The Great Canadian Tour 2025 - Elbows Up Edition - Day 38 & 39 (Final)

Day 38 started out early…again.  We know we are going to hit some hot weather and humidity so we are going to travel from Levis to Florenceville with a stop in Perth to visit with some friends.  At this point we are doing mostly highway riding.  The idea of riding in heat and humidity does not appeal to some of us, although I was anxious to get home.  I was actually looking forward to my own bed and weeding my gardens and was willing to endure the ride for the reward.  By the time we stopped, I was happy that we did.

At supper we decided we would be on the road by 7 a.m. with the sole purpose of avoiding another day of higher heat and humidity.  The heat is manageable but the humidity makes it difficult when you stop for a break.  One thing we all agree on is that it would be great to get off the highway.  

Day 39 and our final day of the trip.  Fredericton’s forecast doesn’t look that cool for our morning of riding so we decide to do highway until we hit Lincoln and reevaluate.  We are all ready to get off the highway so we decide taking the old TCH at Jemseg, through Young’s Cove and Coles Island would be way more fun.  This is of course a gamble since we are not sure what Coles Island Road is going to be like.  The gamble paid off and we had a great ride through the old highway with almost no traffic.  We arrived home shortly after 11 a.m. just as the heat and humidity were ramping up….we unloaded the bikes and I may have weeded 2 or 3 garden boxes before the rain came….great claps of thunder.  Almost like the skies were applauding our arrival home.  Here’s to another great trip on 2 wheels!

The Great Canadian Tour 2025 - Elbows Up Edition - Day 37

Today we were on the road before 8 a.m.  Tanks full, weather cool.  We know that we will be facing a very hot afternoon so we have shortened our run to minimize being caught in the heat….especially on Quebec Hwy 20.  Despite the fact it was Sunday and a construction holiday, the traffic was very heavy all the way through to Levis.  This was our stop for today.  At lunch we discussed continuing past Levis and making a run for Rivière du Loup but we decided as a group that the stop would be Levis….thankfully.  After lunch our 23 C weather quickly got up to over 30 C.

Tomorrow we are leaving earlier and heading for Florenceville.  This will be our last over night stop before getting home.  I think Jerry would be happy to keep going.  I am looking forward to getting home to tend my garden and sleep in my own bed.  We have done a lot of travelling on our bikes….I will be 140,000 kms and Larry will be well over 180,000 kms.  We have had great times and no issues.  This trip started out a little differently as Day 2 I got rear-ended by another bike. I had done all the things I needed to do to be safe….stopped at the red light, check my mirrors for traffic coming behind me, bike in 1st gear and foot on the rear break….these things helped minimize the impact and damage.  I lost one of my side bags, some other damage to the cowling, broken mirror and had some bruises but it did not deter me.  It took a few days of phone calls, stretching and some Aleve but we got through it and continued on our journey.  It won’t keep us from taking other trips however before this trip we had decided we probably wouldn’t do extended trips any longer….then came this opportunity….so never say never.  How can you resist the beauty of this country….it calls to you.

The Great Canadian Tour 2025 - Elbows Up Edition - Day 35 and 36

Exhaustion is my only excuse.  The last few days have been long…foggy memory and Day 35 was no exception.  Knowing that we have to get to Ottawa early enough to get at least 2 oil changes with the understanding that if we get there early enough we can get all three bikes done, we are up and on the road at 6 a.m…..or at least it looked like road what 6 feet of it you could see.  More fog…thick pea soup fog.  At times we could see the huge orange ball of fire high in the sky that looked angry….it must have been the fog that was ticking it off.  We were all tired by two very early morning starts but also by the amount of fog and rain we have endured the last three days.  A few stops for breaks, coffee, lunch and we can tell that we need to really press on to make it to the shop in Ottawa on time.  By now the fog is gone and the angry sun is now a burning ball of desire…to roast our butts!  As we get closer to Ottawa the 17 turns into the 417 and the road is no longer single lane, it is divided and 4 lanes.  We are not used to running these roads all the time but we are very cautious especially with on ramps.  We made it to the shop successfully at 1:45 p.m. (2 p.m. was our target).  All the bikes got an oil change and they helped us find a Saturday shop open for tire changes.  Larry and I have been running Pilot 6 GTs and have had great performance from them.  The last two sets of these tires carried us over 20,000 kms each time.   We have also hit some mileage goals that will be even higher once we get home.  I am at 139,000 kms and Larry is at 181,000 kms (he retired 7 years before me).  

