Yet when I get home from all of these trips I feel like heading out towards my own destination. Someplace new. I can't even imagine staying around the house doing "nothing". There are places I haven't been to, and these are the places I want to go. Not by plane, not by car. By motorcycle.

A trip is always different on a motorcycle. It can turn a boring road trip into an adventure. The destination is not important, because on a bike the trip itself is what gets us out there on the road.

I've finally gotten a hold of my schedule and have a free weekend. Locked up in a hotel room with nothing to do during the nights all week, I get lost in Google Maps and look for interesting places to go to. I get a few ideas but pick something I've already thought about, heading up to Dayton, Ohio and visit the house I lived in up until I was 4 years old. Naturally I don't remember much from those times although I still recall some dream-like memories of back then. The trip is almost exactly 500 miles to get out there. This would be a perfect SaddleSore ride candidate. It would especially be a good chance to work on getting my average speed up so I can consider an Extreme Iron Butt ride in the future.

But my imagination doesn't leave my destination alone, and I find myself looking even further out on the maps. If I leave at my usual 5am time, the 500 miles can get me to my destination just a little after lunch. But that's just noon on Saturday. I've got the whole weekend at my disposal. I can't waste it. But where could I go?

Canada.

It's not too unrealistic. The Lake Erie area isn't too far north, traveling through Canada via Detroit, MI and Niagara Falls, NY. I make a few phone calls to some scenic hotels on the lake and they're booked solid. Must be worth it. I could make the trip and back in two days. Definitely one of my heavier rides. You only live once, right?

4/25/08 (Friday):

First step when I get back from my week long business trip on Friday is to finish up the installation of the new chain and sprockets. I went with one up from stock on the front sprocket to bring my RPM's down, and hopefully get a bit better range on my stock gas tank. When I tore the old equipment out I realized someone had already went one tooth down, so I was basically now going up TWO teeth, should be a drastic change in cruising RPM. Get some last minute stuff from Hyperformance Cycles and I'm good to go. I complete a test ride without slapping the back of my helmet with a kamikaze chain, so it appears it'll hold up.

Pack up all of my supplies with my usual stuff, except this time I bring some ramen packets to eat at a hotel room if I can't make it out to a restaurant. Having a new chain on the bike, I bring more tools than I normally do, prepared to fix most anything regarding the rear wheel and chain drive system. I have to search around for my passport, and it is at this moment that the extent of this trip slowly starts sinking in. I'm getting pretty excited!

First time needing a passport for a motorcycle trip:

11:30pm. Just finished packing. Was hoping to be in bed by 8pm. Took longer than expected to plan the route. I plugged most of it in my GPS but I had to research the border crossings as I realized some don't allow motorcycles. Unfortunately I can't take the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel to get into Canada like I had planned but I should have no problems on the Ambassador Bridge. Getting back into the States in Niagara Falls, I'll take the Rainbow Bridge. Even during night time I'm hoping they keep the Niagara Falls lit up so I can take some pictures as I pass by. It was pretty clear of the awesome view I'll be able to get looking at the map on Google.

My alarm will be going off at 4am, so taking this picture was a little depressing. I planned to only get about 4 hours of sleep while I'm on the road tomorrow night so things are not off to a great start. But thinking of being in Canada in almost 24 hours lifted my spirits:

I pass out... and it seems like almost immediately... my alarm goes off. It's gonna be a long day.

4/26/08 (Saturday):

I've already been up for an hour:

I never really have good breakfasts before these important rides, but I can't deny the convenience. It'll hold me over for a few hours:

I finish getting all the stuff into the luggage of the bike. I prepared for everything but forgot the simple things, like checking the oil level and tire pressure, so I take care of that. I normally run late and this morning is no exception. I was hoping to be rolling out by 5am but it looks like 6am is more realistic.

Just about ready to go:

Finally get geared up and get the bike started. Make my way to my regular gas station at the 92 exit on I-575:

Finally get on the interstate and head up I-75. The new gearing is great on the interstate and looking at my GPS, my speedo is just about spot on with my actual speed, which is nice. On the old configuration I always knew 90mph was actually 75mph but it feels a lot better seeing it match with the actual speeds for once; I don't feel quite as much as a criminal on the interstate.

There are a lot of RV's and campers out on the road, and I can't help but think where they're heading off to. Some cool places I'm sure. Must be nice to be able to take a home on wheels with you. But for some reason I prefer the simplicity of the motorcycle. There's not much convenience built into a motorcycle so mechanical problems can be a big deal. I won't have a cozy bed to sleep in if I get stuck on the side of the road. Packing must be easy in those big RV's since they can take whatever they want. The more things I take the more risk I take. Volume and weight are big factors on a bike and you can get in trouble real quick if you try and load up 100lbs of "stuff" on the back.

