Saturday, June 30, 2012

Lake Superior Circumnavigation - Day 1

The following posts will document my experiences as I drive around Lake Superior on my Goldwing. I'm meeting up with my niece Cathy's husband, JP Fortin, in Sault Ste Marie. JP has a BMW R1200RT. I left home on a bright sunny morning and it was already 75F at 8:00am. The temperature warmed steadily into the mid to upper 80's until somewhere near Newberry, MI when it started to drop back into the 70's - it felt good. First day was a drive up to Sault Ste Marie, about 320 miles. Nothing out of the ordinary to report, just a very pleasant ride. Got a real treat at the border when I crossed over the bridge into Canada to find there was only one car in front of me ... that doesn't happen often. One thing to note - I bought a pair of Diamond Gusset riding jeans fortified in the appropriate spots with kevlar and with a gusset sewn in the crotch for extra riding comfort ...they're GREAT, very comfortable. Met up with JP at the Catalina Motel in the Sault. JP is from Ottawa and had ridden up from North Bay where he had overnighted with my sister and brother-in-law. His BMW is a great looking bike and he's obviously happy with it. It was fun looking at the many 'extras' he had added ... for safety of course. We checked out the CB's to make sure we could chat to one another while we're driving. JP and I walked to dinner at Swiss Chalet and got my first mandatory fix - a half chicken dinner with extra dipping sauce! We'll have to find a Tim Horton's tomorrow for my second fix - a large Timmies coffee with double cream. We're planning for an 8:00am start in the morning to head towards Terrace Bay. The giant goose in Wawa awaits.