June 13 - Weds - Oswego NY to North Bay ON (421 miles)

Sandy whipped up some goose eggs for breakfast and any day that starts with goose eggs has to be special. Thanks again Sandy!!
Jeff researched everything and we decided to go back around the bend and up through the middle of Ontario. He punched Sudbury ON into Google Maps and told it no highways (yea!) and no ferries. I rolled my bike out of the garage and it was overcast and warm, and sure enough it rained on the bike just long enough to soak it. Oh well, it softened the dead bugs up and the fancy Israeli seat cover doesn't retain water so no biggie. I wore shorts under my motorcycle pants and then did the full rain job (boots, pants, jacket, lobster claws, the whole thing because if I didn't it would pour before I got the stuff on and if I did, it wouldn't rain.
We ended up on the scenic lake shore route (or whatever all those signs said, which was scenic and did go along the lake shore. Lots of farms mostly just cutting hay but you can see they had some pretty grand farms way back when. Lots of boat people stuff since they live boating up here. We gased up in Ogdensburg just before the bridge (to $5 a gallon gas) and a couple on bikes chatted us up. They owned 19 motorcycles and lived in Pittsburgh PA and just bought an X300 and were so excited to see one with a lot of miles on it and good reports. They had two Honda's today but had BMWs at home and who knows what else (remember 19 motorcycles).
So the Ogdensburg Bridge on a motorcycle is an exercise in confusion. First you pay a toll, which on a bike is a pain (stop, remove rain over gloves, remove gloves (don't drop them on the ground..), unzip rain jacket, pull down rain pants, find rear pocket (not the side pocket), fiddle with the velcro, remove the wallet, find a bill (any bill at this point), hand it over, get the change, give finger to guy behind you honking his horn (that did not happen, either one), put the bills back in the wallet (don't drop the coins and if you do, screw it), pull rain pants down again, fiddle with velcro in back pocket again (not the side pocket), put the wallet back, catch the gloves as they fall to the ground, zip the jacket back up, put on the gloves, put on the over-gloves, throw the change across the parking lot (not really), start the bike, say something pleasant to the toll guy, another finger to the guy behind you, put it in gear and now cross the bridge doing 25 mph because it's one of those steel mesh things that makes you feel like you are going to crash into the tractor trailer coming the other way, and then guess what, customs is on the other side and you do everything you just did on the east side of the bridge, but this time, dig through the tank bag and find that @#$% passport you buried in a secret place.
The custom guy gave me the usual "Canadian Customs grilling. "Where ya headed, eh?, Have a nice trip, eh?", and that was it. He did not even mention Trump like every other Canadian we ran into all day. "You poor bastards,eh?" kinda summed it up.
So thank goodness for the on-dash dancing compass ball. Jeff had Google Maps telling him where to go, but sometimes it doesn't say anything for a long time nd get to thinking, is it still working or?? I had a dancing compass ball on the BMW for years and it saved my bacon many times when would miss a turn. So N-NW pretty much all day going pretty much 10kph over the speed limit all day on little 2 lane roads. Very pleasant day.
We stopped for lunch somewhere and the women working there were very chatty (as was I) and thought Vermont was beautiful of course. Another Trump question in the parking lot and then on our way. And then the deluge...
We saw the big ugly black clouds and then the lightning and then a little rain and then buckets of rain. All the rain gear worked flawlessly so we kept going, but then finally saw a tiny gas station / mini-mart and pulled in under the awning and decided this would be a good time for a cup of coffee and wait it out. We did and 20-30 minutes later the really heavy rain turned into just normal rain, so we apologized for soaking her floors (she had the mop out before we came in so we were not the first ones). So the rain did taper off and the next excitment was seeing a sign out of the blue for "Champlain's Astrolabe", which I had just read about in a book about Samuel Champlain. So he was on an expedition in 1613 and lost the astrolabe (used for determining latitude). A 14 year old farm boy found it in 1867 and it is now in the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Very cool.
We crossed the Mississippi River and Snake River today, but they are in no way related to the famous ones. Weird.
So Sudbury was going to be too late and we stopped at North Bay, which is big town (51K people) so plenty of options to stay. Mexican food, oil the chain and bed.
Jeff's rear tire is looking like it will need to be replaced so we may swing back into Minnesota to get it replaced. Figure it out in the morning.

June 12 - Tuesday - VT to Owego NY

I was ready to go so a quick cup of coffee, piece of toast, and out the door to meet Jeff at 8am. Yesterday (Monday) I ended up working on a last minute software request. I was not too happy, but got it done and handed it off to Sarah (thanks Sarah) so they should be good to go. Lets not talk about Monday..
Jeff was ready to go so a quick stop at the pre-school (Jeff's wife Lisa works there) and off toward the NY bridge. We got re-routed since the normal Rt17 bridge was closed so north to Vergennes and then south again down Rt22A and then west on Rt17 to cross into NY. Jeff grew up in NY so he knows all the back roads so he guided us through some beautiful twisty roads that I had not been on for years. We went through Inlet where Deb and I used to come when the kids were tiny. We rented a small camp for a week for 2 or 3 summers and have lots of great memories of Inlet.
We stopped in Old Forge (did not go to the famous hardware store) and had brunch at Walts Diner, a nice local spot I have been to before. A beemer guy chatted us up and has or has had several BMW motorcycles. No comment on the X300 so like everyone else, I assume he thought I was nuts riding it all the way out west. I may be slow, but I'm happy!!

