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Okay so I know us prairie folk are supposed to be hardy and all that, but on the whole, the trip really wasn't particularly cold. I left Saskatoon on Sat 21 april - it was 7C and raining and I was really wondering about how much fun this was going to be. But by the time I got to Regina it was sunny and 22. Between Regina and Weyburn, a straight, dry and perfectly new stretch of asphalt beckoned. I now know, more or less, how fast bonnie can go (sprint pipes, dynojet kit and free-flow filter but otherwise stock). Over 200 km/h, but I chickened out before I hit top speed and I had quite a few revs left, I think! I'm really glad that the RCMP didn't show up - I suppose they were all in Tim Horton's at the time.
I decided to ride through Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Upper Penn of Michigan because I've done the TransCan and it's mostly boring and has too many trucks. Also, I hadn't been to Michigan's UP I wanted to see the 8 km long suspension bridge at the Mackinac Straits. (Engineers go out of their way to see such things).
Crossed into ND at North Portal and promptly met a member of the ND state patrol. Had my first opportunity to play "dumb canadian" (I'm sorry, Constable, do you mean to say that 140km/h ISN'T the same as 65 mi/h ?). Had more opportunities to try that in a few other states as I headed east!
Northern Minnesota is really great riding - the highway from Brainerd to Duluth, in particular was memorable. The ride across Wisconsin was very fast, and as I got into the UP I hit some beautifulk stretches of country with some twisty roads and very little traffic. But the wind was from the North, across that giant refrigerator of L. Superior. Woulda been warmer on the TransCan! In Marquette I almost froze! Got across the big bridge and into Lower Michigan. I got off the interstate highway and onto some secondary roads south of cheboygan, Mich. Rolling hills of mixed hardwood forest. Beautiful.
Just east of Flint, I hit the wall. It was lightly drizzling, and I needed a decent coffee (which seems to be in short supply in the US). And a bowl of soup. And a honey cruller. I was wondering whether I could last the 100-odd km to get to Sarnia, back across the border where I could find a Tim Horton's. And then, (it might have been Lapeer, Mich) - right in front of me loomed a familiar yellow sign. I hadn't realized that TimmyHo's had expanded into the US. A most welcome respite.
Then back on the bike and off to London, Ont where the truly awful weather started and I got lost in the rain trying to go between London and Guelph without going on the 401 Highway which is 10X worse than the american interstates because there are more trucks and they seem to go about 30 km/h faster.
No mechanical problems at all. Love my Bonnie - I flew home and now I miss it. I'll be down in Ont off and on for the next 6 months so I'm leaving it down there as my wheels. But now I'm going into withdrawal so I just put a deposit on a new KTM LC4 Adventure - a very very different type of machine altogether!
April's a great month for touring - ya just gotta pick a route with lots of Tim's! It was really great to tour across the 4 states that I did; friendly people, good roads, lenient police officers. My only complaint (and this happens whenever I travel in the US) was the weak, lousy coffee. But contrary to all the stereotypes, I did find good american beer (lots of good microbreweries).
I'll put Bonnie to bed for the winter down in ont and then bribe my brother, who lives there, to trailer me south of the snow, sometime in late feb. Then, who knows? March in the Grand Canyon?
cheers!
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