Day 20
June 3rd, 2004
I had forgotten how much it sucks to travel Eastwards. In the past 6 days I have travelled through 5 different time zones and it seems every morning I'm having to wake up an hour earlier. This morning was the most difficult, especially since I knew that I had a short day on the road because of yesterday's extra mileage. I just lay there in bed wondering why when one is on vacation must he set his alarm for 04:45 every morning. I will admit it's much easier to get up at 04:45 when it's to go for a motorcycle ride than it would be for going to work.
Today was a day I knew nothing exciting would happen. I'd travelled the road between North Bay and Quebec several times already and if something exciting was to happen, it would be "bad-exciting". I can't get rid of the feeling that I'm going to get stopped by the police in the final days of this trip, so again today, I rode very slowly, cruising at maybe 120 km / h instead of my usual 130 to 140. I know it sounds like I ride fast all the time, but on a bike you're able to slow down and speed up very quickly, so that every time I see a car, I slow right down until I can identify it as a "non-police". This was more difficult in the States, as sometimes the police would use cars other than the usual Crown Victorias or Caprice Classics. For instance in Florida, I saw several Camaros that were used for traffic duties.
Stopped for "breakfast" around noon at a Tim Hortons. It was nice to be in familiar territory.
The weather was nice until Montreal, then it was showers on and off until Quebec. At this point I'm hoping for some rain every day. This way I can get a lot more sympathy when I tell people "Yeah, I was away for 21 days and it rained during 19 of those". Self-Pity can be a great thing. Actually I've come to not mind the rain that much. Knowing that I will stay dry makes a big difference.
After I got to Quebec and got a hotel room, I went for a little visit to my favourite bike shop, "Moto Vanier". They are the ones that sold me my first new bike, the ZX-11. They now sell Kawasaki, BMW and Ducati. The owner still recognises me and remembers my name after 14 years from that original purchase. I got a couple of oil filters and some synthetic gear oil for the major service the bike will need after I get home. 95 bucks for 2 litres of oil and 2 oil filters. Geez...
No pictures today, regular scenery, nothing special, regular roads, nothing special. I don't expect tomorrow to be any different, only hopefully there will be a picture of me in front of the Madawaska, Maine checkpoint.
Day Stats:
Total Distance: 853 km (North Bay, Ont to Quebec City, QC)
Total Time: 8 h 06 minutes
Overall Average: 101 km / h