The Conclusion

After returning from a field trip students are expected to explain to their teacher what they learned from the experience (Amanda, take note). As a former teacher this concept is etched in my psyche and so I will attempt to share what it is that I learned from our little foray into the world of 2 wheel touring (at least from this geezer’s perspective). Incidentally, for those of you keeping score, we logged about 3400 miles on the bikes traveling through 9 states (MI, NY, VT, NH, ME, MA, PA, OH and IN) and 3 Canadian provinces (Ontario, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island).

First a few comments regarding my fellow travelers. I hope I offend no one.

Before we even began this adventure, Charlie made it clear that he travels on his stomach. I had no idea the extent to which he meant this. Not a single eatery went unnoticed and commented upon. It mattered not if it was a pizza joint (especially a pizza joint), or a fine French restaurant. Further, no food was left as the chef intended. Charlie always managed to add his touch to the entrée by dousing it with a variety of condiments and spices. I’m rather certain Charlie is a chef at heart.

The other observation regarding the big guy is that he is addicted to his cell phone. There were several locations (particularly in the Maritime Provinces) where he couldn’t get service. On these occasions, a wild eyed expression crept over his countenance and more than once he began to shake uncontrollably. Upon reaching a working service area, he would make up for his time without the phone, and call everyone in the phone’s memory, some more than once.

Bill is a very conservative rider (and driver he tells me), and goes to great lengths to avoid breaking the law. One occasion comes to mind in particular when yours truly opted to pass a slow moving vehicle. While it’s true, there was a double solid line involved, the road was straight and clear with no oncoming traffic. After getting around the lady, as was my custom, I looked in the mirror to see if we were together; there was Charlie, but no Bill. I was later reminded of the double line, and suffered enormous guilt over my transgression. I suspect Bill’s regard for the lining of roads comes from the fact that his son is an engineer who builds roads and for whom Bill has a great love and respect.

Bill is a world traveler. This in itself is not unusual today, however, he apparently has traveled some of the more obscure backroads and alleyways in this great land too. I present to you just one example. While seeking shelter from one of the downpours during our first day out, we strayed from the expressway and wandered around until we came to a "coffee" shop occupied and apparently owned by what appeared to be Chinese people. I asked directions (to no avail I might add) and returned to the bikes. It was at this point that Bill casually mentioned that the very parking lot we occupied was one of his dog's favorite places to pee. Please! Here we were in East B.F., Egypt and it turns out to be his dog's toilet. The whole incident kind of took the edge off the sense that we were exploring new territory. The depression has since worn off, but for a while, it weighed heavily.

The only other comment regarding Bill is actually a statement regarding his sainted wife. Any woman remaining married to a man who snores with his gusto must be a saint. Fortunately we were all so exhausted after a day on the road we fell asleep quickly, but under normal circumstances it would have been a trial.

Here are a few other things I learned:
1. I am not fond of Canucks.
2. Canucks are not fond of people from the United States (except at the cash register).
3. If you want it to rain, invite me to go riding.
4. Geezers on motorcycles are not questioned at border crossings.
5. Breakfast on the road is the best meal of the day.
6. I don’t enjoy highway and toll road travel on a bike but will tolerate it when necessary.
7. Our country is incredibly beautiful (even in the rain).
8. I like mountains in the summer.
9. You can’t prove to me that Champ (the monster of Lake Champlain) exists (or not).
10. Prince Edward Island is “the Gentle Island” with the exception of the proprietor of the St. Nicholas Motel.
11. People you meet while traveling on motorcycles are helpful, funny, curious and good natured.
12. America smells great from the saddle of a motorcycle.
13. This is a great country.

Well that’s a baker's dozen and likely more than you cared about. Thanks for reading this to its conclusion. Here’s were I say, “adieu”.

Day 12, August 21, 2008 (The last day on the road)

Today’s post will again be sans photos and short.

We left Mentor, OH this morning about 8:00 and rode highways and toll roads all the way to Kalamazoo, where we got on M-43 and headed home. The weather was warm and maybe a bit humid, but rather pleasant for riding. We ran 65 mph almost all the way, beginning in Cleveland’s rush hour, traveling through Ohio’s flat corn fields, and ending at the shore of Lake Michigan. As you may gather from these few lines, highway travel on 2 wheels is not my idea of the ultimate adventure, but as Charlie said, if you want to get from here to there it’s the fastest way (Charlie really didn’t say that, but it’s close enough).

