right over the top of you" . Never better advice given .
The speed limit was 70mph , 6 lanes of traffic seperated by a very formidable concrete wall , a narrow emergency lane , then another even more formidable concrete wall .

We were doing 80mph + in this berserko concrete trench and were still being passed by all manner of trucks , cars and those insanely huge pickups with dual wheels (towing equally huge trailers) . I was freaking out . The volume of traffic moving so quickly . "If anything goes wrong here ................ it's gonna go real bad , real quick" , I'm thinking just as we pass a sea of flashing lights on the other side of the centre wall .

I wasn't sure of one of the exits we needed to take so I pulled into the emergency lane and stopped to check with Deb . Freaked out again . Here we were stopped in a concrete chute with a zillion vehicles streaming past at heaven knows what speed . Now all we had to do was get back into the flow . Two up , loaded and the 750 handled a bit of "brisk" acceleration very well . I'm loving this bike . We got the right exit and had a nice "slow down" ride to Steve's place . No one home so we headed of to the motel .

A couple of phone calls and we arranged to meet up with him in the morning . We hit Famous Daves for dinner . Ribs and shredded pork and sides and beers and coffee and dessert . BURP !!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'd go back there .





Well , here we are . Two little Aussie battlers in Detroit (another mythical place) again preparing to ride to places we've never heard of , with persons .................. unknown (again).

It just keeps getting better .

Cheers , Simon and Deb .

[simon kuether]

Up , breakfast and off to Steve's bt 9.00am . Top spot you've got there old mate . We loved the squirrels (don't get them in Aus) .

Spent a good couple of hours getting to know each other , then off for a ride .

The girls got on well ..........................



Grosse Point was . Unimagineable wealth . Edsel Ford's "gatehouse" . Berserk .



Nice ride beside the river , through the oppulance and a visit to a train set ............................

Mates of Steve's have this in their basement ..........




Two brother's that haven't , and don't have to , grow up . Half their luck .

Lunch at ourfirst Diner . Janet's Burgers . Wortha stop if you're ever passing . Good food prepared right in front of you . Good fun .





Off to one of Steve's cousin's (he has hundreds of them - literally) bar to have a guiness with two more of his cousins . (Must be the cold winters up this way) . They had the coldest pi$$ in Detroit .



and the best trophies ........



Another tour through the "suburbs" and back to the motel for a shower before THE ICE HOCKEY !

Cheers , Simon and Deb .

[simon kuether]

Steve picked us up at about 3.00pm for a drive around before the game . We drove around Belle Isle and could see Canada .


If all goes to plan , we'll be taking a closer look next year . Lock the doors (just in case ......)and into Detroit proper .
Amazing . Suburbs of beautiful old mansions bordering scenes akin to a war zone . Beautiful old buildings crumbling , boarded up , and no people . I've never seen areas so close to a city centre , and there are no people around . They must all come out at night ............





The city centre is as they all are , albiet with it's own character .


Past the Tiger Arena , the Hockey Town Cafe and The Inn on Ferry Street (which I'm told is very good) , the original Motown studios and on to Nemo's .




Burgers and Guiness with Dale (Rustybronco) and Nancy and off to the game . I got metal detected becuase of my steel capped boots . Steve had two "items" that should have showed but didn't . Cousin thing I suppose . In we go . We don't have anyting like this in Aus . Venders vending . Food , merchandise , stuff , beer . Even at BIG games at BIG stadiums we don't have anything on this scale . Amazing .
The rink(?) is colloseum like with seats rising steeply from a walled in battlefield . Being a pre- season game , it was about half full . No idea how many people , but lots none the less . A "big" game must be massive . the atmosphere , the noise , the giant t.v's , the camera's playing to the crowd playing to the camera's . Great stuff . Very exciting . And the game ..............








