From the North Woods to Chicago, But First, PEI

Once off the ferry from Newfoundland we were back on a schedule, more or less.  We planned to be in St. Charles, Illinois which is about 40 miles west of Chicago, for the first checkpoint of the 2009 Iron Butt Rally.  Paul had committed to working as a scorer at this first checkpoint, and again a few days later at the finish in Spokane, Washington.  Not being content with the most direct route (we never are) we headed first to Prince Edward Island.

It is really cheap to get to Prince Edward Island, or PEI as it is called by most everybody we met.  You can either take a ferry from Nova Scotia and land at the southeast end of the island, or can ride across the Confederation Bridge from New Brunswick.  Both the ferry and the bridge are free, going to PEI that is, but there is a fee or toll on the reverse trip to leave the island.  Here Voni relaxes on the free ferry trip to PEI.

We camped for the night, but because Voni knows her way around such places, our first stop the next morning was at Cows, the famed maker of the very best ice cream in the whole world.

Paul tried his off-road prowess on a loaded traveling bike by riding on the beach.  He wasn't entirely successful, but nothing actually broke, though one mirror needed to be tightened up a bit after his horizontal excursion in the sand.

Then it was onward to New Brunswick by way of the Confederation Bridge.  As noted earlier it is cheap to get to PEI but to get off, not so much.  The toll was $17 for each motorcycle.  But unlike many places, motorcycles get a break; the smallest itty bitty car would be charged $43.  We can only imagine the first time an engineer or politician suggested "we should build a bridge".  This bridge is 12.9 Kilometers (8 miles) long and cost $1,300,000,000 by the time it was competed in 1997 after four years of construction.

When we left Saint John we were in Express Mode, headed west to the Iron Butt Rally checkpoint in Illinois.  Paul's bike was going to need a new rear tire soon so we rode out of Canada and across Maine and New Hampshire, headed to Frank's Motorcycle Sales and Service, the BMW dealership near Essex, Vermont.  Frank's had the tire in-stock and were able to mount it immediately.

Now usually, folks visiting a motorcycle dealership are most impressed with the inventory, the accessories, or the service shop.  Voni was most impressed with the friendly welcome, the rapid service, and the free Internet, and bottled water for customers.

Neither of us was thrilled with the prospect of riding to St. Charles through the great American rust belt, either on the toll roads or the congested two-lane roads.  This is among our least favorite parts of the country for riding.  So we went back to Canada from northern New York.  We rode westward through Ontario to Sault Ste Marie, Michigan. 

There is an old saying. "When things don't go according to plan, the adventure begins".  Some adventure began at Sault Ste Marie.  Paul's bike exhibited a sure sign of a serious impending mechanical disaster.  The hydraulic clutch slave cylinder was failing.  We discovered this pulling out of the motel parking lot first thing on a Saturday morning.  We rode onward to Manistique, Michigan and stopped at a motel.  Bound and determined not to be late to work as a scorer at the Iron Butt Rally checkpoint we got busy.  Paul took Voni's bike to buy hydraulic fluid and some hose.  Then he took parts loose to determine the extent of the problem.  Voni got on the phone calling several dealerships to find who could get us the needed parts by Monday morning.  Success!!  Mischler's BMW in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin had them in-stock, and were open on Mondays.  We called friends Brian and Sue who lived nearby to arrange for garage space and a place to stay.

With nothing better to do for the rest of the day, Voni told Paul that the motel had coupons for $5 worth of free tokens at the casino a mile down the road, and casinos have good food, and the good food is usually cheap, and we hadn't eaten since breakfast, so we should walk to the casino.  Paul thought that was a really dumb idea.  So when we got to the casino we got our free tokens.  Paul picked out the best slot machine and promptly used up his tokens.  Voni picked a RED machine and began feeding it tokens.  It kept giving her "points".  Novice gamblers that we are, we had no idea what that meant.  After she ran out of tokens she decided to cash in her points to get more tokens.  Lo and behold the machine started kicking out quarters, as in real money.  $24.50.  We ate a very good dinner at the casino with the proceeds of Voni's free coupon.

We camped the next night at Ledges County Park near Horicon, Wisconsin, poised to be at Mischler's BMW when they opened on Monday morning.  We were greeted by the campground manager who, we discovered, rides a BMW motorcycle.  We talked bikes quite a while before picking out our campsite.

We arrived at Mischler's as they were unlocking the doors on Monday morning.  They had the parts we needed waiting for us at the counter.

We rode to Brian and Sue's, where Brian had the garage open and ready for Paul to go to work.  It took about 2 hours to remove the old hydraulic cylinder and install the new one.
 

After the work was done we settled on the porch for some good conversation.  Since we were only about 80 miles from St. Charles and still had an extra day despite the mechanical problem, we spent the next day riding the best nearby Wisconsin roads with Brian and Sue.

We rode to St. Charles the next morning.  It was raining lightly when we started.  It rained lightly, on and off, the entire 80 miles.  As soon as we got settled in at the Pheasant Run Resort, and just as the Iron Butt Rally riders were beginning to arrive, it began to really rain.  And, in the wee hours of the next morning as the riders departed for California by way of who knew where, it was raining harder than that.