For those of you who have followed us on our journey and wished us safety along the way; thank you. Further, as for the three intrepid crusaders to whom you were introduced in the first post, we remain friends, and miraculously look forward to riding together again.

Also, I re-read some of the previous posts and found some typos that eluded me as I proofed each night. Thank you for not being too critical of them; maybe someday I’ll even correct them.

That’s all for now, but in the next day or two don’t be surprised to find a final post, wrapping up our 12 day experience.

Day 11, August 20, 2008

Well, here we are in Mentor, Ohio, just east of Cleveland. We left Binghamton, NY in cool weather (probably in the mid 50's) and traveled until about 6:30 tonight in sunshine (about 489 miles). The temperature made it to the upper 60's or there about.

We rode the entire length on route 6 which runs along the very top of Pennsylvania through beautiful countryside. The scenery was mostly mountainous interspersed with farmland in the valleys. The small towns and villages along the way ranged from quaint to poverty stricken. It seems that wherever we traveled there was a rather obvious dicotomy between the "haves" and "have nots". The "good" economy we hear so much about doesn't appear to exist off the beaten tracks of our highways and byways. Ah well, that's the subject for a different post.

It's a shame that the weather we experienced today waited until we were almost home to show itself... this kind of riding weather in the Aderondacks would have made good scenery unbelievable.

The only pictures I have to share, are of the motel at the end of the day. Best Western has some really nice places. This one is more suggestive of a bed and breakfast than a motel.

I believe the three of us are winding down a bit... as great as the experience has been, I think we're all looking forward to our last stop tomorrow..... Home.

Day 10, August 19, 2008

This will be a short post today. Also there will be no pictures for the usual reasons, namely; I can't ride and take pictures and I was afraid the camera would rust or freeze or both.

We left the Laconia, NH area about 7:00 in the morning. I noticed the bike wasn't shifting as it should, and discovered I was down a quart of oil. I'll need to check that out when we get back.

Although the first part of the day was dry, in about 100 yards it began to rain... and rain... and rain. It's so pleasant riding in rubberized rain gear on a muggy morning. I shouldn't have complained, because the humidity soon gave way to rather, shall we say, brisk weather. Once into the mountains, all three of us fully expected snow squalls.

The roads we took were beautiful, taking us through some of the most classically New England countryside you could imagine... beautiful rivers, stone fences, imaculate white clapboard homes with well kept gardens. If an artist were to create a image of New England, these places would be included.

The afternoon cleared and we concluded our riding day in cool, but sunny weather, ending up in Binghamton, NY. Our destination was going to be Saracuse, NY, but in the Albany area we decided to take route 6 west along the top of PA. That is our planned route for tomorrow. As a side note, we missed a turn and ended up in the very north west corner of MA, in the Berkshires. Not far out of our way, but a beautiful ride on some terrific motorcycle roads.

Day 9, August 18, 2008

We left Bangor, ME about 7:30 this morning. We had chosen as our destination Laconia, NH, and trusted the GPS(s) to get us there. Along the way we stopped at Greg’s Place… a little roadside diner and asked the young waitress the best way to get to Laconia. She gave us some directions, and gave us some suggestions, including the directions to get to the Kancamagus Highway. It’s a road that winds through the mountains of the White Mountains National Park in NH. We decided to run this stretch of road before ending the day in Laconia. Before we left Greg’s Place, I asked the waitress if she rode and she informed us that she did for a while, but grew tired of “braking with her face". She did say she went to Laconia for a tattoo. I told her we wouldn’t ask to see it, and she informed us that was good, because, as she put it, she had no intention of "dropping her laundry" to show us.

The road we took to the Park was windy and very pretty (with the exception of a few stretches that were kind of “lumpy”). The Kancamagus Highway was all it was advertised to be and it was a pleasant ride with some beautiful mountain scenery thrown into the mix. Even the road from the Highway to Laconia was a good motorcycle road; winding through small mountain towns.

Near our destination we first traveled through Weirs Beach in the “lake district” of NH. It looked like an amusement park. Laconia (about 8 miles further on) didn’t impress any of us (the only person we had contact with (asking her for directions) was an unpleasant shrew).

