road ramblings
well, we did it!
Mark and i drove 4500 miles out to Minnesota and back on Kaiser (Mark's bmw r1150r). it was absolutely fantastic, an experience that i would do again in a heartbeat.
we drove out on Friday, the 15th, around 3:30pm and took route 2 across massachusetts, then jumped onto I-90 when we got to new york. we made it just outside of Niagara Falls around midnight where we camped out in a hammock (throw a bug net and tarp over it and you're all set!). saturday we crossed into Canada and wandered around the Falls for a while before heading to Toronto. after lunch we headed north to the Bruce Penninsula in the middle of lake Lake Huron and made it by the seat of our pants onto the ferry after hitting some nasty storms (we did have the foresight to buy raingear however, so we didn't get stuck trying to wait out the rains). an hour and half later we rolled off the ferry and continued on to Sault Saint Marie, where we camped for the night. what a beautiful campground! our neighbors were a bunch of Canadians from Thunder Bay on their way home from Novia Scotia. they hooked us (Mark) up with some beers and fun company. waking up after a solid 8 hours of sleep and feeling refreshed after a long shower, we rode along the Trans-Canadian Highway 17, which runs along northern Lake Superior. I want to move there. ASAP. it's BEAUTIFUL!!! rolling hills and winding roads overlooking view after gorgeous view of the lake was just an amazing high. sadly, my camera (which was dropped earlier this summer) did not survive the trip in its already weakened condition and the film suffered from sun exposure SO, we have no pictures from the trip (none). ah well, just an excuse to go again! Sunday we decided to get a bit ambitious and drove 1100 miles in 17 hours from Sault St Marie, Canada to Brainerd, Minnesota. i'm not so sure about doing that part again. but when we got to Thunder Bay we said, "oh, Duluth's barely 200 miles further" and when we got to Duluth we thought, "oh, Minneapolis is just 4 more hours away, and Mark has friends there we can stay with instead of spending more money on campgrounds." needless to say, it was a long day of riding. the elastic of my underwear was digging into my skin and it hurt so bad i wish i had boxers on instead. oy!
so, we arrived in Pipestone, Minnesota (in the south-west corner near South Dakota) on Monday afternoon, 3 1/2 days later. for the next four days we got to play with his beautiful niece and nephew (Madison, 3 and Oscar,1), cook with his dad and hang out with other friends and acquaintances in the area. nothing but fun and laughter, definitely a relaxing vacation.
Saturday morning we left early to head back east. I don't think that either of us were really ready to go home yet, we were both having too much fun! so we drove out to Wisconsin and stopped near Madison to visit Taliesin (Frank Lloyd Wright's school) and House on the Rock, basically a museum of oddities collected under an acre or so of oddly-shaped sheds (I don't know how else to describe it). then on to Chicago to stay at a friend's brother's house for the night. the next morning we woke up late and had a late breakfast with our hosts and some of their friends. Mark took us into downtown Chicago and showed me around since I had not yet been there. what a pretty city!!! so clean and welcoming and just plain awesome. i love it there, i want to move there too! unfortunately we were there on the hottest day that Chicago has seen in 6 years. we were given the option to return to our friend's house to stay another night, but the tough guys that we wanted to be, we pushed on. let me just say, if you are ever traveling on a motorcycle and it's rush hour in 105 degree heat, don't do it. it sucks a lot. but we did it anyway, and zipped through Indiana and Ohio (where I witnessed my first fatal car accident...i can definitely live without ever seeing that again) and came to a stop in Erie, Pa where we intended to stop and grab some coffee and breakfast (at 3am, we thought we could pull another 17 hour day and make it home. hah.), but ended up renting a room half price and crashing for 4 hours before setting out on our last leg of the journey. New York is a really long state when you've never traveled through it from west to east (or vice versa, i suppose). 600 miles later, we finally made it to Massachusetts and arrived at our home sweet home at 8:30 pm on Monday evening.
for being my very first road trip longer than 8 hours, and doing it on a motorcycle, i would say it was a huge success. it has only increased my passion for travel and motorcycles. *sigh* i can't wait until i get my license and buy my first bike. i even know already what i want - a ducati monster 620 in flat gray. it's a little growler of a bike and i can't wait to ride it!
there's tons more to say, but i need to get the laundry and take a nap! i will see you again soon, i promise!!!