I'm nearing Dalton, still on my first tank of gas. I never got a chance to get any water so I make a unplanned stop to get some water and get a bottled coffee as well just to have it on hand. I hate drinking coffee and other caffeine drinks when I'm on a long distance ride but there is always a point when it's just good to have.

I don't gas up as I'm curious how much longer I can go on a tank of gas until I see the reminder light, since I'm now cruising at 5K RPMs instead of the usual 6.5K+ RPMs. Head inside to get some drinks and hit the bathroom. Come back to the bike, drink some water, and get geared up. The sunlight it starting to come up so I'm looking forward to riding in the daylight. I always hate riding at night, especially when I'm still a bit tired from lack of good sleep.

Feeling much refreshed, I hop on the bike, hit the starter, and ...

... nothing.

The unsettling "Uhhh" I let out inside of my helmet echoes in my head, followed by the mandatory "WTF?". The sound of the starter straining to just fail at turning the motor is so sharp I can feel it.

As if in some way what I experienced was some joke my bike was playing on me, I turn the key off, turn the ignition back on, and try again ...

... nothing.

I look around and assess the situation. I think about what I am experiencing and where I am at. I think back about how the bike started just fine this morning and at my first stop. I have a voltmeter on the bike, embarrassingly I admit I didn't look at it up until now. It's not looking good, showing me a voltage of 11.2vDC. I turn the key on and get 10.4vDC. I hit the starter and it drops to maybe 9vDC before the display clears out and the bike computer restarts the "key on" sequence with the tachometer gauge. I am clearly screwed.

I am kicking myself. Although this does not change the fact that Canada is looking more and more like a pipe dream, I can't help but think the reason I didn't see the voltage while on my trip up to this point is because I was too lazy to wire up the backlight power on the gauge. I couldn't see what the voltage is, along with the time and temperature, because it was too dark to see the unlit screen.

Looking back at the events that led me here, the problem seems painfully obvious to be related to the electrical generator or regulator/rectifier. I can't help but think there's still a chance it's a battery issue and I find an employee at the Pilot truck stop to help me locate a battery booster. There's no way I'm bump starting a bike with all this luggage on it. I successfully start the bike, and the voltage hangs around 11.5vDC. Then creeps down to 10.5vdc. Even further still to about 9.8vDC.

I wonder what voltage I was running at when I was coming up here to the Dalton area earlier. Maybe I could head back home and actually make it? Obviously starting the bike was the hardest obstacle. I begin to think if the bike could even run this low so I click the high beams on to put more of a load on the electrical system. The bike shuts down. My goal for the day has now officially changed from getting to Canada, to getting home about 60 miles away.

Fail:

But at least I tried. I call up Tiffany to see what my options are. It's about 7:30am or so by now and I feel awful because she's been a bit sick the past few days. She answers and gets in touch with her dad who has a trailer. The support crew head my way.

"Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony." Just a few minutes after talking with Tiff, it gets a bit dark and starts raining on me:

It appears there was just a single raincloud over my bike that got nothing else wet, no?

Someone pulled up in this slick car from the past:

Key "off", 11.2vDC:

Key "on", 10.4vDC:

It'll be a while, so I do the only thing I can think of and post on the forums on my phone while sitting on the curb.

I normally would have gotten pretty mad at the situation but surprisingly I felt more disappointed than anything, and a bit helpless. I feel fortunate that it happened so close to home, as I couldn't describe how awful having a bike break down almost 1,000 miles away from home would be. I've got a couple 4,000-5,000 mile rides planned for the near future and I can only imagine how angry I'd be if I couldn't even make it out of the state.

I get the greatest sense of accomplishment on these long distance rides, especially the endurance rides. I get my rush from riding up in the mountains and on the track, but as far as a pure accomplishment, definitely the best of it comes from riding long distances and going to different places I've never been before. But that's not to say there will be some disappointment along the way, and today was surely not my day.

Finally, help arrives!

Trying to stay in good spirits:

Probably my favorite picture of the day, making the "walk of shame" to the trailer:

Pretty sad sight, I think this is my first mechanical failure that's left me stranded:

Heading back home:

I tried to tell them we were heading the wrong way. "It's only 451 miles to Dayton OH guys!":

The girlfriend to the rescue:

Back home, about 36 hours early.

This is the route I would have taken. Each item is a stop or border crossing. After heading through Canada and NY I wanted to try and make it all the way back down until Erie, PA before finding a place to sleep for the night. Then get the rest of the 800 miles on Sunday.

Writing all of this up I can't help but take a picture of fate's irony yet again:

That's my "Chasin' A Dream" wristband, with what's left of the "Carbondale Rd., Exit 326" note I had written on my hand while giving Tiffany the location I broke down at. A bit ironic I suppose. I guess I'll try and chase Canada again soon. In two weeks I've got another free weekend, I guess I'll be trying this trip again sooner than later.

Canada or Bust!