By: Paul Mondor
www.paulmondor.com
Jan 23rd 2008 – Feb 2nd 2008

Click Here for Part 4

Jan. 23rd
Leaving Baie Comeau
Weather -20 Damn…It is warm

It has been a good night! See below! I get up at 8:00 Am to get ready and go! But first things first and I let Los Tabarnacos know that WE are having breakfast at Tim Horton’s and that I will leave from there!

After a good breakfast and a good cup of black plasma I suit up, say goodbye to Rene and head down the road. Even though the road is a lot nicer than what I have been on for the last 5 days what makes it easier is that it is a balmy -20C. YooHoo! Finally! Spring weather! There is obviously more snow around now than there was when I came by. Which tells me that after all, weather wise speaking; the weather is following me just like last year! Might just be my colisse de paranoya?? (I am French! What’s your excuse?)
Anyways! As soon as I get to Outardes the wind joins me in my treck but?? It has decided it is going the other way! In these parts of PQ the altitude is like the possibility of a politician screwing you. It goes up and down but mainly stays up. And at times my speed goes down to 60 km/h. the roads are clear in some parts and in others the snow drifts are everywhere.
I am keeping an eye on Frosty as she is losing quite a bit of oil through the air box and vents no damage here and she is purring, but I make sure the oil level remains high enough. The vibration caused by the sprocket crown bearing going into retirement remains the same and I keep an eye on this as well! That is the only thing the TLH has damaged. Considering the savage beating Frosty took for over 1200 kms of roads (TLH) that have been so many times harder on her than the rest of the Cross Canada trip all together; she is doing unbelievably well! Nothing so far has broken! Like I said before; “I am convinced that NO OTHER bike would/could have done it. I am sad to think that they will not make the 650 GS anymore. I know that this was their best bike. I have had all of their models and I can tell you that I am trimming my stable down to one bike and it is Frosty. I catch myself thinking/hoping that BMW will realize what mistake they are making by not making the small GS anymore and start again next year! The new 2008 F650GS is a twin cylinder 800cc engine. It is not a 650 and even though it is based on the F800 engine which is damn good, many people including me do not see why more than 650 is needed? You will have an impossible time trying or even dreaming you can convince me or others who have travelled on the 650 singles that more will be better.
I have crossed the country twice on my faithful Frosty and in conditions that are insanely hard on a piece of hardware. And I have done many other long trips on her.
Except for riding at 120 mph all day, there is nothing she cannot do that the big adventures do! I know I have those too.

Anyway! I am sad to see that we will not be able to get some more Frosty.

Back to the trip to Joliette! The trip to the Tadoussac ferry is a mix of high winds, hills, snow drifts and covered roads in higher altitudes. When I got on the ferry there was a bunch of sledders there as well.

Without getting into details I can tell you that their display of manhood got seriously dampened by the arrival of a little 650 cc motorcycle in their winter world. They would not look at me, talk to me or even approach me. Maybe it had something to do with someone (Not me) making the loud comment! “Man that was funny! I was parked beside them as you were coming down the hill toward the ferry and as I was talking to them they literally quieted down as they saw you and went back to their machines. Suddenly their “We own our winter land” behaviour completely stopped and walked away!
They heard this fellow say this on the boat and that was it! Well you know? It was funny in a “you had to be there” way.

After pictures were taken, addresses exchanged and hands shaken we al parted and I kept on going.
The weather got progressively worse as I crossed little village after another. But the scenery was nice when the weather would break and give me a chance to enjoy the scenery.

