Addendum - The Start

I finally managed to download some pictures off my camera tonight.  Here are some of us starting the ride last Friday. Can't believe how far we have come!

Day Eight - A confluence of Lakes

Today's blog is coming to you a little bit late - that's because we have just enjoyed the most terrific meal here in Sault St. Marie at Arturos.  Thanks for the complimentary strawberry grappa at the end Arturo- it really was the icing on a super cake (meal)!

Let's skip the start of the day, it was a continuation of the last few days that saw us starting in fog and rain gear again. 

By around mid-day we were down to Wawa where LZB just had to photograph the big goose again.  He last saw that over 40 years ago. -- but it is the same goose.

We met a lovely Italian couple there that had rented a Harley in Cleveland. They were traveling in the opposite direction to us and seemed a bit concerned about the weather and had decided to stay in Wawa that night.  We were more worried about how they would cope with the food in the days ahead, it won't even come close to what they are used to.

From Wawa the rain died out and the scenery really picked up.  The Lake Superior provincial park was beautiful and after that the ride along the lake was lovely.  We decided to get rid of the rain gear and ride uncluttered.

This is a bit of the shore line. Did you know that 10% of all the fresh water IN THE WORLD is in this one lake. 11.4 quadrillion liters!  And by the way Scott, the fastest verified time to loop the 2,092 km of the lake on a motorcycle is 21 hours - something for you to try and beat!

And, if you're curious, we talk all day long about this and that, this is how

Mercifully, after the deer and despite reports of moose everywhere, this is the closest we came

We are very happy to be in 'The Soo'.  After days in the wilderness it really is a great place to call home for the night.  Tomorrow we're off to Manitoulin Island.

Day Seven - The Great Lakes

Well, if they are so great how come we can't see them?  Answer me that!

Part of each morning now is 'GreenGlob TV'. For those that don't know, or live in drier places, this is the Doppler weather map on the iPad.  We live our lives by this up here in Northern Ontario, poking our noses out when it says it is safe and getting off the road when new yellow or orange blobs are about to hit.

We had rain gear on from the start today but actually it hasn't been too bad, some heavy squalls but mostly light rain or just mist.  However, up here mist looks exactly like fog, so while we're riding in apparently wondrous scenery, none of that is visible. Here is a view of Lake Superior.

Right now we are in our motel in Terrace Bay on the shores of the lake.  This motel, unlike last night's, has a shopping plaza and pub right behind it and we have already put this to good use!

Today we crossed the Atlantic watershed.  Interesting hey?

Now, all you Ontarian's following our blog, cover your ears!  What is wrong with people here? Firstly do you all have to live in just one town? Why not try spreading it out a bit?  We thought the prairies were supposed to be empty but north of Superior -it's a little sparsely populated out here! (British understatement at work).  And we know that towns are 100's of km apart, but do you have to drive so frigging fast from one place to another - wow! And while we're at it, sure it's a good idea to put signs for your coffee shop or motel 40 km down the road, but why not put another one just before it so we aren't always flying by before we see what we're looking for.  And stop smoking!  Particularly if you want to talk about our bike!  Ok that's it, rant over for the day.  Oh, maybe just warm up a bit too while you're at it, this is the coldest we've been since we left BC.

Anyway, we're warming up now, sipping Jack Daniels on the rocks, and cackling hysterically!  Must be a good day.

Day Six - Close encounter......

...of the deer kind!  More later.

Today we left Winnipeg around 10am and traveled to English River, ON.  The late start was because even I - LZB - could not stand the look of the bike anymore!  I had to get to a wand wash and believe me, rush hour traffic in Winnipeg is something you really want to avoid - it's pathetic!

But we started in sunshine and had a dry day today which was a really welcome treat.  Very soon after leaving we passed a big milestone - the longitudinal centre of Canada- in other words we passed from West to East.

Next was a lovely ride off the prairie and into the northwest land of lakes with a coffee stop in Kenora around mid-day.

We thought we would go on to Dryden but on reaching it, and seeing the truly massive pulp mill that dominates the town we pushed on further to a really quaint roadside motel in English River, population us plus the hotel owners. The only downside - no restaurants, bars, beer store, nothing!  But they do have an honor system pantry and so we cooked a pizza for dinner.

Here are some photos to give you an idea of our very quiet home for tonight.

