"...it's about the journey, not the destination..."

     Now for the trip of a...
     June 1st dawned foggy and damp in Newark Delaware. Got up at 5am...on the bike by 6:30. I use Apple maps...its what I'm used to and it works good enough for me. The route it chose for the run to Barrie Ontario was great. 504 miles, some interstate highways, but some roads that are not. I call these roads "black lining." Often on they map they are former major roads, now bypassed by the interstate. You can make good time on them, running at 60 or 65 mph, but they go into small towns along the way, and this makes the ride interesting.

     From my house up 896 to Lancaster PA, then on 30 to 283 to Harrisburg PA. Then on interstate around Harrisburg (283, 81...) to US 11, then US 15...nice route. I rode out of the fog above Harrisburg, then it turned steamy and hot. Soon I was riding in a polo shirt with all of my other riding gear packed. From Harrisburg the ride was mostly on back roads, really great. I crossed into Canada at Buffalo at around 2:30pm, and then on to Toronto. Barrie is north of Toronto and, because of the geography, you have to pass very close to Toronto. LOADS of traffic for the next 4 hours, most of it "stop and go." It sucked! I have found that if you allow a lot of room in front of you in this situation you can often keep moving, seldom stopping. Yes there are people who, even though you can see brake lights to the horizon, will pull in front of you trying to get there faster. Of course this doesn't work. Sitting in this traffic for an hour at a time is a real test of patience, but I managed to keep the engine heat out of the red through an hour or so of this traffic at a time. MUCH better for the bike.

     When I finally moved north on ON400 north of Toronto the road moved out into the country side, and instead of moving at 5 to 15mph I could ride at 50 or 60mph. What a relief....until I got near Barrie Ontario where traffic picked up DRAMATICALLY... Barrie is really a hopping place! Once off ON400 traffic was very heavy getting to the motel. Pulled in around 7pm...the weather had gone from hot and steamy to rain, to sunny blue skies, to cooler temperatures, to VERY chilly for the last 20 miles or so. I was tempted to stop and put on my jacket, but there are only 18 miles to go...14 miles to go...8 miles to go...you get the picture. It is 2am now and the temp outside is 53 degrees...probably in the mid 50s when I leave Saturday...VERY different from the weather at my daughter's house outside of Orlando Florida, where I was a week ago, and where it is currently 75 very humid degrees ( the high temperature here is 73 tomorrow! ) with a high temperature of 90 for tomorrow...what a difference a week makes...