We're Home

Today's forecast called for a high of 29C. With the heat and the usual southbound cottage traffic against us, we decided to leave as early as possible. We woke up shortly after 6am and departed the Stevenson Lodge at 7:20. The early morning was still a little cool and there was even a coat of fog over the river and the surrounding area.

Morning fog in Combermere.

We followed Jim & Sandy for the first 2km of the ride but then we split up at Highway 62 and we'd have to ride the next 405km on our own. The fog lifted as soon as we left Combermere and the sky was clear for the duration of the ride.

We made a quick stop in Bancroft for gas and then continued home. We made another quick stop along Monck Road but otherwise we didn't stop until we reached the Midhurst Coffee Shop at 10:40am for our traditional Victoria Day lunch.

At the Midhurst Coffee Shop.

Similarly, after lunch, we fueled up in Angus, made another quick stop in Grand Valley and reached home at 2pm, just under 7 hours after leaving Combermere. The focus will now turn to getting back into everyday life rhythm.

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Final Day of Our Vacation

Heather and I slept in again this morning. We got out of bed at 8:20am but not more than 30 minutes later we were out riding. The goal today was to ride some new roads and have enough gas for Monday's ride home to last us until at least Bancroft.

We rode on Highway 62 to Barry's Bay then turned onto Highway 60 and rode east. As we rode past Wilno we noticed that the local tavern was still closed on a rather cloudy Sunday morning. Our first stop was in Golden Lake to stretch out for a couple of minutes.

From Golden Lake we continued on Highway 60 to Highway 41 which we took all the way to Pembroke. There we stopped at Tim Hortons for a few minutes. Heather had a french vanilla and a honey cruller while I held off in anticipation of lunch at Mapleton House. We were to be there at 12:30pm for lunch with Jim and Sandy.

We left Pembroke and took Highway 17 towards Cobden. Whether it's a week-long trip or a one day ride around town, I tend to avoid taking the same road twice because I prefer not to enjoy the same scenery along the way, and today was no different. We stopped in Cobden for fuel and then set the GPS to guide us to Mapleton House. The GPS took us there through Cobden Road, Highway 60, Highway 41, Foymount Road, Quadeville Road, Palmer Road, Wingle Road, Cedar Grove Road, Schutt Road and finally Highway 28. Before we turned onto Wingle Road we had been followed by a red Toyota for at least 20 minutes. That car appeared again as we were on Schutt Road. I guess he didn't like the shortcut. That's also when we noticed a Gold Wing in our rearview mirrors. Talk about good timing.

At the Mapleton House, again.

We arrived at Mapleton House at exactly 12:30pm. Heather and I tried the Linda sandwich which consisted of an egg, bacon, cheese and mayo. Very tasty. We got back to our cabin via Highway 28, Boulter Road and Highway 517. We had just enough time to gather ourselves and head to the lodge for 3pm. At the lodge, we picked up a bottle of wine for finishing first in the brainteaser challenge. Some of us also indulged in cake and ice cream. The cake was part of a baby shower for Jenni and Oliver who have been coming to the rally for many years.

The evening featured the traditional fireworks display.

Tonight's fireworks lineup.

For the first time I was part of the crew and my responsibility was lighting the fireworks.

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A Quiet Day in Combermere

Today was going to be a lazy day. Heather and I were in no rush to get up and we even decided to skip the Saturday morning ride which departed the lodge at 11:30am. Heather and I had ridden during each of the previous nine days but as a wise man once said, all things are best enjoyed in moderation.

We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon milling around our cabin and the main lodge. Once the group ride returned, Jim borrowed a car and we went to Barry's Bay to pick up fireworks for Sunday. As we rolled into town around 3pm, the crowd attending the annual Bay Day was already dispensing although the main street remained closed.

Back at the cabin, we had light supper and rested until about 9pm when we went to the roundhouse which was empty at this relatively early hour. We then went looking for people and as we were spending time in one of the other cabins the rain came down for about 5 minutes. At 10:30pm we went back to the roundhouse which was now full of people.

A quiet day around cabin 23.

