Avoid the rain tour 1, 2018
For weeks I had been pestering my son to talk his wife into letting him get away for a week and go for a big boys ride. Rob and I had done this a few times in the past, but he has had some employment issues and money can be a concern. So the boss at home has to keep him reigned in. Understood.
I had also asked my grandson if he would like to get away with us for a week of his summer vacation. Aric would be 16 at the end of August and loves to ride with me any chance he gets. His mother grudgingly approved and his dad, my youngest son Jeremy, was only too happy to get rid of him for a week so he would stop being a typical teenager to his two younger brothers.
My neighbor Bill had recently retired and was anxious to put a few kms on his BMW 1200. So, the only thing to decide was when. I am semi-retired, self-employed and working only about 80 hours a month, so its relatively easy for me to arrange time away. Finally, after much negotiating, phone calls, pleading and cajoling, it was agreed that everyone was available the second week in August. Perfect.
I was all set to head south. I wear these fancy deerskin gauntlets that I purchase from Fox Creek gloves in Independence, Va. I have worn nothing else for about 10 years and they have become part of my riding image. My current gloves have about 40,000kms on them and could last another season, but any excuse for a ride. Now, you can buy these things online, but I get 10% off if I purchase in person. The only problem, the weather was looking pretty gloomy to the south. Virginia has suffered some very severe weather this summer, and next week did not look hopeful. The plan was to ride in any direction where it was least likely to rain. So, after a quick look at the weather maps, I booked 2 rooms at the Otanabee Inn in Peterborough for August 7. I love riding the Haliburton Highlands, so that’s where we would start. This would be the only preset destination.
Day 1
I had a few things to take care of in the morning so we didn’t get underway until almost 
on August 7. As usual, I lead the way with Aric on the back seat of my Ultra, Rob on his Kawasaki Nomad and Bill on the BMW following. The day was a pleasant 25C and mostly sunny. I was determined not to take any major hiways and lead the gang up past Georgetown, out along Mayfield Road and thru Bolton to King City then north to Hwy40. Then along 47 to Goodwood and 21 to Port Perry. I followed hwy 7A to Blackstock then up 57 and over toward Omemee.
Just before Omemee I turned down Ski Hill Road (rte 38); I wanted to show the guys the giant Buddha statue. We pulled onto the gravel driveway and parked in front of the chain link gates. 
About 500 meters from the roadway a massive stone Buddha sits on the hillside surveying the driveway. I was telling the guys what I knew of the statue and the Buddhist temple being built in the valley beyond when a car pulled in and an Asian gentleman stepped out. He introduced himself as Michael, the gatekeeper. He had a very monk-like appearance even in t-shirt and blue jeans. He explained that the Buddha had been built in China from a single stone
slab mined from a quarry owned by the Buddhists. It weighed over 75 tons and was shipped in 3 pieces to be reassembled on this hillside. The temple was being built in this valley chosen from several sites around the world for its beauty and serenity. The Buddhists hoped to make this a special, peace garden for all to enjoy. In fact, there will be a ceremony next Sunday to bless the placing of the final roof timber. Michael extended a personal invitation and told us to be here about 8:30 when he would open the gate. If we were here, he would personally escort us in. The ceremony was scheduled to start at 10am and would be attended by several thousand. Amazing. We agreed to try to be there and left. I continued south down Rte 38 to Hwy 7a, onto hwy 115 and into Peterborough at the B-W about 7pm. A very pleasant afternoon’s ride.
The Otonabee Inn is at the east end of Peterborough on Hwy 7 and my wife and I have stayed there several times. It is situated on a branch of the Otonabee River within an easy walk to one of the famous 
Trent-Severn lift locks. I asked for 2 rooms on the river side. These rooms have a walk-out to little decks over-looking the river. It is very picturesque and sitting on the deck you can pretend you are at someone’s cottage in the Kawartha’s. I rode over to the beer store, about 5 minutes west on hwy 7, returned, 
popped the beer into the fridge and lead the gang over to Marty Moos for dinner. Marty Moos is a local landmark and is famous for its comfort food at family prices. We returned to the room about 9pm just as the rain started. And it didn’t just rain, it was a torrential downpour. We heard the next morning that a few funnel clouds were spotted in the area. But it was all pleasant on our little deck as we enjoyed a couple of cold ones. Life is good.👌
Day 2
Over the standard free breakfast the next morning we surveyed the weather and maps. Not very promising. 
The severe weather was south of us, but not far, so we decided to head east and north. There are plenty of interesting roads in the area, so not a concern about that. I kept an eye on the clouds and tried unsuccessfully to avoid the rain. It was just a drizzle, but unrelenting. We rode around in circles for an hour or so, stopping at the Tim Hortons in Lakefield for coffee. Hmm, what now? I was hoping to ride the highlands today, but this drizzle was not going away, so let’s go further north.
