My paddle shifter is in the barn at 19:45 Monday September 27th, 2010.
Unlike many others I had a dry run on Sunday so I must have left just before the skies opened up. Tom (Huron52), Pam & Andy (BikerGeek) hunted me down and I rode up to Cincinnati
with the entire group. At that point Tom & Pam continued up I75 and BikerGeek & I continued on to Columbus making a stop at Iron Pony...
That is one big motorcycle shop. Lots of cool stuff. The Arai helmets were much less expensive than back home.
Parked the bike Sunday night in Canton OH and then made a short trek in the morning over to Duane's shop, Premier Motorcycle Accessories. Owen from Newcastle, Ontraio was already there getting some work done on his Starcom unit which was the reason I wanted to stop in since I wanted one. After a little troubleshooting and pairing my iPhone to Owen's Zumo it was determined there was nothing wrong with the Starcom or the Zumo. It was Owen's crappy phone. Owen got his phone because some Internet forum said that was the best phone to use with the Zumo.
Don't believe anything you read on the Internet.
Owen and I then paired up and rode back to the Great White North via Buffalo. The weather in Buffalo was quite good by Buffalo standards, it wasn't snowing. I have freinds that I ski with who live in Buffalo and their opioion on the weather is that if you don't have to shovel it, it's good!!.
We were greeted back to Canada by the rain and just about got collected by a pickup truck when the fool infront of the truck breaked hard for no apparent reason on the QEW. I know know my ABS is functioning.
When we left the duty-free store at the bridge I had some concerns regarding the time we were going to hit Toronto traffic. I made a suggestion after clearing customs (it went very smoothly, all of 30 seconds) that we grab a coffee at Tim Horton's. Once you get into Canada you can see the next Tim Horton's from the one you are in. Owen figured that if we hit Toronto after 18:00 we might catch some of the later rush hour but we should be OK. I had my doubts.
It all went amok at Burlington. There was a wreak at the Third Line in Oakville and it was first & second gear for the next two hours in the rain. It
SUCKED!!!!!!!! Did I mention I hate Toronto traffic. Did I mention Toronto traffic is rated as one of the worst in the world. Did I mention that if given the chance I would take a D9 Cat and push Toronto into Lake Ontario. This is why every Canadian hates Toronto. There is no getting from here to there. I would rather have someone pull my toenails out with a pair of pliers than ride through Toronto.
We finally got it done. I cannot say enough good things about my Rukka Airvision riding gear. Even in these nasty conditions I stayed dry. It may be expensive but it does work as advertised which cannot be said for a lot of the foul weather gear out there.
After dealing with the nightmare that is Toronto traffic I lined up my choices of refreshment to calm the nerves...
Red Rose Tea - Only in Canada? Pity. Will warm you up but really didn't have the mellowing effect I was looking for.
Make her a Laker? I need something of a higher octane rating.
Crown Royal Rye Whiskey.... YEEEEEESSSSS!!!!!!
OK, so here is the final stats for the NAFO trip...
Finally, as stated earlier by others many thanks to the NAFO organizers, Heidi, Bob, Sharon and the rest of the crew for a great event. As an organizer of off-road events I know the work that goes into putting an event like this together and I sincerely appreciate everyone's effort. Thank You and see you in the Canadian Maritimes for CFR 2011.
