"...its about the journey, not the destination..."

      To quote a line from a documentary about Vietnam, called Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam, "....I had a hell of a day." When I awoke in White River Ontario it was overcast, threatening rain, and in the low 50s. I got on the road around 8:30am, rode west on ON17 about 30 miles and found the rain, sometimes moderate, sometimes light. About 20 minutes later I approached a construction site where they were repairing a bridge, had one lane open so they had a stop light. A tractor trailer was sitting waiting for it to turn green. As I rode up he waved me up to go in front of him. Very considerate. I pulled in the clutch handle, as I usually did, but it was very soft and did not disengage the clutch from the flywheel. My clutch master cylinder had just gone south, or at least I thought that was the problem. There I was in no where Ontario, traveling by myself, around 450 miles to go, and my clutch lever didn't work! Oh, and by this time the rain was falling moderately, and I was discovering that NONE of my rain wear really kept the rain out. Altogether a very disturbing situation!

     The bike was running fine. The road was two lane, but little traffic and just a small town to pass through now and then. I found if I "half pumped" the clutch lever 3 or 4 times I could shift. I rode on, thought about my options. I decided to ride the entire tank, then get gas and take stock of the situation. Where was the nearest BMW dealer ( 😅 )? How heavy would the rain get? Wind? Thunder storms and hail? Was the road going to open up suddenly in front of me with lava erupting from the fissure? Just kidding. The next 100 miles or so were wet, cold, and mentally difficult. The positive aspect of this is that there were few stop lights ( 2? ), and several small towns where I had to slow down to 60kph, which I could do by pumping the clutch lever and down shifting.

     When I needed to get gas ( my mileage is down DRAMATICALLY in Canada! I start looking for gas stations a 150 miles, rather that 200 miles! ) the Esso station that I stopped at had a Robbins donut store in it ( and a KFC and a Wendy's ). By this time I was pretty cold, pretty wet, and ready to take a break. I got the largest cup of hot chocolate they had ( no donuts! ) and looked at my options. I was 70 miles of so from Thunder Bay Ontario, which was a large town with several motorcycle shops. The nearest Canadian BMW shop was in Toronto (700 or miles BACK  the way I had come), the next shop was in Edmonton Alberta 1500 or so miles to the west. As I looked at the map  I realized there was a third option. Back into the US to Minneapolis Minnesota, around 342 miles to the south. I decided to stay in a motel there, where I stopped for gas, and then on to Thunder Bay tomorrow to see if a shop there could fix the bike. If it couldn't get it fixed there I would ride back into the states, with the failing clutch, to Minneapolis to the dealer there. Sounded like a plan

     By this time I had been in the Robbins donut shop for a couple of hours, dripping on the floor. However, although I was still wet I had warmed up considerably. When the motel that the counter woman had recommended showed no vacancy I decided to just ride the 72 miles to Thunder Bay, get a motel, dry out, and be there when the bike shop opened in the morning. After a chilly, but mostly dry ride, I arrived in Thunder Bay, found a Comfort Inn and settled in. After dinner, and watching Mr. Baseball with Tom Selleck I went to sleep....only to be woken up with an idea. There is a Canadian Tire near the motel...I could get some brake fluid and tubing...bleed the front brakes....perhaps that would fix the problem. A friend of mine had lost the clutch on his Gold Wing. I brought my trailer to his house, took his bike to the Honda shop. By the time I got back to my house my buddy called me and said the technician had bled the brakes, replaced all of the fluid, and his clutch was working like new. Maybe this will work. Stay tuned!