Fry Guys Rally

We left Gananoque this morning before 10am. However, before we left town we split up in two groups as we each had to get gas and, more important, cash for the weekend. After we finally regrouped we took Highway 32 from Gananoque heading north. Only a minute or so outside of town we had to slow down for a puppy that was wondering the road. Hopefully, the cars behind us were as careful and also managed to avoid the dog.

At one of our stops.

From Highway 32 it was onto Highway 15. We stopped for a few minutes in Crosby, at the intersection of 15 and 42. We resumed the ride by taking Highway 42 to County Road 36, then to Highway 509. At the end of 509 we stopped to look for a restaurant. The plan was to take County Road 30 to Highway 41 and to stop where 41 meets 28. However, Jim kept going and we followed him on 28 to a place called Mapleton House which is located 25 minutes south of Combermere.

Mapleton House.

That proved to be an excellent choice as the place looked great and the food wasn't bad either. Heather even had a maple milkshake from the menu. They even had a souvenir shop which was selling, among many other things, locally made maple syrup.

In the parking lot of the Mapleton House.

After lunch, it was off to the Stevenson Lodge in Combermere for the 22nd annual Fry Guys Rally. The Robinson family had been attending the rally since its inception while it was only the 4th one for me. And even the weather forecast was looking great. We arrived at the lodge around 2pm. We spent some time around the lodge and settled in to our cabin.

In front of cabin 23.

Then we went to Barry's Bay to get groceries. Since we didn't have a car, we only got what we thought would be enough for the next three days. Later in the evening, as more people arrived, we went back to the lodge for the annual Friday chili and hot dogs. Heather and I are looking forward to relaxing for a couple of days after spending the past eight nights in eight different places.

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Back In Canada

Today's leg of our vacation will finally take us back in to Canada. And once again it will be a short ride. With a lot of time to spare in the morning, I made a trip to a local bank with the goal of exchanging our loose change into paper bills. When I came back we all went for breakfast. We checked only a couple of minutes before mandatory check-out time of 11am. We rode across the street to get gas at a Tops station and we were cruising towards Canada. As has been the case all week, we were taking the back roads since we had less than 300km to cover.

We made a couple of stops along the way including the final fuel stop in Oswego, NY. Even though it was sunny and cloudless, riding along Lake Ontario was a little cool. Our final stop in the US was minutes from the order for the purpose of getting our paperwork in order. A couple of hundred feet from where we stopped, we passed a motorist who was in the middle of the road trying to poke a snapping turtle back onto the shoulder. Of course, the turtle was having none of that and was visibly angry.

A sign in Henderson, NY.

The border crossing at the end of I-81 was very easy with only a couple of questions thrown our way. Then we took the scenic 1000 Islands Parkway to Gananoque where we stayed at a Best Western which had a salt-water pool and hot tub. Both of which worked! Heather, Sandy and I used those amenities after we all had supper at the hotel restaurant. We were one of the last people to leave the restaurant around 7 as they were closing to prepare for a tour bus from Quebec. While at the pool we met a couple from Toronto who were here on their Harley.

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Travel Day

Since we've spent the past couple of days being tourists, today's goal was to cover a lot of ground. We started past 8 which was earlier than earlier in the week. Minutes after leaving, we rode past a couple of deer hopping into the trees, presumably from the middle of the road. Today's trip was going to cover 5 states and at 11am we were already working on our 4th, Pennsylvania, after flying through Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland.

Around Sunbury the sun started peeking out and it was about that time we stopped for lunch at Denny's. The rest of the day didn't provide much more excitement. Our last stop in the course of the ride was in Sayre, PA, south of the New York border, to visit the local Wal-Mart. Shortly before stopping we were sprinkled on with rain for a couple of minutes but that would be all we got.

We stayed for the night in a Ramada in Ithaca, NY. The hotel actually had a working pool which we'd use after supper (at a nearby Applebee's).

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Luray Caverns

This morning we completed touring the attractions in Natural Bridge, VA. Those included the toy museum, the wax museum and the wax museum factory. We toured for just over an hour and then left town around 11:30am.

