Watertown, NY – Rice Lake, WI
Sat June 2 – Sun June 3
(~1308 miles)

Shot out of the cannon! It’s a whole ‘nother ball of wax when you’re about to ride 2400 miles with some other guys – it keeps you honest about waking up quick to get going. Ken and I were both up at the sound of the alarm, getting dressed and downing some hotel room coffee. I retrieved ice for our hydration thermoses and we met the others outside as we were bringing gear out.

We were out of there in about 15 minutes and pulling in to the gas station shortly after. The temperature was a comfortable mid-60s or so. We filled our tanks, collected our receipts, and documented our start per our own habits.

We ran north quickly in the dark on I-81 to the border crossing and passed through very quickly, with only one other car present at the early hour. Our group comms were working well, though we turned them off to get through into Canada.

We skirted up past Ottawa via the 401, 416 and 417 highways. As dawn broke, I snapped a few photos of the guys on the go, just before we went down to two lanes on Highway 17.

Our first fuel stop was one I’d added in Pembroke ON. My original pitch to the guys had been that I’d gas up at these “intermediate” stops while the others waited for me and glowered impatiently, but it turned out everyone needed the stop for one reason or another. Whether it be a nature break after a starting cup of joe, or adding layers (temperature was dropping steadily from mid-60’s down to lower 50s as we moved north), we all took care of what was needed and got going again somewhat later than our 10 minute goal.

This wasn’t quite a sprint like a BBG, and Basecamp had given us a buffer of a few hours to complete this ride, plus whatever we were able to gain on the clock while moving. Still none of us wanted to make inefficient stops and hoped they would improve as the trip went on.

We enjoyed a nice ride paralleling the Ottawa River. Though it was getting chillier – down into the 40s – the sun was out, helping us wake up. The rich greens of the surrounding forests and blue waters of the river and multitude of ponds and lakes we passed made for a beautiful backdrop as we sped along.

Ken took lead position with me in the sweep for most of our westward trek across the province. He was determined to see a moose and surprised us all by spotting a velveted bull chomping plants in a roadside bog.

Our next fuel stop was mandatory, in North Bay on the shore of Lake Nipissing (no, really). Despite the name, we did what we had to do…again not winning any awards for efficiency.

The next stop was another added for me in Tamiskaming, but as we slowed to turn in to the general store, we saw all the gas pumps and underground tanks had been dug up for replacement. No matter, I still had a couple gallons, so we used GPS to locate a station several miles further on Highway 101 in Matheson.

After leaving this stop, Marc got reports of traffic delays (!?) up ahead on our route of up to 30 minutes. Concerned about possible construction and sitting around waiting for pilot cars, etc, we decided to detour southwest to keep moving. By our calculations it would add about 20 miles but get us to the next fuel stop in the same amount of time. We cut back down to Highway 101, skirted the south of Barbers Bay Lake and turned back north upon reaching the city of Timmins ON (hometown of Shania Twain according to the signage).

The next fuel stop at a Shell station in Kapuskasing was a bit of a fiasco, with several pumps out of service and lots of vehicles fighting for the remainder. Ken stole my intended pump with a grin, but then decided to head to the Esso station next door when he discovered there was no credit card payment slot on that one (ha ha, karma!). After pumping my gas, I moved the bike out of the way out of courtesy while I went in to pay. Waited in line for a couple customers and when I asked to pay, the girl kept asking me the amount, which I hadn’t noticed.

“I don’t know the amount, but I was at that pump furthest away”, I said, pointing.

“I have two sales on that pump,”  referring to the customer that pulled in after me, and she named off the amounts.

“Well, I don’t know what to tell you, you’re supposed to tell me how much it is – why don’t you charge me the amount that’s smaller?” (big grin that wasn’t returned).

With a line forming behind me, she waited for the next customer on that pump to come in so she could ask their total (theirs was the smaller) and finally rang me out. I guess it’s all part of the adventure, right?

This ride allows for two routing options through Canada: the more southerly Route 17 that hugs the northern shoreline of Lake Superior, and the faster northern Highway 11 we chose through the land-locked middle of Ontario. Though I’d definitely like to take that north shore road on a more leisurely jaunt some day, we were able to make very good time westward, and the scenery continued to impress as we rode.

 

I had been prepared to complete this ride with no more than a two hour stop at the Iron Butt Motel (i.e. on the bike) or laying my head down at a McDonald’s. However, at the rate we were going, the chances for a real rest were getting better and better, and the gas stop delays were proving insignificant. Temps were low and I think we were down to 41F somewhere along the way. We were all hoping for the chance to sleep inside out of the weather if at all possible.

