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




     When I awoke there were several big questions. Would the local shop be able to fix my clutch? How many days would I have to sit in Thunder Bay? Would I be on my way to Minneapolis because the local shop couldn't help me? My trip hung in the balance. The local shop, Excalibur Motorcycle Works, opened at 9:00 am, and I was at the shop by 8:45. they got my bike right in, bled the hydraulic clutch system replacing the old, DIRTY fluid with new fluid. The clutch came back to life! By 9:30, for a cost of $60 Canadian, I was out the door with a bike ready to go. Back to the motel, pack up, load the bike, on the road by 10:00am!

     The weather was REALLY different from the previous day. Blue skies, puffy white clouds, but temperatures in the mid 50s. I rode out of Thunder Bay on ON17, by now a trusted old friend. My goal was to get to Kenora ON, around 300 miles west. With a clutch working perfectly I could enjoy the beautiful, rustic scenery of pine tree forest with dark blue lakes scattered along the way. The bike was running great, the road was occasionally curvy,  the sky a beautiful light blue. A great day to ride.
     There was no drama once I left Thunder Bay. The speed limit was 90kph and I cruised along at about 100kph, or 60mph. I had lunch at a gas stop in Upsala Ontario. I had their toasted club sandwich and my first order of french fries with gravy. The club was cut in half, not quartered. My choice for bread was the "brown" bread, which was great. Lots of turkey, altogether a great lunch.

     Late in the afternoon I stopped at a "rest area" along the road which was located on a lake shore. Beautiful setting. Half an hour later a guy on a Victory motorcycle pulled in and we spoke for about 45 minutes. He was on his way to the Toronto area to assist an uncle who was ill. He had tried to stop for the night in Kenora, but found that all the motels were booked. This boded ill for me. When I arrived in Kenora I found a sizable town located on a lake, with no rooms at the inn (Holiday Inn!). I sat in their lobby and started going down the motels listed on the Internet. When I got to the fifth one, Gayles Motel, I found a room available. I reserved it on the spot and hustled to it. It is not the type of place my wife would stay in, but it was clean and warm.

     I went for dinner at the CO-OP gas and convenience store and restaurant. Not gourmet fare but better than nothing. I returned to my room and got into a 2 hour conversation with the people in next room. Sandy would drift in and out of their room, and the conversation. Art and I spoke about Newfoundland, Alberta, steel working, different jobs he had been on and history. Of course, since I was an American, our President came up a few times. Around 10pm we called it a night and I retreated to my room to settled in for bed. I turned the TV on for a bit only to find that the Eagles, reigning Superbowl Champions, had been disinvited to the White House....and the hits keep on coming.