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

     Usually...today WAS about the destination...I wanted to arrive at the motorcycle shop in Edmonton (Argyle Motosports and Marine) in time to talk with the service manager before they closed. I left Yorkton SK at 6:30am, and arrived at the dealership by 4:30pm.  I had ordered tires for my bike to be mounted here. Danny, the service guy I spoke with was great, and suggested that I leave the bike with them so they could get started promptly in the morning. An hour later he called to tell me they had started on the bike and might have it finished tonight! This is simply too much to hope for. The even provided me with a ride to my hotel. Quality people at a quality dealership!

My only true rest stop of the day. Mannville AB

     The ride today was over 531 miles. Since I wanted to arrive before the dealer closed I pushed it. I stopped for lunch at the second gas stop and did not take a break until late afternoon. This is not a fun way to travel on a motorcycle. Even though I was pushing it I appreciated the beautiful, rich agricultural land I passed through. LOTS  of green, fertile fields, with lakes and ponds scattered about. Canada is truly a land of plenty.

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

     At the BMW dealer by 9:15 (Wildwood Motorsports in Winnipeg). VERY nice guys. My part arrived by 9:45 and they immediately put the bike on the lift to start installing the part. This should take around two hours...

     On my way by 12:00. There is an interesting phenomena that occurs when you go on a long bike trip. By about the third or fourth day when you get the bike the seat feels like on of the most comfortable things you've sat on. The bike feels really comfortable, and you quickly settle in on the road. You have truly gotten into the trip.

This is how flat Manitoba is...and how straight the road is!

     Around 300 miles to Yorkton Saskatchewan. It is interesting how the geography has changed. Manitoba is very flat and has lots of agriculture. Saskatchewan is also very agricultural, but seems slightly less kept. The road is rougher, with many patches that make the ride pretty bumpy. Parking lots are in poor shape, and there is gravel everywhere. You begin to notice how many dirt roads run off of the main road.

Rest area approaching Manitoba border with Saskatchewan

     Even though I got a late start it is still about the journey. In the late afternoon I stop at a rest area to read for a while and enjoy the day. I arrive at the Ramada Inn in Yorkton Saskatchewan around 6pm local time. I had a good dinner at a local pub, and now have settled in to my room to complete this blog, and then watch a movie. There are 531 miles to Edmonton tomorrow so I want to get an early start. With any luck I'll have new tires on the bike by noon the next day and once again be on my way.

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

     SO...got up this morning...only 300 miles to go...bike is running great...clutch is working properly... NOT. As I rode away from the motel to breakfast at the Nite Hawk Cafe in West Hawk Late MB (finally out of Ontario!) I noticed that the clutch felt soft again. As I rode more miles towards breakfast it kept getting softer. At breakfast I took a look at motorcycle dealers in Winnipeg MB. As I browsed the adds on the Internet I noticed that one had a BMW sign in the background. I called the number and found that they were indeed a BMW dealer. Why they didn't show up when I searched for dealers in Canada I don't know. Happily for me they were very accommodating. An hour and a half later I arrived at the dealership. The service manager and head mechanic were very knowledgeable. The head mechanic diagnosed the the problem I was having was due to a bad slave cylinder. There was only 1 in the country, which they ordered for me. It should be in by 9am. With any luck I should be back on the road tomorrow, with the problem permanently repaired! Stay tuned.

"...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.

"...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!

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


"...what a difference a day makes, twenty four little hours..." (Dinah Washington)

     Today was VERY different than yesterday. When I left Barrie Ontario I was wearing all my riding gear except my electric vest. There were times when I considered putting that on too! The temperature at 7:30 this morning was in the low 50s. The sky was overcast contributing to the chill. By the time I was 20 miles north the sky began to clear up and the sun came out. It did little to warm things up, but the temperature ended up in the high 60s in the afternoon.

     One of the fun aspects of traveling like this is finding neat restaurants along the way. Today I was going through Massey Ontario around 12:30pm when I saw this restaurant called the Back Home Bistro. It was exactly the kind of place I like. The food was good, the servers great, and the overall dining experience was wonderful. 

     Today was the second of three 500 miles I planned to start the trip. Sometimes you feel that you are rushing to get someplace, but on a trip of 10,000 miles (or more!) "...you gotta do what you gotta do..." The route today, north on  ON400 to ON69 north to ON17 west was very enjoyable. 400 was like an interstate, but with little traffic. 69 was mostly 2 lane, again with little traffic. 17 was just about entirely 2 lane, VERY scenic as it wound past the north channel of Lake Huron, and then past the eastern edge of Lake Superior. I stopped at an overlook alone the eastern shore of Lake Superior and talked for a bit with two motorcyclists who were out from Toronto for a weekend trip. Nice guys.

     

     I ended the day over 560 miles from Barrie at the town of White River Ontario. Not a fancy motel, but a good, clean room, with a "lounge" and a restaurant on the premises. After dinner I sat outside and read for a while, but around 8pm I was driven inside as the temperature dropped back towards the mid 50s. I think tomorrow will be a test of my rain gear. 

"...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...