We hit the northernmost point of the route by Long Lake and hit Geraldton for another fuel stop. Rather than ride to the intended Esso station two miles into town, for some reason we pulled in to a more local establishment right there on the highway, with only a single pump serving premium gas. A bit more time lost there waiting for a guy to come back out to move his pick-up.

One trucker we’d passed some miles back pulled in to fuel up and advised us to be on the lookout for smokies on this stretch, and to keep our speeds to about 10 over on the open road and at the limit through towns.

We began turning south just before the huge Lake Nipigon and enjoyed the striking views of the rocky bluffs of Nipigon Palisades Conservation Reserve overlooking the lake. Somewhere in this leg, Ken spotted another moose, also well off the road.

Then came a very nice scenic curvy section along the smaller Helen Lake, with bluffs again to the left side and open water to the right. Just magical riding through here and a welcome respite to the long straight stretches of flat northern forestlands.

As we continued southwest toward Thunder Bay, our next required fuel stop, the highway morphed to four-lane divided, the clouds from the large storm system south of us slowly filled the sky, and we began to catch glimpses of Lake Superior off to our right. Especially nice were the distant views of the bluffs of Sleeping Giant Provincial Preserve peninsula. Due to thicker gloves and concerns about wet weather, I put away the camera during this stretch – so the visuals will be minimal during the remainder of this report.

Thunder Bay…the name sounds cool and evokes images of violent summer storms rolling across the giant lakes. The actuality of the small section we went through was that it appeared a bit depressed. It was the largest population center we’d seen on the trip after miles of wilderness so there was bound to be a bit of disappointment. We made our stop and took an extra few minutes for snacks and a quick stretch. This was a mental milestone for us, as we were getting close to the halfway mark and would shortly be crossing back into our home country.

Just after 20:00 and night was fast approaching. We’d been closely monitoring a huge storm system just to the south, knowing that we’d eventually be going through some of it. Luckily, it had mostly passed on to the east by now, so it appeared we’d only need to punch through a couple outer bands – maybe a little bit of the yellow area on the radar. Nothing to it but to do it…we buttoned up and headed south for the border. The plan was to hit Duluth, grab a bite, and figure out a rest strategy. By this time, we’d gained about three hours on our original timetable and knew we’d be able to get a hotel room for a few hours someplace ahead. That was certainly an unexpected good feeling and something to look forward to!

This was the one section of the entire route where we got to ride alongside actual great lake, and the shoreline views of Superior were very pretty. Once again, we hit the border with no other traffic. While the other riders passed through quickly, I was bringing up the rear and had neglected to take out my earplugs before arrival.

The stern-faced Border Patrolman was staring at me until I realized he was waiting for a response to something…my home town. I told him but was unable to hear his other questions, so he grew frustrated and asked me to remove my helmet completely. I did so and the earplugs and was able to answer that we were headed toward Duluth. He asked if I was communicating with the other guys, nodding at the headset, and if that was why I couldn’t hear him. I explained we had them turned off, and I was just hard of hearing plus had earplugs in. He let me pass without further comment or smile. Jeez, it wasn’t like there was a line of people waiting to get in – thanks for the welcome home!

It began to rain almost immediately after our crossing into the US and night fell simultaneously. I took the lead, having more candlepower up-front than Ken, and we rode miles and miles of fairly dark rainy two-lane road on MN-61. We were all feeling a bit cold and groggy by the time we hit our mandatory fuel stop in Duluth just before 23:00 central time. Everyone was glad to stop up the street at a handy McDonalds to plan out our rest stop. We all got some food and/or decaf to warm us up while I used my laptop to find us an available hotel that would be open to receive us at the late hour we needed. A Super-8 in Rice City WI was along the route and would have to do, so I booked our reservation quickly.

It was still drizzling and became very foggy as we headed south out of Duluth and crossed into Wisconsin. US-53 was totally socked in with minimal visibility and I was still leading, trying to stay as alert as I could be for deer and other critters that might appear more suddenly even than usual. We all needed rest at this point, and I kept jabbering nonsense at everyone via the group intercom to try to keep spirits up and folks (including myself) awake. I told Ken via intercom that I felt like we’d been going downhill the entire way from Duluth – the fact that it was getting warmer only strengthened that impression.

“Oh they say that usually means your really getting tired.”

“Ya think?”

We made the hotel without incident just before 01:00 local time and agreed to a 4.5 hour stop, which would give us a solid 3.5 – 4 hours sleep and get us back on the road at first light. We stumbled to our rooms, set alarms and fell into bed with most of our clothes still on, ready for a quick getaway.