Canada - Day 4

6/18/2011 - Day 4 started with another early rise, but it wasn't quite as bad as the day before. After a few final photos, my friends and I parted ways and I was back on my own in a foreign land. It was a beautiful morning and I was pretty upbeat so I was happy to get back on my bike for a ride. I had decided the previous day that I would head due south and re-enter the US as quickly as possible. I was not too enthusiastic about the prospect of getting lost by myself and not being able to speak the language. I'm sure that finding someone who speaks English is really easy, but I didn't want to take the chance.

I wasn't even on the road for 30 minutes before I had a run in with the law. Entering the next town East of Montebello, I didn't pay enough attention to the 50 kph speed limit sign. In my mind I wasn't going fast and was just enjoying the sights. Next thing I know, I've got red and blue lights in my rear view mirror with a black and white Dodge Charger underneath them. I pulled over and was informed by the officer that he'd clocked me at 77 kph in the 50 zone. He

definitely had a chip on his shoulder and wasn't very nice, but I complied with all of his requests. So there I stand on the side of the road as a steady stream of cars flows by as the officer wrote the ticket. It was pretty obvious that he does this every year of the Rockfest. He just sits there waiting to pick people off to generate revenue for his city. I'm sure the Ohio license plate didn't help. I've been legally driving for 25 years and 6 days and this is the first speeding ticket I've ever gotten. I'm not even really sure what I need to do to pay for it because the entire thing is written in French. All I do know is that I've got to come up with $125 Canadian to send to them.

After that little mishap I was even more ready to be out of Canada. A couple of hours later I got to the border crossing at Cornwall, ON. It was about a half hour wait in line before getting to the crossing into New York. The border patrol officer made me present my passport, dismount my bike, remove my helmet and glasses. He also grilled me about my destination who I met in Canada, if I had any weapons or narcotics with me, and why I re-entered the US in New York if I was on my way to Vermont. I simply explained how I wanted to get out of French speaking Canada as quickly as possible. He then asked what route I was taking and said "Don't tell me GPS. I want to know how you plan to get where you are going." It was pretty interesting overall, but I didn't really feel hassled. I think he was just having fun with someone using their passport to re-enter the US for the first time. He finally sent me on my merry way and I was off to see what kind of ground I could cover for the rest of the day.

I had beautiful weather and rode through New York, Vermont, and on to Concord, NH. Vermont and New Hampshire were remarkably beautiful. Something just seemed "off" about them as I was riding through. I finally figured out what it was: There were no billboards cluttering up the highway. All there was to see was the natural landscape and even from the Interstate it was breathtaking. I finally pulled into a Days Inn after about 12 total hours of riding. I was exhausted. They only had two rooms left. The desk clerk asked me if I was in town for the Laconia Bike Week. I had no idea that was even going on, but that would explain the copious amounts of American Iron that I'd seen all day and it also explained why the parking lot was so damned loud. Every Harley owner in the state must have been there and they'd all trailered their bikes there. It was pretty funny watching them roll the big twins off of the trailers, pulling them into the lot revving them then shutting them off. Then out comes the ShamWOW to polish it up, then back into the trailer it goes. I wonder if the flag adorned Harleys that had the Honda Ridgeline & a trailer as a chase vehicle appreciated the irony in that. At any rate, I had a pizza delivered and went right to sleep. It had been another fun yet long day and cat naps at rest stops don't really count as restful sleep.