Holly
Amma
On the spur of the moment, I decided to go to the Island Rally in Prince Edward Island for Labour Day weekend. The plan was to leave on Tues., Aug 26 to get there by Friday. In the meantime I had a houseful of guests. So I ran the Yamaha over to a friends for a pre-ride checkout on Sat. the 24th. After a quick check he called to say I needed new tires, a new chain, and therefore new sprockets. Of course there was no time to order and install them. What to do? Fortunately one of the guests was Roy Blakney. I had met him in Chugwater, WY when I coasted into the gas station on fumes. Saw him again at the rally and told him to drop by on his trip from Moncton to Vancouver then back to Denver. He tuned up the carbs on my airhead so it actually started for me. Problem solved. Installed the new Zumo (love that fuel guage 
) and off I went on Tuesday.
First stop was Bench Mark Works to find out why the tail light wasn't working. Bob replaced the fuse, gave me a couple of extra ones and I was good to go. I also picked up a spare inner tube while I was there, just in case. Then it was off to Ottawa to visit my daughter and grandkids for the youngest one's birthday. The trip from home to Ottawa should have taken 6 hours but took about 10. There were 2 bouts of construction and 1 nasty accident which meant about 3 hours of 10 kph creeping down the 401. I thought my hands would fall off from the heavy clutch and brake levers and the engine got so darned hot I was thoroughly cooked and totally wrung out by the time I got there. Still the birthday presents were intact, so all was well. I was in bed well before the kids, though.
Next day I rode through Montreal and Quebec city. The Metropolitain (#40) through Montreal is a traffic nightmare that many people in cages dread, so I was pretty proud of myself for managing it on a 40 year old bike. I stopped in Montmagny, Que where I found an old but beautifully redecorated motel with a good fast internet connection. I had to work that night, including a web conference that ran for almost 2 hours. Have to pay for the gas somehow.
Thursday was a lovely riding day with very little traffic but lots of moose warning signs as I headed out of Quebec and through New Brunswick. It was a delight to ride on the new 4 lane TCan through NB. Nobody told Mr. Garmin about it though, and the Zumo showed me GSing through field and stream while it frantically tried to direct me back to the old road. Stopped in Fredericton that night.
Friday I headed over the Confederation Bridge to PEI. I set up my tent and finally found my camera at the bottom of the saddlebag with the emergency equipment.
http://frelsi.smugmug.com/photos/366921095_AmnSW-L.jpg
The rally was celebrating its 25th anniversary.
http://frelsi.smugmug.com/photos/366921864_G9Z52-L.jpg
There were lots of Wings and Harleys there and a few BMWs.
http://frelsi.smugmug.com/gallery/5900519_59AYv#366922231_RnzU8
I spent a lot of time with a friend who is on the FIM Environment Committee and was the Environmental Steward for the rally. He is looking forward to an FIM meeting in South Africa in October. I also enjoyed sightseeing on the island and stuffing my face with fish, lobster, scallops, mussels etc.
On Sunday the weather was taking a definite turn for the worst and many of the participants decided to head home early. Apparently they hit really nasty hail storms as soon as they got off the island. Not that we had much to be smug about. I slept through the storm at Gillette, but the one in PEI Sunday night certainly kept me awake with the wind and the rain rattling the tent all night. Packing up Monday in the continuing storm was no picnic. Then we discovered the bridge was closed. Fortunately, it opened for a couple of hours in the afternoon when the winds let up a bit and I was able to get off the island. Another hour's ride put me in Moncton and I was cold and wet enough to call it a day.
Tuesday was a 700 km day as I made up for lost time and rode from Moncton to Montmagny. Somewhere along the route my side bag with all my clothes in it parted company with the bike. It is a lonely stretch of highway so I doubt that anyone will ever find it. I also lost all my cute little origami dishes, cutlery, foot for the sidestand etc. So it was wash the clothes I was wearing and put them on damp the next morning. Could be worse.
Short ride through Montreal on Wednesday. Survived the 40 again and made it to Pierrefonds, where MOA members Marc and Susan St-Pierre had left their key on the back porch for me. I let myself in and then walked up to the local grocery store to pick up some wine (gotta love Quebec!) Next to the grocery store was a sporting goods store which was having a sale. So I picked up a few items, including bicycle shorts which are darned funny to walk in but turned out to be very comfortable on the bike next day. Then I showered, washed my hair, put on clean clothes and read their ON until they arrived home from work.
Marc tucked my bike in with their beautiful airheads. She felt decidedly dowdy in comparison.
Marc's bike
http://frelsi.smugmug.com/gallery/5900519_59AYv#366925891_dteMc
Susan's bike
http://frelsi.smugmug.com/gallery/5900519_59AYv#366926094_x3ZPa-A-LB
Then we went out to dinner at a great new restaurant in Pointe Claire that has several motorcycles in it as decor. The steak was fabulous.
Marc & Susan
http://frelsi.smugmug.com/gallery/5900519_59AYv#366925457_DtYcz-A-LB
The next day I had a fairly uneventful ride home. I decided to take the expensive toll road around Toronto, since I had another web conference that night and needed to be prepared for it. Good thing. A truck had hit an overpass support on one of the main exits of the 401 and I would have been stuck in traffic again if I had gone that way.
