Bruce, our leader of the Village Angels came screaming up on his new RIDE
(250 cc Scooter, alittle bigger than his previous Vespa) while I was just finishing my walk with our 3 dogs about 11 am. He asked if I wanted to go for a short RIDE to Vittoria for some plants a guy has for him. I thought, well since Glen and I decided NOT to RIDE and meet today in Jarvis because of an impending thunderstorm coming at 1:30 pm., I said why not. Well the RIDE there was good but on the way back.... we got pissed on..... I mean soaked....
Had to strip down, when I got home, jacket, shirt, pants, boots the works....
I don't really like RIDING in the rain.... the corners are a bit of challenge for me when its slippery. You just have to go alot slower and be cautious. Had to dry off the bike from one end to the other.
So the "weather guessers" radar was right. The storm did come about the time they said it was going to. Well the radar said so anyway. The weather guys said 40% chance of spotty showers. Well I guess we hit the 40% where the showers were..... I will certianly believe the radar on the Weather Network Site from now on.
tb
Binn drying out and had a snooze.............
Sunday 27 May 2012
3 rd Day, the return home
It was a cold, chilly and bit bumpy RIDE home. We stopped in Tiny, the Village of ... and Tiny Beach and then on to Wasaga Beach. COLD there on
May 16. The hot bowl of chicken noodle soup was very welcome at the Swiss Chalet. We geared up for rain, as it started to spit a bit, just to let us know that things could get worse. However after getting a bit confused with the signage on the way out of Wasaga Beach, we stopped for directions and removed my upper rainwear. I found it restrictive, like I was RIDING in a mummy suit, however kept the pants on for extra warmth and it sure did work. As we RODE out of Wasaga and into other small towns the sun came out which was a very welcome sight. We RODE through Orangeville and south down through Fergus, into Guelph (huge traffic jam due to construction) and onward to Clappison's Corners, Highway 5 and 6 stopping for a bite and some
hydration. The facilities were very welcome at that point. Glen and I parted ways there and I continued on Highway 5 west to Highway 52, however made a wrong turn and ended up going down Highway 8 towards Dundas. I turned around, back up to 5 and found the turn off for 52 towards Copetown. I lost approximately 1/2 hour and it ended up putting me into RIDING in the dark by the time I got to Port Dover. I prefer NOT to RIDE in the dark. Not a nice RIDE at all..... Made it home safety and it sure was nice getting home finally at 9:42 pm.
tb
May 16. The hot bowl of chicken noodle soup was very welcome at the Swiss Chalet. We geared up for rain, as it started to spit a bit, just to let us know that things could get worse. However after getting a bit confused with the signage on the way out of Wasaga Beach, we stopped for directions and removed my upper rainwear. I found it restrictive, like I was RIDING in a mummy suit, however kept the pants on for extra warmth and it sure did work. As we RODE out of Wasaga and into other small towns the sun came out which was a very welcome sight. We RODE through Orangeville and south down through Fergus, into Guelph (huge traffic jam due to construction) and onward to Clappison's Corners, Highway 5 and 6 stopping for a bite and some
hydration. The facilities were very welcome at that point. Glen and I parted ways there and I continued on Highway 5 west to Highway 52, however made a wrong turn and ended up going down Highway 8 towards Dundas. I turned around, back up to 5 and found the turn off for 52 towards Copetown. I lost approximately 1/2 hour and it ended up putting me into RIDING in the dark by the time I got to Port Dover. I prefer NOT to RIDE in the dark. Not a nice RIDE at all..... Made it home safety and it sure was nice getting home finally at 9:42 pm.
tb
Friday 18 May 2012
1st Evening & 2nd Day on Our EPIC Journey Around Georgian Bay 2012
After dinner, we took a few pictures around the TUB harbour. Explored Tobermory Harbour area ..... didn't take a whole lot of time.
Back at the Hotel, The Adventure the Bruce Inn which was billed as Tobermory's newest Inn. It was run by nice people, a husband and wife duo and were also Bikers. The rooms were spic and span, and they were very accomodating when we requested a couple of extra towels to use for the hot tub. Now the hot tub..... thats another story......needless to say, after being assured that the amenity was operating at acceptable parimeters, we were disappointing to find out the jets didn't blow worth a shit..... I went up and talked to the owner about it, as I thought perhaps I didn't turn some knob or switch the right way...... well he followed me down to the tub and said oh ya that's IT ! We had a hot tub mechanic down to fix it a couple of times and that is the best they can get out of it..... It was like one of the pumps were not operating.