Quick stop at Jeff's camp way out in the woods. Reminds me of our deer camp when I was a kid except a lot nicer.
So from there is was a quick hop over to Oswego to spend the night with Herb and Sandy, Deb's dad and step-mom. I forgot my water bottle and couldn't find my tire pressure guage so a quick stop at Wally World. Arrived at Herb & Sandy's and Sandy had planned a nice dinner complete with strawberry angel food cake.
Lots of catching up to do over dinner and just caught an Oswego sunset.
Tomorrow looks like some rain. Good night..

June 10 - Sunday - Bar Harbor to VT

If you are saying this looks just like Thursday's map, you are correct. We loaded both cars with "Hannah Overflow", moving home from college stuff, and all headed back east. I did a pretty much non-stop trip back all on smaller roads again, and this smaller bike is definitely on deck for the trip out west. Slower than the Beemer, but nice and smooth, loves dirt roads and light enough to flip around paring lots and intersections and road sides without worrying about tipping it over.
I got home before eveyone else and got right to work changing the oil (full synthetic) and repacking a bit. Made copies of all my paperwork "in case" and added a couple things to the list of things to bring I thought of on the way over and back (camera mount, zip ties.)

June 9 - Saturday - Graduation!!

So today is the big day!! We went to a reception last night with some great speakers. An older guy named Bill Carpenter gave a lively speech about the history of College of the Atlantic. He was the first faculty member and still had the fire in his belly for the original mission.
We spoke to him afterwards and he is an idealist 20-something even in his seventies. Very inspiring guy.
There were 78 graduates and they are from all over the world. The COA (College of the Atlantic) president is a well loved younger guy and seems to be another "doer", someone that just goes ahead and does stuff. Lots of good energy there as well.
Before the graduation we took a ride in the car back up Cadillac Mt since these guys missed the motorcycle ride up yesterday. Another nice weather day.
The reception (yup another one) after was busy with amazing food. The college makes all their own food and it was inspiring as well.

We all ended up downtown for drinks and dinner to finish the day. And the diploma was signed and everything, I checked..

June 8 - Friday - Bar Harbor

Caught up with the family unit and we are staying in a house Deb rented for the week right in downtown Bar Harbor. It is still off-season so Bar Harbor is not too nuts with people yet so pleasant walking around. We walked to Bar Island at low tide and back before the tide came up, and also some walks on the trails around town.
But what I was itching to do was ride the loop around Acadia and up Cadillac Mt, but more than that, I had to use my new Senior National Park Pass!! The park was pretty empty and I pretty much had the roads to myself. I took the baggage all off, but didn't really notice much difference. The Giant Loop bag lets you put all the heavy stuff way down low so there is not high center of gravity issues (those bowling balls are heavy!!).
I stopped at a couple of pullouts ocean side and did a couple short hikes down to the water. This is a nice time of year and it not yet over run with people.
The park folks don't check passes much, but to go on the Acadia Loop Road, you need to show your pass.

Beautiful on top of Cadillac Mt and while the parking lot was pretty full up there, there were lots of motorcycle friendly spots to park. I hiked around the top a bit and then back down to go out to dinner with the family. Perfect weather day!!

Jun 7 - Thursday - VT to Bar Harbor

Last full day of work yesterday!! This is the first day f my 6 week sabbatical and the first order of business is riding to Maine for my daughter Hannah's graduation. She is my world traveler and got bit when she did an AFS stay in Tasmania with a wonderful family (thank you Tolman's!!), and has had itchy feet ever since. So her college experience has been a little school, a little life, a little school, a little life. So we were surprised when she called one day and asked what we were doing on June 9th.
She goes to the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor and I am afraid the salt water has crept into her veins over there as she has turned into "boat person". After graduation she is cook and crew on the Lois McClure schooner until October. They are working with Corning on the Glass Barge Tour going up the Hudson river and then the Erie canal. But first, graduation!!
Deb, Jake and Aunt Ginny are already in Bar Harbor so I will ride over there on the X300. Looks like the beemer is sitting this trip out with 106K on the clock. The X300 is the bike that my son Jake took on his 3 month US/Canada tour last summer. He put 16K on the clock and I hop to put more on in the next 6 weeks. At first brush it seems like a pretty small bike for a long trip but it really surprised me on some test trips. Here is the list of reasons this guy is making sense for me:

• At 62, my legs are getting shorter so paddling the 650 lb Beemer around on tippy toes get a little scary.
• When I do dump the beemer on a gravel roadside or parking lot, I have to pick the damn thing up.
• My highway riding days are done. The 4 laners all look the same so I stick to 2-laners so I can see something other than big green signs and little Holiday Inn Express signs. Boring..
• I like riding slower. 50 mph is perfect. You see a lot more, it is a lot safer, wind noise is less.
• The engine in the X300 revs to 12K rpm and the bike will happily go 90 mph if you "need to". It is smooth and quiet and so far has been bullet proof. Hell, Robert Pirsig (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance) rode a Honda 305cc with his son and camping gear on the back across country. And I have 10 more horsepower!!
• The beemer is getting old. I have had it for 20 years (Thanks Bill!)and it is an old friend, but it needs a rest.

