TRIP IS OVER - EVERYONE IS BACK HOME SAFE
I can't believe that the trip is over, having been on the road for 35 days seem like a blur, and some days were a blur.
The trip (route) passed through 20 American States and one Canadian Provence (Ontario) for a total of 11,852KM (7,364.5miles). With every weather condition you can imagine, from snow, hail, dust storms, high winds 75+MPH, and tornado watches to monsoon downpours. But the rest was glorious days, some cool and some very hot 104F (40+C) BUT sunny.
Experienced a lot, meet a number of people on motorcycles doing the same (or wishing they did), as one of my Southern Cruiser friends said to me on Friday on my why home, "there are very few that have done what you (we) did". Ben and I are true Continental Riders and have set a new meaning to "road trip".
Ben and I parted in Lansing, MI, with him heading to Windsor, ON (via Detroit) and I headed due East to the St. Clair River and the last remaining car ferries on the great lakes. Ben was home by 12noon, I was home at 7:15pm. I had a longer trip and Highway #3 in Ontario is not fast, but it was not the Interstate or the 400 series highway ether, so I enjoyed the return trip through Southern Ontario farm country.
Just outside of Port Dover, on Highway 3 I came across an example of "Jewish Lighting" almost first hand, a major restaurant fire at the 18 Wheeler Restaurant, which by the way was for sale (as the OPP Officer said to me "I guess it didn't sell"). It was interesting to watch the Norfolk Country Fire Department set up swimming pools on the highway and truck in water to fight the fire.
Other than a brief stop in Thorold, to say hello to my fellow Southern Cruiser motorcycle members heading out on the Friday ride, I was home at 7:15pm, with most of my neighbours out to see my arrival, did a victory lap of the block with horn blaring.
Karen had prepared a special welcome home dinner for me, and there have been two additional parities hosted by our neighbours in celebration of my return to Niagara-on-the-Lake.
Would I do this trip again - YOU BET! Already working on next years trip, about a 12 to 15 day adventure to the American South on the Natchez Trace Parkway. [http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/2285/travel.html?map=]
KG
Back Home and Retired
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