Time: 11 hours
Kilometres: 745.5
Diane and I parted ways first thing in the morning. I’m continuing west and she is going south into Michigan, unfortunately with a broken speedometer. For those not versed in such things, the majority of motorcycles aren’t equipped with a gas gauge. We know roughly how many kilometres our bikes can go before we have to fill up. Without a speedometer, Diane will not know how many kilometres she’s ridden so she won’t know when to fill up. I advised her to fill up every two hours to be on the safe side. I’ve crossed my fingers for her.
I think she was bit disappointed that I didn’t want to have breakfast before heading out, but it was already 9:15 and I knew I had a long ride ahead of me.
While I was packing up the bike – which is an adventure in itself – I thought it might be warm enough not to wear all four layers. I’m glad I did, thought. I was only a few kilometres up the road when I glanced down at the thermometer on my bike. It was only 12 C.
Just north of Sault Ste. Marie is some of the most wonderfully spectacular scenery I’ve ever seen. Again, it is the Canadian Shield, so there are pines, cedar and white birch trees on both sides of the road. There were continuous signs warning of the danger of moose wandering on to the roadways. While I’d love to see a moose, I don’t want to meet one on the road. Fortunately, they seem to be on the move at night, which I found surprising.
Lake Superior Provincial Park is eye candy. The area is untouched forest, and the huge rocky hills (that’s what they call them, but they look like rock was randomly punch upwards from the earth’s crust) makes this one of the gems of the Ontario. It’s spectacular. Many of them are hundreds of feet tall. I really don’t know how the trees cling to them. Checking the map, the tallest hill is over 600 metres. I know that is nothing when compared to the Rockies, but in their own right, this is beautiful scenery. I’m so looking forward to riding back through the park on my return trip.
I pulled into Wawa around 12:30 while listening to the Sex Pistols God Save the Queen. I’m not sure if punk is tunes for the road. I stopped at the Wawa Goose, which I found out is slowly rusting and the city is trying to raise money to replace it before it falls down. I finally took my first road pictures – of the goose and the Trans Canada as it leaves Wawa. I had breakfast/lunch at Tim Hortons and then gassed up the bike. I was off the road for about an hour, which did me the world of good, as I really needed the break.
Riding these long twisty roads, without any straightaways, it mentally fatiguing. I was fortunate not to have any dummy drivers trying to run up my tail pipe. I think I’ve left the idiots in the city. People here seem to know the rules of the road and actually obey them, that is except for the speed limit. The Trans Canada has a 90 km limit, but that is generally ignored. I’ve always gone 10 over the limit and I’ve never had a problem in all my years on the road. There was only one OPP car with radar, so hopefully he/she will catch the idiot doing 20 km over the limit. They are the ones that get right on my tail.
The only piece of bad news from Wawa (it means “wild goose” in Ojibwa) is that I blew out one of my ear rings. I will have to find a tattoo/piercing store in the next couple of nights to have it inserted and capped again. I don’t want to hole to even think about growing back in.
My next stop was Marathon, which was about two and a half hours away. Scenery-wise, the hills were gone and I was left with just forest.
On a side note, before I left home I read Lee Park’s book Total Control. He was a professional motorcycle track racer, and his book provides basic lessons on applying track theory to on-road riding. Like many riders, my cornering skills are lacking. This ride has given me the perfect opportunity to improve those skills and follow the nine steps of taking a corner. While I don’t always agree with approaching a winding highway with a race track mentality, many of the techniques give me much more control over the bike. I have skipped a couple of the nine steps as I’m not about to put my knee down when taking a corner. First, my floorboards would hit pavement (ouch) and secondly, if I go over that far, my engine will automatically shut off. Besides that, I’m not a racer.
Another highlight of the day was the first 45 kilomtres west of Marathon. Wow! Talk about winding roads. That was so much fun. It took a lot of concentration just to keep my eyes on the road. The scenery was similar to Lake superior Provincial Park, but with even more twists, lots of ups and downs, more giant rock hills, and so much more interesting. (Here's a pic of my bike in Marathon with Lake Superior in the background.)
Fortunately, traffic was light. At one point I pulled off on to the hard should (there weren’t many of them as most were soft) to take a picture of the road I’d just ridden. While the slop of the hill pushed my bike back (that’s a good thing), the slope of the shoulder towards the forest and ditch was too much for my bike. I couldn’t even put down the kickstand because of the slope. I hope I can find a good stop to pull over to take pictures on my return trip. The scenery was absolutely amazing.
As I pulled into Terrance Bay for gas my iPod was playing George Harrison’s Wah Wah. It would have been relly cool if I’d pulled into Wawa listening to Wah Wah. From Terrance Bay westward, I had the forest on my right and Lake Superior on my left. The rugged coastline was spectacular. It was very windy again today. There were white caps on the lake and the surf was pounding in over the rocks. I was lucky and found a spot to pull over and take a couple of pics of the lake. Strangely, my stop was one of the few places where there was a bit of sand and not outcrops of rocks. Just think Group of Seven and you’ll get the idea.
Just east of Thunder Bay I pulled over at the Terry Fox monument. Now here is the weirdest coincidence: I was listening to The Proclaimer’s 500 Miles. It wasn’t done on purpose. The iPod is on shuffle. Anyway, the monument has changed a lot since I was last here 18 years ago. It is more than just a statue, as it was then. They have created a small, colourful park around it, complete with red and white flowers, a few well-groomed paths and grassy areas, and picnic tables. In the background you can see the Sleeping Giant. I think it is the Manitou, but I will have to find out if I’m right.
The drive into T’Bay was not pleasant. Construction slowed down traffic, as did a single-car crash. I didn’t pull into the hotel until 8:30. I was tired, hungry and in desperate need of a beer. By the time I got everything sorted out with front desk, unpacked the bike, tended to its immediate needs, unpacked and changed, the hotel restaurant closed. I’m glad I had my emergency rations with me (chocolate and red wine).
So here it is, just after 11:30 and I’ve had enough for the day. I spend 11 hours on the road and ridden over 700 kilomtres. The two longest days of the trip are now behind me. I can now look forward to a nice leisurely six-hour ride tomorrow that I hope will end with a dip in the hotel swimming pool and a nice cold beer.
