Senior Citizen Fall Color Ride

September 27, 2012

Our camp host, Pat, told us about this color tour that she read about in the newspaper, sponsored by Mi-TRALE, (Michigan Trails and Recreation Alliance of Land and the Environment).  This is the organization that develops and maintains all of those ORV (Off Road Vehicles) trails that I spoke about in a previous post.  She and her husband, Doug, and Jim and I signed up to go on this "Senior Tour".

We had to drive for 2 hours to a retirement village in Ontonagon to catch the chartered bus that took us to Twin Lakes State Park.  We were scheduled on the afternoon ride and arrived at Twin Lakes in time for the free lunch provided by the sponsors.  They were serving....wait for it.....pasties!  Fortunately, these pasties were actually edible. (See previous post "County Fair and the Coast")  We ate our pasties and got ready for the ride.

Lined up and ready to go

There were about 30 ORV's lined up to take us seniors on the tour.  Since most of the ORV's were just 2-seaters, Jim and I rode with separate drivers.  Pat and her husband were also split up for the ride.

My driver, Rich

Jim and Gary

My driver, Rich, was a native with a wonderful knowledge of the region.  He was so informative and helpful to me as I took my photos.  Jim's driver, Gary, was also pretty talkative.  Toward the end of the ride, Jim and he joked about stopping the caravan at a bar on the way home.  Gary was all for it...he stopped at home to get his car while Jim was still in the ORV with him!

Following the leaders

Along the way

Color on the road

The caravan

We rode about 30 miles on the Bill Nicholls Multi-Use Trail, over several train trestles and along several waterways.  The color on the trees was fantastic.  Even though it was the middle of the day I was able to get a few good photos of the colorfest.  Another unusual way to spend a day in the U.P.!

Road we crossed on the ORV trail

View from the trestle

 Thanks to Pat for bringing this activity to our attention.  Jim and I had a great time today.  On the way back to Crystal Falls, we stopped with Pat and Doug for an early dinner near the state park.  The proprietor of the restaurant was a real talker and entertained us all through dinner with stories of his years as a truck driver.  Doug was also a truck driver for 37 years, so they actually had people they knew in common.  Small world!

Who wouldn't want to travel this road?