Day 1 to 7 (August 22, 2010 to August 28, 2010) - our first week On the Road Again

597 kms! That s how many kilometers we have driven on our first day! We are starting our trip by breaking off our rule, not more than 400 kilometers a day.


The day started at a quick pace! I was up at 7am and went immediately to check the meteo. Light rain, this was the forecast for Cornwall and sunny in the afternoon for the Rochester, NY , area. Alain got up at 7:15 am claiming that I had awoken him. It is true that I had slightly touched his hair. This was meant to be a gentle gesture. At 7:50 am, he told me that we would leave at 8am if it was not raining. At 8:01am, I announced that it was not raining. Then, everything started to go quickly. I vacuumed our bedroom one more time, cleaned the bathroom, prepared sandwiches, called our friends, Christine and Vincent to let them know we were leaving in half an hour. In the end, we left at 9:20am… This was tough, as our son, Julien, got up from bed to waive us goodbye. As we drove away, we had tears in the eyes, not the easiest when you have to drive a motorcycle. I must say that this is a time when you do appreciate having good friends around. Thank you Vincent and Christine for what you are doing for us, Julien and the house. Before we left today, we made a quick call to our mothers to tell them we were indeed leaving. Alain and Lucille, some other friends, called us also to say goodbye. We already had our helmets on…

After 10 kilometers, it started raining, gently at first, but at soon as we reached Cornwall, it started just pouring, and it rained and rained for 450 kilometers… We missed the US border crossing we had planned and ended up crossing the border at Ogdensburg, On. This is when I had my first cold sweats (I am sure I will have more)! The bridge at this crossing is like an iron grid for about 2kms, which seemed to me more like 200kms. With the rain, I am afraid that this is slippery. Maintain your speed, maintain your speed, don’t speed up! And of course on top of the bridge, you have a light, which meant I had to slow down and stop and re-start and here we go again, maintain your speed, maintain your speed. I was happy to see the end of this bridge.

As you are riding your motorcycle, you have plenty of time to do a lot of thinking, especially on long stretches and the weirdest things come to your mind. At one point, it was raining so much that I had the feeling I was sitting in a puddle of fresh water, which made me think that it would be a good alternative to Preparation H. As it was raining so much, Alain and I decided that we would drive down as much as possible today. In the end, it is like trying to escape the bad weather all day long. The positive about the rain is that we got to test our rain equipment in real life. We were happy to see that our boots and rain gear were waterproof. Alain got some water down his neck but it was because he had put another protection in the neck, which took some water. What is annoying about driving in the rain is that you have to make some choices: either you get the fog inside the helmet from your breath and you don t see much, or you keep on lifting the helmet from time to time, but because of the speed it does not hold in place and it is frankly annoying.

By the way, on highway 81 South, exit 34, we had already reached the city of Mexico. We just had to turn around and we would have made our trip within 48 hours.

We ended up our day in a Best Western. Thank you Alain and Lucille for your gift card. We did already use it, but needed the break already. When I went to bed, as I was trying to feel asleep, I felt like I was still on the motorcycle : I could still feel the vibrations in my blood, you know like when you are a teenager and you come back from a party and you still hear the noise of the music. Same feeling! At least, we got some rest which was important.

Our second day did not start too well. I lost my glasses this morning. I put them on the bike and then drove away…

We are planning at some point in time to buy a motorbike to motorbike communication systems, but until we do so, like in business, Alain and I have to work on our own communication system. When I slow down after an exit, it means that we missed the right exit. We have now agreed that when Alain flashes his light to exit, if I flash on the same side, it means that I agree; If I flash the left one, then it means I don’t agree and then he has to keep on going straight. We got lost a couple of times today, it was raining (again), Alain was far ahead of me, I was slowing down, putting my flash light on, but he kept on going. So when he finally caught on that we had missed the exit, he stopped and we discussed the above strategy. It seems to have worked much better since then. In addition, my motorcycle does not have a very high windshield, therefore each time a 53’ air ride trailer passes me, especially if it rains and it is rainy, I have to slow down until I can see again.