Mark and i drove 4500 miles out to Minnesota and back on Kaiser (Mark's bmw r1150r). it was absolutely fantastic, an experience that i would do again in a heartbeat.
we drove out on Friday, the 15th, around 3:30pm and took route 2 across massachusetts, then jumped onto I-90 when we got to new york. we made it just outside of Niagara Falls around midnight where we camped out in a hammock (throw a bug net and tarp over it and you're all set!). saturday we crossed into Canada and wandered around the Falls for a while before heading to Toronto. after lunch we headed north to the Bruce Penninsula in the middle of lake Lake Huron and made it by the seat of our pants onto the ferry after hitting some nasty storms (we did have the foresight to buy raingear however, so we didn't get stuck trying to wait out the rains). an hour and half later we rolled off the ferry and continued on to Sault Saint Marie, where we camped for the night. what a beautiful campground! our neighbors were a bunch of Canadians from Thunder Bay on their way home from Novia Scotia. they hooked us (Mark) up with some beers and fun company. waking up after a solid 8 hours of sleep and feeling refreshed after a long shower, we rode along the Trans-Canadian Highway 17, which runs along northern Lake Superior. I want to move there. ASAP. it's BEAUTIFUL!!! rolling hills and winding roads overlooking view after gorgeous view of the lake was just an amazing high. sadly, my camera (which was dropped earlier this summer) did not survive the trip in its already weakened condition and the film suffered from sun exposure SO, we have no pictures from the trip (none). ah well, just an excuse to go again! Sunday we decided to get a bit ambitious and drove 1100 miles in 17 hours from Sault St Marie, Canada to Brainerd, Minnesota. i'm not so sure about doing that part again. but when we got to Thunder Bay we said, "oh, Duluth's barely 200 miles further" and when we got to Duluth we thought, "oh, Minneapolis is just 4 more hours away, and Mark has friends there we can stay with instead of spending more money on campgrounds." needless to say, it was a long day of riding. the elastic of my underwear was digging into my skin and it hurt so bad i wish i had boxers on instead. oy!
so, we arrived in Pipestone, Minnesota (in the south-west corner near South Dakota) on Monday afternoon, 3 1/2 days later. for the next four days we got to play with his beautiful niece and nephew (Madison, 3 and Oscar,1), cook with his dad and hang out with other friends and acquaintances in the area. nothing but fun and laughter, definitely a relaxing vacation.
Saturday morning we left early to head back east. I don't think that either of us were really ready to go home yet, we were both having too much fun! so we drove out to Wisconsin and stopped near Madison to visit Taliesin (Frank Lloyd Wright's school) and House on the Rock, basically a museum of oddities collected under an acre or so of oddly-shaped sheds (I don't know how else to describe it). then on to Chicago to stay at a friend's brother's house for the night. the next morning we woke up late and had a late breakfast with our hosts and some of their friends. Mark took us into downtown Chicago and showed me around since I had not yet been there. what a pretty city!!! so clean and welcoming and just plain awesome. i love it there, i want to move there too! unfortunately we were there on the hottest day that Chicago has seen in 6 years. we were given the option to return to our friend's house to stay another night, but the tough guys that we wanted to be, we pushed on. let me just say, if you are ever traveling on a motorcycle and it's rush hour in 105 degree heat, don't do it. it sucks a lot. but we did it anyway, and zipped through Indiana and Ohio (where I witnessed my first fatal car accident...i can definitely live without ever seeing that again) and came to a stop in Erie, Pa where we intended to stop and grab some coffee and breakfast (at 3am, we thought we could pull another 17 hour day and make it home. hah.), but ended up renting a room half price and crashing for 4 hours before setting out on our last leg of the journey. New York is a really long state when you've never traveled through it from west to east (or vice versa, i suppose). 600 miles later, we finally made it to Massachusetts and arrived at our home sweet home at 8:30 pm on Monday evening.
for being my very first road trip longer than 8 hours, and doing it on a motorcycle, i would say it was a huge success. it has only increased my passion for travel and motorcycles. *sigh* i can't wait until i get my license and buy my first bike. i even know already what i want - a ducati monster 620 in flat gray. it's a little growler of a bike and i can't wait to ride it!
there's tons more to say, but i need to get the laundry and take a nap! i will see you again soon, i promise!!!