Saturday, August 14, 2010
After indulging in the complimentary breakfast at the hotel this morning, we headed downtown to the beachfront park where we stopped for photos against the backdrop of Lake Michigan. In spite of a forecast for possible rain, we were blessed with clear skies and temperatures in the mid-seventies. We then motored eastbound on Michigan 2 toward Sault St Marie, MI and the Canadian border.
At 12:00 PM we approached the Canadian border bridge between Lakes Huron and Superior, paid the $3.00 (American) fare and started up the bridge. Traffic approaching us toward the United States had an estimated delay of one hour and ten minutes to clear customs. Reaching the top of the bridge, we came to an immediate stop. We had a 30 minute delay to the bottom of the bridge and Canadian Customs. In an attempt to avoid overheating our engines, we turned off our motors and coasted down the bridge. Southbound traffic commented that we had the quietest Harlie's they had ever heard. We told them we were riding the new "Eclectic Glides," in lieu of the traditional Electra Glides. What do they know?
After crossing the border without incident, we searched for a hotel in Sault St. Marie, Ontario, Canada, that Steve's sister-in-law Edie's father used to manage. We located and photographed it at Edie's request. This one's for you Edie. Departing Sault St. Marie, we began looking for a lunch spot and didn't find one until 2:30 PM in Bruce Mills (I don't make these town names up) and had lunch the Bobber Restaurant, that advertised "Home Cooking." It was pretty darn good! We try to avoid fast food on our trips whenever possible.
Departing Bruce Mills our beautiful clear sky began to turn overcast with temperatures in the mid-eighties, and was somewhat humid. We were still struggling with the MPH to KPH conversion in Canada, but it became pretty clear that we were going to need gas before too long. We located a Shell gas station en route and pulled in where we found that only one of their eight gas pumps had 93 octane gas (yes 93 not 91 as in California), the remainder only pumped 87 octane. Harlies require the higher octane gas. I can't tell you how long it took to pump gas into six motorcycles from only one pump the old fashioned way, no credit card at the pump! The attendant had to run each transaction into the office and return for a signature at the pump.
We arrived at our destination, Sudbury, Ontario, at 7:00 PM and checked into a nice Holiday Inn, not a Holiday Inn Express, the real deal, that Lane acquired for us at $40 per room. What a steal! He's our official schmoozer/negotiator. No one else is even allowed to talk to hotel staff until Lane has softened them up and/or beat them down. You're the man Lane.
Upon arrival, Steve excused himself from the group, thanking us for a good day of riding and comraderie, saying that he was tired and was going to bed. My instincts tell me that that is Steve speak for I'm going to go work on my blog, http://sreckon.blogspot.com/.
The hotel staff recommended Eddie's Sports Bar for dinner, just across the street. It's just a coincidence that they also serve alcohol. We opted for appetizers for supper as we had a late lunch. Melissa, our very attractive and personable server suggested Perogies, Poutine, deep fried pickles and hot wings. We said, "huh?" She said, "You're not from Canada are you?" We had to admit to that one.
For the uninitiated, Perogies are a small fried pastry filled with fried onion, bacon and sour cream. They are most delicious. Poutine consists of French fries and cheese curd covered with a brown gravy. Deep fried pickles are just what they sound like, and Southern Californians all know what Hot Wings are, except these are seasoned with Cajun spices, honey mustard and garlic,and are just delicious. Some of us shared a couple of pitchers of "Canadian" beer just to wash down the appetizers and to show our respect for our Canadian host, Eddie Gorc, who joined us at our table. Eddie was a very cordial chap who has visited Los Angeles and was kind enough to share his knowledge of places to see and things to do en route to Nova Scotia. Thank you Eddie, it was a pleasure meeting you and dining in your establishment.
Upon returning to the hotel some of the boys worked on getting hotel reservations for the following evening, programming the GPS for tomorrow's ride, and working on the blogs. Going try to get to bed before midnight tonight, but I still have pictures to load, so wish me luck because it's already after 11:00 PM in Sudbury and we haven't even uploaded the day's photos to the computer yet. Question to file, "Is this really worth it every night?"
P.S., a response to Bro-Joe, Spam is comprised of pork shoulder, ham, salt, water and enough nitrates to preserve it in the can for the half life of uranium, which I'm told is a very long time.