When I hit Baie St-Paul, that was it. Winter was in full gear. Nothing but wind, snow and drifting squalling white stuff everywhere! But i still enjoyed it as it was not nearly as cold as what I had seen lately. And with all the people around and quickly realized that I did not react the same way to my environment!
Something I will have to work on. As I went up the hill coming out of Baie St-Paul the snow was everywhere. Traffic had really slowed down and it got slipperier.
I went up and across these parts at about 60 clicks and just scooted along.
When I got to the downhill side of it coming into St-Anne de Beaupre it was pretty much the same and it stayed this way as I went across Beauport, Quebec and through Donnacona and Trois Rivieres.
I stopped for about half an hour in Louiseville at La Porte de la Mauricie. This is a stop area/ truck stop i stopped at many times in my trucking years. And foolishly enough I willingly took 10 years of my life by having an A&W chicken sandwich. This tasted good, but I always wonder if what they serve is really coming from anything that was once part of the animal kingdom!
I always say I do not mind eating anything that had a face or a mother at one point. But I am sure if you read what these places put in their sandwiches there are very few if any ingredients which name does not have numbers in it.
You see stuff like Water, agua, sugar and preservatives and then stuff like Holycrapnite 259, livakilla1, stronggasite378 and whatdafukarium2098.

I cannot remember the last time I ate in a fast food burger joint. Probably has something to do with the time when I was trucking and stopped at one of these service plazas along 401 and bough 2 burger king burgers. One for me and one for my Dog Breaker (Bless her soul! I still cry when I think about her!)
As I ate my burger she was sitting on the double bunk in the sleeper in front of the burger, looked at it, walked away and laid down in the back.
To make along story short, 30 minutes later I had to call dispatch and ask them to send a driver. My girlfriend at the time drove 500 kms to come and get me and after going to the hospital found out I had food poisoning!

Here is a hint! Give a bite of whatever you are about to eat to your loving do! And if does not eat it??? Neither should you!
Anyways! After this I made to my mom’s house where she almost got into complete cardiac arrest as she saw my walking up the stairs and knocking on her door! I guess once a mom always a mom! She does not care if I am 2 or 47! I am still her little boy!

Had coffee at moms and then went to my brother’s where they were happy to see me again!
Now I am ready to put myself, them and Frosty through another 5200 kms of winter riding before I finally make it home.

Frosty should be ready around Friday! So I am getting a lot of (needed) rest. I will be ready when I take off!

I heard they have reopened the TCH around some of the Great lakes! Hee! Hee! It will be fun!!

Iceman out tabarnac!!!!

Jan. 24th

Well! It was weird today to see Frosty leave home on a flat bed to the dealer.

Here she is without her skin freezing in the driveway as she awaits her Chariot to take her to the dealer where she will for at leasrt a wekk while she gets some TLC. She is ok though! I also need some rest before i return home.

The reason why she is leaving on a truck is because yours truly is spent. I need the rest and cannot ride one more hour without intense rest.

Jan. 27th
The Confession

Ok! I have to fess up here! After talking to Melanie yesterday evening and drilling her as to how she is hanging on through all this and finding out that she is ok. Well! As ok as one can be when they are looking at their loved one daily, taking chances with his safety for way too long over way too many days, I came to the conclusion that she will and so will I, be ok only when I get home. As for her that is a given! As for me? Weeeeelllll! I am sometimes a threat to myself while standing still.
Anyone who knows me. I am really knows me! Knows this. I can out of nothing, create something that will make anyone go “what the F&^%$#!!

Blame it on my 2 brain cells! BTW these 2 cells conversations these days consist of “Colisse! On aurait du proceder au trou du cul de sincreme de caribou!
For Fu^%&*%# we should have proceeded forward with this dead caribou’s ass!!

Where was I? Ah yeah! Turning my life into a fire breathing, mind numbing, Holy shit producing time bomb!
I have proven many times that with only 2 brain cells that I can make choices that will make someone go “HMMMMM! Should we put the stray jacket back on? For our own sake! Anyway a nice example is this trip. Even though a lot of us do not know each other and have never met, we somehow, through the internet, connect. By connecting like this we end up caring and by caring we……., well you know the rest!
Because I know you care, I did not want to worry you, and by not wanting to worry you I kept a couple of things away from this tread.
The road around Fire lake immediately after Fermont coming east which last a whole butt puckering 65 kms I think was the home of not only 1 close encounter with a truck but 4. It was also the birth place of not 1 but 3 snow bank divings. Out of the 65 kms of road between Fermont and the end of Fire Lake I might have actually seen only, maybe half. The rest was auto-guiding Frosty and pointing her in the right direction.

