Washington Pennsylvania to Maggie Valley North Carolina

It had rained last night and the sky was still overcast grey as we left the Microtel at 7:00 AM. The young lady at the desk said the forecast there was calling for rain all week.  We stopped at McDonald's where, as soon as we had ordered and paid, the power went off. They locked the doors and made our order without the benefit of the screen system.

 No power - just ordered in time

 Briefly got 30 MPG drafting this guy

 West (By God) Virginia at 8:00 AM

 Orange posts for construction to start "later"

 NASA facility in Fairmont Virginia

 Too late, we are already stopped

 No zipper merging here

 I always sing "Last Train To Clarksburg" (I know....)

 Nice memorial in a rest area

 I-79 looking north from the rest area

 Mowers take their lives in their hands

 I-79 is not a dull Interstate

It was 80F as we passed Sutton, West Virginia. Towing a trailer in the mountains with the Equinox V6 was a bit of a challenge. You could drive without the cruise and play with the throttle and transmission in a "Rolls Cunardly" mode. You rolls down one side of the hill and cunardly get up the other. This screws up other traffic. Or you can set the cruise but you have to downshift before the grade. Otherwise, the automatic transmission will lose speed before it realizes it needs to downshift and then tries to make up that lost speed, burning extra fuel for no reason. Oddly, I found 70 MPH was better than 65 for the gearing in this vehicle.

 We have to leave the Interstate Highway System to take a shortcut

 Big grades add an extra slow right-hand lane

 The high point on the Mountaineer Expressway

 Summersville W(BG)V isn't joking about "strictly"

I would have liked to make it to Wytheville for fuel, Virginia, where the gas is always very cheap, but that was not to be. We stopped at McDonald's in Summersville, West Virginia to get Sandy a smoothie (the had power but were being renovated so we had to use the Drive Thru) and filled the tank at an adjacent Sunoco.

 Crossing the New River Gorge Bridge

 I love my EZ Pass

 I remember when the toll here was a quarter

 Camp Creek Hill

 The two-lane road is US 19

 As if the 5% downgrade wasn't enough, they put this at the bottom

 The Virginia state line is in this mountain

 Right about here

 Tunnels should always come in pairs

 At least it is well lit

 Wytheville water tower on I-81

 Note the upwards curve on the runway to the left

 Mountain Empire Airport

Rather than have a fast food lunch while we were driving, I thought it would be nice to sit down and suggested the Cracker Barrel in Abingdon. Sandy thought that that would be too much food, so we settled for an Arby's in Marion. She didn't like US Arby's because they did not automatically add Arby's sauce to the Beef 'N Cheddar. This time, however, they did. It was nice to see the Lee Highway (11 through Marion) had not been renamed. Yet.

 Marion Va - shoutout to Gary and Dianne

 Arby's for a change - Marion Va

 Pretty flowers

 Welcome to the Volunteer State

It was 88F as we went through Johnson City, Tennessee. We stopped at the little WalMart in Unicoi for a few supplies like water and Sargento snacks. They didn't have any Irish Cream single serve coffee creamers so we will need to check elsewhere.

Walmart in Unicoi Tn

Getting supplies

 Starting up to the NC state line

 Made it

 Last state line for a while 

Sandy's camera battery died as we entered North Carolina and the new backup battery was dead as well. This will take some sleuthing, but she used my Rebel for the rest of the trip. We hit Ashville right at rush hour where I decided that drivers in this city are nuts. We survived the transit to I-40 but I had my doubts for a few moments.

 Looks like some weather in those clouds to the south

 Rain started as we reached Maggie Valley

 It was raining hard when we reached the motel

 Brandon & Sheil from Kansas and Boomer from NFA were waiting

After the rain let up, I unloaded the gear and the bike and parked the trailer in the yard. The six of us went to Fat Buddies BBQ in Waynesville for supper. The evening was quite pleasant when we came out.

Fat Buddies BBQ - Waynesville NC

Laura and Bill from Arkansas had arrived when we got back

Back at the motel, after some visiting, I sorted photos and trascribed notes. The WiFi was flaky but I remembered that this was a problem due to our room location and the access point. The computer worked better when I turned it sideways. Outside was even better, so uploading the photos would wait until morning.

