Last Saturday, September 23, was our second Bronco Nation Bronco Sport Meet Up of the year, held in Michigan, beginning at Arcadia and ending outside of Traverse City. We had an amazing turnout: 12 Bronco Sports and 1 Bronco that showed up by accident. We all took a vote and decided that it would be a Bronco Sport for the day. After registration and some time for coffee and conversations, we issued out the radios, did some introductions and set off for our first stop, the Point Betsie lighthouse.
This lighthouse has been in continuous operation since 1858. When first opened, it was over 40 miles away from the nearest road and accessed by boat. It’s a very historic area and has a beautiful beach. We stayed here for about an hour, which gave everyone the opportunity to tour the lighthouse, walk on the beach, and check out the visitor’s center. We also had a brief ground school, with a discussion on recovery, including traction boards and tow straps. There were several questions, and we had a good conversation about items that should be included in your Bronco Sport before you head off-road.
From there, we had a scenic drive over to Traverse City, which was about an hour away. The fall colors were starting to show, and the almost empty roads allowed everyone to stay together and enjoy the scenery that included old barns, orchards, and incredibly, a Ragnar event. A Ragnar is a team-relay running event where up to 12 members on a team run over 200 miles over two days. We kept passing the support vans and runners, but everyone seemed to be having a good time and enjoying an absolutely pristine early fall day.
Just outside of Traverse City, Bronco Nation had reserved a picnic shelter, right on the shore of Lake Michigan. There, we had lunch, and one of the Sport owners, Jenna, made everyone amazing cookies in the shape of the Bronco. The group continued to get to know each other, and we had another great scenic stop.
After lunch, we headed out of town and toward our trail ride of the day, the Shore to Shore trail, which is technically not the real trail. The actual Shore to Shore is 200+ miles of hiking trail that runs through Michigan. The trails we were driving were National Forest roads in the Blair Township, Mayfield area. The trails are a mix of sandy, seasonal roads. It was absolutely beautiful, and the first changes of fall were noticed in the trees. There were some areas of very deep sand but luckily, no one had any problems. We stopped along the way to talk more about G.O.A.T. Modes and answer questions about off-road driving, especially sand terrain. It was also a nice break for the group to continue conversations from earlier in the day.
We were making our last few turns of the trail day when I realized that it would be easier to turn back on a secondary trail, rather than make a three-point right-hand turn. That’s when Jenna mentioned on the radio that she thought she was dragging something underneath her Sport. It turns out, she had a flat tire.
So, we all had another break and a brief class on tire changing. The puncture in the tire was right in the tread, and it looked like a screw had been in there and broken off. Luckily, Jenna had a full-sized spare and, with a team effort, quickly had the tire changed, and we were back on our way. Within five minutes, we had reached the end of the trail, where we said our goodbyes and collected the radios. We followed Jenna back into Traverse City so she could get her tire plugged. Discount Tire was amazing and in less than half an hour, she was set to begin her long drive back to Pennsylvania.
Brian and I made it back to Detroit late Saturday night and returned our Bronco Sport on Sunday morning to Chelsea –– another interesting story.
We used Turo to find and rent a Bronco Sport for our event here in Michigan, since bringing one of our Sports from Moab would be quite the drive. Turo is a company that allows you to rent someone’s personal vehicle, sort of like the Airbnb of cars. During the final arrangements of us picking up the car at the Detroit airport, we realized that the Sport we were renting was owned by Chelsea, who happened to be registered for the Meet Up event in her other Bronco Sport. She works as an engineer for Ford and we really enjoyed getting to know her and her Sport.
It was an amazing trail day, with some amazing people. We’re looking forward to our third and final (for 2023) Bronco Nation Bronco Sport Meet Up next Saturday in Lincoln, New Hampshire. We hope to see you there.
We have room for you! Register for the New Hampshire Sport drive.
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