I’m heading back to Quebec and New England to do a fall color ride for the first time in that area. I’m meeting Jean-Francois in Quebec where we’re starting since the colors are already beginning to turn there and then move a little further south to Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont before heading back home.
I’m taking a different route north this time since I think I’ve seen enough of Little Rock and Tennessee for the time being. I’m going up through Oklahoma to cut across Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana and cross the border at Port Huron, Michigan/Sarnia, Ontario. From Sarnia I will go to Toronto so I can ride along the north coast of Lake Ontario and then follow the St. Lawrence Seaway until I have to cut east around Montreal.
I’ve located locks on the St. Lawrence and plan to stop and see them in hopes ships may be in them being raised or lowered. I want to see the Eisenhower and Snell Locks on the US side and the Beauharnois in Canada so I will be crossing back into the US in New York from Ontario and then back into Quebec. The border patrol will probably wonder what I’m up to, but it’s the only route I could figure out to see more than one lock.
Leaf peeping will start in Quebec north of Montreal and then progress south with the goals of camping and photography. Temperatures have recently cooled there, so it will be the first time I’ve seen and felt a real “fall” in a long time.
My departure has been delayed since I didn’t want to ride into the back side of the remnants of Hermine as it’s moving north. Judging from the amount of rain it dumped in the Dallas area, I don’t think it would be a very motorcycle friendly storm to ride through. I hope to make the 2000 mile ride to Quebec in 4 days, but since I want to see the St. Lawrence on a nice day it may take a little longer.
Okay — this wasn’t a motorcycle trip, but it was motorcycle related. My dogs, Nikki and Ellie, are so good about being home alone for long periods of time with the neighbors popping in occasionally to feed them and let them out so that I can take off on motorcycle trips. I think they deserve a treat once in a while as a reward for their patience. This time the treat was going to the ocean for the first time and being surf dogs.
As yellow labs they have an unbounded exuberance for water as it is — their reckless abandon in the ocean had everyone on the beach laughing. Ellie (the younger one) was a natural at surf. She got put underwater by one wave and from then on knew to leap up when a wave approached. She even sensed when they were coming from behind (when she was heading back to shore) and did the same thing. Nikki was a little slower to catch on, but both instinctively knew how to handle the waves and loved it.
This is the slide show that includes some other pictures and probably way too many pictures of the dogs.
Jeff Fauster, one of the organizers of the Northeast Jailbreak, said I was the heartbreak story of the rally. I didn’t know why he thought that. He said it was because of having to stop in Louisville because my motorcycle was broken.
I quickly disagreed with him and told him that breaking down along side the highway with no shade in 104 degree heat would be a heartbreak story. Getting help from a fellow F650 rider, being able to ride the motorcycle up to the service door of a BMW dealership, having them immediately work on it and get it back on the road was most definitely not a heartbreak story. It was just a delay.
If something went wrong, it went wrong in the best way it possibly could have, so no complaints from me. And the motorcycle ran perfectly for the rest of the trip. Definitely no complaints from me.
I wish it could have been cooler getting out of and back into Texas, but I’m still very glad I went north. It was worth meeting the other F650 riders and it was nice to be in green mountains and cool temperatures for a while.
Not a bad summer — 4200 mile ride west to California in May and a 4200 mile ride east to Vermont and Canada in August.
Routes for Californa and Vermont/Canada
Gear
I don’t know scientifically which is best in extreme heat — zipping yourself into a solid suit or wearing mesh. The mesh gear worked well for me and I used the liners for both warmth and rain protection at different times. I would also like to know scientifically if the evaporative cooling from the vest really does any good. It felt like it did. I do know that hydration is critical so I’m glad I have the compartment for the water reservoir in my tank bag. I think if I had to tackle high heat again I would stick with the same gear, but then again I was in Death Valley in my Aerostich and Gerbing jacket and pant liners and was shocked when 90 degrees just wasn’t that bad. It was almost like I was being insulated from the heat. But then Death Valley was a tad drier than the humid air I was riding through on this trip. For summer I think I’ll stick with the mesh.
My little $55 Sandisk Sansa-Clip+ was great. I don’t watch video on little portable devices so at the moment can’t imagine investing in a big expensive MP3 player again. 8GB of music kept me nicely entertained for the ride.
I really like my new Nolan helmet. The visor on my old helmet would not stay at a partially open position at highway speeds and the Nolan does. I can hear my music equally well whether the visor is open or closed and the helmet is extremely comfortable too.
Not quite sure what I think of the Ztechnik windscreen. I suppose the additional wind that hits my body did help in the heat (it does not help in the cold). It vibrates at an alarming rate from the wind wash off semi trucks when I pass them. I’m not sure if it’s going to get ripped off at some point. It does shoot insects up and over my visor where my old windshield was a finely crafted insect delivery system straight onto the visor.
A sampling of questions/comments I received when people found out I was traveling by motorcycle alone:
“So you’re a thrill seeker?” “No, not at all. I just like to do fun things and see beautiful things.”
“Wow, you’re really brave.” They should have seen me crossing the steel grid bridge and riding through the severe thunder storm…
“Are you crazy?” — “Maybe, but stupid may more likely cover it.”
“Do you like traveling alone?” — “No, but it beats the heck out of staying home and sitting on the couch when I have no one to travel with.”