Scene from the wax museum.

Once again, the sun was nowhere to be seen but luckily we stayed dry, albeit a little too cool, throughout the ride. With a couple of stops along the way, we traveled to Luray, VA to tour the Luray Caverns. The caverns are an underground collection of amazing rock formations formed over the past several million years. Each tour participant was equipped with a headset that provided details of what we saw.

The Dream Lake at the Luray Caverns.

Before finding a hotel, Jim and I visited the adjacent Car and Carriage Caravan Museum. Once we finished that tour we settled on a local Days Inn, which of course, did not have a working pool although the outdoor one would have been opened on our request.

Days Inn in Luray, VA.

Our original plan was to stay in Winchester but the weather wasn't getting better and it was already late into the evening.

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Bristol Motor Speedway and Natural Bridge

It was back to the sports bar this morning for breakfast before leaving shortly after 8. Our first stop of the day was only minutes away at the Bristol Motor Speedway.

Bristol Motor Speedway.

We arrived in Bristol well before the day's first scheduled tour at 9am. And since it was Monday, four of us were the only participants. We bought tickets at the gift shop and loaded up into a van with our tour guide, Sandy. The tour included a drive through the Thunder Valley drag strip, a visit to owner Bruton Smith's suite and a walk onto the stands. Normally we would have also been able to visit the infield but it was currently undergoing major overhaul and was nothing more than dirt.

Bristol Motor Speedway with the infield under construction.

At the conclusion of the tour it was back to the gift shop for a couple of souvenirs. Then we continued east towards the second stop of the day. The plan was to see the Natural Bridge in Virginia. As we were moving east, the temperature kept going lower with light rain/mist eventually starting to fall.

Heather and Sandy with tour guide Sandy in front of the tour van.

We stopped shortly past Marion, VA for lunch and for Heather and I to put our rain suits on. Shortly after getting back on the road, rain intensified to the point where we had to stop again so that everybody could rain suit-up. The rain stopped for a short while but it started again as we were back on the road. That's just the way of the road. As we passed one of the overpasses on I-81 we saw a couple of motorcycles hiding from the rain. Those same motorcyclists were the ones we encountered at our previous stop. Now, for the second time on this trip, Heather and I finished our day very wet.

At the entrance to the Natural Bridge.

When we arrived in Natural Bridge, VA (also the name of the town), we checked in to the Natural Bridge Hotel and after a few minutes went to the Visitors Center to purchase tickets to the local attractions. We were really looking forward to seeing the natural bridge at night when a light show usually takes place. It happens usually because on this night an equipment malfunction would not allow it to happen. That, the inability to find a hotel with a working pool and numerous days of riding in the rain have not made it the best of times. Also, since it was after 5, the toy museum was also closed and we were only able to see the main attraction.

Natural Bridge, VA.

After viewing the bridge we had supper at the Red Fox Tavern which is located in the hotel and spent the rest of the evening watching TV and tomorrow's weather forecast.

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Starting to Make the Long Road Home

Having been in Maggie Valley for a few hours, it was time to leave this morning. Today's breakfast was at the local diner, Country Vittle. Majority of SEVROC attendees had already left for home when we decided to leave. We found a gas station and then left town at around 10am.

Leaving the Applecover Inn.

Jim took us through some North Carolina back roads which are nothing like what we have at home. They proved to be quite challenging for novices like Heather and me but nothing we couldn't handle. We kept the ride short since we have 5 more days to get to Combermere plus the weather was beginning to turn for the worse. Fortunately, we stayed dry, aside from a couple of sprinkles, for a third consecutive day.

At the intersection of NC-208 and NC-209.

We arrived in Johnson City at the Hampton Inn at 1pm. We chose that hotel because Heather wanted a hotel with a pool. But, as luck would have it, the hotel's pool was out of commission for a few days. The receptionist directed us to Doubletree and when we got there we got another surprise. Their pool was out of commission, too! What are the odds?! However, the receptionist at the Doubletree was kind enough to offer us their welcome cookies. As we walked outside, we changed our minds again and agreed to stay at the Doubletree despite the setback.

