'Motorcycling Across Michigan'

East Lansing's William Murphy offers 27 routes for picturesque riding in his new guidebook, 'Motorcycling Across Michigan'

BETWEEN HELL AND STOCKBRIDGE -- In the country, black walnut trees lean like old grandfathers over the narrow road. There's a smell of damp leaves, of distant manure. Wind finds its way through to the space between glove and sleeve. Red and yellow, green and brown flash past. The only sound is the motor's hum. You lean into the curve. You crest the hill. You feel a smile break out on your face.

"You don't see Michigan from the expressway," says William Murphy, who prefers his Kawasaki sport touring motorcycle to any car. "I've always liked to go to land's end places. I like getting on roads and seeing where they go."

With 200,000 registered motorcycles in this state and thousands of miles of scenic, rural byways, more travelers could be seeing Michigan by gas-saving bike -- if they knew the best places to ride.

You need a good paved road. No gravel. No dead ends.

For 33 years, Murphy of East Lansing has ridden every corner of the state on his motorcycle. He's also covered nearly every inch as a former conservation officer for the Department of Natural Resources and as a former state environmental quality investigator.

He knows Michigan like the back of his hand.

But he is surprised how many people don't.

"I just assumed other motorcyclists knew the state as well as I did, and it turned out to not be that way," says Murphy, pausing on a morning ride down the bucolic autumn roads through the towns of Pinckney, Hell, Unadilla and Stockbridge northwest of Ann Arbor.

Murphy's new guidebook remedies that. "Motorcycling Across Michigan" (Arbutus Press, $17.95) contains 27 routes through rural and picturesque parts of the state that are best for motorcycle riders. Some are trips as short as three hours, such as 90-mile routes "To Hell and Back" (Hell is a popular meeting place for weekend bikers) and "Tip of the Mitt" through Cheboygan and Mackinaw City. Other routes may take three days or longer, depending on how much ground you cover. The longest is the Lake Superior circle tour, 1,445 miles around the giant Great Lake.

Unlike many Midwest states, Michigan has a lot of great roads for bikers -- curving, unpredictable roads because of the lakes, shoreline and old Indian trails.

Unlike many motorcyclists, Murphy prefers traveling alone.

The reason? It's not something he can explain in one sentence.

He's loved motorcycling since he got his first bike, a 1969 Kawasaki 250 that he bought in 1972 when he got home from two years as a Marine in Vietnam.

He has met plenty of motorcyclists who have never traveled farther than 100 miles from home. He says lots of bikers prefer the camaraderie of group travel over the sometimes lonely roads for one.

But "to me, the heart and soul of motorcycling is getting out on a pretty country road and seeing what is there," he says. "My view is, motorcycles are like horses. They're meant for the open road. I enjoy riding alone. I can stop if I see something, whenever I want to."

Murphy prefers his Kawasaki touring motorcycle to a car. He has come to love the solitude of riding alone.

His habit of riding alone grew out of a choice he made years ago. From the time his autistic son, Billy, was 5 years old to 17, Murphy took him out on the back of his bike. They rode all over the state and beyond.

The boy wouldn't pay attention to anything else, but "on the back of the bike he was mesmerized," Murphy says. The trips stopped when his son grew up; he's now 27. Now, Murphy takes his 9-year-old daughter, Helen, instead.

Murphy admits that motorcycling can be dangerous, but he says it's like anything else: The more years you ride, the lower the accident rate. He still loves watching motorcycle racing. He still understands the impulse some young riders have to test their bikes, or be loud. He understands that some people hate motorcycle noise.

"But motorcycles are not death machines," he says. "There is an element of danger, but it is really overstated."

At this point in his life, Murphy's motorcycle reflects his priorities. It is sporty and fast but built for touring. It has a 7-gallon gas tank and plenty of saddlebag space for travel gear.

"For 30 years I've said a person should own three bikes -- a Harley, a touring bike and a dual-purpose bike for trails," he says. "For the kind of riding I do, I choose the four-cylinder power and smoothness of a touring bike."

He says there are certain things every motorcyclist should have: A good road map. A cheap compass. An up-to-date list of motorcycle repair shops (that list is in his book). Swimmer's wax earplugs, to let in just enough noise for safety but block out the loudest sounds. Layers of clothing. Rain gear. And a focus on how much gasoline you have left, so you're never cruising down an empty road on empty. Murphy also recommends buying a Michigan State Parks pass at the beginning of every season.

Murphy likes all the routes in his book, but his favorite places to ride are the wine country of southwest lower Michigan and the Upper Peninsula.

"There are no bad roads in the U.P.," he says, grinning. He likes Black River Drive near Bessemer, South Boundary Road in the Porcupines and especially the little roads in the Stonington Peninsula near Escanaba: "Those are mighty nice and off any beaten path."

The most famous motorcycle routes in Michigan -- and virtually the only ones ever mentioned in national publications -- are the undulating M-22 near Arcadia along the Lake Michigan shoreline and M-119 north of Petoskey. But Murphy says if you just get out there and see for yourself, you'll find something beyond what you imagined.

It's called freedom.