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Barley's view of the rally

glenfiddich

glenfiddich

TravelsWithBarley.com
Some photos I took on the way to and from, as well as at the rally. I know a lot of you took photos of Barley and I, and if you would share them here I would be hugely appreciative. I have precious few of the two of us together.

First shot: a quiet road in the Amish Country of northern Ohio


Passing an Amish buggy near Uhrichsville OH


As I came to a stop at the T-intersection in front of this house I heard an excited young boy shout, "Awesome!" which was not a word I expected to hear in Amish Country. Half a dozen boys ranging from fivish to early teens came running out with their hats and suspenders. They stood back at a respectful distance and asked if they could come closer. I nodded and they surrounded Barley, who happily soaked up all their attention. They asked several insightful questions and it was clear the concept of dog as constant companion was foreign to them. I noticed later that the helmet cam had been on the entire time, but since I didn't ask permission I deleted all the images.


Young Amish woman waving after we bought some peaches. Several Amish had no objections to candid shots, though none would pose. Just goes to show it pays to ask.


Setting out after a break in southern Michigan
 
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We followed a very old pinhead with a suicide clutch for nearly an hour. He maintained a steady 75mph


Preparing to mount. Barley does a four step calibration dance before leaping into the hack


Long train in Michigan


This young mother was driving with her three sons while using an eyelash curler. I was amazed at her ability to multitask while driving. She was very unselfconscious about, and continued to curl her lashes while asking questions about traveling with Barley.
 
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Crossing the Mighty Mac




Little boy clearly wants a dog of his own. Mackinaw City


Michigan's Tunnel of Trees was a shorter version of many roads back home in Vermont
 
Great pictures. You need to fit your riding buddy with a Barley cam so we can see things from his perspective. :thumb
 
Crossing the UP from St Ignace to Paradise was pretty flat and unremarkable


Our first view of Lake Michigan was in Manistee. Barley quickly found a couple who had recently lost their golden, and in his vocal best told them all about his adventure!





At Paradise we left the pavement and headed down a nicely maintained dirt road


Which turned into a farm truck road


And then a logging road where we had to dodge stumps and cutoffs
 
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We traversed several miles of burnt out forest before leading a parade of ATVs down a dirt road into Grand Marais at 60mph


The UP backroads were quite lovely, though the mosquitoes were ravenous


Showers in Marquette gave way to sunny skies, so I took off my rain gear. As I rounded a curve near Houghton I saw these clouds racing in. I pulled over immediately to put the rain gear back on


But it was too late. My rain gear was under Barley's dog bed. I let him out, grabbed the liner and ordered him back in. He insisted on his usual ten minutes of play time every dismount, however, and we were both soaked to the skin before I got him back inside and added the liner to my Rally 3 jacket.
 
The storm was violent but short lived. By the time we reached Houghton a few minutes later the rain had stopped, though the wind was incredible!




We continued north on 41 past abandoned mines




Took 26 along the western shore to Eagle Harbor, then up Brockway Mtn Road where the wind was so strong a full dress Harley was blown over when the rider stepped off.










We had a fine lunch at the Gay Bar




 
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We pressed on to Ontonagon, then the Porcupines to see Lake of the Clouds, and on into Wisconsin.



The land of 10,000 lakes, each one supporting a million mosquitoes






Thursday midday we reached the rally. Barley took in all the Beemers and gave me an approving look; clearly we were in a good neighborhood!






Some campers believed in elegance


While others were more closely aligned with deliverance


The vendors were happy to see us












 
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We had a few issues to take care of: a fault in my Clearwater lights, a damaged Skene P3 light, and a dead as a doornail Scala SRC unit. Glenn from Clearwater got his techs working the issue and quickly isolated a damaged dimmer unit, which was replaced. He also noticed the black anodized coating on one of my bezels had worn off, and replaced it free on the spot. Outstanding customer service! Jerry Skene got me set up with a replacement brake light, and Phil from Schubert replaced the defective SRC under warranty. Then we wandered around meeting new friends and old



Is that a bug in my beer?








Friday morning we cruised the boulevard and reported in for water duty. Barley is, after all, a waterdog.




We took a few rides in the area


 
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Glenfiddich said:
My rain gear was under Barley's dog bed. I let him out, grabbed the liner and ordered him back in. He insisted on his usual ten minutes of play time every dismount, however, and we were both soaked to the skin before I got him back inside and added the liner to my Rally 3 jacket.
Click to expand...

Rules are rules. He's just trying to get you trained :)
 
Thanks for sharing the photos Pete!
It was a pleasure meeting you and Barley and I look forward to seeing you both again.

Happy trails

Mike
 
We left the rally early Sunday morning, heading down the River Road on 61.




That's the big ADM plant in Red Wing


Passed thru a small town where The Sound of Music was playing (we live in Stowe VT one hill over from the Trapp Family Lodge, and when tourists became too pesky old Maria von Trapp would ride over to visit my wife's grandmother, the two old women complaining about tourists while sipping peppermint schnapps and picking off rabbits in the garden with an old .22).


We dropped all the way south to US 24 before turning east, wanting to totally avoid the Chicago traffic. Illinois and Indiana towns along that route have nice little parks where one can pull up and rest a few minutes. If children are present you can expect a delayed departure while they fuss over the rig (boys) or the dog (girls).


We visited friends in southern Wisconsin. Shine, their lovely and extremely affectionate golden retriever female, had been "corrected" by Barley four years ago. This time, with a litter of ten day old pups, she merely had to curl her lip and Barley fled to the other room! Don't mess with new mommas!






 
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We came across this very innovative and hard to miss method of marking narrow underpasses


Visited the Kinzua Dam in PA. Unfortunately the Devil's Highway (666) was closed for construction. That's the third time I've tried to ride it and the third time it was closed.


Plenty of old, rusting bridges in PA. Lots of construction too.




Sometimes a structure was allowed to decay too far till the inevitable happened


We occasionally saw others heading home from the rally


And of course I was expected to share at mealtime


Rain drove us to seek shelter in Oil City PA. The hotel wasn't much, but it was adjacent to a delightful little park on the shore of the Allegheny River. Barley saw this lifelike statue of a little girl holding something, walked over to make sure whatever she was holding was not edible, then turned his attention to waterfowl in the nearby river.


 
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Crossing into NY we were quickly pulled by The Man. After offering me a couple conflicting reasons why I was pulled over he finally admitted he was just curious. We had a nice chat about dogs, rigs, urban sprawl and its associated problems, and even brushed on politics. Then we pressed on.


We cut a corner across the southern Adirondacks, quickly passing thru a string of tiny towns separated by forest or swamp




Crossed the Hudson River


Took breaks in places like Lake Pleasant and Schrooner Lake


 
Finally the distant hills began to take on familiar shapes. Vermont was just ahead!




I love the simple elegance of the new Champlain Bridge!


We had to deal with the usual Vermont traffic


And could soon see the Appalachian Gap ahead




And Barley recognized the smell of the dairy farm just down the hill from our home




A quick dash up our road


And we're home!


 
It was good to meet you both at the Rally. Looking forward to a repeat in Billings or when yo make anothe pass through the Sandhills!
 
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