Each time the trucks appeared in a curve and each time neither of us was to blame.
I still have a piece of missing material in my underwear that was sucked in by the great powers of the pucker Gods.
Well! You know! The dead caribou has my head up his ass and my ass got the arctic fleece. All is fair in the war of tension.

I chose not to write about it because I thought that I would hear too many “paul! This is stupid! Turn around! And that it would make me turn around! Like I said I like to push myself in ways that sometimes defy my own understanding. This was THEE biggest time of them all.
From my own perspective it was a good call! From the point of view of some of you it might be too! From Melanie’s looking back it was then but she wonders now why I do something like this.
Beside being able to create and invent some new swear in my mother tongue as I see a Kenworth W900 with a “wide Load” sign on its front bumper carrying 4 huge tires, and each one being able to swallow me in threads and not leave a mark on the actual carcass like OAHhhh Tabarbac moman! Heille colisse ca passe pas tu sais bain Sincreme de colisse! Qu’est ce que j’ai pense maudite crisee de mule ensoleillee? St ciboire de calvair the pretre fiffi d’crisse ca va tu faire mal en sacraman! Whhoo! Whoooooo Whooooahhhhh!
Soeur blindee de colissee que ca là passer proche. Paul tès bain codingue colisse d’epais d’osti! St eucharistie d’crisse reveille ou bain sort du ch’min!!!

So looking back! This road was absolutely, insanely unsafe and just downright freaking dangerous! Like Wayne said in Wabush! “This road is dangerous in day time on a clear summer day with no traffic! I just do not want to think what it will be like for you on 2 wheels today!”
And to think that asi sat on that snow bank freezing whatever balls I had left at that time thinking it was still safer to sit here and freeze for 20 minutes (Which I did!) than to go on and still decide to move on because I believe that when your time has come you will go. I chose to do what I wanted. If it was now I had to go. Well dammit I will go doing what I love!
I am in a way saying “I am sorry” to those who worried about it and really believed what I was doing was foolish.
But the truth is! I AM NOT! Because I still see this fateful moment on the 18th of June 2006 take place in front of my eyes. When my best friend Ian Anguish ahead of me on his bike doing what he loved so much, on a perfect northern California day at slow speed with no obstacles and nothing blocking his view, lock the front binders because he thought he was about to hit this little fawn that came running. He never hit it. His SV1000 flipped, he broke his neck and the tailpiece of his bike rammed in cervical spine making sure this was his last day.. I had enough time to say “Oh shit No! Ian! NOOO! And crawled by his side in enough time to hold his hand and feel him go home

It was his time. It was his to go home! He could have chosen to stay home with his family, he could have gone to work or he could have mowed his lawn. The truth, at least my truth is that he would have gone at that precise moment at 11:13 AM on June 18th 2006 no matter what he was doing.
Instead? The switch went off while he was doing what he loved, in an environment he dreamed about and with his buddy. Painlessly and quickly.

So yes! I did what I did because I needed to feel this again! I needed to remind myself that I can push so far, my mind will freak and still go on because if it is not my time, nothing will happen! I felt Ian riding with me and I felt dad! Melanie was with me and so were so many others.
So yes I lied! To prevent those who don’t believe in what I believe from worrying too much. Would I do it again the same way? Yes! But I would not lie about it like I did!
Because by hiding this, I kept many from feeling all they could feel. And end up at the end of the day saying things like “Holy shit Man!” and giggle as you sit back in the chair.
Feeling that raw mind numbing, heart stopping, gut wrenching fear the way I did to the point where it paralyzes you and stops you in your track, to the point where you have only 2 choices. To keep going or turn around! I chose to keep going! I chose to let the absolute fear in my mind and heart dance with my faith in the music of my beliefs, and the giggles brought on by the sheer conflict of these emotions dancing together was all i could hear.

I literally could see Dad and Ian by my side! This is not a figure of speech! I could see them and feel them traveling every life sucking kilometres of this road with me and guide me.
I talked with them, laughed with them afterward, and cried with them. And at every steps in between when i felt like like surrendering to the fear of going on so many times i just stopped and listened once more, againmore again, knowing that they would tell me `Go on Paul!