We drove about 460 kilometers today, much better than yesterday, but still a lot for one day. We are learning and are spending the day in Pittsburgh tomorrow.

Third day, August 24, 2010

Weather is still not great this morning although the meteo is saying it should be sunny! We have decided to ride only on Alain’s bike today. First motorcycle problem for our trip: the headlight does not work anymore! After 2 hours of trying to find a garage, we decide to change the light ourselves on the parking lot (yes, we have no fear!). I read the instructions and Alain shows dexterity in changing the light. As you may know, Alain’s handy skills are usually fairly limited. This time, I am impressed and five minutes later, it is fixed. On the road again… We decide to visit Pittsburgh with its 440 bridges or so. This city is located on three rivers, which does not make it easy to find your way. We visit the Andy Warhol Museum. Andy Warhol is a Pop Art artist whose art is based on publicity, repetition and all out commercialism. The highlight of the visit, in my opinion, is the Silver Clouds room, where you have silver balloons floating around the room on their own. People react differently when they are inside the room, some trying to touch them others trying to avoid them.

We then walked along the river banks and as the time was running short, we quickly visited the Carnegie Science Center.

On our fourth day, we underestimated the distances. 454 kilometers today. We don’t feel like we are on vacation yet, as it sounds like we have a high average to maintain… Splendid highway with no potholes, very pretty scenery and ideal temperature. Tonight, we sleep in West Virginia, not very far from Huntington and we can already feel the change. It is not as hilly, it is warmer and more humid. Tonight, we have noticed that in the end, the Touratech saddlebags are not waterproofed. Some of our camping gear is humid and wet.

Let talk about the joys of camping a little bit: this camping is located closed to a railway and on the other side, we have the highway. The showers are cold (although Alain told me I should have moved the knob on the side, I could not figure the trick out) and not that clean (I tiptoe in the showers…)

Fifth day, Sixth and Seventh day: August 26, 27 &28 2010

That’s it. We are starting to be reasonable : only 283 kilometers on the odometer on our fifth day and in addition, we have located easily a nice campground, the Elkhorn Campground with swimming pool and Wi-Fi at the negotiated price of $ 15.00 a night instead of $ 24.00. Yes, we are starting to negotiate everything. We advised the owner of the campground that $ 15.00 a night was our daily budget and they agreed. Nothing to lose if it works and we are staying here 3 nights!

We have visited the Buffalo Trace Distillery close to Frankfort, Kentucky. This distillery of Bourbon employs 320 people a year. Bourbon is cooked 10 months as in July and August, it is just too hot. This distillery was the first one to incorporate steam power. During prohibition in the 1920’s, it continued limited production for medicinal purposes. The four ingredients for Bourbon are corn, rye, malted barley and wheat. The change of temperature in the storage facilities is important for the quality of the Bourbon and Bourbon has to be stored in virgin oak barrels, which means that the barrels have to be used only once. After having been used for aging, the barrels are shipped to Canada and overseas. The barrels are charred to give a better taste to the Bourbon. We also got to taste different Bourbons at the end of the visit. A very interesting and educative overall, and by the way it is free.

Camping also allows us to meet with people and last night, our second night, our camping neighbour brought us two big slices of chocolate cake. Very sweet, the lady, not the cake! And the lady told us we did not have to worry, that she was very clean. We were also invited to join them to watch a movie ''when Harry met Sally'' and tonight, it’s Square Dance Night, not that we know what it is.

Today , we are vegging out, meaning not doing much : swimming pool, short walks, eating, sun tanning, enjoying the time off…

By the way, we are starting to struggle with the people’s accent in this area : As Alain said, he thought this accent only existed in movies. We always have the feeling that they are eating something when they talk, but they really aren’t. They also speak very slowly, which means we are never sure whether they have finished their sentence or if they have more to add or if they are going to fall asleep soon.