After checking-in, we waited for the rain to come. It took a couple of hours but it came at a rapid pace. At 5:30 we left for supper to a sportsbar located in the lobby of the hotel. When we got back to the room, we made plans for tomorrow and then everybody turned to watching Survivor while I caught up on photos and blogging.

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Arriving in Maggie Valley, NC

Today didn't start as early as yesterday but it was going to be a much shorter ride than yesterday so we were not in any hurry. We had complimentary breakfast at the hotel. What followed was the daily ritual of strapping the luggage on the motorcycles and we were off by 8:30.

Leaving from Best Western in Richmond, KY.

The morning was warm and even though the skies looked somewhat overcast, we felt optimistic about our chances of staying dry for the second straight day. As we were approaching Tennessee and the altitude was increasing, the wind became a little cooler. When we rode past London, Kentucky, the interstate showed signs of an early morning rain and there were darker clouds on either side of the interstate. Our first stop came in Jellico, Tennessee which was also the first exit in Tennessee off I-75. There, we fueled up the bikes and had a shot of 5-Hour Energy to help us up. I also put gloves on as the colder air left my fingers very stiff. Leaving the gas station we noticed, in front of a church across the street from the gas station, a sign we found rather amusing. It said "Shock your mother. Take her to church this Sunday". Probably a leftover from Mother's Day.

A church in Jellico, TN with cloud-covered mountains in the background.

As we rode past Knoxville, we were relegated to riding state highways the rest of the way to Maggie Valley. We hit a snag in a town of Sevierville, Tennessee which looks like a great tourist destination with numerous attractions across the whole city. Unfortunately, it meant increased traffic. Similar thing happened in Gatlinburg, which is on the cusp of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, although it didn't take as long.

At the Gatlinburg Visitors Center.

The ride through the park was great with many twists and tall trees on both sides of the road. Before arriving in Maggie Valley, our plan was to meet Heather's parents in nearby Cherokee at the Dairy Queen or the Visitors Center. The GPS took us to a DQ in the heart of the town where Heather used the facilities. Jim and Sandy were not there so we assumed, correctly, that they'd be waiting at the Visitors Center. We arrived there at 2pm, nearly an hour after our original meeting time. The contributing factors to that was the heavy traffic through tourist towns and the slower than normal ride through the park during which we pulled over a few times to let faster traffic through. We also learned that there is a second DQ in Cherokee where we went for some refreshing treats before arriving in Maggie Valley via the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Applecover Inn in Maggie Valley, NC.

After arriving at the Applecover Inn, we spent the evening unwinding, meeting new people who were in town for the SEVROC rally, enjoying a great BBQ and sitting through a raffle. Our raffle winnings included a water bottle and a driving hat while Jim & Sandy also snagged two bottles of wine.

Blondy with her raffle winnings.

Heather and I turned in fairly early given that we were quite exhausted from previous days' riding.

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Back In a Familiar Place

In what has become an odd trend, Heather and I both woke up a minute before 5am. What's odd is that we'd never be up that early on a work day. I guess it's the excitement of an adventure that has us looking forward to making the most of a day. We spent a few more minutes in bed scouting the day's weather forecast which looked quite optimistic.

We left the hotel in Windsor after 7am headed for the border where we were asked more than the normal amount of questions. However, we passed without a hitch. Finding I-75 proved to be a bit challenging but nothing that our GPS couldn't handle. Before leaving we made a decision to have breakfast outside of Detroit. The place where we stopped was a nice little family restaurant in Luna Pier, Michigan. Heather had pecan pancakes with link sausages and I had the ultimate omelet with hash browns. Upon receiving our orders we swapped sausages for hash browns.

Gander's Family Restaurant in Luna Pier.