The bike was great and I had no trouble after the exhaustion of the first day. They don't make old airheads in petite and it was probably really funny watching me start and stop. To start I push the key into to headlight, then run back to the seat and press the magic button to start it. To stop I have to lean forward on the tank and stretch my leg as far back as it will go to reach the sidestand and put it down. Then I jump off and run around to the headlight so I can pull out the key. I have pretty substantial bar backs but even with them it is all I can do to reach the handlebars. Reaching the headlight is out of the question.
http://frelsi.smugmug.com/gallery/5900519_59AYv#366924783_4rB84-A-LB
Holly
) and off I went on Tuesday. First stop was Bench Mark Works to find out why the tail light wasn't working. Bob replaced the fuse, gave me a couple of extra ones and I was good to go. I also picked up a spare inner tube while I was there, just in case. Then it was off to Ottawa to visit my daughter and grandkids for the youngest one's birthday. The trip from home to Ottawa should have taken 6 hours but took about 10. There were 2 bouts of construction and 1 nasty accident which meant about 3 hours of 10 kph creeping down the 401. I thought my hands would fall off from the heavy clutch and brake levers and the engine got so darned hot I was thoroughly cooked and totally wrung out by the time I got there. Still the birthday presents were intact, so all was well. I was in bed well before the kids, though.
Next day I rode through Montreal and Quebec city. The Metropolitain (#40) through Montreal is a traffic nightmare that many people in cages dread, so I was pretty proud of myself for managing it on a 40 year old bike. I stopped in Montmagny, Que where I found an old but beautifully redecorated motel with a good fast internet connection. I had to work that night, including a web conference that ran for almost 2 hours. Have to pay for the gas somehow.
Thursday was a lovely riding day with very little traffic but lots of moose warning signs as I headed out of Quebec and through New Brunswick. It was a delight to ride on the new 4 lane TCan through NB. Nobody told Mr. Garmin about it though, and the Zumo showed me GSing through field and stream while it frantically tried to direct me back to the old road. Stopped in Fredericton that night.
Friday I headed over the Confederation Bridge to PEI. I set up my tent and finally found my camera at the bottom of the saddlebag with the emergency equipment.
http://frelsi.smugmug.com/photos/366921095_AmnSW-L.jpg
The rally was celebrating its 25th anniversary.
http://frelsi.smugmug.com/photos/366921864_G9Z52-L.jpg
There were lots of Wings and Harleys there and a few BMWs.
http://frelsi.smugmug.com/gallery/5900519_59AYv#366922231_RnzU8
I spent a lot of time with a friend who is on the FIM Environment Committee and was the Environmental Steward for the rally. He is looking forward to an FIM meeting in South Africa in October. I also enjoyed sightseeing on the island and stuffing my face with fish, lobster, scallops, mussels etc.
On Sunday the weather was taking a definite turn for the worst and many of the participants decided to head home early. Apparently they hit really nasty hail storms as soon as they got off the island. Not that we had much to be smug about. I slept through the storm at Gillette, but the one in PEI Sunday night certainly kept me awake with the wind and the rain rattling the tent all night. Packing up Monday in the continuing storm was no picnic. Then we discovered the bridge was closed. Fortunately, it opened for a couple of hours in the afternoon when the winds let up a bit and I was able to get off the island. Another hour's ride put me in Moncton and I was cold and wet enough to call it a day.
Tuesday was a 700 km day as I made up for lost time and rode from Moncton to Montmagny. Somewhere along the route my side bag with all my clothes in it parted company with the bike. It is a lonely stretch of highway so I doubt that anyone will ever find it. I also lost all my cute little origami dishes, cutlery, foot for the sidestand etc. So it was wash the clothes I was wearing and put them on damp the next morning. Could be worse.
Short ride through Montreal on Wednesday. Survived the 40 again and made it to Pierrefonds, where MOA members Marc and Susan St-Pierre had left their key on the back porch for me. I let myself in and then walked up to the local grocery store to pick up some wine (gotta love Quebec!) Next to the grocery store was a sporting goods store which was having a sale. So I picked up a few items, including bicycle shorts which are darned funny to walk in but turned out to be very comfortable on the bike next day. Then I showered, washed my hair, put on clean clothes and read their ON until they arrived home from work.
Marc tucked my bike in with their beautiful airheads. She felt decidedly dowdy in comparison.
Marc's bike
http://frelsi.smugmug.com/gallery/5900519_59AYv#366925891_dteMc
Susan's bike
http://frelsi.smugmug.com/gallery/5900519_59AYv#366926094_x3ZPa-A-LB
Then we went out to dinner at a great new restaurant in Pointe Claire that has several motorcycles in it as decor. The steak was fabulous.
Marc & Susan
http://frelsi.smugmug.com/gallery/5900519_59AYv#366925457_DtYcz-A-LB
The next day I had a fairly uneventful ride home. I decided to take the expensive toll road around Toronto, since I had another web conference that night and needed to be prepared for it. Good thing. A truck had hit an overpass support on one of the main exits of the 401 and I would have been stuck in traffic again if I had gone that way.
The bike was great and I had no trouble after the exhaustion of the first day. They don't make old airheads in petite and it was probably really funny watching me start and stop. To start I push the key into to headlight, then run back to the seat and press the magic button to start it. To stop I have to lean forward on the tank and stretch my leg as far back as it will go to reach the sidestand and put it down. Then I jump off and run around to the headlight so I can pull out the key. I have pretty substantial bar backs but even with them it is all I can do to reach the handlebars. Reaching the headlight is out of the question.
http://frelsi.smugmug.com/gallery/5900519_59AYv#366924783_4rB84-A-LB
Holly