That night we retired around 10:30 pm and I was rudely awakened by Glen snoring his face off and HE said he DIDN'T snore.... ya wright !!! I was up at the crack of 4:30 am as my bowels were erupting from the Buffalo chickens I had at the Crow's Nest Pub. Anyway, needless to say, we got an early start as my shower running woke Ole Glen-Bob up...... we loaded the bikes up, and got on the road to the Chi chi mon Ferry. A short RIDE of about 2 minutes at the most. We were told to be in line at 7:40 am. We were extremely early so we went on a small tour of Tobermory and saw a bunch of cottages and a couple of squirrels. We started to load on the ferry about 8 am or so and RODE in first and tied down the bikes with ropes. Of course I was the last one to finish being new to the experience of tieing down a motorcycle (525 lbs) in a cargo hold. Two women even beat me, and I was a bit embarrassed. We went up stairs and had a good breakfast for 5.75 INCLUDING coffee and a refill too boot !
About an hour and a half later we were disembarking at South Baymouth, Manitoulin Island and RODE like madmen to Espanola. Glen said it was a 45 minute RIDE... ya wright !!!! Try an hour and 15 minutes anyway... I don't know how these Bikers do their timing ? We had lunch in Espanola at Wendy's because all Wendy's were suppose to have WIFI, but no luck there. Onward we went, took the bypass, around Sudbury. I wish we would have had more time to stop or perhaps stay in Sudbury. I heard the poutine there at The Silver Bullet is the best in Ontario and I would have liked to do Science North again. I'm sure Glen would have liked that too. But for some reason he had to be home Wednesday night, even though he took the whole week off....... We cruised, a gruelling bumpy RIDE to Parry Sound.
It seemed like for hours. We got to next hotel the Quality Inn and Conference Centre by 5 pm or so.... had a nice dinner at the Golden Griddle, had a soothing sauna, hot tub and a swim. The we retired for the evening and got into some sun flower seeds, beers for Glen and mountain dew for me.... Glen crashed after the two beers......it worked better than any pill. Man did he snore. I also was starting to dose after trying to get on my facebook page but kept loosing connectivity. I finally turned things off and listened to the bar fridge in the room hum for awhile till I fell asleep !
Back at the Hotel, The Adventure the Bruce Inn which was billed as Tobermory's newest Inn. It was run by nice people, a husband and wife duo and were also Bikers. The rooms were spic and span, and they were very accomodating when we requested a couple of extra towels to use for the hot tub. Now the hot tub..... thats another story......needless to say, after being assured that the amenity was operating at acceptable parimeters, we were disappointing to find out the jets didn't blow worth a shit..... I went up and talked to the owner about it, as I thought perhaps I didn't turn some knob or switch the right way...... well he followed me down to the tub and said oh ya that's IT ! We had a hot tub mechanic down to fix it a couple of times and that is the best they can get out of it..... It was like one of the pumps were not operating.
That night we retired around 10:30 pm and I was rudely awakened by Glen snoring his face off and HE said he DIDN'T snore.... ya wright !!! I was up at the crack of 4:30 am as my bowels were erupting from the Buffalo chickens I had at the Crow's Nest Pub. Anyway, needless to say, we got an early start as my shower running woke Ole Glen-Bob up...... we loaded the bikes up, and got on the road to the Chi chi mon Ferry. A short RIDE of about 2 minutes at the most. We were told to be in line at 7:40 am. We were extremely early so we went on a small tour of Tobermory and saw a bunch of cottages and a couple of squirrels. We started to load on the ferry about 8 am or so and RODE in first and tied down the bikes with ropes. Of course I was the last one to finish being new to the experience of tieing down a motorcycle (525 lbs) in a cargo hold. Two women even beat me, and I was a bit embarrassed. We went up stairs and had a good breakfast for 5.75 INCLUDING coffee and a refill too boot !
About an hour and a half later we were disembarking at South Baymouth, Manitoulin Island and RODE like madmen to Espanola. Glen said it was a 45 minute RIDE... ya wright !!!! Try an hour and 15 minutes anyway... I don't know how these Bikers do their timing ? We had lunch in Espanola at Wendy's because all Wendy's were suppose to have WIFI, but no luck there. Onward we went, took the bypass, around Sudbury. I wish we would have had more time to stop or perhaps stay in Sudbury. I heard the poutine there at The Silver Bullet is the best in Ontario and I would have liked to do Science North again. I'm sure Glen would have liked that too. But for some reason he had to be home Wednesday night, even though he took the whole week off....... We cruised, a gruelling bumpy RIDE to Parry Sound.
