With few exceptions My college buddy Dave D. and I have taken a significant motorcycle trip for the last 54 years. Early on, these trips were rigorous off-road adventures. Our destinations were mostly out West. We have ridden high mountain jeep trails all over Colorado: north south, east, and west with the High Mountain Ouray Durango area our all time favorite. Motorcycles ridden out there started out in the late 70’s with rock solid Honda XR185 and XR 200’s. See my Honda XR185 at 9000 feet above Ouray Colorado
.
Later trips Were Kawasaki KLX300’s and then later KTM 450 EXC’s. My last KTM was fantastic. It was lowered to accommodate short legs, and it had a recluse clutch. One year to New Mexico was all KTM’s. My 450 EXC, Dave’s 450 EXC and a friend Mark’s KTM 530. 
Over the last several years, as we have become “geezerly” we have moved to street bike trips mainly to Michigan. We trailer them up to a central point and then we do day trips to nearby locations.
In 2003 we crossed the Mackinaw Bridge and did the Eastern part of the Upper Peninsula basing out of St Ignace. In 2004 we based out of Kalkaska and did Traverse City north through Petosky and the “tunnel of trees.”
2025 was an off-road trail trip based out of Portsmouth, Ohio and doing what is termed the Southern Ohio Adventure loop. We also visited the fantastic flood wall Murals downtown. They are well worth the visit.
So this year in 2006 we went back to Michigan trailering the street bikes to a small town named Oscoda. Oscoda is near the bottom of the Michigan “hand location” on Lake Huron. I took my 2024 Honda CB300R and Dave took his Yamaha MT 07, 700cc bike. 
Oscoda is a nice little town but only two major hotels. It doesn’t have the tourist vibe of the Traverse City loop, but there are plenty of tourist cabins on miles of white sandy beaches for family fun. We mostly visited lighthouses and tourist sites. First was the Tawas Point Lighthouse on the way to Oscoda, 88 steps to the top and great views.
The next morning early we went north stopped at the Dinosaur Garden which displays unique life-sized models in Ossineke. It is well done: especially great for little kids. Onward to the Sturgeon Point Lighthouse 85 steps, then back into Alpena. There we went to their outstanding maritime Museum. We also visited the Besser Museum of local life in Alpena. It is a local business that grew exponentially into a well-known concrete block international business. 106 mile round trip.
106 miles the next day, Sunny and 70 degrees but heavy winds on both legs of the trip North on rt 23 to Presque Island peninsula. They have two light houses on the point. The old one is not high but had a neat old bell out back that you can ring. The “new one" (built in 1870! is one of the highest light houses on the Great Lakes, it is 130 steps and a Beautiful setting that was not crowded at all.
On the last day, we started at Sturgeon point lighthouse elementary school building next to the lighthouse. This light House had probably the most elaborate living quarters of any lighthouse I have ever visited. 85 tight steps to the top with a great view of that sandy reef. We then did a spectacular ride up along the Au Sable river which is quite wide. Our destination was the unique Lumberman's Memorial. Logging was so important to the history of Michigan. It has great displays including Civilian Conservation Corps which was so important during our country's great depression.
The last day of our trip saw rain that was correctly predicted for Saturday. So by car we visited the historic Wurtsmith Airforce Base Museum near Oscoda. The base was very important housing B-52’s and Air refueling up until 1993, when it was decommissioned. They have a great little museum that is worth seeing.
What a great trip. We did over 300 miles in three days with perfect weather, very low traffic, great, paved roads, and no mishaps or mechanical issues. I can highly recommend this area for great riding.