I might have said this before and I will say it again! But make no mistake about it. Every time I make a choice that takes me places I have not been or scare me out of my comfort zone (The place I hate the most on earth) this “Need to feel” thing will kick in.
I just hope that if you choose sometimes to do it and push through, that you will have the same kind of co-riders and passengers I had with me.

Just be happy I did not have to shove your head up a dead caribou’s ass!

Feb. 1st

Well! I have good news and bad news. The good news is that Frosty is ready and super healthy. She was cleared with a super clean bill of health.

The bad is news is 2 fold.
First! The storm is on us and it looks like at least here it will be here for 2 days. I do not mind riding in this but in this with Quebec drivers is suicide. So I have to wait till it clears. So I am getting Frosty brought back to me on a truck.

Second! By the time I leave and will hit home I will have been gone 2 months. Too freaking long. So it is with a great sadness that I have to say that the iceman is flying home.
2 weeks stopped has taken my desire to keep going to the ground.
I have crossed Canada and made it through the TLH and back with a total of over 8500kms.

I am happy! Riding back and doing a C2C2C would have been great but I have a life.
I will come back this summer to pick up Frosty.

Feb. 2nd

Even though I am so damn happy and proud about what I did, I can’t help but feel I have let myself down. These almost 2 weeks was not planned here and I was looking forward to have Frosty back and get back on the road.
But I quickly felt that I was losing my game. Last year and this year before I left I left, I spent months preparing myself by talking to myself and psyching myself too..

I know it! I can feel it and I would be lying to myself if I pretended it would be safe to leave right now, I was looking forward to do the C2C2C and was also looking forward to get home after it. Today when I woke up after the big snow dump I went outside and I was dreading being out in the cold. Not that I was cold but was resenting being exposed to the elements. Not a good feeling to have when you have to go across over 5000 kms of frozen land.
In a mood like this it would have meant that I would have not only mad plenty of mistake and putting mys3elf at risk for nothing but also putting others.

I miss the road and I miss the fun we had. I miss the tabarnacs, sinciboires and soeurs blindees d`appocalypse de crisses!
I already miss the feeling of Frosty cruising down the road silently over the snow covered road having only the sound of her engine for music!
And my goodness! What a sound it was! The snow covered trees dancing by, the frozen lakes that made me think ¨Hmmm! It would be so much fun to go on this sheet of ice at 100 km/h and hit the breaks.
I miss the looks of strangers looking at me like an alien, not because of pride and vanity but I knew that most of the time the conversations where about to start would be remembered on both side for a lifetime.
I miss in many ways the TLH where at times, all I wanted to do was to hit the 911 button and wait to be picked up because I thought I could not go on for another second.
I miss the feeling of life saving warmth I felt after I barely lit up the burner on my heater, wrapped myself in the tarp and felt it warm up not only my body, but my soul. It was one more victory achieved after a mind numbing battle with Mother Nature’s personality.
I even miss the 20-30 minutes of shaking with stress and transitioning going outside after staying inside with my friend’s warmth. My bowl of soup! When my teeth were chattering and my hands had trouble putting the key in the switch I was shaking so hard. This was not because I was cold! But only because of raw it all felt. I suppose anyone who has been in cold environment can understand! The feeling of the frozen air hitting the passage way as it warms up and makes its way down to the lungs.

But of all this, what I will miss the most will be to com back in the room, grab a shower and turn my laptop back on and chat with my friends. As much as the solitude was healing most of the time, our chats were the highlights of the day.
A giggle, a joke, a wise crack or a compliment! All this is again, what made this ride what it was!……………………………………Our ride!

I am done with winter trips. This is why I am sad and disappointed that the C2C2C will not be on my list of accomplishments. But I will have to learn to let this go. Because I follow my dreams like we all strive to do and as some of you know, I bit in life with merciless abandon!
My plans now call for other things! My dreams are pointing in places where the only cold place might be the cooler holding a cerveza. I am going around the world in 2010 and this will take us around 5-7 years if all goes as planned. Melanie and I will go on a trip that we are blessed enough to be able to turn into a reality. And during this trip we will find another country that will become home. A country, where we will ride all year long! A country where nothing in our closet will have long sleeve and where ALL OUR FRIENDS WILL BE ABLE TO COME AND VISIT.