Day 36 (today) was a down day other than the bike shop to get a tire change.  We met more great folks there and even connected with a gentleman who is planning another trip east.  He just completed an Iron Butt with a friend to North Sydney from Ottawa.  Originally from Newfoundland of course!  Larry even got a pair of new riding pants!  The young mechanic who worked on the bikes was out picking up another one for service just as we were getting ready to leave.   He told us that when they saw the bikes and the mileage they were wondering if the bikes were owned by two really close friends or a married couple.  “We are both” answered Larry, to which the young man smiled and said “that’s really great!  Have a safe trip”. Sometimes things are not lost on the young. We will take your compliment young man and treasure it.

No pics…just more fog and we have all seen enough of that (or you can reference previous post for fog look-a-like pic),

The Great Canadian Tour 2025 - Elbows Up Edition - Day 33 & 34

Slow internet so hence the double day blog.

Day 33 had us leaving Thunder Bay heading to Wawa.  On our way out we had some fog leaving Wawa….in fact we rode 100 kms of our 500 km day in the fog before we got in the clear.  This time on our way back, we left Thunder Bay in the fog and outside of few “sun breaks” we literally rode 400 kms of the 500km day in the fog….so no pictures.  The attached photo is a depiction only….not real fog but represents what we looked at all day.  We got into Wawa just as the rain started…this was a preview of what we would be faced with today.  That and Highway 17 was washed out AGAIN, which means we have a detour in the morning.  The detour is a road that we rode back in 2016….not one of our choosing at this point.

Day 34 we double check to ensure Highway 17 is still closed….it is.  So detour to 101 to 129 is our only route.  We are up early, packed, breakfast in, gas at 7 a.m. (station opens) and we are off.  We gassed up again in Chapleau as 129 is 180 kms and we have already travelled 130 kms.  The road is a bit rough and very remote.  There are some nice sweeping turns but the road travels along a beautiful river and some lakes, so still quite scenic. The bottom half of the 129 is both twisty for about 20 kms and then finally some nice smooth road.  We made a stop at the store near the end of the 129 where we had stopped in 2016…it was a lifesaver as we had travelled that route in the rain with no bathroom stops..this time we were more prepared.  So we get to the same store and note that it is the Canadian Tail of the Dragon (route 129 with a lot of twists and turns but in a longer run).  We bought the tshirts and stickers so now Jerry has another American experience on the Canadian side.  We had a lovely morning, the weather was great, the road was fun and we get to the end of the detour with only 2.5 hours of riding left…we pulled into a Tim’s for lunch just as the sky opens up with huge drops of rain.  We ate our lunch as the skies opened up.  Taking a break in the rain we jumped on the bikes and continued to our destination.  Part way through, we catch the first bolt of lightning in the field to the left as we were riding.  Two bolts that joined as one like a wishbone.  The rain continued all the way to Sudbury with several bolts of lightning on the horizon and at least two emergency alerts coming through about a possible tornado (with warnings for us to take refuge in our basement?).  The sky was breaking up behind us and the sun was coming through, so we continued forward, into the rain, warnings and lightning without any issues.  We arrived just as the rain was slowing, although it came in downpours again and again throughout the evening.  We were happy tor reach out destination for the evening, especially since we have a lot of drying out to do before we hit the road at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning.  We have oil changes scheduled for the afternoon in Ottawa so we have to get there as early as possible.  I also have to pick up my bag at the dealership.  Our plan is for a down day in Ottawa on Saturday.  Very much deserved I would say for these weary travellers.  We met a group of riders staying at the same hotel tonight, one of them is currently living in Quispamsis.  Great chat and gave them some recommended routes.

