The original plan was to take two days to get home but that changed. It was a little less than 900 miles and I believed we could do that in one. As a result, we didn't wait for the hotel breakfast. Instead, we were northbound by 5:57 AM. The only early rider we saw on the way out was Tbone.
It was still dark and 73F with patches of fog as we started out. It was amazing that the land was so flat around Lexington and yet, just a few miles east, there were the rugged rocky hills we had been traveling through yesterday.
We stopped at a very clean and fast McDonald's in Crittenden, Kentucky. They had chicken & waffles and biscuits & gravy on the menu but I couldn't see eating either of those while I was driving. I had my usual Sausage McMuffin. Sandy had a smoothie with her breakfast, unusual for anyone but her.
Sunrise over Kentucky horse country
As we approached the Ohio line, we needed to make a decision. We could continue north on I-75 back into the heart of Urban Michigan or we could head northeast to Buffalo and the Peace Bridge. It was slightly longer but we picked northeast.
A familiar Kentucky landmark
The Cincinnati skyline
I-71 was under construction just like every other road in Ohio. We followed it through Columbus and got onto I-271, which took us to I-90 east of Cleveland. Something we noticed along the way were three separate snow plow trucks driving north with their distinctive flashing white, amber and green lights. It was a hot summer day, so we had trouble imagining what they were doing until the radio gave us a clue. Cleveland was preparing for the GOP convention to start tomorrow and the plows were going to be used for security barricades to keep vehicles with bombs from getting access to the arena area.
Interesting cement work
On I-90, we stopped at the Angola Service Center to grab lunch to go and top up the gas tank with much cheaper US fuel. As we left the Thruway, an electronic sign said the wait time at the Peace Bridge would be 30 to 60 minutes.
Buffalo New York
Yikes!!
We started onto the Peace Bridge at 3:05 amid three lanes of stopped traffic. By 3:12 we were over the border and at 3:20, we were waved into the NEXUS lane. By 3:30, we had been cleared by a remote Border Services officer using an intercom and were underway again.
Home again
We love NEXUS lanes (where they have them)
Does anyone know what this is?
Redrum MC - First Nations motorcycle club
The rest of the trip home was almost uneventful. We took the ETR 407 toll road because it was a summer Sunday and traffic around Toronto was going to be intense. In fact, when we were heading north on Highway 400 away from The Big Smoke (Toronto), southbound traffic was stopped for many miles.
Someone was having a bad day
DeSoto from the tail fin era
Highway 400 North at King
Highway 400 north of Barrie
The reason I said "almost uneventful" was because we stopped at the On Route Service Centre in Barrie and got some Tim Horton's to go. I had a bacon ranch wrap and coffee. Somehow, while I was chewing on the wrap, I punctured my tongue with a molar. Not the edge, mind you, but right in the middle. It bled quite a bit, but stopped after 60 miles or so. Then it started to hurt.
Ouch!!
The temperature was dropping as we moved north and light rain started as we approached Horseshoe Lake Road south of Parry Sound. We pulled into our driveway about 9:00 PM at 65F with mild rain after having covered 878 miles. It was a good day to end a good trip.
Today's Route (878 Equinox miles):
1 comment:
Oh my! That must hurt! Leave it to you to do something that seems impossible!
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