We like our "contact" sports down here , but this game takes some beating . We didn't try to understand the rules , but rather , enjoyed the spectacle . Understanding why one player could "drive" another into a wall and not be penalised didn't matter . That they happily kept doing it did .
Skillfull , fast , exciting , brutal game . Good stuff . I'll have to keep an eye out on the t.v for more of it .

Back by bus to Nemo's for another Guiness (I could get a taste for that) or two then on to Lafayette Coney Island for chilli dogs . If anyone was gonna "pop a cap in our ass" (one of our biggest fears) it was going to happen here . It didn't though . I guess you must have to ask for it . The "Aussie" thing was still working well and everyone was real friendly .

Somehow , we lost Dale and Nancy (sorry about that) , but were to catch up with them tomorrow . On the way back to the motel , we could see that all the people were starting to come out ..................

Cheers , Simon and Deb .

[Planecrazy]

Simon,

Thanks for the update to the story. I look for more everyday.

Oh, I understand that the cover over the bridge was to keep weather off the bridge deck so it lasted longer, and the side walls were to block the view of horses (so horses did not see the water).

.

Very interesting, Dave ... never knew that, but saw the advantages firsthand when we were at the Fennimore ("Dave Davis Memorial") rally last month. A group of us was about to cross a medium sized modern bridge over a small river when we had to stop at the end of the bridge and wait for two horseback riders to come back off because one of the horses was spooked by the sight of the water and wouldn't cross... Fascinating!

Still loving the "play by play," Simon! By the way, what do they call freckles (the American kind) down under?

Regards,

[cowboyup3371]

A group of us was about to cross a medium sized modern bridge over a small river when we had to stop at the end of the bridge and wait for two horseback riders to come back off because one of the horses was spooked by the sight of the water and wouldn't cross... Fascinating!
Regards,

I'm not sure how much riding you guys do around horses but from an owner and fellow rider, please know that it is imperative for a motorcyclist to SLOW DOWN when passing a horse and rider. Some horses have never heard motorcycles and can get extremely scared by their exhaust (especially the louder harleys) noise. If the rider is experienced enough they will know to stop their horse and turn them to face the bike (I do this with mine) but I also motion at the driver to slow down. Once you are sufficiently far enough past the rider, than get back on the throttle but NOT quickly. Give it at least 50-100 feet before doing so.

I had to do this on a ride earlier this year when some neighbors came by me on their bikes (I think one had a yamaha the other a harley). My horse was fine with the first rider but the second hadn't slowed down enough and I almost had a rodeo. Fortunately I got her back under control fast enough that it wasn't as much of an issue but it was a little fun. Now, I just watch my horses run away from the bike as fast as possible when I pull up the drive.

[Planecrazy]

I'm not sure how much riding you guys do around horses but from an owner and fellow rider, please know that it is imperative for a motorcyclist to SLOW DOWN when passing a horse and rider. Some horses have never heard motorcycles and can get extremely scared by their exhaust (especially the louder harleys) noise. If the rider is experienced enough they will know to stop their horse and turn them to face the bike (I do this with mine) but I also motion at the driver to slow down. Once you are sufficiently far enough past the rider, than get back on the throttle but NOT quickly. Give it at least 50-100 feet before doing so.

I had to do this on a ride earlier this year when some neighbors came by me on their bikes (I think one had a yamaha the other a harley). My horse was fine with the first rider but the second hadn't slowed down enough and I almost had a rodeo. Fortunately I got her back under control fast enough that it wasn't as much of an issue but it was a little fun. Now, I just watch my horses run away from the bike as fast as possible when I pull up the drive.

An excellent reminder for those of you who don't spend time around horses!

In our case, when we pulled up to the bridge (at slow speed) the spooked horse was already demonstrating his/her concern with crossing (looked like they were "working with it" on this issue) and when they came off of it we (group of six bikes) were simply idling as both horses walked calmly past us. I think they were both used to being around bikes and other vehicles, but the bridge proved too much that day...

Regards,

[greg78gs750]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIMON!

now more please.