Today's Route (481 Equinox miles):

Interactive map

Sudbury Ontario to Washington Pennsylvania

Happy Mother's Day.

It was 35F as we rolled out of the driveway at 6:10 AM. It almost felt like my decision to wear shorts was not the best idea. After a stop at McDonald's, setting the day's destination in the GPS and firing up the audiobook (Under Cover Of The Night by Diane Fanning), we were on the road by 6:30.

 Sunrise

 The pylons are out for the Sudbury Rocks Marathon later this morning

 Stopped 40 miles south of town to check bike tie-downs

We stopped for coffee and cookies at the Tim's at the Seguin Trail, at the Esso in Waubaushene for fuel and at the King Service Centre just north of Toronto for another bathroom break. The wind was out of the south just strong enough to keep the Equinox from shifting into 6th gear. This resulted in less than ideal fuel mileage.

Approaching Toronto, I weight taking the 401/403/QEW route to Burlington versus paying through the nose and using the 407 Express Toll Route. I chickened out and took the pay road.

 Burlington Skyway

 Stelco Hamilton (no longer US Steel Canada)

Near Prudhomme's Landing on the QEW, traffic slowed to a crawl. It turned out that a pickup truck/trailer combo on the Toronto-bound side got all tangled up and our jam was just caused by rubberneckers. I hate when that happens. We were getting better fuel mileage due to more favourable wind direction, so we made it to the border without having to buy any more expensive Canadian gas.

 The Peace Bridge is under heavy construction

At the Peace Bridge border crossing, the NEXUS lane was clear. The agent asked us our citizenship, whether we had anything to declare, what was in the trailer and the trailer plate number (I had to get the registration out of the glove box). He allowed us in without even asking where we were going or for how long. We took I-190 to I-90 despite the GPS again trying to get us to take a ground level "shortcut".

 Buffalo in Buffalo

 Seen on I-90 approaching the toll booths

There was a quick stop at the Angola Service Center for lunch-to-go and fuel.

 Welcoem to the Keystone State

 It started spitting as we approached Erie

After following I-90 to Erie, Pennsylvania, we took I-79 south towards Pittsburgh. We switched the audiobook because this one went over a trial in almost painful detail. Boring. The new choice was Steven Tyler's book Does The Noise In My Head Bother You? narrated by Steven himself.

 I-79 south near I-80 (a good day to not be riding)

 Northbound traffic jammed up due to road construction

 Southbound traffic jammed up due to a wreck

 And here it is

 The front of the car looked even worse

 This made me feel all warm and fuzzy

 Some livestock will not be getting a square meal

 Canonsburg Pa is picturesque

We had thought about going to Olive Garden in Washington, Pennsylvania for supper, but it was Mother's Day and the place would probably be jammed. We got fuel and then followed the GPS directions to a Subway that turned out to be in the food court of a huge Tanger Outlet Mall. Unfortunately, the Subway was unmanned (unpersonned?). We finally gave up and stopped at Wendy's for grilled chicken sandwiches on the way to the Microtel. Sandy also got a fifty cent chocolate Frosty.

 Outside the Tanger Outlet Mall

 Inside the Tanger Outlet Mall

 All that food and no one to serve it

But you can charge your electric vehicle

We had a room on the ground floor at the end of a hallway, making for easy access to unload the luggage. I spent some time doing my daily bookwork but turned in early. Lack of sleep last night made it a tough day so I won't let that happen again.

Today's Route (572 Equinox miles):

Interactive map

The Season Begins Again

After a long and confusing winter, which started out like the good old winters of my youth, seemed to be over in February and March and then returned with a vengeance in April, I am pretty sure spring has finally sprung. Better late than never.

