July 6 / post for July 5 travel

Woke up to blue sky, a few puffy clouds, and the promise of heat and more heat. We knew we'd have another long day, so got on the road again a little after 7.

This guitar image is taken from a Web site so you can see what they have done with them.

As we rode through the town or Orillia, there were 50 painted guitars setting on the sidewalk in some locations. They were quite elaborately painted by local artists, and it would have been cool to take a photo or two. They're like our Wild Salmon on Parade, only guitars, and are 7 feet tall. They're to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Mariposa Folk Festival. The two photos that I have are taken from a couple of blogs about the Guitars on Parade. I think that the “Parade” celebrations, like our salmon, the horses, cows and so on, are such a source of pride in community, and enjoyable for everyone. I've always loved to see them, and as I recall, when Biker Bill and I came through Vermont a few years ago, they had painted pigs. I took loads of photos of them.

Some are so elaborate, and I would have liked to see all of them.
Too many roads; not enough time.
Too many towns; not enough time.

But we would not be doing much stopping … so everything today was only a memory that I'll put on paper … in hopes of remembering the great day … for the most part.

But I knew we would see lots of these.

We saw lots of animals, except they were mostly domesticated ones, llamas, what appeared to be an alpaca, sheep, goats, loads of cows and horses. We were on the road so early that some of the little colts were still laying down in the grass as it was entirely too early for them to be up and moving about.

Between Orillia and Toronto I saw the Georgian Downs racetrack where the Queen was for the Queen's Plate race on July 4. Was an absolutely beautiful track and would be fun to go to something like that at least once.

This is the only photo I could find and lift from the Web.  But it gives you
an idea of how beautiful the track and its surroundings are.

About 60 miles from Toronto you could see the haze that is their smog. It covered the whole area, dirty, brown. Yuk, who wants to breathe that.

The closer to Toronto we got, the heavier the traffic. There's nothing like riding the slab. I picked up something on the CB but couldn't understand it as it was a guy speaking in French. We began getting some tailgating, which we really hadn't had an issue with prior to that. From there it went from lanes of traffic (three going either way) to 12 lanes, with six going either way including the exit lanes. The speed limit was 60 (mph) but no one does it. We were riding 75-80 to keep up … and still were being passed much of the time. We were in combat riding mode. Riding close, staying totally focused on the mission at hand. I felt like our bikes and us were two little grains of sand in an ocean of vehicles. We got through and were spit out the other side heading east toward Kingston where we thought we might cross the border. We actually crossed at Alexandria Bay, crossing a beautiful bridge over into New York State. It was green in color and tall, making you feel pretty small when passing over it.

The border crossing was to put it bluntly, “a bitch.” The lines were horrendous, and we stood out in 90+ degree heat with no cover whatsoever, moving the bikes one car length at a time. It had to have taken over two hours and I was beginning to feel heatstroke coming on. I told Jaz I had to stop once we got across. We'd also lost time getting through the toll booth for one of the two bridges since there were way more cars, and only one toll booth opened. Probably lost another half hour or better there. So, a lot of lost time trying to get from Canada to the U.S.
We dropped into the 1000 Island Region. In coming across the bridges you could see all sizes of islands, water, boats, little cabins, large vacation homes. It was a beautiful place, one that would be fun to return to and explore. There's a road that takes you around some it, so maybe another time. The 1000 Island Region is an international tourism destination, with communities on both the U.S and Canadian sides of the border. It's located along the St. Lawrence River and the eastern shores of Lake Ontario, and takes its name from the more than 1,000 islands that dot the lake and river along the international waterway.

Some of the beautiful islands. 
(Photo by Bridgette)

This trip has had its share of bridges, and I'm always up to cross them. It's fun to look out and see the water and boats while you're crossing.

We stopped for a quick bite to eat and to hydrate up. Found my sunscreen and discovered the top had come open in the tour pack so some of it went into the packet where I keep my bike book and papers. Cleaned up fairly easily … glad that's where it was and not on clothing or in the bottom of the tour pack.

In looking at the map, we determined it would be longer to go the way we had earlier planned, so we backed up and went through the Adirondack Mountains. It was a beautiful ride. Green, more little rivers, creeks, beautiful riding. We just didn't have time to stop … and there were so many little towns, and bridges, and quaint homes that you hated to have to just ride on. But ride on we did. In some areas, the trees grew from either side of the road, up and over, making a canopy of trees for us to ride under. It was so unique, because you don't get to ride in that atmosphere very often.

Somewhere along the way, Jaz said she didn't think we could make it. I told her I was going to make it. I had a room waiting and I wanted to park it for a few days. She knows how stubborn and obsessed I can be. So, on we went.

After such a gorgeous ride through the mountains, out we came feeling good after such a nice time. We hopped onto the slab again, I-87 this time. What a ride that was. It was combat riding at it's worst, except we weren't even near a big city. I believe New York state drivers are too impatient, too aggressive, and mostly drivers I prefer to stay away from in the future. At one point I moved into the right-hand lane. There was a vehicle way back, so I moved on over. When I looked again, he was huge in my rear view mirror, on my tailpipes. I poured the coals to the bike, not even taking a second to drop a gear. When he had space to get around he went to my left and as he went by, a big bald headed guy in a brownish color Cadillac, he just shook his head. I did not mention to him I thought he was Number One. He looked gangsta to me. So I kept my head … and just kept riding. Jerk!!!

Mostly folks have been pretty nice on this trip so it's always a bummer to go head-to-head with someone who is not. But I got over it, and we got into dusk/evening/night riding mode … slow down, slow down, move to the center of the lane to give myself room, turn off the spots and use the bright light.

We had a great ride and there were some things that stuck in my mind … a guy on a tractor driving alongside the road with a pink parasol hooked up over him to keep the sun off, a barn that was actually a house, along with a garage that was also a barn, both painted red with white trim, a mama turkey with her young brood alongside the road and riding by a small dam on a creek. Just little things, but taken together, sites seen that make for a wonderful ride and hundreds of memories made with a good friend.

There were no incidents other than trying to figure out where we needed to be. Stratton Mountain is really in the mountains, imagine that. You go up for seven miles, then turn uphill and go for four more. Once we arrived we had a bit of difficulty finding where to register, but then got that taken care of. Then we couldn't find the building we were supposed to be in … u-turning, parking lot touring. I told Jaz we needed to park the bikes and walk to find the place. We found a handyman or security person who took us where we needed to be, a place, I might add, with underground inside parking. Oh yay. No rain will bother our girls. They're so dirty a good long rain shower might improve their looks.

Off we went to get the bikes. Still had problems finding where we were supposed to be. I tried three different driveways before getting the right one. Jaz had to come back to find me.
But we finally found our place. It has one of those beds that pulls down from the wall, a sofabed, an easy chair, a rocking chair, a wood table with four chairs, a fireplace that we won't use, a chest of drawers, coffee table, kitchen, bath, and a walk-in closet. We also have a balcony that overlooks the pool and two jacuzzi's. This is in addition to the inside parking. But the best part? Having the first room on the floor instead of the one at the farthest end of the hall. Score, big time.

The only problem was when I undressed I realized I had received blisters from the heat of my bike, ugly, ugly!!

They hurt.  Jaz said to get some Nu Skin ... tomorrow.

So we settled in for the night and snoozed away, all in.

And a warm Vermont welcome to Mary, another of my co-workers who helps me out when I have problems with the boys in Power Control. lol