We continued on for another 7 or 8 miles and came upon a motel with a few cabins on a lake (I will try to include a few pictures). It is from one of these cabins that I write this. Incidentally, the cabin has no internet so this will be posted tomorrow.

Day 7 and 8 August 16 and 17

Day 7 and 8

Sorry folks, no connection last night so no blog.

Yesterday.

We took a little tour around Prince Edward Island. It seems the island is broken down into three general sections… east, central and west. We rode a loop through the central section. Lots of churches. Lots of potatoes. Lots of coast. The northern part of the loop was pretty nice, but once we swung to the south, the roads were really rough and we decided to get back early, lest we loosen some important organs and lose some necessary bodily functions. When the road sign show pictures of stair cases, you know the road will get bumpy; eh?.

When we returned to Rustico, we had dinner and headed over to the dock for the party boat for some fishing. Bill (the smart one of the lot) returned to the motel to clean the red clay (of which the island is entirely composed) off his ride, while Charlie and I boarded “Papa’s Gem” for some mackerel and cod fishing. There were 16 “sports” on board. The boat probably caught two 5 gal. buckets of mackerel and just a couple undersized cod…. The sea birds were entertaining, eh?

The weather was overcast and cool, but a good time was had by all, eh?

Today.

We left Prince Edward Island shortly after 7:00, God’s time, headed south across the Federation Bridge (8 miles long). As we were about to leave the bridge, Charlie saw 3 moose at the water’s edge. Of course, Charlie was the only one to see the moose, but Bill and I are inclined to humor him when it comes to these matters, eh?

We had breakfast at a little German B&B that was really nice (and good food too), but Charlie kept on hearing the echo of SS jack boots resounding through the house; he is convinced that the entire operation was nothing but a nest of terrorist spies, eh?

After crossing the border we had lunch. in Calais, Maine, and ran into a guy who used to live there and was visiting (planning to move back). It turns out he has 2 sons, one living in Niles, MI, the other attending Andrews University…. Small world, eh?

By the end of the day, we put in 375 miles and we are now in Bangor, Maine, having successfully escaped the agony of enduring another encounter with a Canadian, eh?

Right now we’re talking about the next stop… maybe Laconia, NH, eh?

Day 6

Day 6, August 15, 2008

We left Calais, ME this morning, about 7:00 in patchy fog. When the sun was hidden, it was pretty darn chilly too. We crossed the Canadian boarder (and into the Atlantic time zone) in short order and again headed north east. The riding was pretty fast, but the roads generally good with a few exceptions. Our first stop was in Saint Johns, British Columbia. We grabbed some gas, and breakfast and were sidetracked for a few minutes waiting for the “reversing falls”. In the event you don’t know what that means, the river (who’s name escapes me for the moment) obviously flows to the sea (in this case, by way of the Bay of Fundy), but the tides are so high, that the rivers are overcome be the incoming tide and forced to flow upstream. This occurs where some rocks protrude from the surface of the water, thus causing the “white water” to trail off in a different direction…. Whew. That was some explanation for something we never saw happen. It was supposed to change at 12:45 and we got bored at 12:20 and left. (The picture of the bridge with the arched superstructure shows the rocks I’m talking about).

By the way… 2 things that may be of interest to Pete. 1) Saw a couple of guys fly fishing (I assume for Atlantic Salmon on the New River. And 2) Bill Binning, the fellow in our group knows you. Evidently he was your boss back in the day when you managed the student center (?) at Western…. If I didn’t get that quite right forgive me, but he does know you.

We continued on to Muncton and then to the bridge to Prince Edward Island. We traveled about 45 minutes across the island to North Rustin (next to Calabash; the setting for Anne of Green Gables). Checked into a motel (the St. Nicholas), had dinner, and started writing this… as usual the WiFi connection is an “on again off again” proposition. So I don’t know if this will get on the blog tonight…. I’ll try.

The plan is to stay here one more day, explore and Charlie and I will try a little bottom bouncing for cod and mackerel on a “party boat”. We hope to start west on Sunday.

By the way, the picture of Charlie by the lobster pots is were we will board the boat for the fishing. Hopefully I will be able to tell you we caught a couple of cod on tomorrows blog.

Day 5, August 14, 2008

Day 5, August 14, 2008

Today’s mileage, exactly 200 miles. We left Belfast at about 9:30 after having breakfast at the motel. We were in no rush to leave, as the fog off the bay was pretty thick. In fact we later heard that the lobster fishermen didn’t even get out to tend their traps as the buoys are too difficult to see in the soup. Our destination was Bar Harbor.

