niagara falls ride report

[marcus22]

Day Nine:

Our destination from Sudbury was to be Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. only a 190 miles or so. easy day so we slept in and checked out as late as possible. the day before my wife and i were riding around trying to find a wal-mart or something like it. it took us 45 min to an hour to find it. well in the morning we all needed some things like socks and underwear. so off to the other side of town to get much needed supplies. also the day before be found the local harley dealer 1/2 mile away from our hotel and a sign saying: open sunday harley demo rides. So after wal-mart we wanted to see the dealer. it was a nice dealer. had some cool bikes and the demo days were going on. tons of bikes there. my point being in all this rambling on is that we noticed a wal-mart a couple of blocks down from the dealer within a mile of our hotel. I hate it when that happens.

The riding was nice as it could have been. the weather was suny and clear skies as always on this trip so far. about half way to the Soo we stopped for food at this burger and fries stand. I LOVE FRIES AND GRAVY. THANK YOU CANADA. another thing i love is that they give you vinegar in a spray bottle to also put on the fries. oh it tasted so good. the funny thing is that my mom uses vinegar and water for cleaning.

while we were sitting and enjoying some fries and gravy this old cavalier pulled up and told the girl in the the burger hut to come and see this. so obviously we all were looking. they opened the trunk and out they pulled this 5 foot long sturgeon. the biggest fish i have ever seen. they said it was about 70 lbs.

after a couple more hours of riding we arrived in Sault Ste. Marie. the Soo as they call it. a couple years back my wife and i stayed at the super 8 and it was really nice and within walking distance to some restaurants. so we stayed there again. last time my wife and i never had time to see the city. so my dad and i went out to look at the locks. it was interesting but nothing was open on a sunday afternoon.

Darry queen was right next to the hotel so we ate there and watched t.v. the rest of the night.

 

[Backroad Rider]

Marcus,
Thanks ever so much for sharing, the BETTER HALF and I are planning a 14 day road trip in about 3 weeks (20 days but who's counting), Niagra Falls is one of the destinations we've discussed...After following your escapades, we may just set our sights in that area.
Ride safe and keep the shiney side up.
Bill

 

[marcus22]

Marcus,
Thanks ever so much for sharing, the BETTER HALF and I are planning a 14 day road trip in about 3 weeks (20 days but who's counting), Niagra Falls is one of the destinations we've discussed...After following your escapades, we may just set our sights in that area.
Ride safe and keep the shiney side up.
Bill

bill,
your welcome. i enjoy writing the report. it makes the memories last longer. funny my dad has always told me shiny side up.

 

[marcus22]

Day Ten:

Day ten started out with some rain. We were putting on our rain gear next to some other riders heading out to south dakota. i like hearing about other adventures. gives me ideas for future rides. The rain only lasted about 20 min and it was off and on for the most part. from Sault Ste. Marie to Thunder bay is a really cool ride. two years ago my wife and i traveled it but the other direction. the road is one of the best rides i have done. hills, curves, huge rock clifts, and of course the biggest lake in the world.

on the road there are signs everywhere saying: NIGHT DANGER and a picture of a crazy moose running out on the road. I had never seen a moose before and had always wanted to see one. of course not running at me wile Im on my bike. well just as we came around a corner i seen two of them in a deep ditch. no time to stop and the camera was put away. so we stopped and turned around with the camera ready. we only got a picture of one, but it was cool to see them again at a slower speed.

Lake Superior Provincial park is cool. they have a bunch of pull off areas where you can go hiking and see the lake. we always stop at Old Woman Bay. it has a really nice beach and all around good views. my wife likes to lay in the warm sand.

Wawa was only a few minutes out and that was where we would get lunch and fuel up the ponies.

after Wawa we were once again on the road again. but soon we saw an electronic sign saying: ROAD CLOSED AT WHITE RIVER. i started to think about why it is closed. Road work? no they usually have more than one sign out and why is everybody else still going that way? then I realized it could be an emergency because of the late notice and the helicopter in Wawa getting ready to take off. i was hoping everyone was ok.

so we pushed on. worse case scenario we drive back to Wawa. when we arrived in White River we found a long line of cars waiting. the nice thing about being on a motorcycle is that we can squeeze by lots of cars. so we passed lots of parked cars and headed to a store where we found some other bikers waiting. we talked to a lot of people and everyone had their theory of what happened. the gossip train was moving fast. the only thing that seemed to be the same is that there was an accident with a flagman, the road had been closed since 11am, and no one knew when it would open. the two motels in the town were filling up fast so we booked one and decided to stay the night.

we talked to a bunch of people and found out the important things. wheres the beer store and when does the bar close? we started talking to our new neighbors for the night and found out they were really friendly people. there was a mother with her two daughters moving across Canada to BC, one quiet guy with a quick joke always on hand, and a construction crew from Sudbury on their way to do a job somewhere way northwest of us. all of us started to talk and have a great time. those Canadians are some of the funniest people a have ever met. we stayed up swapping stories until the mayor of White River told us we were being too loud. we respectfully parted ways and ended the night.

oh one more thing White River is where Winnie the Pooh came from. or so thats what we were told and the city had a bunch of pooh stuff.