But you must know this and make no mistake about it.

No matter where the roads take me, my name will always be Iceman (Thanks to you).
Part of my heart will always be on a frozen road somewhere in my memory, riding with 1000`s of pillions and co-riders.

Finally and most importantly, my head will always be, somehow, no matter what I do, no matter where I ride and no matter what amazing vistas will fill my eyes and mind, up a dead caribou’s ass.

Iceman out

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Just thought I’d take some time to post a trip report from a recent camping excursion that took me from Thunder Bay, ON to Guelph, ON through August 12th to the 21st. It was an incredible experience – and I hope from this report you’ll be able to gain a real sense of just what the experience was like on the CBR125R. Maybe it will inspire you to do the same.

My goal for the trip was to take what I had learned from my preparatory trip in May 2010 when I traveled from Thunder Bay, ON to Winnipeg, MB on my 2009 CBR125R (see here: http://www.hondacbr125r.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5709) and improve upon it. One addition involved taking along a Camptime Roll-A-Cot (see: http://www.rei.com/product/378067) to improve sleeping comfort and to maximize utility and space inside my new (and so far chipmunk free) tent. The cot sits 15″ above the floor and allows you to store all your gear underneath so you’re not sleeping in it – during the night. Also there is just something about sleeping off the ground that seems to contribute to a much better nights sleep. In selecting my new tent, I wanted one that packed up small, was self-standing, and easy to set up. I also decided to try a single-walled tent this time out so I wouldn’t have to fiddle with a fly. The tent I picked for this adventure was the Nemo Andi (see: http://www.amazon.com/NEMO-Andi-Ultr…/dp/B003F5UNP4)

I’m really liking this tent. It is extremely quick to set up and it fits in one of my saddlebags. I carry the poles (only 2 poles!!) on the back of the bike. One other change from my last trip involved bringing a small pack for clothes and extra items. On my last adventure I didn’t quite have enough room for extra clothes and smaller camping luxuries. This time, I even brought along a tarp just in case I got rained on in the parks. When it rains – a tarp can turn an otherwise claustrophobic “I can’t believe I’ve been trapped in my tiny tent all day” anhedonic nightmare into a “Wow – it’s great to be sipping a cold one with my legs stretched out – enjoying the views while dry under this tarp” blissful euphoria. Well no blissful euphoria for me – I never had a chance to use it on the trip – so it just took up space in my pack. However, when you have a need for it – it really contributes to camping morale in my experience.

Here is another photo of the bike packed up. I changed the packing configuration a few times during the trip to ease setup and take-down and to improve aerodynamics. As you can see from the photo, seating was initially rather cramped too and after a few quick stops it felt like I had been hijacked by a rabid mongoose who had mistaken my nutsack for a cobra.

I set off around 10am with a goal to stop every hour for fuel and to take a break. I found that if I stopped every hour, this effectively eliminated any soreness or stiffness throughout the day and really allowed me to enjoy the ride. Even a 5 minute break made a world of difference after 1 hour on the road. The weather was sunny and clear when I left – and it remained so for most of the trip. My first stop occurred in Nipigon, ON for fuel just after around 100kms into the trip. I have traveled the Trans Canada Highway 17 East of Thunder Bay countless times over the past 20 years – through rain, blizzards, severe cold, heat, fog – you name it. It is an incredibly scenic drive – and the views are always breathtaking. However, I had never traveled the route on a motorcycle before so I was eager to re-experience this route from a riding perspective. One great thing I have found personally about riding (as opposed to driving a car) is that it forces me to take my time – and in the end I see so much more and the experience is so much more rewarding. I made a point of stopping at lookouts along the way that I had passed by many times over the years.