So off to Bar Harbor via Rt2. I did a previous 340 mile day a couple weeks ago fully loaded and it was all good. The main worry was the seat, which is Japanese Maple I think and has been complained about by owners, but I found a Canadian guy reviewing this strange material that he raved about and found some and put a double layer on. It is called "Sit and Fly" and is made by a company in Israel. I put two layers on and it is awesome.

The main bag is made by a company called Giant loop in Oregon and sits on the back like a passenger and you stuff an elephant in it (trunk side out). My "hotel bag" on the back and my rain gear in a dry sack on top. Tank bag for day stuff and a net for laundry. I'll do an equipment list later on but everything works great.

So a nice long ride today with the family on the other end.

March 9, 2018 - Retirement

June 1 will be my last day of work. Wow! I have been blessed with discovering an occupation that I love, and have enjoyed going to work each day for 40+ years. But it's time to take a break while I am still healthy (the doc said it, not me), and take a road trip. The plan is to sit my rear end on a motorcycle (not sure which one) for six weeks and see as much of America and Canada as I can.
I have been asked where I am "planning" to go, and the answer is, I'll let the weather and whatever I decide each morning "plan" the trip. So some notes to myself about this trip.

• No interstates (except busy cities). If you traveled the US only on the interstate it would all look the same. McDonald's, Exxon Mobil, Holiday Inn. Stay 50 miles from the interstate an and you will find the real America.
• Three kinds of towns: There are three kinds of towns. 
• The first one is the town too small to have any services and really no place for you or the locals to have a cup of coffee and chat.
• The second is anything big enough to get the chains. Home Depot, McDonald's, etc. When you have over a certain number of people in a town, people are less interested in taking the time to talk.
• The third is the best. Just small enough to not have the chain sores, but big enough to have a local gathering spot, a little museum, a bakery, hardware store, gas station. 
• Senior National Park Pass: I got mine when I turn 62. Free entry into any National Park in the US. Gotta be 62 to get one.
• Historical Marker Database: I found this on one of the last trips and it adds a new historical dimension to your trip. Most of those small towns you drive through have histories, and those roadside signs usually point out the historical happenings along the way. You can't possible stop and read each one, but you can pull their app up and read them while you are stopping for coffee.
• Local museums: Look for the little signs in many towns pointing out the local museum and stop. You meet wonderful local people excited about their town. Don't underestimate these.
• Weird stuff: If you like quirky stuff, use the Roadside America app. Lots of fun stuff in there
• Get off the beaten path: Many of the national parks are so busy that everyone wants to go and the crowds get crazy and spoil the fun. If you put a water bottle and some snacks in a small bag and find a hiking trial and get even just 20 minutes away from the crowds, you will usually have the park to yourself. Snap a selfie of Old Faithful and then go for a hike. Most people do not leave the parking lot or visitor center.
• Early morning: The most beautiful time of day is first thing in the mornings and the last hours of the day. The colors at the ends of the day are great for pictures with all the reds and oranges. Watching the sunrise with the new crisp morning air is wonderful. And it's the best time to see the heavy hitter sites before the crowd wake up.
• Keep a journal: I have been keeping this blog for many years and actually turned it into a book that I can read mid-winter. Actually might be time for another on after this trip.
• Find the "Old Farts Club": They are the retired guys that meet each morning and drink coffee. They long since ran out of things to talk about and love to talk to strangers. Ask them about local history, what to see, what that stuff is growing in the fields, how they harvest it, that big plant down the street, what you shouldn't miss. 
• AirBnB: I have not used it, but the last couple trips I ran into some converts. They like them because they are more personable that a motel and less expensive.
• Take your time, but keep moving: The nice thing about travelling is that just when you get sick of an area, the next one comes over the horizon. The plains are beautiful, for a few days, but then you get used to them. The Rockies are stunning after you have driven three days through the plains. Just when you can't do another twisty mountain road, eastern Colorado stretches out in front of you.
• Let the weather plan you trip: Especially true for motorcycles. You can drive around storms if you have a weather app.
• No motel reservations: This way you can make last minute changes in your trip depending on the weather and what tip you just got from that old guy at the diner.
• Stop at the local grocery store: They are a real snapshot of the folks in town. And you can get drinks and snacks!!
• Best parks: They are all great. My favorites is Grand Canyon, because it surprises you with it's vastness (sunrises are great), but the crowds get crazy. 
• Great Lodges early in the morning: They built a bunch of these 100 years ago. Go there first thing in the morning and just sit, drink your coffee and maybe read another chapter in your book, and get out before the crowds get there.

So I have a few months to get things together for this trip. Stay tuned!!

P.S. The map is not my trip as far as I know..