But the big news of today is that the deer once again attacked!  We were traveling in a convey of cars and I had only just said to The that I didn't like the time of day because of deer when a real big one came straight across the road right in front of us.  Neither of us saw it until it was already running across the road and I only had time to brake enough that we missed its rear hooves by inches as it shot across our bow!  We were both very quiet for a while!

The other revelation today is just how wide Ontario is.  I think I had mentally already projected us to Toronto but its going to be 3 or 4 days with some stops to see people before we will be there.

Tomorrow will be another rainy day here in the North.  Oh well, we're all dried out and ready for it.

There may be no post ....

.... not sure of Internet access at our next stop. English River, Ontario

Day Five - Winnipeg, Manitoba

Imagine if you will fields of golden wheat, ripening under a warm blue prairie sky.  The view stretching to the horizon. Canadian Pacific rail cars laden with beef, ore, grain - the abundance of Canada's agricultural and mineral heartland traveling east to the Great Lakes and on to the world.

Well, we imagined that too, but it was not to be. Instead we endured driving rain, almost no visibility, brutal crosswinds, hail and just about everything except a tornado or snow!  Today we traveled from Regina to Winnipeg and every km was hard won!

By the way, a big shout out to the Red Barn in Moosomin, great shelter from the elements and a pretty mean tortellini soup and coffee.  We laughed like crazy people when they asked how our day was going so far, and the diners kept their distance from two obviously deranged travelers.  We, however, probably never laughed so hard.  Did we want coffee to go - on a motorbike?  You must be kidding (and they were)!

Tonight we are in Winnipeg and the feeling is...... Brown!  It's a little drab here, but we have just had a terrific steak and rib dinner and we are absolutely soused! 

Here's a typical little house on the prairie

Winnipeg is a great old Canadian city.  Here's the Golden Boy that sits atop the Manitoba legislature.

Tomorrow we soon cross into Ontario and it will take us some time to work our way down to Toronto. We plan to slow the last few days pace down quite a bit.

Tired, drunk,  and happy - that's it for today! 

Moosomin, SK

YUK!  Not the town, the weather!!!

Day Four - Saskatchewan!

The DD's are really picking up steam now. Remember we were in Lethbridge yesterday, crowing about the fantastic day's ride we had?  Well, tonight we are in Regina, around 1900km into our trip and you may have noticed there are no pictures of today yet?  That's because we rode across a prairie downpour on leaving Medicine Hat nearly all the way to Swift Current (love these names)!  No stopping for sightseeing.

This is me, ready for rain, going to gas up for the start.

We knew it was going to be a bad start, but when it hadn't rained by Medicine Hat we started to wonder if the magic would hold for one more day?  NOPE!  I'm very proud of The, she handled her first serious rain storm like a pro and we both actually stayed very dry inside our gear.  Goldwings rule in this kind of weather.

By Swift Current where we had lunch it stopped and despite a few threats we stayed dry all the rest of the way to Regina.  By the way Fukawi, we now plug our helmets in to recharge at each lunch stop and are easily getting through 8 hours on the road without losing intercom.

We are staying in a new area of Regina tonight - I think it's called Eastgate- and it has absolutely nothing to commend it. Blah as hell!  This is the view from our hotel window:

Farm equipment is really big out here. 

Seriously though, the prairies are mighty impressive (when you can actually see them) I had forgotten the vast scale of things. And by the way, vast scale includes the portions in the restaurants AND the people eating there!

Here is the bright moment for today - our shoes - we are having a blast

AND...... we get to do this all over again tomorrow!

Day 3 Goodbye BC - Hello Alberta!

Nelson to Lethbridge and we're now 1,222 km into our trip. That's 15% of the trip (outbound anyway) done!

Hate to start out with a cliche but OMG!, what a day for a ride through Kootenay country and out through the Rockies to the grasslands. 

Had a really great breakfast at the Dragonfly Cafe in Salmo which was interrupted by the arrival of the world's strangest Rolls Royce - and it wasn't any too quiet either!

We went on via Creston and Cranbrook to Fernie for lunch at the Bridge Bistro which the Fukawi will know well.

Finally out through the Crowsnest Pass into the foothills and we decided on Lethbridge rather than Calgary. Really glad we did, the city seems to have improved a lot in the 25 years since I was last here!  And it is 26 degrees here which isn't hurting either.

