A Ride out US-12 to Coldwater, MI – June 5th, 2010

An unexpected early morning start, Dad was up at 6:40am on Saturday and carrying luggage down the stairs. He and my stepmom were here visiting from Florida since Wednesday, and were ready to make the trip home. After helping them load up and saying our goodbyes, rather than go back to bed, Bill and I ate breakfast and turned on the Weather Channel to see if a ride was in store for the day. 

Scattered showers were expected later in the afternoon, so we decided to venture out US-12 to possibly get as far as Sturgis, MI. We headed out Cherry Hill to Ridge Rd. south, west on Michigan Ave., past Saline and out of the city. When we left at 8:30am, the air was humid, it felt too warm (for me) to wear a jacket, but there was enough dampness to make it too chilly not to, especially once we got rolling.  

Just past Saline we stopped at a gas station for water and spoke briefly to a guy who was walking his dog, a beautiful golden retriever. He trotted across the parking lot towards Bill, sitting a picnic table, and his owner called out ahead that the dog was harmless. Bill told me later (I was rummaging through a saddlebag at the time), that he told Bill they were on their way to Wampler’s Lake in Irish Hills, a few miles down the road, and that his dog was ill. He thought it likely that this would be his last trip. 

Bill told me this as I sat down at the picnic table, and I thought of my Dad, who had just left for home this morning. My brother had made a comment earlier that week that Dad told him this would be his last trip. My Dad is 83. He’s doing very well for his age, but, he’s 83. I kept reminding myself that yes, this is most likely his last trip to Michigan, but, probably also by his choice. It doesn’t mean it’s the last time I’ll see him. I held that thought in my mind as they waved and backed out of my driveway earlier that morning. 

We got back on the road and continued on towards our destination, past the farms and small towns along US-12. I love this stretch of road, and was happy to hear, later over lunch, how much Bill was enjoying the ride so far as well. In addition to the rural scenery, he also mentioned how out here, you could relax your mind a bit more, almost defrag your mind. Not that it’s good practice to daydream on a motorcycle, by any stretch, but I knew what he meant by being able to relax a bit more out here, definitely not like riding in heavy city traffic. 

Passing through Quincy, there was large sign advertising their Winter Tip Up Festival in January, at which Bill pointed and gave the thumbs up. I looked over at him and smiled. This was definitely something to look into this fall! We enjoy our snowmobile trips almost as much as our bike rides. It makes the winter months go by so much faster, bridging the gap to motorcycle riding season. 

We stopped in Coldwater, at Buffalo Wild Wings, for lunch, just before the I-69 interchange, which became our turnaround point, based on the look of the skies. After lunch, we were getting ready to depart on our rain sprinkled bikes when the outdoor warning siren performed it’s 1pm weekly test, and we found we were just a bit too close to the speaker. The earsplitting siren went on for over a minute, and we began to wonder if it wasn’t just a test! After this episode, and with how black the sky had become, we decided to get back on US-12 and head east. On the way out, before Quincy, in Allen Township, I noticed a large decrepit building on the south side of US-12, referred to as Chicago Rd. in these parts. Had my friend Gerry been with me, there’d have been skid marks and u-turn upon first spotting it. I made a mental note of the location on the way past it, and now wanted to stop to take some pictures. 

What is it that is so fascinating about abandoned buildings? I know I share an interest with countless others through not only several personal friends, but also the sheer number of websites out there that display photo and video of such structures and places. I think what attracts me is the combination of creepiness and history. Any place old and abandoned looks haunted, looks like the set of a horror flick, another one of my loves. Taking a closer look, you find pieces of what was, and your mind imagines the place “back in the day”. The people that were there, the cars that came in and out, what took place within it’s walls, the overall history. Today I found several places to stop and take pictures, the first is what I’m guessing was a nursing home or perhaps a school.

It was hard to tell from just the front of the grounds, I didn’t venture too much further since 1) we were parked illegally, 2) the mosquitoes were horrendous and 3) the storm we were trying to escape was still looming. So I got as far as the front walk and main entrance to the building and took several different angles. What occurred to me then was, how many times had I been out this way and this was the first time I’d spotted this building? At least twice. It was a reminder to me that just because you’ve already travelled a certain road, you never know what you’ll come across, and discover something you’d missed before. 

Another stop I made on our way back to explore and take pictures was at an old gas station at the corner of US-12 and M-50. We walked around the gravel, weed filled parking lot and also approached the store front and the overhead service doors out back, of which several windows had been broken out. Several stickers in the front window indicated the recent years it had been open, the last one dated 1998. Through the dirty windows, you could see the peeling paint and the tiles that were beginning to pop free of their place on the dusty floor.

 

The pump controls could be seen through the front window, nothing like how they operate today, I’m sure. Like the old controls, the gas price sign across the parking lot also indicated the last time cars pulled in here for gas, somewhere around the time you could buy diesel for $1.50 per gallon, as the rusty metal flip numbers displayed.

Walking back to the bikes, I spotted a full Corona bottle laying in the mud and said, “Bummer! Someone here partying lost a beer!” Bill replied that there was a chance that the contents weren’t beer, which replaced my thoughts with, ”Okay, I’m done, you ready?” 

Back on the bikes, we continued our original route and stopped at Town and Country Harley Davidson to pick up a bottle of Novus, some really fantastic windshield cleaner and polish. This stuff dissolves bug guts better than anything we’ve tried!  Several bikes rolled past during our stop, into the dealership and also Artesian Wells, the bar and grill next door.

Still needing to make tracks and beat the rain, we made our way east but decided to head north on M-52 thinking we still had time to salvage the day and get more riding in. From M-52 we headed back east again on North Territorial Rd., and were pleasantly surprised to find that parts of the road had been freshly paved with new asphalt, making for a really nice experience gliding through the curves of the tree lined road. 

It was nearing 6pm by now, so we took the shortcut home from North Territorial which is Beck Rd. to M-14 east to I-275 south. We dodged the rain for the day, which came down pretty hard several hours later and turned into some pretty severe storms later that night. I was glad to get in this stretch today and share it with Bill. We look forward to returning again, hopefully with more time to explore.