Ontario Ride September 2005

Mileage: 2,067
Duration: 4 1/2 days (Noon 9/21/05 to 9/25/05)
States/Provinces (in order): CT, MA, VT, NY, Ontario, MI, OH, PA, NY, MA, CT
Gallons of fuel purchased: 35.6 (yes I converted the liters)
Overall mileage per gallon: 58 mpg (fully loaded down, hauling butt the whole trip)
Highest gas price paid: $1.13/Liter - That's over $4/gallon! somewhere South of Ottawa.

General Route & Highlights
Wed: Mileage ~300. Through the Mountains on MA Rt 10 to VT 202 to VT100, then over to Lake George, NY. Rode very hard and fast, scraping my boots often. I think I was trying to outrun all the stress from work over the past few months.

Vermont Dairy Farm











Spent the night at a friend's place on Lake George - very cool.



Dock where I sat and watched the bats come out over the lake at dusk

Thur: Mileage ~ 400. Through the Adirondacks to Ogdensburg, NY across the St. Lawrence River to Canada. Again, some of the best MC rodes in the Northeast are in the Adirondacks - being the middle of the week, I had them all to myself!


Went through Lake Placid and saw some sites from the Olympics:














Olympic Torch, Olympic Center, and Ski Jump.














Crossed the St. Lawrence at Ogdensburg:

Looking Back at Bridge over St. Lawrence from Canadian side. Curving Steel deck grate made for intersting tire response!

Rode Ontario Rt. 2 south along the St. Lawrence, then turned north and took Trans Canada Hwy 7 west to a campground about 1/2 way between Perth and Petersboro

Comment on Homeland Security: Give me a F'ing break!
Going into Canada - no license or passport had to be shown. Only questions were: 1) place of residence; 2) citizenship; 3) are you bringing any alcohol, tobaco, or firearms into the country. Coming back into US - no license or passport had to be shown. Only question: What's your citizenship? I had on my full face helmet and sunglasses. I could have been Osama and there was no way for the guy to tell. The only thing he did was check my license plate.

Fri: Mileage ~ 300. Cool things seen: Mamora Iron Mine - 500 ft deep iron ore mine, partially flooded now. Petroglyphs Provincial Park - 600 yr old rock carving petroglyphs by the Algonquin Natives. Very cool. No pictures allowed because its currently a practicing religious site for the natives.

Dirt road leading to Mamoras Iron Mine.

The Mamoros Iron Mine

Sign outside Petroglyphs Provincial Park. The petroglyphs are enclosed in a climate controlled glass building. Very cool place.

After leaving Petroglyphs, I did a loop around Simcoe Lake - kinda so-so.
The landscape now has become like the US Midwest. Somewhat flat, very straight township & range roads. Got back on Rt 7 west and rode to Clinton about 15 miles short of Lake Huron. Camped there for the night.

Township & Range Style Roads (Straight and Flat)

Originally, I wanted to ride all the way up to Sault St. Marie, then take backroads in the US and stop by the AMA Motorcycle Museum in Ohio. But, mother nature decided that wasn't to be. Hurricane Rita was churning up into the Ohio Valley, so when I left Clinton, I decided it was going to be a long, fast slab haul. I don't mind rain, but the storm was dumping over 5 inches or rain in some spots.

Sat: Mileage ~ 600. Said goodby to Lake Huron by 8:30 AM.

View of Lake Huron upon departure.

Riding along the east side of Lake Huron was beautiful, but VERY windy - probably steady 25 MPH cross winds with gusts over 40 MPH. Rode down Rt. 21 and Superslabed it across Ontario Rt 402. Crossed into MI via Sarnia, ON and took I-69 west to Flint MI. The views from the bridge of Lake Huron were spectacular (sorry, no pics - too much traffic). First thing I noticed in the US: The roads went to Sh*t. Canada builds much better roads. From Flint, hauled down MI Rt 23 to Toledo. Then from Toledo took I-90 all the way across OH to just shy of Erie, PA. I spent the extra $ for a motel after 600 mi. Had a couple really large (24+ oz) beers and went to bed.

Sun: Mileage ~ 467. The weather was changing rapidly with the approach of Rita's remnants. Decided to Superslab it again across I-90 (NY State Thruway). Blew through all of NY State at nothing under 75 mph (on the speedo). Started raining west of Rochester around Batavia and kept raining off & on till after Albany.

SCARY MOMENT: Somewhere around Rochester, NY I started smelling diesel fuel. The road was wet from rain, then I saw the diesel slick - a long thin ribbon just inside of the right-hand tire track of the right-hand lane. Someone up ahead was not dripping diesel, but had sprung a gusher of a leak. I could tell everytime the guy switched lanes 'cause I had to cross the slick. After about 1/2 hour of my attention being rivited on the diesel slick I caught up to the offending tour bus. I could actually see the fuel pouring out of the buse - it looked to be about a 1/2-inch diameter stream. I was doing about 80 mph (on the speedo), had no way to signal the driver, no way to contact the authorities and report the guy, and all I could do was think: I HAVE to stay in front of that bus. It was very un-nerving to say the least.

Superslabbed the rest of the trip along the Mass Pike - where the speed of my fellow travelers instantly jumped above 80 mph (on the speedo). Got home by 4:30 in the afternoon, ahead of the heavy rain that hit the NY area Sun night and all day Monday.

Good trip, could have been better if I had more time, but so goes it.