The photo below was taken from a highway lookout East of Nipigon, ON on the first of a number of long climbs along the shores of Lake Superior. While most of the climbs involve 500-700 ft gains in elevation above the lake, the CBR125R took these in stride and was able to maintain a minimal speed of 80 km/hr up the longer grades – full loaded – while maintaining a speed of between 100-105 km/hr on the flat stretches. Most traffic slows too when climbing these grades, so it never felt like I was holding up traffic. Actually, I passed a number of tractor trailers and R.V.s up these hills. You can see a bit of the town of Nipigon in the distance. Some people have compared the scenery north of Lake Superior to that seen along the Cabot Trail on Cape Breton Island, N.S.

When taking these photos I met a fellow from Vancouver Island who was traveling with his daughter (and their dog) across Canada. When I told him that I was heading to Guelph, he mentioned that he studied Agriculture there many years ago. He also reflected on a variety of bikes he owned over the years (including an older Triumph) and I mentioned that I had recently picked up a Yamaha WR250R – shipped to me all the way to Thunder Bay from Courtenay, B.C. He said “Wow, that’s a pretty small bike”. And I responded with “But the black CBR that you saw me climb off of in the parking area is only 125cc’s. That’s what I’m heading to Guelph on”. This was the first of many similar exchanges I had with people who had no idea that the CBR was not – in fact – a big bike. It was extremely fun and rewarding in a devious way to witness the look of shock on their faces when I mentioned the bike’s displacement. Though I didn’t realize it at the time – the thought of riding alone for over 3200 kms – in some remote parts of Ontario – would seem like a lonely, isolating experience for many people. Yet every day was filled with such friendly, collegial banter from all kinds of interesting travelers – curious to know where you were riding to, and what you had seen along the way. No – the trip was far from being a lonely and isolating experience.

As we were talking – a train appeared and started to snake its way along the shoreline – so I decided to snap another photo.

I wished my fellow travelers a great trip – and then moved on. A short while later I decided to stop near the bottom of another long climb to take a few photos at a picnic area. I pulled up alongside a cyclist – just one of many I passed who were travelling across Canada. He asked me if I had seen a group of cyclists back my way. I mentioned that there was indeed a group about 10 kms back. He had been riding with them for a bit but they were experiencing some mechanical difficulties that put them behind. He actually recognized my bike as a CBR125 – and said he was hoping to buy one in the near future. As I took a few photos, a car drove by and honked. It was the fellow from the last lookout. I took a few more photos and then continued on my adventure.

It was at this point that I was suddenly confronted with an unforeseen dilemma. “Should I take another photo?….or risk ruining the moment by stopping and spoiling the immediacy of the experience – the Gestalt unraveling before me – as I was riding by. This kind of experience just simply doesn’t captivate you the same way in a car. A motorcycle immerses you – you become a part of the experience – and the experience feels so much richer. I decided to seize the moment – just enjoy it – but promised myself that I would try to re-capture these moments again on my camera on the return trip – hoping that the views would patiently wait for my return.

Riding the CBR125R for lengthy stretches on the highway requires considerable attention, skill, patience, physical endurance, as well as an insatiable appetite for adventure to help you overcome anxious thoughts about how numb your lower back feels. It can be taxing. So you’d think that with all this exertion – time would seem to slow down and the destination would seem to be forever out of reach. Yet – I didn’t find this. The bike is too engaging to ride – to ever get boring. Tucking behind the fairing – changing gears – streamlining my profile to extract a few extra kms of speed. Riding the CBR is like playing a video game. Before I knew it – I had reached my first stop for the night. I was about 430 kms from Thunder Bay and only about 50 kms from Wawa. My highway escapade was coming to an end for the day.

I had passed by Obatanga Provincial Park often on my way East and always wondered what it would be like to camp there. My parents and my two younger sisters stayed there overnight on their way to Expo ’86 in Vancouver. At the time I elected to stay home and relished the prospect of having the house to myself and living each day to the fullest at the beach with my friends. Now at Obatanga, I wondered which site my family stayed at in 1986. On this occasion, the park was virtually empty with a few scattered trailers and tents strewned throughout the park. I was given what is called a “walk-in site”. These are by far my favourite provincial park sites. They are typically on the water – and the privacy really enhances the camping experience. You park near the road – and then walk into your site along a short path. Here is what it looked like.