We arrived in Bar Harbor around 10:00. Walked around town and ended up having lunch at a place called Geddy’s on Main St.(this was a place recommended to us by a biker we talked to on the mountain in NH yesterday). We decided that “Ba Haba” is pretty much a larger Saugatuck and that we would move on. One thing I did notice, is that the people visiting were more international than just about any place I’ve been, with the exception on N.Y.C.

We traveled north on Route 1 along the coast until we reached the Canadian boarder at Calais, ME. We traveled though a lot of woods that would remind you of the Upper Peninsula. Along the way there were a lot of blueberry pickers we found were called “rakers”. A truck driver said they harvested about 4 million pounds in 2 weeks. These are the very small very low (the bushes look like ground cover), that you can find in the U.P. of MI.

Tonight we’re in a motel near the mouth of the Bay of Fundy, although the tide here is very low, it doesn’t reflect the enormous tides seen further up the bay. Tomorrow we intend to cross the border and head up to St. Johns and points north were the tides are more pronounced, but we don’t expect to be there early enough to get the full effect.

Except for the fog this morning and some rather “crisp” riding weather, the day turned out sunny; with luck it will remain good for the next few days.

Day 4

Day 4 – August 13, 2008

Today we woke up in St. Johnsbury, VT, to a foggy buy otherwise dry day, and as has become our routine, headed east. The farther east we went the better the weather.

Soon after crossing into NH we stopped for breakfast at a restaurant recommended by a guy and his girlfriend at a local gas station, and made the decision to take a little side trip to the Auto Road that wends its way to the summit of the White Mountains.

The ride from the base of the mountain to its peak was nothing short of a combination of fascination and fear. The road was two cars wide (very narrow cars) and the incline probably in the neighborhood of 20 degrees. There were no guard rails and the drop (if you were on the mountain side of the road) was typically about 3 feet and the drop away from the mountain essentially went to the bottom. There were no shoulders on which to pull off, but there were periodic turnouts to stop and add water to your radiator on the way up and or cool your brakes on the way down. Most of the road was paved, but for several miles near the summit it changed to packed gravel. On the way up there was a grader working a section of the gravel, and it was necessary to stop…. not a comfortable experience. However, we made it all the way and all agreed it was worth the trip.

After checking out the summit (there was a shop (of course)) and several buildings evidently devoted to weather and research (in the 30’s wind speed exceeded 230 miles per hour at the top) we began the decent. We were advised by some other riders to keep it in second, maybe third gear so slow it down. We did, but a couple of miles from the top (the road is 8 miles long) my rear brake went out. Nothing. Nada. Not good. I pulled off at a turnoff and let Charlie and Bill know what had happened. We continued down, me keeping my hands and feet off the brakes and the bike in first. At the bottom we waited it out a while and the brakes returned. All we could guess was that at that altitude the brakes heated boiled the fluid and got air in the line. In any event all turned out well.

The remainder of the trip to the coast (Route 1 along the ME coast) was in great weather and thankfully uneventful.

After checking into a Comfort Inn, we dined at a lobster shack, beginning our campaign to reduce the lobster population.

Tomorrow we continue on to Bar Harbor (only about 40 miles) to kill more lobster.

Amanda….. I hope these pictures will help. I know elementary teachers don’t like books without pictures.

Day 3

Day 3

We left the community of Tupper Lake, NY about 7:15 this morning. Our hostess at Tupper Lake told us that July had a total of 7 days without rain. So far this August it has rained every day. Today began very cool and very overcast, but at least not raining. Later in the day, we ran into a few patches of rain, but nothing that stayed with us.

Along the way we stopped at Lake Placid’s Ice Arena and watched a girls hockey clinic for a while. Afterwards we visited the ski jump “venue” and rode the lift to the top of the 120 meter jump (trip up the tower was by elevator). It was very interesting to get that perspective of what the athletes see before their run.

We moved on to Lake Champlain and boarded the ferry Valcour for the trip to Burlington, Vt. Beautiful ride across (‘though we didn’t see any sign of Champ). The ride out of town was a bit of a trial… the fire engines were out cleaning up a spill near the downtown area… we were told it was; how shall we say it?... fecal matter? It certainly smelled that way.