It was Bill’s turn to lead, maybe his GPS would lead us away from the rain. He headed south then east before turning north on Buckhorn Road. He turned left on 22 to later realize that it dead-ended at the Curve Lake Reserve. So much for following his GPS. I turned us around and back out to 23, right at Buckhorn, over to Burleigh Falls and left at hwy28. Then north on hwy 62 stopping for lunch at the SunRun Café in Maymooth. The small, old cafe was jammed full of campers trying to get dry. Even with the cold and clouds, everyone was still smiling while enjoying their bowls of steamy corn chowder. Yummy with homemade sour dough bread.
We headed up 62 to Barrys Bay and across 60 then 41 to Pembroke and onto hwy 17 north. I circled off the hwy at Petawawa so the boys could get a quick peek at the barracks, etc. Somehow the sight of multiple uniformed soldiers doesn’t seem out of place here. They look at home strolling down the street. Duh.. it is their home, Petawawa being one of the largest armed forces bases in the country.
By 4pm it was sunny and warm so we stopped at the Canadian Tire in Deep River for gas and to peel off the rain gear. There was a Marks Work Wearhouse attached to the store and Rob decided to buy a new pair of boots. The old boots he was wearing were not waterproof, he left a puddle on the road with every step. Squish, squish…. While Rob was shopping Bill and I searched the maps, weather network and hotels. We decided to head to North Bay and I booked a couple of rooms at the Best Western. 
Hwy 17 from Deep River to North Bay is one of the more scenic ‘highways’ in the area. Most of the way you have the Ottawa River on the east and rocky crags of the Canadian Shield on the west side of the roadway.
The clerk at the B-W reception gave us the special Harley discount rate, thanx; and booked us into the ‘motorcycle’ rooms. We could park our bikes in the small courtyard right outside our window. And there was a bucket, tap and a few old towels handy in case we wanted to wipe the road dirt off the bikes. I guess they get a few riders thru here.
There is a very nice Italian restaurant in the hotel and it was discount Wednesday, so Italian food it is. 
We each had one of the specials, about $10 each; all were very good. Back to the rooms, a cold beer and bed. Another good day on the road.
Day 3
Bill and I were up early and took a stroll along the shore of Lake Nippissing before heading back to clean some of that grime from our bikes. We managed to embarrass Rob sufficiently enough to get him to make a feeble attempt at cleaning. We even took a photo to send his wife. There is no free breakfast at this BW and we declined the menu presented in the restaurant. We decided to head down the road, stopping at the Tims a few blocks away. Over breakfast we again checked the maps and weather. It was going to be mostly sunny and cool today just about everywhere. Well, none of us had ever been to Val D’Or, so that’s where we headed.
Hwy 63 leaves North Bay, crosses the Ottawa River and runs up to hwy 101. We stopped at Temiscaming for a photo op and to gaze on the massive paper mill. Bill got out his new toy, a camera on a mount with remote control and took a group photo. The old rail station here is now a tourist shop and small museum. 
Very north-quaint. We continued up hwy 101 stopping at a small pull off in the National Park to stretch our legs. Bill parked his bike under a sign warning that this was Black Bear country so we didn’t wander away and didn’t stay long. 
We turned onto hwy 382 at Ville Marie and over to Lorraineville where we stopped at a roadside take-out for lunch. We all ordered poutine, just because. It was OK, but not great. We turned onto 391 and headed up to Rouyn Noranda. 
The town of Rouyn Noranda is surprisingly successful looking for a northern city, very shiny and clean, with congested traffic everywhere. I stopped at the Cdn Tire to get some Lucas Oil; the Harley was starting to make some strange engine noises again, sometimes this helps to quiet it down. We then rode around the corner to the local Harley dealer so I could by a T-shirt to prove I actually came here. This dealership also sells Hondas and snowmobiles. I guess you do what you have to do in a small centre.
Back onto hwy 117 and east to Val d’Or. I can’t say that the landscape is exciting, in fact it is km after km of the same old thing, rocks, trees and water; not many hills, so not very many vistas. And one thing about riding north, there aren’t many options for roads to travel. Val d’Or was a typical small city built on the promise of mining wealth. The gold rush is over and the forest industry is not exactly booming or exciting. Not much here to amuse us so we followed Hwy 117 as it swung south.
At Louvicourt we stopped at the Loriee d’Bois café for a second lunch. 