The Great Canadian Tour 2025 - Elbows Up Edition - Day 32

Today was another day of dodging rain and smoke.  We were quite successful at both.

We took off at 8 a.m. this morning expecting the potential of rain but hoping that our planned ride would dodge the bigger rain storm that was coming up from the south.  We did get a few sprinkles but nothing that made the ride uncomfortable or required rain gear.

We didn’t have a lot of stops planned for site seeing but we did make a couple. The first was the eastern time zone.  The second was at the Arctic Watershed.

At this point all of the water flows into the Hudson’s Bay and into the Arctic Ocean.  This was surprising as we have seen the divide where water flows to the Atlantic or the Pacific however I guess we are north enough right now that the Arctic is closer?

There was also another marker, a historical one that marked the significance of this particular watershed in history.  Tonight we made it to Thunder Bay.  Hoping that the rain forecasted for tomorrow holds off so that we can enjoy the views of Lake Superior as we make our way to Wawa, home of the big Canadian Goose.!

The Great Canadian Tour 2025 - Elbows Up Edition - Day 31

As anticipated, the rain is pushing further east and not only leaving cool air in its’ wake but also clearing the smoke, which is affecting the air quality, on our route. 

The day for the most part was unremarkable other than we traversed another province and are now in Northern Ontario.  No time change, yet.  That will give us an opportunity to catch up to the multiple changes we experienced as we travelled across from BC.  

I did note one thing…..leaving the prairies, most likely for the last time, felt a lot like leaving the mountains.  This time is felt final.  Ontario is much more accessible for us and always a possibility.  I love the prairies, despite what I have always been told.  This time was a bit different but I can say there is still more to explore, if the opportunity comes along again.  Chances are it will be by air or car.

We arrived in Kenora by 4 p.m. but we were all exhausted.  As I mentioned, we may need to catch up on the time changes.  Once we get through the next time change tomorrow, we will at least the next 5 days before the next one.  This should give us time to get synced.

We walked down to the waterfront for supper.  Nice to get a walk in.  Despite the threat of rain earlier the evening turned out beautifully, and we got to see a deer up close on our walk.  She was not even spooked by us walking by, stopping and talking to her.  She was gone on our walk back though.

The Great Canadian Tour 2025 - Elbows Up Edition - Day 30

Another day, another province.  After yesterday’s final arrival in the midst of wind and lightning, the evening turned out to be quite beautiful, for the most part.   We changed our clothes and walked down to a local restaurant for supper.  The walk was about 15 minutes which was perfect.  The weather changed, however, when we were leaving, so we called a cab for the ride back to the hotel.  A few hours later, the rain cleared and we were able to witness a beautiful sunset that completed the day.

We left early this morning looking forward to a less eventful weather day, the sun was out with but a few clouds in the sky.  We were still following the storm that we caught up to the previous night but we knew that it had a great head start so it should be a dry, relatively comfortable temperature all day….well Mother Nature had other plans.  Less than 15 minutes after leaving we ran into fog.  Yes fog….on the prairie!  There are a fair number of lakes in Saskatchewan and that combined with the weather system produced fog for the next 100 kms.

Despite this it was a great ride.  Other than the usual stops for breaks and lunch, we only made two other stops.  One was to get Jerry’s picture with “Welcome to Manitoba” as we did not locate a sign on our journey west.  The second was to a sodium sulfate deposit in Chaplin Lake.

We did not hit any other weather, arriving in Virden, despite all of the weather warnings that started to appear.  Looking at the forecast, we may not be so lucky in our travels tomorrow.  Now we watch not only the weather, but the air quality warnings as well.  The bad weather could help with better air quality so I will take that as a trade off.