Niagara Falls 2008 Trip Report

[Russ]

Bikes are all cleaned up and bags are packed.  Time for some sleep.  We will be leaving at 8am tomorrow morning.  Destination: Thunder Bay Ontario.

[Russ]

Our first destination has been reached!  We arrived at Thunder Bay around 8pm, or 9pm eastern time.  We had beautiful weather the whole way here.  Upper 70's except by Lake Superior where it was a little cooler.  Nate broke a muffler clamp about 150 miles into the trip.  We stopped at a hardware store near by and got it repaired.  We ate and spent the evening at Scuttlebutts, a near by bar and grill.  There was a live country band there named On The Road.

Next destination: Sault Ste Marie....

We'ere outta here!

[Russ]

Wow, things were so busy I didn't get time to write when we were in Sault Ste Marie.  The ride was beautiful.  Sunny and temps were in the 70's.  We had our share of curves and hills.  No more flat spots on the tires!  We arrived around 9pm because we had kind of a late start and we stopped for a good breakfast.

Off to Toronto...

[Russ]

We made it to Toronto!  Rode on new ground we hadn't been on yet.  Not nearly as scenic as the road from Thunder Bay to Sault Ste Marie, but we did get some glimpses of Lake Huron.  A lot more traffic and it was very congested coming into Toronto.  We were in stop and go traffic starting 45 miles outside of Toronto.  Nick seen me flash four fingers to Shawn and asked me if we were 4 miles from the hotel.  I said no, 44 miles!  It went from about 84 degrees to 70 when we got near Lake Ontario.  The GPS guided us in, but it was still a little hectic.  Right down town, in China Town.  We have a nice view of the CN Tower out our window.  After we arrived we toured China Town and ate at an Asian restaurant.  Its time for bed.  400+ miles per day is tough.  No riding tomorrow, just touring Toronto by foot.
 

[Russ]

Monday, July 7th.

No bike riding today.  We just walked around Toronto on foot.  Spent a good part of the day at the CN Towerhttp://www.cntower.ca/portal/  We went to the observation deck where they have a screened in level and a glass enclosed level.  The view was great.  We also stood on the glass floor and looked down.  Then we went up to the furthest viewing point called the Sky Pod at 1,465 ft.  After the CN Tower we walked around town a little more and then went back to the room, cleaned up (it was around 90 degrees... sweaty from walking) and ventured down some different streets.  Found a Mexican restaurant and ate.  Walked around a little more looking for night clubs, but most everything was closed so early in the week.  Went back to the hotel for some sleep.

[Russ]

Tuesday, July 8th.

We decided to leave Toronto early, so we packed up and headed over to Niagara Falls.  It was another hot day.  Upper 80's lower 90's.  The spray felt nice driving by.  We parked, looked at the falls, took some pictures, then decided to walk down the stairs to be close by the water.  It was just like rain down there.  We stayed dry for the most part with the ponchos they gave us.  After we were done at the falls, we decided to start back towards the US border.  We drove into dark to make it back to the US.  Got to Port Huron, MI about 9PM.  Ate at Mc Donald's and found a hotel.  Things are a bit more expensive in Canada, so it was nice to be back in the US.

[Russ]

Wednesday, July 9th

We left Port Huron and drove north along Hwy 25 in the "thumb" of Michigan.  Stopped at a couple of spots along the way and took some pictures of Lake Huron.  We continued on and stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Saginaw MI.

[Russ]

Thursday, July 10th

Nick & Shawn decided they wanted to drive north and cross the Mackinac bridge, so they left early and drove up to the bridge, crossed it, then came back and joined back up with Nathan and I in Muskegon.  Nathan had already been across the bridge, and myself, being afraid of heights, didn't really want to give it a go, so Nathan and I cut across Michigan on some back roads to Muskegon.

[Russ]

Friday, July 11th

We packed up and ate breakfast in preparation to board the ferry boat that crosses Lake Michigan.  It leaves from Muskegon MI and travels across Lake Michigan to Milwaukee WI.  The ferry leaves Lake Michigan at 10:15am, so we arrived about 9:30am and got in line.  They asked the motorcycles to go to the front of the line, so we pulled up to the front.  They were going through the instructions and made sure everyone had reservations.  Unfortunately we didn't know we needed reservations.  We had to leave the line and be put on "stand by".  If there were any reservations that weren't filled we might be able to board.  Otherwise we would either have to wait until the next crossing at 4pm, or drive north or south around Lake Michigan.  At about 10:10am they told us we would be able to board, so we continued through the line and boarded the ferry.  While we were strapping our bikes down the ferry had actually started to leave.  It was so smooth that we didn't even know were moving!  After we got them all strapped down, we went up top to the deck area and watched as we left the bay.  The ferry ride lasted about 2 1/2 hours.  It was a pretty fun experience.  After exiting the ferry in Milwaukee, we drove to Eau Claire WI and spent the night.

[Russ]

Satuday, July 12

Time to head back home.  Nathan left for Rochester to meet up with his parents at his brothers house.  The rest of us took the interstate back home.  Wind advisories were in effect and made for a long ride back home in the strong wind.  After being gone over a week, it was nice to be back home again.  Overall the trip was roughly 3000 miles for Nick & Shawn and about 2500 miles for Nathan and I.