Regards,
The Horck
After indulging in the complimentary breakfast at the hotel this morning, we headed downtown to the beachfront park where we stopped for photos against the backdrop of Lake Michigan. In spite of a forecast for possible rain, we were blessed with clear skies and temperatures in the mid-seventies. We then motored eastbound on Michigan 2 toward Sault St Marie, MI and the Canadian border.
At 12:00 PM we approached the Canadian border bridge between Lakes Huron and Superior, paid the $3.00 (American) fare and started up the bridge. Traffic approaching us toward the United States had an estimated delay of one hour and ten minutes to clear customs. Reaching the top of the bridge, we came to an immediate stop. We had a 30 minute delay to the bottom of the bridge and Canadian Customs. In an attempt to avoid overheating our engines, we turned off our motors and coasted down the bridge. Southbound traffic commented that we had the quietest Harlie's they had ever heard. We told them we were riding the new "Eclectic Glides," in lieu of the traditional Electra Glides. What do they know?
After crossing the border without incident, we searched for a hotel in Sault St. Marie, Ontario, Canada, that Steve's sister-in-law Edie's father used to manage. We located and photographed it at Edie's request. This one's for you Edie. Departing Sault St. Marie, we began looking for a lunch spot and didn't find one until 2:30 PM in Bruce Mills (I don't make these town names up) and had lunch the Bobber Restaurant, that advertised "Home Cooking." It was pretty darn good! We try to avoid fast food on our trips whenever possible.
Departing Bruce Mills our beautiful clear sky began to turn overcast with temperatures in the mid-eighties, and was somewhat humid. We were still struggling with the MPH to KPH conversion in Canada, but it became pretty clear that we were going to need gas before too long. We located a Shell gas station en route and pulled in where we found that only one of their eight gas pumps had 93 octane gas (yes 93 not 91 as in California), the remainder only pumped 87 octane. Harlies require the higher octane gas. I can't tell you how long it took to pump gas into six motorcycles from only one pump the old fashioned way, no credit card at the pump! The attendant had to run each transaction into the office and return for a signature at the pump.
We arrived at our destination, Sudbury, Ontario, at 7:00 PM and checked into a nice Holiday Inn, not a Holiday Inn Express, the real deal, that Lane acquired for us at $40 per room. What a steal! He's our official schmoozer/negotiator. No one else is even allowed to talk to hotel staff until Lane has softened them up and/or beat them down. You're the man Lane.
Upon arrival, Steve excused himself from the group, thanking us for a good day of riding and comraderie, saying that he was tired and was going to bed. My instincts tell me that that is Steve speak for I'm going to go work on my blog, http://sreckon.blogspot.com/.
The hotel staff recommended Eddie's Sports Bar for dinner, just across the street. It's just a coincidence that they also serve alcohol. We opted for appetizers for supper as we had a late lunch. Melissa, our very attractive and personable server suggested Perogies, Poutine, deep fried pickles and hot wings. We said, "huh?" She said, "You're not from Canada are you?" We had to admit to that one.
For the uninitiated, Perogies are a small fried pastry filled with fried onion, bacon and sour cream. They are most delicious. Poutine consists of French fries and cheese curd covered with a brown gravy. Deep fried pickles are just what they sound like, and Southern Californians all know what Hot Wings are, except these are seasoned with Cajun spices, honey mustard and garlic,and are just delicious. Some of us shared a couple of pitchers of "Canadian" beer just to wash down the appetizers and to show our respect for our Canadian host, Eddie Gorc, who joined us at our table. Eddie was a very cordial chap who has visited Los Angeles and was kind enough to share his knowledge of places to see and things to do en route to Nova Scotia. Thank you Eddie, it was a pleasure meeting you and dining in your establishment.
Upon returning to the hotel some of the boys worked on getting hotel reservations for the following evening, programming the GPS for tomorrow's ride, and working on the blogs. Going try to get to bed before midnight tonight, but I still have pictures to load, so wish me luck because it's already after 11:00 PM in Sudbury and we haven't even uploaded the day's photos to the computer yet. Question to file, "Is this really worth it every night?"
P.S., a response to Bro-Joe, Spam is comprised of pork shoulder, ham, salt, water and enough nitrates to preserve it in the can for the half life of uranium, which I'm told is a very long time.
Regards,
The Horck
1 comment:
Hi Dad and fellow riding chaps. I just love reading your blog with it's updates and photos each day so to answer your question of whether it's worth it, my answer is absolutely YES! Just don't lose important sleep over it, Dad! I hope you're enjoying the sights without having to deal with anymore outside negative influence!
Love you!! VLV
XOXOXO
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