* MODS, if you would, please move this to the Story Telling area.
I'll let my "pictures tell a thousand words".
6,123 miles with 95 hours of seat time.
https://scontent-lax3-2.xx.fbcdn.ne...=2c6532b646ceedbc1f4aedfc070d49ff&oe=5BE732E8
Prior "places I've ridden in" map.
https://scontent-lax3-2.xx.fbcdn.ne...=54682a4a897df2b6fdcca55f7f60f38c&oe=5BAC2928
Current "places ridden in" map.
https://scontent-lax3-2.xx.fbcdn.ne...=80b46b319732de03db9f6a865abeb7ff&oe=5BAC57A0
One of several Iron Butt Motels I used throughout the trip.
https://scontent-lax3-2.xx.fbcdn.ne...=f32e800bcc15c7e8abf6a633fa2531b3&oe=5BAAE1FE
Google put together a small photo album (I didn't take a lot of photos during the trip) for me to share.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/15JxuERoSsgi3bq47
The weather was good for about half the trip, bad another quarter, and miserable for about a quarter. If you review the photo album you will see a lot of wet roads and parking lots. I dealt with a LOT of rain. Of the 11 days, I probably had 3 days of just absolutely beautiful weather.
I had dinner with two Canadian riders who wound up at the same hotel in Saskatchewan because we were getting drowned on the road. We talked about the weather a bit, and they told me they had 100+ days in a row last winter where it never got above 0 degrees C. Ugh.
I discovered that a lot of the roads up north suffer from the winter weather quite a bit, yet some other roads in the same area were a joy to ride. Also, because the winters are so severe they do all their road maintenance during the summer months, so I found myself sitting at a lot of work zones waiting for the pilot vehicle to guide everyone through.
CANADA... this was a learning experience.
1. I didn't convert any cash for my 2 days in-country. Everything went onto my credit card.
2. All the gas stations are pre-pay. That means when you put your credit card in the gas pump you LEAVE it in the gas pump and you choose the dollar amount that you want to pre-authorize for your fuel purchase. Once it's been approved you can remove your card and begin pumping. I use a chipped card, so if all you have is the magnetic strip on the back I don't know how that will work for you.
3. Fuel is in liters, not gallons, so that $1.29 price you see on the street sign can be misleading at first if you're not expecting it.
4. Speed limits... sigh... the highest national speed is 110 kph, which is only 68 mph, and once you're in Ontario it's only 100, with many of the roads only 90. In Ontario you can have your vehicle confiscated for speeding. I tended to obey the limits everywhere until I had a faster rabbit in front of me. One of the provinces has a law against radar detectors so I just kept mine off and hoped for the best.
5. Riding the souther part of the Provinces is the same as riding the northern Plains for us. Farms and cattle. Farms and cattle. Farms and cattle.
6. In the states when you leave one state and enter another you usually have a big ol "Welcome to..." sign. Not so in Canada. There was a nice one entering Alberta from the US, but as I moved Province to Province they didn't have similar signs.
There were three smells that stood out for me on the entire trip... manure, fresh cut grass, and rain on the pavement.
Even when riding riding the back roads of Iowa and Illinois where you don't see anything other than corn fields for miles and miles and miles, the smell of manure was very present. I'm guessing that they fertilize the crops with a liquid manure.
I crossed the Mississippi twice, once in each direction. I crossed the Missouri and the Ohio rivers once. I went to the shore of Lake Superior, and if you have not been there you just can't imagine how immense it really is. It really is no different than standing on the beach facing an ocean.
Crossing the bridge from Duluth MN into WI was not pleasant with high winds coming in from the lake. Not fun at all. And it was also 52 degrees for the final hour of riding into Duluth on Sunday night. Someone forgot to tell them to turn on the Summer switch.
I got a new front tire and an oil change while i was in Duluth and I asked them what "hot" was to them. They said when it's 80-85 it's a bit warm for them, but when it hits 90 it is HOT.
From the "It's a small world after all" category. I went to breakfast at my hotel in Duluth Monday morning and the woman that takes care of everything saw me in my gear and asked if I rode for pleasure or in rallies, to which I replied "both". She then mentioned that her husband Derek was the winner of the 2013 Iron Butt Rally.
Motorcyclists are a very small segment of the population, and Long Distance riders are an even more tiny segment of that. At last count we have less than 70,000 IBA members world-wide. She says she asks that question of every rider she comes in contact with at the hotel and I am the first person to not only answer in the affirmative to riding rallies, but also the first to even know what the Iron Butt Rally is. How 'bout that?
And then... I go to Aerostich for a fitting, and while I'm there another rider from Arizona shows up. Not only just from Arizona, but he lives just about ten miles from me. He too was just out and about and seeing the country.
My mind is still a bit frazzled and my hands are a bit numb, but as I think of more things or come across more photos I'll post them up.
Bottom line:
The weather sucked.
The weather was great.
The roads sucked.
The roads were great.
People everywhere were great. People in Canada would just come right up to me and say "have a safe ride".
Edits:
The BEST roadside rest area I have EVER been in, anywhere in this country, is in Conrad Montana, on I-15 about 40 miles south of the border. Immaculate inside and out. Soft music playing inside. 8 bathrooms for men, 8 bathrooms for women. Not just stalls, but separate bathrooms. With locking doors. With music playing inside the bathroom. With baby changing stations in each bathroom. With electrical outlets for you to use an electric razor or blowdryer. With actual mirrors and not just polished metal. Each bathroom has a light above the door so people outside in the waiting area can see which rooms are already occupied. Separate urinals and toilets in the men's rooms. I was so impressed I didn't want to leave.