The café is a combination store, post office and poutinerie. The waitress was talking to another patron as we entered and with a casual wave invited us to sit at the counter. The café was just one long Formica topped counter with about a dozen blue Naugahyde stools lining it. The menu was written on a large white board on the wall, all in French. Our 15 year old high school student became our translator although we all knew what ‘Poutine’ meant. The man of the house came over and asked, in French, if we wanted coffee, ‘yes please’. He immediately apologized and switched to broken English. His wife laughed and came over to assist. Her English was heavily accented but quite good and clear. Yes, poutine was their specialty, fresh cut fries with homemade gravy and local curds. 4 orders please. When Bill asked if the fries were really fresh cut he was invited to the back of the café where there was a bag of potatoes, a bucket and a knife. ‘If you want them fresher, you can cut them yourself’. We all laughed. 
Now this was real poutine, the way I remember from my first visits to Quebec many years ago. And the servings were immense, 2 orders to share would have sufficed, but we managed to polish them off with the bottomless coffee flowing. Very nice, Merci Beaucoup.
Back onto hwy 117, thru the National Park and onto hwy 105 south. 
We managed to find a gas station before Rob ran out of gas and stopped to look for a hotel. Rob found a listing on Hotels.com for an inn in Maniwacki. The Centre Chateau Logue is a modernized addition to the old mansion and out buildings of a man who made a small fortune on timber in the area. It is now a bar, inn, library, museum and conference centre. This was off season so we got very special rates. There is a pub attached to the conference centre which was not only handy but quite nice. The kitchen was closed when we arrived at 8pm, but they had sandwiches, a pool table and a very large selection of craft beers; and a very sweet young lady who spoke English. 
The desk clerk, hotel manager and bartender only spoke French and Aric’s high school language class wasn’t quite up to the local patois. 
The pub was small with a large deck overlooking the Maniwacki River. Very scenic. We taught Aric how to play pool, imagine 15 years old and never held a pool cue; what is the youth of today coming to. I guess its up to Grandpa to educate the boy…..
Day 4
In the morning Bill and I decided to head out about 6:30am for a walk. These old bodies get a little stiff sitting on the bikes for 10 hours a day. There was a woodland pathway leading from the hotel, along the river, over a foot bridge and across the golf course to the town centre. We circled back up the roadway, thru a little quaint village area, an outdoor kids marine exhibit and back to the hotel. A very nice little town. We got Rob and Aric up and out. The hotel did not offer breakfast so it was over to the Tims for coffee.
A quick check of the maps suggested a south-westerly direction and off we went east on 107 and south on Chemin de Ste Therese du Gatineau. 
Just before the bridge was this curious display of farm equipment. The little park was well manicured, the equipment well tended, but there was no sign to say, why. We passed thru Nigger Falls, onto 105 then west on hwy 301 stopping at Otter Lake for lunch. As we made the turn over the river on Hwy 105, we passed thru a small town. The Resto Rumours is a very small, hole in the wall café snuggled into the side of a mostly abandoned old factory building. 
We were surprised that everyone in the café spoke English, no accent. Apparently this whole area is Anglais, who knew. Rob ordered something called a breakfast poutine. It was a mass of home fries covered in gravy and cheese, topped with a fried egg. Oh my. He said it was good, I just had coffee and toast. The service and atmosphere were wonderful. A very pleasant surprise indeed.
Then it was down the 301 to Portage du Fort and across the Ottawa River. We made a quick photo stop on the causeway to snap a picture of the hydro dam, then out onto hwy 653 into Ontario. We managed to wander our way over to Calabogie and stopped at the Redneck Bistro for a snack. As we headed south on the infamous rte 511 a black bear ran across the road about 100 yards in front of me. 
I turned around as quick as I could and stopped on the gravel shoulder to peer into the brush along the river’s edge. She was long gone. We continued down the ‘Calabogie’ into Perth and stopped at the Dairy Queen. It was about 25c and sunny, an ice cream was in order. Time to find lodging for the night. Nothing was available anywhere near here at a reasonable rate.
Rob managed to find a motel in Cloyne, about an hour away. No problem it was still only 4pm. So we decided to just wander around for a bit. The backroads of the Haliburton Highlands are amazing. We wandered down hwy 10 and up 36 thru Maberly and Snow Road Station. After we filled the tanks with gas I decided it was Rob’s turn to lead, he lead us down a sideroad that turned into dirt and ended at an RV park on a river where Rob narrowly missed a porcupine ambling across the road. Back onto hwy 506. The next road he ventured down was more successful, Myers Cave Road meandered thru the highlands and around several small lakes before emerging onto Wintergreen and over to Hwy 41. Imagine that, The Mazinaw Residence Inn is on hwy 41 in Cloyne. Avoid it if you can. But there was no other accommodation available in the area, this is prime vacation season in one of the most popular vacation areas in Ontario. Oh well. There was a bar and a restaurant. The bar only served the standard commercial bottled beer, Bill and I ordered Corona’s and sat on the deck watching the holiday traffic. The restaurant served an offering of barely edible stuff. The whole place kinda reminded me of that old TV show ‘Faulty Towers’. The owner was the desk clerk, bar tender, cook and waiter. We ordered fish and chips. The fish tasted like Capt’n Highliner and the chips were obviously frozen and cooked in the oven next to the fish. However, there was a general store down the street about 100 yards that served real ice cream.
