Day 1 in the books

The send off from you guys out there that have decided to follow me was special. I got all your Facebook post, txt, emails, and cell calls and I tried to answer most but access and time is going to be an issue until I reach Alaska I fear. Believe it or not I sit here in the middle of nowhere just outside Welland, Ontario in a tent typing a blog post and they actually have wi-fi through tout the camp ground. The couple nest to me have three dogs, which one chased me to my camp site, but I was bigger. Grrrr! Tuck your tail dog! Now I get to listen to the, The Doors, riders of the storm, whether I want to or not, but it’s not so bad. I could be pushing jets.

Lori will tell you point blank that I’m not the type of person to put my feelings out there, specially face to face. I decided not to tell everyone my full reason for the trip until the night before I left, so I didn’t have to tell it over and over again. If I touched your heart, it’s because you love your own Dad or in my brothers cases, our Dad. If I made you sad, I’m sorry. Now you know why I didn’t want to tell it over and over again. Even after 14 years, if I trench down for it, like last nights post, the pain returns. I want to be clear though, I’m doing this trip in happy stat of mind and not one of pain or regret. I was fortunate with my Dad that when he left, I had no regrets.

The ride today through the top of Virginia, the skip through Maryland, cross Pennsylvania, New York, and into Canada was mostly overcast, 63-75 degrees, no rain, perfect day. Sure picture blue skies would have been nicer, but let me tell you the sun can sometimes be brutal on a motorcycle rider. My beak, (nose), has a tendency to get burned even when it is cold, after baking in direct sunlight all day. Beak looks good right now.

For lunch I stopped at Gio’s world famous BBQ in Pennsylvania somewhere in the middle of nowhere and if ask me where, you will get a glazed look. It was tomato based and I got the platter with their special sauce and it was yummy! I didn’t have enough room for the beans, bread, and fries. I ate all the meat and had to throw the majority of the rest away. I hate that!!

 

Today’s route did appear on SpotTracker perfectly and I was a bit worried about it because it was flashing low batteries most of the day. I have some pretty cool AA batteries that the top opens and I plug them directly into a usb port to recharge. Tomorrow, I will attempt to recharge them while I drive and use the second set to run the tracker. Speaking of today’s run, I laid down 408 miles a little more than laid out. One more cool thing, I went into the Garmin GPS and told it to show all distances and speed in Kilometers in hopes I get no Canadian tickets. Observation so far, all Canadians speed, a lot!

Tomorrow’s weather should be almost as good as today and a 30% chance of rain at my destination. Should be another 400 miler zipping around the backside of the great lakes. Below is my picture link. Not much today, but it does show my campsite.

Pictures of the Day