Back in the USA

Cambridge, Ontario to Princeton, West (By God) Virginia

It was bright, clear and only a little cool this morning. After coffee, packing and goodbyes, we hooked the trailer up and were on our way south. Took Highway 8 to County 5 to Highway 6 to 403 to QEW to Fort Erie. Here we had breakfast before crossing.

They say the Peace Bridge is one of the busiest Canada/US border points. Not today. We rolled off the bridge right into a Customs booth. Three questions, an examination of our driver's licences and we were on our way.

We stopped south of Erie in the little burg of McKean. I suddenly found out as we passed through Erie that Sandy's headset speakers weren't working even though her microphone was. She thought I had the radio turned off. Turns out she had pulled the upper cable plug part way loose while trying to get the NY Thruway toll ticket out of her pocket. Easy fix.

As we rode down I-79, we saw State Police in strength in every rest area. Not sure what that was about. We also saw many bikes northbound returning from Rolling Thunder. The traffic around Pittsburgh was fine for a change, although we started seeing clouds that told me thunderstorms would be a possibility. At a gas and food stop in Waynesburg Pa, we met two Vulcan riders from Cleveland returning from Washington. They weren't VROCers, and wondered why a guy on a Wing would be wearing Vulcan patches:-) BTW, Waynesburg is a hard town to get around in with all the medians and convoluted one way streets. I think the phrase "you can't get there from here" was coined here.

As we rode down through West Virginia, I was starting to get tired. We were running 75-80 MPH in 85F heat up and down the mountains into a stiff headwind and the bike was pinging. I was going to stop at the nice little rest area south of Weston, but this was where the nasty thundercloud with the lightning flashes was heading so we continued on and got around it. Finally stopped in Summersville for gas and water. I put mid-grade gas in the bike to counter the pinging.

Summersville may have a new police chief who wants to improve the speed trap image, but the cops in Fayetteville and Oak Hill are as busy as ever. I do wonder why, with the WV Turnpike as an example, the worst roads are the ones we pay tolls on. It just doesn't seem right.

We arrived in Princeton WV just before the next rain cloud. The Days Inn is very reasonable, we parked in front of our door and the Cracker Barrel (salads only) is right next door. Tomorrow, we'll avoid the I-77 tunnels in case the construction antics are continuing and will head SW on 460 to 19.

Should be at KSL by mid-afternoon. Then I'll have to search out a WiFi hotspot somewhere. KSL doesn't have one because there is no broadband service and a mountain sits right smack dab between them and the satellite. I used to dial in on their Visa phone line, but I gave up my AOL dial-up account. Oh well, what's life without a challenge:-))