Very apprehensive about tomorrow's weather but hey, we've been lucky each day so far so maybe our luck will hold!

Day Two - Osoyoos to Nelson

We woke up to blue skies and some very strangely dressed people!  Who knew it was the 1/2 corked marathon today in Oliver.  Seriously, this looks like a very fun event! A run that stops at wineries?

Today's route brought our second attempt at the Rock Creek Trading Post (we tried to go here in the fall of last year but it was shut). As you will have seen from the previous post we were successful this time and the coffee and sausage rolls were great!

The route took us into new territory for The as we went through Grand Forks, Christina Lake and Castlegar on our way to today's stop in Nelson.  Very little traffic even though it is Saturday. 

Nelson is great, so many heritage buildings and restaurants. And of course we went down to the lake for some refreshment.

We stayed dry all day but the rain cover is on the bike now as it is raining on and off here tonight.

Tomorrow we are either going to head for Calgary or Lethbridge, whichever route looks to be driest!

This is for....

..... The Fukawi (www.fukawi.com).  We're in Nelson already BUT look where we stopped for the ( world's best) sausage rolls!  Just as good as ever.  Yum!

Day One - Osoyoos

We really couldn't miss the good weather in Vancouver this morning so 9am saw us dipping our toes in the Pacific at Ambleside. Unfortunately the picture of us doing this is on the camera and I don't know yet how to get it to my iPad!

We rode to Osoyoos today with stops in Hope for coffee and gas and then Princeton for lunch.  Once we escaped the western Fraser Valley the traffic was really light and the ride was a pleasure.  We saw a bear by the road in Manning Park as well as deer by Princeton.

The Best Western here had room for us tonight and we have a booking for Nelson tomorrow night.

It's really windy and quite cool here in Osoyoos tonight, a bit unusual for this time of year.  We went for some exercise on arriving which involved walking to a wine bar for salmon and potato sausage washed down with some Pinot Gris!  That's what we call working out. 

All day long we dodged the rain and had sunshine most of the time - tomorrow doesn't look quite a s promising.

More wine is chilling now and it looks like an Italian meal is in order for tonight.

This is good!

And we're

Off!

May 23rd.... Shakedown Ride!

Of all things, it's a great day - might have been perfect for our departure but  hey, the forecasters say leave tomorrow so let's see what happens then.

Instead we decided to take advantage of a shakedown cruise, fully laden and full mountain riding gear up Highway 99 to Galileo for a coffee.  All was really good but this has us considering a few clothing changes for cold spots on necks and legs.  Lucky the packing went so well we have plenty of room for a few additional things.

This is a picture of The with her entire kit for a month on the road.  Unbelievable!  We'll just have to hit the hotel laundry once a week - either that or stay well away from other people!

 

So, as things stand we plan to dip our toes in the Pacific at Ambleside tomorrow and then be off.  Stay tuned though!

May 22nd. - watching the weather....

... so our first activity for the day now is to check the weather forecasts!  For Vancouver, but more importantly for the next two towns down the road.  In this case, Oliver and Nelson BC.  It's a lot better here today, and looking ok for the rest of the week but the interior of BC is currently being hammered by a low pressure centre over Washington State.  Right now it looks like Friday could work for a departure but it changes by the hour.

This means my focus is checking and packing and today the target was getting all the tools and other road necessities (cargo nets, straps, supplies, etc.) organized and then taking the bike out for a test ride to check for rattles or problems.  All is good, although the turning circle isn't as tight with the tank bag on - but that's a very low speed problem.  Otherwise all felt very nice and normal.

The is well advanced on her packing and the next step for her is to see if it all fits in the two bags allotted.  So far it's looking very promising!

May 21st

....and it's raining!  We were hoping to set off this week - Thursday if possible - on our cross Canada motorcycle trip, but so far the weather is not cooperating.  We know we will hit rain soon enough on such a long trip but that doesn't mean we have to start in it.

I (LZB) have been figuring out how to add even more luggage capacity to the Goldwing so we both can take enough clothes to last for a while plus a few tools in case something should go wrong.  I fitted my V-Strom tank bag to it today and that gives us quite a bit of extra capacity.

We're both very excited now to be going and just hope the clouds will clear enough to get started.