And here was my view for the evening.

What would the night bring? Stay tuned.

Click here for Part 2…

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Waking up well rested made me wonder about sleeping outdoors in general. You know you’ve had a great sleep in a tent if you simply don’t want to get up. In contrast, there have been times when I just couldn’t wait to get up -irrationally checking my watch every 30 minutes between hazy episodes of sleep to see if the dawn was any closer to arriving. This usually happens when a) the tent has leaked overnight in the rain, b) you are cold and shivering all night and have hardly slept, c) you were kept awake almost all night by a frog whose constant croaking sounded louder than Barney Gumble’s obligatory belching (cue eerie foreshadowing music), d) you are sleeping on the ground, or on a thin air mattress that produces the hip pain equivalent of a jumbo Mr. Freeze ice-cream headache, or e) all the above. So when it comes to tenting, I disagree with Shakira – it really is important to provide a comfortable surface for where your hips do lie. O.K. – I must admit that last line was one of the worst puns ever. I would have included a smiley face, but it would have eaten up my quotient for photos for this segment of my trip report.

The plan for today was to ride into Wawa, ON, fuel up, raid the Subway restaurant (a 12″ sub fits nicely between 2 Powerades inside my Honda Hydro Pack Tankbag) and then make my way inland along Highways 101 and 129 before heading on some backroads towards Elliot Lake and Mississaugi Provincial Park before nightfall. A total of about 450 kms. I was excited about this ride because the last time I’d camped at Mississaugi was with my family in our Starcraft tent trailer when I was around 10 years old. I was curious to see if I might recognize some of the landmarks in the park after more than 30 years. I have fond memories of climbing a trail that led to a pretty spectacular clifftop lookout (and a scary incident that left an impression on me and my siblings) so I was hoping I might be able to retrace those steps again. I seemed to remember there being a log book at the top that I had signed – and though I knew it was a unlikely to still be there – I secretly held out some hope that I might be able to find my entry – written in kid print handwriting. Ah nostalgia.

The ride from Obatanga Park to Wawa was a brief 50 kms or so. I filled up at the Esso and the attendant remarked about how “sweet” my bike was. He seemed particularly impressed when I mentioned that it sips an average of 92 mpg on the highway. From Wawa I made my way along Hwy 101 with my next planned stop at Syd’s Esso in Chapleau, ON. While the speed limit on this section is 80 km/hr, the road is essentially empty so the ride is peaceful and relaxing. And with the CBR125R you can ride sitting straight up at 90 km/hr easily and comfortably.

Near Chapleau I ended up stopping at the Arctic Watershed sign to take a break and re-adjust my seating arrangement. I was really starting to get uncomfortable and something needed to be done. I removed my gear from the back of the bike and decided that I would re-attach the cot and tent poles directly to the tailbag rather than the passenger grab rail. When attached to the grab rail, the poles ate up precious seat space because I couldn’t move the tailbag all the way back to the rear of the passenger seat. This left me with little room to sit on the bike – and to make matters worse – the section that I was sitting on was rather narrow as was well. This change made all the difference – I could actually hear the hallelujah chorus echoing through my head. Although previously my bum had become uncomfortably numb, now there was no pain – it was receding. If you decide to carry gear on your bike, my suggestion is to make sure that you can at least feel the front edge of the passenger seat up against your hind quarters when you sit back as far back as you can, or when you are tucked down into a racing position.

Here is a photo I took after re-arranging my gear. You can see the CBR in the background.

When I made it to Syd’s Esso in Chapleau the attendant there really seemed enamoured with the bike. He looked at me and then the bike and commented “It must really be fun to be riding that out on the open road”. I was actually stunned by how accurate his insight had been and regretted that my reply was a weak “Yep – it sure is”. Not wanting to appear disinterested, I chatted with him about my trip and the bike. Everyone seems surprised at how affordable this bike can be to purchase. I got the sense from him that I was living his dream. Then again – at that age I would have felt the same way….