It seemed like for hours. We got to next hotel the Quality Inn and Conference Centre by 5 pm or so.... had a nice dinner at the Golden Griddle, had a soothing sauna, hot tub and a swim. The we retired for the evening and got into some sun flower seeds, beers for Glen and mountain dew for me.... Glen crashed after the two beers......it worked better than any pill. Man did he snore. I also was starting to dose after trying to get on my facebook page but kept loosing connectivity. I finally turned things off and listened to the bar fridge in the room hum for awhile till I fell asleep !
Thursday 17 May 2012
1st Day on Tour
It started off badly as Glen was 1 hour and 35 minutes late. Something about getting lost even though he was the author of the Itinerary. While waiting in the parking lot, two older gentleman came out .and saved me. Glen finally arrived and we were off, to Owen Sound and visited Fox Harley Davidson for 25 minutes. Then we lunched in Fergus then onward to Tobermory, for food, fuel, and accommodations.
Sunday 13 May 2012
19 1/2 Hours before Launch Time
Wow, Launch time is creeping up on me. Still waiting for Version 10.0 of our Itinerary for our EPIC Journey Around Georgian Bay 2012. Just talked to Bruce our leader of the Village Angels, who has done the trip and says we'll
be hard pressed to go from South Baymouth, to Parry Sound by 5 pm (second leg of the Journey) IF we stop in Sudbury. He seemed to indicate that I take a long time to eat. Hmmm......... may have to revamp our stopping points. Perhaps a quick stop at a Tim's, a tinkle, refuel and on the ROAD again...... doesn't seem like we'll be smelling many roses on that leg of the journey. Oh well, I'll run with it and see what happens. Glen, our Road Captain says no problem, I worry too much..... relax and enjoy the RIDE !
Life is Short, RIDE IT !
tb
be hard pressed to go from South Baymouth, to Parry Sound by 5 pm (second leg of the Journey) IF we stop in Sudbury. He seemed to indicate that I take a long time to eat. Hmmm......... may have to revamp our stopping points. Perhaps a quick stop at a Tim's, a tinkle, refuel and on the ROAD again...... doesn't seem like we'll be smelling many roses on that leg of the journey. Oh well, I'll run with it and see what happens. Glen, our Road Captain says no problem, I worry too much..... relax and enjoy the RIDE !
Life is Short, RIDE IT !
tb
Saturday 12 May 2012
2 Days before Launch Date -Hurdle One !
Yes the inevitable happened by Budd Glen completely dropped the ball as far as booking our second night stay in Parry Sound. I couldn't believe it ! So I had to pick the ball up and run with it and got our booking done last night at about 10 pm with Bryan. I'm wondering why he couldn't have called the hotel and done that as I had done the Tobermory booking. I did hear he was busy out back on his deck having a fire.
Oh well...... people eh ? You just never know when somebody's going to drop the ball or screw up. Anyway, doing my preparation chores today, after my weekly western omlette at Neighbours.
Oh well...... people eh ? You just never know when somebody's going to drop the ball or screw up. Anyway, doing my preparation chores today, after my weekly western omlette at Neighbours.
Friday 11 May 2012
3 Days before Launch Date
Just received our new Itinerary, Version 9.0 from my Bud Glen.
After shrinking it down a bit, it actually all fit on a page. Getting things
prepped and found out where to get a plug for my Garmin. Apparently Walmart is the cheapest and has a nice little bracket with it and a flapper over the hole so rain doesn't get in...... Will have to make a jaunt to Simcoe I guess IF I want to have GPS ability on-board. It could come in handy, as my Missus often says, I need a detailed map, on board Navigation and a backup Garmin GPS to find where we're going when we are RVing.
tb
After shrinking it down a bit, it actually all fit on a page. Getting things
prepped and found out where to get a plug for my Garmin. Apparently Walmart is the cheapest and has a nice little bracket with it and a flapper over the hole so rain doesn't get in...... Will have to make a jaunt to Simcoe I guess IF I want to have GPS ability on-board. It could come in handy, as my Missus often says, I need a detailed map, on board Navigation and a backup Garmin GPS to find where we're going when we are RVing.
tb
Wednesday 9 May 2012
5 Days Before Launch Date
Our Epic Journey Around Georgian Bay 2012 Version 9.0 has been drafted and by Buddy Glen has apparently emailed it to me.... We are about to embark on an EPIC Journey as I have never been on a L.D. Tour via motorcycle. Glen calls it a "MINI TOUR" but it will be a biggee for me never having done more than day trips... This trip will encompass 3-4 days of on the Road !
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