Iowa

Left early so we could quit early. 35 degrees in Iowa on the last day of August. We crossed the Mississippi which divides Illinois and Iowa. It is so low this year that only half the barges are moving on it. Stayed on the interstate: the 90 and 80 as we could not afford to be stuck in lights and heavy traffic in the heat like yesterday. The highway was a blast furnace and with all our gear on we made frequent stops to stay hydrated and cool down. I made Erik stop early at Walnut, a picturesque prairie hamlet near a highway pitstop with the usual service station, convenience store, MacDonald's, Super 8 Motel and a restaurant. Took a while to get our body temperatures and my temper back to normal.

Indiana and Illinois

Erik is like a horse that can see the barn after being on a long ride; he just wants to gallop all the way home, he says. We have been mostly on the interstate trying to make some time. We decided we don't want to go to any big cities on purpose, after having been stuck in one yesterday and 2 today. Traffic was congested, scary, hot and rude. Funny part was that was when we were trying to escape the freeway to smaller roads. The interstate is interesting: tolls are collected different everywhere but the silliest one had to be where you had to drive by and drop in $.90 to a basket. We had to pullover, find change in the trunk of the bike, remount, throw it in as we drive by and pullover again to put on our gloves. How dangerous is all that with crazy traffic? I am beginning to understand why bikers don't bother to wear any gear and infrequently a helmet. Too much aggravation and never mind the heat stroke at 33 degrees. Hard to believe on Aug. 30. It really does freak me out a bit though to see bikers riding 80 miles an hour, zipping by trucks pulling 3 trailers, bare arms, legs and head. I ran over a guy's ballcap when in blew off yesterday. Then he pulled over to try and get it. Oops. One guy from a state where there is a helmet law, showed us his. He bent it in two because it was just made out of rubber. There is no DOT standard. One of the states insists the passenger wear a helmet but not the driver. Canada believes a little less in individual rights and a little more in collective safety I guess. I am OK with that. They also sell liquor in the corner stores here, and at the gas stations, but the best one was the drive through liquor store. Not many pictures as we were moving too fast or in crazy traffic. We are staying at a holiday inn in Ottawa, Illinois and had our "points" room upgraded to a suite by this wonderful clerk who felt sorry for us when we came in exhausted, stinky and sweaty. We have only wonderful things to say about all the people we have met in the hospitality industry in the last few days. Erik took a picture of some of the luggage that we drag in and out of the bikes every day. Most of it is his of course.....

New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio

Rain quit and we had a pleasant day riding the 20 in New York, but got to admit with construction and towns it was slow..... 3 hours to do 120 km. some of the little towns were amazing though like Skaneateles, NY. Old mansions with manicured gardens across the street from a postcard lake with sailboats and antiquated rows of shops. Antique hunters would die to travel this route. Lunch in Lima at the American Hotel built in 1850 with 60 kinds of homemade soup. Moved from cornfields to vineyards to mixed farms and cabbage patches. I had never really considered NY to be agricultural but it certainly is. Pennsylvania was only a short distance to cover, about 45 miles. We tried to experience it by staying off the interstate and the 20 and the 5 were our choices. Pieces were amazing with tree veiled lanes and curvy forest trails but much of the 20 was painful and slow through towns littered with uncoordinated stoplights and heavy traffic. Staying just inside Ohio tonight.

Vermont to New York

Vermont to New York: beautiful ride in Vermont. Very scenic with perfect motorcycle roads and weather. Got the oil changed on the Spyder at Gable Motorsports, Cobbleskill New York. They got us in with no appointment which was much appreciated. We normally stop riding by 6 but today we pushed on taking the I 90 and should have quit. Got drenched when the sky opened up and had to pull in under an overpass as Erik could not see anything. A dangerous 15 minutes as visibility was so poor and the roads ugly. Pulled in for the night as soon as we could in Syracuse and were happy to be dry, safe and fed with a decent bed for the night. Hoping for dry roads in the morning.

Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont

Travelled the Interstate for a couple of hours to make time. Hit two toll roads for road improvements, something we don't see at home because our higher taxes cover that. New Hampshire was impressive with curvy roads, lazy rivers and lanes with trees that touch at the top forming a green tunnel. GPS only got us lost briefly once and took us to an old covered bridge. Much better than yesterday's garbage dump. 30 degrees in the shade so we stopped often and found Concord and Keene, where the old city centers were architecturally fascinating and typically American. Flags, town squares, old brick hotels and shops, proud high schools with huge sports fields and grand stands, town library and town hall. Old mansions and new developments. In Keene by the town square Jumanji was filmed (Robin Williams). Must watch the movie again to see what I recognize. Met Brian and Bernadette who told us that while we shared a coffee. They also helped us navigate our way to Vermont from Keene, which was like figuring out a maze. Good day.

Bangor, Maine

GPS was not our friend today. Leaving Saint John it tried to take us on gravel roads and to a garbage dump. We went in circles for quite a while (kind of like ground hog day). Finally a lady at the fruit market led us through the maze of highway signs and entrances with her vehicle. She said all this work and signage was new and the GPS wouldn't recognize it. Something to beware of with the bikes as it often wants to autocorrect by taking us on impassable trails. After the border we took a wrong turn again looking for the coastal highway and pulled our second groundhog day that seemed to last forever. Once we got on the right road #1 south, it was really pretty. Maine is different than I expected though. I guess I expected scenery like "the Great Gatsby" but it was a lot like New Brunswick with different architecture. Erik found his lobster heaven finally: great prices and shops boiling up lobsters in pots right on the roadside. We had generous tasty lobster rolls for lunch in a little cafe. Ended up in Stephen King's town, Bangor. Lucky to get a room as there was a giant music festival by the water. We went and listened to the blues from the sidelines for a while in the evening. No pics today.

Saint John

On our trip today in Fundy National Park, we hit 5 km of loose gravel because of road construction. No warning on the road until we hit it. We found this typical throughout our trip. Erik was really appreciative he was on the Tiger, just what it is built for, and of course I was OK on 3 wheels. Left Alma which was also in low Fundy tide. They block up the boats so they sit evenly on the beach when the tide ebbs. At the Harbour in Saint John they used to bring the horse drawn wagons down in low tide to unload the sailing vessels. Impressed by the Harbour. Watched some sculpture competitions, did some window shopping, wandered through the market, watched some beach volleyball, listened to a western band warming up, checked out the small boats and enjoyed a Moosehead beer on the patio. It serves many functions: tourism, commerce/shipping, cruise ship terminal, city centre. Suffered a massive fire in 1880's and had to entirely rebuild uptown. Resulted in extremely interesting architecture. Seafood again for supper; being prairie folk we cannot get enough. Mussels, chowder and lobster = heaven. Staying at the Delta right in the Harbour. We got an amazing rate just for motorcycles - they gave us an upgrade, a discount on an already low rate, complementary breakfasts and free valet parking. First time we have ever been offered a special rate because we are on bikes. Something to check out when booking accommodations. Stopped at CAA to pick up maps and info for our return trip through the US, got some US cash and bought Erik a telus plan for texting, phone and wireless. If anyone needs to reach us, his phone is the best bet. Mine will be off, so I don't incur any roaming charges. I will only have email and wifi when available. Heading for Maine tomorrow after I cash in my winning lottery ticket and we check out the cruise ship.

Bay of Fundy and Hopewell Rocks

We spent the day watching the tide rollout and in. We walked the flower pots when the tide was low and clambered over the rocks to the mud flats where the sea birds feast on the critters deposited in the mud. Saw 4 bald eagles gliding in one piece of air space. The water moved 42 feet today and you need to check the tide schedule before you visit and plan to spend a minimum of 5 hours here to truly appreciate the magnitude of this phenomenon. Moved south along the #114, a curvy newly paved road to Alma, a quaint fishing village. In less than 10 minutes the fog rolled in and consumed the town. We were glad we stopped for the day. New Brunswick is Canada's only bilingual province and it was readily apparent today. C'est magnifique!