My next stop would be a supposed gas bar at Aubrey Falls, about 150 kms south of Chapleau on Hwy 129. I was thrilled and relieved to discover that the gas bar did indeed exist. It was situated just before a really twisty portion of the highway. The first time I had driven on the southern portion of Hwy 129 a number of years ago – I actually wondered if I had somehow taken a wrong turn. The road really does change that dramatically. It begins to resemble a paved cart path. And…….there are some small steep hills – one in particular has such a precipitously steep backside that if you are travelling at 80 km/hr – you WILL achieve liftoff and “yump” much like Bullitt in his Mustang on the streets of San Francisco.

I decided that it would be a good time to take a break and eat lunch so I pulled over to the side of the road and blazed a path through some bush so I could eat at a rock that jutted out into the Mississaugi River. With few cars traveling this route – my view was incredibly scenic and my lunch remarkably peaceful. I was also unbearably hot in full riding gear. This was the hottest I felt through the entire trip.

Here is the view from my rocky perch on the Mississaugi River.

I soon turned off Hwy 129 onto Hwy 554, then 546. Hwy 546 was a really interesting experience. Much of the route is very picturesque – meandering along the Little White River. But it is also really bumpy so you really need good suspension to avoid unsettling the bike when riding over mid corner frost heaves. You also need to be extra careful as many of the twists and turns have sand on them – and the road isn’t very wide. On one particularly twisty corner I met a large dumptruck heading towards me that left only about 2 metres of space for me to negotiate the inside of the corner. Not sure if the driver simply didn’t see me – or if they just didn’t care. Maybe they just felt entitled to occupy almost the entire road surface.

I eventually stopped along the road and took a break along the river.

I knew Mississaugi Provincial Park was now getting closer and my day on the road was coming to and end. I managed to pull into the park around 6pm. I was disheartened to find no staff at the main gate and some cryptic note with instructions to register at the Park Office. After riding all day I really wasn’t in the mood to search for the office. However, with a little luck I found it and selected a spot for the night. Once again – I picked a walk-in site situated on the lake. Only – I wasn’t informed that this site was in a swampy area of the lake…..

Here is my bike parked at the short trail leading into my site.

Within a few minutes of arriving at my site for the night – I heard a strange sound coming from the bush across the road from where I parked my bike. The noise the animal was making sounded very guttural – like it was grunting, knawing its teeth, and coughing up a hairball at the same time. It didn’t sound like the kind of grunts that bears normally make – but then again – it didn’t sound like Puss ‘N Boots either. I decided to walk across the road and peer through the bush to investigate but I found nothing. Then just as I took a step back – out of the corner of my eye I saw some shape emerge from the foliage a short distance away. To my surprise – straight from 70′s Sanford & Son T.V. fame -it was Redd Foxx. I needed to get his attention to get a good mug shot so I worked my best vocal impression of one of my cats tossing a major hairball (imagine the sound of plunging a toilet mixed with priming the fuel bulb from the portable tank of an outboard motor mixed with the Ah huh, Ah huh, chorus of KC & The Sunshine Band’s “That’s The Way I Like It” for a sense of the sound I was aiming for). He turned around with a WTF?!? kind of expression on his face and I snapped the shot.

Photo of quizzical WTF look from Redd Foxx

I quickly set up my tent and put away my gear. I knew I only had a couple more hours of daylight but was determined to explore the lookout trail anyway. And I was leaving early the next morning so if I was going to do the trail – it had to be now. A staff member at the office told me that I had probably climbed the Helenbar Lake Lookout Trail based on my description and recollection. My trail map recommended that hikers set aside 4 hours to complete the trail loop but I knew I didn’t have that much time so I decided to walk at a brisk pace and see where it got me. Just before I set out, I attempted to call my dad in Guelph to tell him about my day and reassure him that I was still in one piece. However, I couldn’t get a signal on my Blackberry. I figured I might get a signal at the lookout by taking advantage of the 400 foot gain in elevation above the campground. I made sure to bring my camera, my trailmap, and headlamp just in case things took a turn for the worse.

Click here for Part 4…

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