Day 5
The next morning we headed up 41. At Debigh Rob informed me that he was almost out of gas. There was a Shell station right across the road from the Mazinaw Inn, he forgot he needed gas when we were leaving. A quick check on the GPS showed that Bancroft was about 25kms away, he might make it. Luckily we found a noname gas bar about 10kms along hwy 28. Bill and I decided to wait til we got to Bancroft. In Bancroft, after filling the tanks, we found Dave’s Place, a spotless little café, for breakfast. Great food, good coffee and wonderful friendly service. We decided to just wander around the area for the rest of the day.
During our meandering we found ourselves on Hwy 60 and heading into Algonquin Park. The road was under construction and was probably the bumpiest 10kms I had ever ridden on a touring bike. We pulled into the Muskoka Grill for lunch and found about 50 motorcycles in the parking lot. A quick glance showed that many were wearing H-A patches. I took off my SCRC vest and we strolled in. The place was packed. It was obvious that we were not part of the party, we were not going to get served here. So we decided to head down hwy 31 and stopped in Dorset.
Dorset is one of those little villages that has become a very trendy tourist trap. There are a few restaurants, the old General store and of course the lift lock. We squeezed the bikes into the gravel parking lot and headed into the first café. They were closing the doors so they could clean up after the ATV crowd that was just leaving. The waitress was not pleased with all the mud tracked in. We walked out onto the street just as about 20 ATVs roared past. Across the bridge was another, larger bar with a guy playing guitar on the deck; but the lineup was out onto the street. Oh well, across the street to the bakery and a sandwich to go. We sat on a bench next to the river enjoying our lunch, the sunshine and the atmosphere.
I headed south on 35 and then east on 118 to sideroad 3. The stretch of #3 to Gooderham and then down 507 is one of my favourite rides in the Haliburtons. They curve and twist, up and down, roll and sweep over typical highland terrain for about 50kms. Very nice especially on a sunny day like this.
Aric is a budding rock n roll musician and wanted to visit the legendary ‘Hip’ locale, Bobcaygeon. 
No problem, a turn onto rte 36 and there we are. Bobcaygeon is one of those very picturesque little towns that has managed to survive long enough to become trendy. The 2 blocks of the main street are chock full of tourist shops and cafes. Bigley Shoes owns about half the stores downtown and sells everything from beach wear to ice cream. We parked, grabbed an ice cream and walked over to watch a few very expensive boats go thru the locks on the Trent Canal which bisects the town.
Mid afternoon; time to plan where to stay Its Saturday in tourist town and we wanted to be n
ear Omemee so we could visit the Buddha in the morning. Rob found us a Knights Inn in Lindsay. Fine.
After settling into the rooms we headed downtown to find supper. We settled on the Olympia for Greek food. It was tasty and generous. The restaurant was crowded but the service was excellent and the craft beer was cold. Another great day with the boys.
Day 6
The following morning we headed out to find a quick bite before running over to the Buddha. The Harley barely turned over but did start. After coffee and a bagel at Tims I climbed on, hit the start button and got that dreaded click, click, click. Dead battery. Shit. Bill had his trusty little jumper cables; but we couldn’t get the Harley to bite. I called CAA and we waited for the truck. About 30 minutes later it arrived, he hooked up the cables and it started first try. By now it was too late to think about attending the temple ceremonies and I could not risk turning the Harley off. And its Sunday, so no where to stop to buy another battery. We’ll have to head home. Oh well.
I did manage to wander around the backroads and make a decent day of it on the way home. I’m sure the boys were disappointed about missing the special Buddha event, but they did not complain.
I parked the Harley in my driveway and called our neighbor Ben, a mechanic and avid bike rider. He is very proud of his 20 year old Yamaha Venture. I explained the issue and Ben hurried over with a battery tester as well as one of those mobile boosters similar to the ones used by CAA. ‘Yep, the battery is toast. This should get you going in the morning. Any problems, give me a shout’.
It started just fine in the morning and I took it into the dealer. Bill escorted me and gave me a ride home.
All in all, a very good trip with the boys; just over 3500 kms. Quite a nice little adventure and only one morning of rain. It was great to have Rob along for the ride again; Aric took about a thousand pictures and would have a few stories to tell his friends; Bill was hooked and looking forward to our next road trip. Yep, it’s a good life.