Destination unknown...?

[rotor]

How did you find the ride down from North Bay yesterday morning?

It was only 55F when I left Ottawa at 8AM. If I was driving directly north, the cold north wind slipped through the zippers of my leather jacket. That limited my speed to 80 KPH (50 MPH). Heading northwest 90 KPH (55 MPH), and west 100 KPH (60 MPH).

Unfortunately we are in the middle of moving and my winter gloves and down filled vest are in storage. By the time I reached Renfrew (1 1/2 hours) I was chilled and my hands were cold. A medium coffee at breakfast helped. But I had to use the hot water and dryer in the washroom to warm my hands.

By the time I reached Combermere an hour later my hands were numb. Took a side trip to the lookout over the lake. After removing my gloves I leaned on the seat and realized how warm it was from the sun. Spent ten minutes using it to bring my hands back to life.

Fortunately it was warm enough by noon. I had a nice ride around Elephant and Baptiste Lakes. Rolled up 565 kilometers (350 miles) by the time I got home. The afternoon was the best ride I have had this year. I'll pick a warmer day before venturing out again though.

Since it was not certain there would be no rain on Monday, and since the plan was to reach Montreal that day, I did put on my rain overalls in the morning. Thus, cold along the way was no problem, getting to where I was going through heath and humidity in the afternoon rush hour traffic in Montreal was. As a result I am debating my idea of spending a day or two in Montreal on my way back. I have not seen a bike rider lane split there, so I kept in my crawling line, at all times. Will the age of lane-splitting enlightenment ever reach this continent...? Well, certainly it will, but will I be riding two wheels fore and aft when that happens or will those two wheels be one on each side of a padded seat...?
Day 9: Acadia
Evening of day 8:

A ferry ready to leave for the North Shore. For a moment, I was toying with the idea of getting on it. So many interesting roads, so few days. At this point, I cant ignore the simple fact: one of these days, I must turn the bike around.

Somewhere in the middle of New Brunswick:

Turning south from St. Lawrence, at Grand Falls, I decide to cut across through Nortumberland woodland on 108. Road is in bad shape, more than 10 km of loose gravel waiting for tar... But still, better than tooling down the 4-lane Trans-Canada.