“Are you straight?” — this was at 5:00 AM in the morning and made me laugh out loud “Are you asking if I’m heterosexual??”
“I didn’t know BMW made motorcycles.” I didn’t quite know how to respond to this one.
It seemed kind of funny I would be riding the worst day of the entire trip on Friday the 13th. Haven’t you heard that Friday the 13th is supposed to be good luck for left handed people? I got through the last day without being so frightened I was shaking, but spent most of the day somewhat alarmed due to the heat.
I was again on the road before first light (5:45) and was into Arkansas by 8:00 and through Little Rock by 10:00. That still left me five hours to get home and it was already insufferably hot.
This was the most brutal day I have ever spent on a motorcycle. When I started the day at 5:45 I was able to ride until a needed fuel. For the rest of the day I had to stop about every 90 minutes to re-wet my cooling vest and get more cold water. Stopping that often was delaying me so I would hit Dallas during Friday afternoon traffic, but I didn’t have any choice.
I stopped looking at the thermometer when it read 110. I simply didn’t want to know. I was having to ride with my knees fanned out to minimize the burning from the engine heat. The heat from the pavement and motorcycle was so extreme my feet hurt. I have good touring boots — it was just that hot.
It’s the first time on the motorcycle that I was having to fight getting light headed from heat. Soaking the vest in a bag full of ice water, filling a bandana with ice and tying it around my neck to cool the blood flowing to my head, pouring ice water all over the mesh jacket and pants, filling my water reservoir with ice to cool me on the inside. None of this was enough to combat the excessive heat. Maybe it wouldn’t have been such a big deal if I was doing less mileage each day, but when I’m doing 600-700 mile days I feel I really need to take care of myself in order to safely ride.
Up until the last day I had found it more comfortable to ride with my visor cracked open a little to let fresh air flow through. The last day the blast of heat hurt, so I rode home with the visor closed except when I was drinking water (I have a 55 oz. Camelbak on top of my tank bag).
This may be silly but I feel the last miles are perhaps the most dangerous of the trip. I’m at my most tired for the trip, I’m back in familiar territory and may let my guard down, so I am the most careful and the most vigilant as I approach home. Add the fatigue from the heat and Friday afternoon traffic to the mix and I was really being careful.
I was able to cut across Dallas with only minor slow downs and safely pulled into the garage and put the side stand down. Does anyone else feel that intense satisfaction and gratitude when returning from a very long journey and safely returning home? I feel it each time both me and the motorcycle are back safely in the garage.
As for heat damage — once again the top of my boots blistered both legs and the inside of my right leg is moderately cooked from the heat coming off the engine. I stayed hydrated, so the rest of my body did okay. As far as the motorcycle — I am surprised the tires didn’t melt right off the wheels, but I guess she’s tougher than I am. I pulled off the tank bag when I got home and it was so hot it hurt to hold it and I didn’t want to bring it into the house that hot so it’s out on the work bench cooling off.
Me? I’m in the house cooling off. I may not leave for a while…
Conneaut, OH to Union City, TN Thursday, August 12
It was only 73 degrees when I walked out to the motorcycle, but the humidity made it feel a lot warmer. Back into the heat so I was on the road shortly before sunrise. I hit Cleveland at 7:30 but took a route that went well outside of rush hour traffic. It was uncomfortably hot by 11:00 AM but I got through Columbus, Cincinatti, and Louisville and picked up the Western Kentucky Parkway to cut across Kentucky.
The parkway is a great road with little traffic but the thermometer on the motorcycle was reading 104 degrees. Around 2:00 some clouds appeared and I was initially grateful to have them. Around 3:00 I looked up ahead at suddenly very dark, threatening skies. Within a mile I was in heavy, gusting rain that was throwing the motorcycle all around the road and made it nearly impossible to see. I couldn’t believe the sheets of rain being pounded across the road in front of me.
The visibility was so bad I didn’t feel pulling over to the side of the road was an option and there were no overpasses to hide under. I bailed out on the first available exit and was having trouble seeing the road since I still had sunglasses on and it had gotten very dark. Once again I realized I was so scared that I was shaking from head to toe. That’s two days in a row… I kept telling the weather “Be nice! Just let me get to a gas station.”
It wasn’t pretty but I pulled into the first gas station I saw and got under cover. People at the station were telling me they had gotten off the road because they didn’t think they could see while driving their cars and they couldn’t believe how bad the storm was. No kidding?
I took my time fueling up. It looked worse. I parked the bike and decided to wait it out in the Subway attached to the gas station.
It took about an hour to let up and I returned to the parkway in light rain watching storms to both the north and south. I connected with Purchase Parkway that headed south into another storm. Since I didn’t enjoy the first storm all that much I actually got the motorcycle parked and into a convenience store before the second storm hit. As the rain started to slow the people at the store warned me the deer would be out in numbers since the temperature had cooled due to the rain. I only had about 40 miles to get to my planned stop in Union City, TN so got back on the road, and fueled up before stopping for the day by 8:00 PM.
I had a busy evening trying to get everything spread out to dry… The first storm had blown up so quick I hadn’t gotten my rain liner on and had gotten soaked to the skin. For the record — hard rain hurts through a mesh jacket.