Other than that (with the exception of a short detour due to a bad choice by the GPS “programmer”), the roads were winding and great for riding. They carried us through some beautiful mountains and countryside of NY and VT. All along the way we passed numerous rock strewn bodies of water and enticing free stone rivers that begged to be fly fished. Some of the rivers in VT were high and discolored due to the heavy rains.

We concluded the day in St. Johnsbury, VT…. Not too far from the NH boarder.

Tomorrow we expect to traverse NH and maybe make it to the coast by the end of the day. Today’s ride was short (184 miles), but remember a good chunk of road time was saved by the trip across the Lake and some more time used checking out Lake Placid.

Day 2

Day 2 – August 11, 2008

Yesterday we logged 404 miles and today, 347.

We left Jordan Station Best Western Motel at about 8:30 this morning. We traveled about 30 minutes to get to the Queens ton-Lewiston Bridge and were across in about 15 minutes. The weather was overcast but dry when we stopped at Tom Georges Villa…. Frankly that doesn’t sound quite right, but the guys agreed on the name. We had a hearty breakfast. The owner/cook was pleasant and came out to talk for a while. The dining room had 4 tables with people…. 3 tables, if you include ours, were from MI (Kalamazoo and Mount Pleasant). Lewiston proved to be a beautiful community…. both Charlie and I agreed that we could live there with no problem.

From Lewiston, we took the scenic Shore Route along lake Ontario to Rochester…. Along the way, the rain started again, so we suited up once more. We stayed with the shore route and entered a stretch of road that was like entering the Twilight Zone…. No cars at all…. It was eerie. As we approached Rochester a few cars passed, but relatively few. At Rochester the weather was nice and the riding easy. We made our way up to Watertown in and out of rain. Just north of Watertown we decided to stop at the next motel. The first stop, in the middle of a downpour with lightning approaching quickly wanted $80 for 2 beds, and looked like a crack house….. we moved on.

We entered the Adirondacks and stopped at Cranberry lake were there were supposed to be motels… there were 2. The one had doors that were practically hanging by their hinges, the other didn’t appear much better…. We moved on.

This time the destination was Tupper. The road and scenery was spectacular… the only thing to enhance it would have been dry weather and a little more time before night fall. The first motel we came to were cabins owned be a little German lady…. Clean… fairly inexpensive… perfect. The restaurant across the street was homy with good food.

That brings me to this point…. Sitting up in bed writing this… it won’t be blogged tonight because there is no internet here.

South Haven to Bar Harbor... Day 1

This morning, August 10, 2008 dawned clear as a bell in South haven. Two of our intrepid heroes (that would be Charlie and me) met at 8:00 with great anticipation for our ride north to meet the third of our band of crusaders at a Speedway near Grand Rapids (that would be Bill Binning).

The weather was spectacular... at least until about Schwartz Creek when the first rain began. Stopping under an overpass, we donned our rain gear and forged ahead in anticipation of decimating the Maine lobster population and sorely taxing the supply of drawn butter in that state.

The afore mentioned overpass was but the first in a series of the underside of bridges with which we came to know intimately. Not all of the rain was torrential of course (I add this because Charlie said I needed to find the bright side of the situation.

Each time we took a piece of rain gear off, the rain gods became offended and struck out in the only way they knew how, until finally, in an act of shear desperation, they pelted us with hail and threw in a few funnel clouds for good measure. A local woman sharing our bridge with us (she was driving a car by the way), assured us that this was very unusual weather.

We finally called it quits in Jordan, Ontario, about 15 minutes from the bridge at a Best Western. It is from this location that I write these few lines.... by the way, I am in the lobby, because the storms messed up most of the electronics in the place, and there wasn't a strong enough signal to do this in the comfort of our room. There are no pictures, because:
a. I couldn't ride the bike while wiping water from my glasses and take the pictures
b. Bonnie and Lynn weren't there to take the pictures for me
c. I can't download pictures into this "lobby" computer

That's all for now.... hope to get some pictures out soon, and I also hope to have enough time to fill in a few more details about today.... did I mention the first motel we tried to stay with strongly resembled a little place were the owner's mom passed away.... I think it was called the Bat Hotel... no, Ah! the Bates Motel.

More tomorrow if I can.

ps... the pictures on this post were added August 19