It is finally time to get our summer travel season underway. Tomorrow, we will head to the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina for a couple of weeks. The first week will celebrate 20 years of the South East Vulcan Riders and Owners Club (SEVROC) rallies, while the second will see a few Freedom Riders touring the area from a base at Two Rivers Lodge in Bryson City. During June, we will trek west to Williams, Arizona for the VROC Wolfman's Wandering rally. Then we will head up to Topaz Lake, Nevada for the VROC High Sierra Redux, reliving the great days we have enjoyed there in the past. On the way home, I hope to finally ride Beartooth Pass and spend a day or two riding in the Black Hills of South Dakota. With the Freedom Rally deferred for a year, Interlochen, Michigan is on the schedule for early August and we will wind up the season in Eureka Springs, Arkansas (as usual) in September.

In preparation for getting on the road, the Equinox had its front brake rotors replaced and the trailer got new hubs and bearings. The bike started right up and didn't appear to need any work right at this moment, but it sure could use a cleaning. I paid someone to wash, detail and wax the car, but I don't think anyone would want to tackle this bike and its12 years of road grime. I'll do what I can when the opportunity presents itself. (Of course, I have said that before and my rims are still filthy.)

One of the key organizers at SEVROC was supposed to be Cheap B (Mark). Unfortunately, he and his wife Wanda were in a motorcycle wreck in Georgia a couple of weeks ago. Although they both suffered severe injuries, it looks like they are on the road to recovery. They are two of the nicest people we know and, while they will be greatly missed next week, we are so grateful that they are still with us.

One thing that will have an impact on our blogging will be Sandy's new camera. She has done well over the years with a Panasonic DMC-TZ5, getting pictures from the car and the back of the bike to illustrate our days on the road. Unfortunately, the batteries got to the point where they would not hold a charge any more. She was never totally happy with this unit anyway, due to the delay between the time she pressed the shutter and when the photo was actually taken. In a moving environment, that often meant the difference between getting the shot and getting a picture of a telephone pole. Now she has a new Sony A5100 24 MP mirrorless camera with a 16-50 mm removable lens. While this camera has a lot of options and settings, there are very few physical buttons and wheels, with most of the settings being handled on the screen with a menu system. While this would be a drawback to an advanced photographer, in our situation it reduces the likelihood of accidentally changing something that would affect the photos. Most important to her; when she hits the button, the shutter clicks.

As we packed two suitcases (one for each of us when we reach our destination), two overnight bags (one for each of us to take into motels along the way), a shoe bag, a pillow bag, computer bag, a water bag, a bag full of riding gear, two camp chairs and a portable toilet, I reflected back on the years when we would go out for two months with only what would fit in two GoldWing saddlebags, a top trunk and one small bag of raingear. Sandy was a packing genius. Just as Parkinson's Law postulated that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion", Robinson's Law suggests that "luggage expands to fit the space available to carry it" and we now use all the capacity of the Equinox plus any spare nooks and crannies in the trailer just because it is there.

Our last-minute checklist was in play. I needed to be careful because this was the first US trip since last September and I hate that sensation of remembering something important about the time we are approaching Pittsburgh. US cash, passports, NEXUS cards, US plan added to cell phones, all the charging cables, medications, etc. It looked like we had it covered.

Mother's Day was the next day, so we dropped over to Extendicare York to visit Sandy's mom Jan and her roommate Pearl. We had a very nice visit and explained that we would be away for two weeks.

Sandy and Jan

Pearl, Sandy and Jan

The view from Jan's window

The INCO (Vale) Superstack - 1,250 feet tall and due to be decommissioned

Back at home, Leo stopped over to aid with the trailer hookup and motorcycle loading. Actually, he doublechecked me while I handled the task for the first time this year. By the time we were done, the suitcases were in the car, the bike was tied down in the trailer while the camp chairs and bike riding gear bag were also stowed in the trailer. Almost done, Sandy and I went out and picked up sandwiches at Subway.

Hooked up ...

... and loaded up

All that needed to be done in the morning would be to load the final few things in the overnight bags, put them in the car and move out. I hope we can be up by 6:00 AM and rolling by 6:30. The destination for tomorrow will be a Microtel near Washington, Pennsylvania, and we should be in Maggie Valley Monday afternoon.