Continuing our trip we made stops every hour or so for either gas or refreshments. We didn't encounter any slowdowns all the way to a rest stop in Monroe, Ohio. There, Heather took off her heated vest and jacket liner as the day was getting warmer. I chose to keep all my layers on as the ride was going well and I wanted to keep going. I quickly came to regret that decision as 15 minutes later we got stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic in Cincinnati beginning exactly 4.5 miles from the Ohio-Kentucky border. Within seconds I was sweating from wearing too much clothing. A biker driving an F-150 came up beside us and yelled something about a car crash holding things back but we didn't see anything so it must have been just volume of traffic going from Ohio to Kentucky. The pace picked up once in Kentucky but the volume was still so high that Heather and I became separated. A small degree of confusion of panic ensued but cooler heads prevailed and we made it safely to a scheduled stop in Florence.

Ice cream stop in Georgetown, Kentucky.

We assessed the situation and also discussed our options going forward. We started to talk about where to stop for the night. Our goal was to make it to London, Kentucky which is only 40 miles from Tennessee. From Florence our stops became more frequent as fatigue was setting in. We finally agreed to stop in Richmond, Kentucky and decide if we wanted to continue another 40 minutes to London. But then we noticed dark clouds on the horizon and decided that we'd spend the night at the Best Western in Richmond, the same hotel where we were last year at a VROC rally.

Radar map taken 10 minutes after check-in.

We checked in at 6pm, ordered Domino's pizza for supper and spent the rest of the night unwinding after a long day on the road.

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Start of Another Trip

Today marked the beginning of our biggest trip this year. This time we will be spending almost two weeks on the road riding to North Carolina for annual SEVROC gathering, then Combermere for the long weekend, and many places in between. And it always seems like the days leading up to a big trip are too short and hectic. This week was no different as Heather and I were at soccer on Monday and Wednesday. This is the second year of our coaching experiment and this time it's a team of U-15 girls.

We packed last night and tied up some loose in the early morning before leaving to pick up the motorcycles. With luggage in tow, we set off at 7. Unfortunately, we only booked Friday off which means that we had to put in a full day behind a desk before starting our vacation. The morning weather was pretty good for 6C. It wasn't too cold and the wind was virtually non-existent. We made a quick stop at the Waterloo Library and an ATM before arriving at Heather's office just before 8. From there I went back east on the 401 to my office.

As expected, the rain started to fall at 11 in the morning with even a small patch of torrential downpour in the afternoon. The rain subsided well before 4:30, when I left work. The skies remained overcast though, and I encountered a couple of sprinkles during my 15-minute ride to Heather's office. We made a decision to rain-suit up for our ride to Windsor where we decided to stay tonight.

Our trip officially began at 5:25. There were a couple of sprinkles of rain here and there but nothing major until we passed Iona Road. From that point, we were underneath a dark cloud that unleashed very heavy rain. It brought back memories of last year's ride to Richmond, Kentucky. And just like last year, the visibility was drastically reduced and we were riding a little below the speed limit of 100 km/h with our emergency lights on. All of a sudden, trucks that we passed several minutes ago were now passing us. The heavy rain lasted for good 15-20 minutes after which we were drenched. I thought of stopping somewhere along the side of the highway but Heather was determined to get through it while riding. We actually considered stopping for the night in Chatham but since it stopped raining we only made a quick stop there for gas. Unfortunately to get to Chatham we had to go through a 2-km stretch of Highway 40 that was dirt and gravel, or more specifically mud and gravel. It will take a lot of work to get the motorcycles cleaned from this mess. Our stop in Chatham was nearly 200km after departing Ayr.

Fresh from riding in rain and mud.

We got back on the 401 and made it straight to Windsor in under an hour. But along the way we went under another cloud that was starting to resemble a tornado. As we were directly under, the wind was so strong that it took all we could muster to keep the motorcycles upright. It only lasted 15 seconds but I could feel my helmet getting ripped off my head. As we cleared that cloud, I told the GPS to take us to the Best Western in Windsor. As we rode by, the hotel was now a ghost town. We kept going and found a Comfort Inn. Our room was, conveniently, the first one from the lobby on the first level. We had supper in the adjacent Golden Griddle, where we learned that this hotel will also be shutting its door in a couple of months. We settled back in our room at 10pm trying to relax before tomorrow's second leg of our trip.

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