 

[marcus22]

pictures from day ten:

 

[marcus22]

more pics from day ten:

 

[Dr.Evil]

Day Ten:

Day ten started out with some rain. We were putting on our rain gear next to some other riders heading out to south dakota. i like hearing about other adventures. gives me ideas for future rides. The rain only lasted about 20 min and it was off and on for the most part. from Sault Ste. Marie to Thunder bay is a really cool ride. two years ago my wife and i traveled it but the other direction. the road is one of the best rides i have done. hills, curves, huge rock clifts, and of course the biggest lake in the world.

on the road there are signs everywhere saying: NIGHT DANGER and a picture of a crazy moose running out on the road. I had never seen a moose before and had always wanted to see one. of course not running at me wile Im on my bike. well just as we came around a corner i seen two of them in a deep ditch. no time to stop and the camera was put away. so we stopped and turned around with the camera ready. we only got a picture of one, but it was cool to see them again at a slower speed.

Lake Superior Provincial park is cool. they have a bunch of pull off areas where you can go hiking and see the lake. we always stop at Old Woman Bay. it has a really nice beach and all around good views. my wife likes to lay in the warm sand.

Wawa was only a few minutes out and that was where we would get lunch and fuel up the ponies.

after Wawa we were once again on the road again. but soon we saw an electronic sign saying: ROAD CLOSED AT WHITE RIVER. i started to think about why it is closed. Road work? no they usually have more than one sign out and why is everybody else still going that way? then I realized it could be an emergency because of the late notice and the helicopter in Wawa getting ready to take off. i was hoping everyone was ok.

so we pushed on. worse case scenario we drive back to Wawa. when we arrived in White River we found a long line of cars waiting. the nice thing about being on a motorcycle is that we can squeeze by lots of cars. so we passed lots of parked cars and headed to a store where we found some other bikers waiting. we talked to a lot of people and everyone had their theory of what happened. the gossip train was moving fast. the only thing that seemed to be the same is that there was an accident with a flagman, the road had been closed since 11am, and no one knew when it would open. the two motels in the town were filling up fast so we booked one and decided to stay the night.

we talked to a bunch of people and found out the important things. wheres the beer store and when does the bar close? we started talking to our new neighbors for the night and found out they were really friendly people. there was a mother with her two daughters moving across Canada to BC, one quiet guy with a quick joke always on hand, and a construction crew from Sudbury on their way to do a job somewhere way northwest of us. all of us started to talk and have a great time. those Canadians are some of the funniest people a have ever met. we stayed up swapping stories until the mayor of White River told us we were being too loud. we respectfully parted ways and ended the night.

oh one more thing White River is where Winnie the Pooh came from. or so thats what we were told and the city had a bunch of pooh stuff.

Marcus, I will be right on your tail. We hit St Ignace tomorrow afternoon, Wawa and Pooh town the next day. Keep the details comming. If the Mayor thought your bunch was loud, wait till we show up.

 

[marcus22]

Day Eleven:

when we woke up all of our new friends were gone. they all had to make up for lost time so they left early. lucky us, we were a couple of days ahead of schedule and did not need to make up time. i love sleeping in.

after a couple of doughnuts for breakfast, we headed out. I was so excited because this next section of road was in the top two best roads for the trip. the other was H58 in MI. Once we were climbing the hills and cornering around the rock cliffs, it felt like we were back in the mountains out west. One spot in the road made us feel like the road ended and we were going into the lake. i wish we would of had the camera ready.

the goal for the day was thunder bay. we wanted to get there asap so we could relax and have time to do things in town. so we rode on not stopping very much.

about an hour or so into our ride we were stopped by this police officer (OPP) he was standing in the middle of the road stopping everyone. he was a very nice gentlemen and showed us a picture of this man. he said "if you see this man call the OPP right away. he is a wanted man." Some of the rumors from yesterday came true about the flagman getting hit. obviously he did not search us because we were on motorcycles, but they were searching cages and trucks.

again i have to comment on the beauty of the north side of lake superior. i heard they are going to make it into a 4 lane divided highway eventually. i wonder what that will do to the ride?

when we entered into thunder bay we stopped at the harley dealer just to look around. my rear tire still looked ok so i did not get it worked on. we figured since it was a tuesday there would be no need for a hotel reservation in a town of 100,000 people. we were wrong. there must have been something going on in town because most of the hotels were full. so we spent about an hour driving around looking for a room. it was funny (strange) because we would stop at a hotel and my wife would run in and check rates and availability. well we decided on one and i went in to pay. the lady gave me a rate and it came out 15 bucks cheaper than what my wife was told. i think it was my good looks.

after unloading our gear we walked over to meet a friend. 3 years ago my family came to thunder bay and we met the owner of Naxos Grille and bar. very nice lady. well long story short my wife became facebook friends with her and 3 years later my wife told her we were coming into town and she said she would be there. the one good thing about facebook. so we met up and talked over some drinks. a lot has changed in 3 years. before we parted our friend gave my wife a Naxos t-shirt. very nice of her, we were not expecting that. so if you are ever in Thunder Bay ON go to Naxos Grille and Bar. its a Greek restaurant/bar a block east of the harley dealer. good food and good company.

after that we went back to the hotel. nice hotel and in a great location, but we had a pool view room that was vented directly into the pool area. the vent acted like a megaphone from the pool area. not a smart design.

pictures from day eleven:

more pics from day eleven:

 

[marcus22]

Marcus, I will be right on your tail. We hit St Ignace tomorrow afternoon, Wawa and Pooh town the next day. Keep the details comming. If the Mayor thought your bunch was loud, wait till we show up.

I like your style.

 

[Dr.Evil]

I finally have some time. I am sitting in the Comfort Inn 200' from the Harley dealer on a Sunday night. We will hit the dealer in the morning. I have never seen so many lakes with no houses or boats on them. We are having fishing withdrall. The moose only attack after dark. They could have saved money by posting where there are no moose. We had the temp changs from 85F to 60f 20 times in 100 miles, very strange.

Did you eat at the "Antlers" in Mi - Sault St Marie, very cool.