[02/10/2024 – 09/10/2024[

Our Last Week – Whenever You Read IT

Let’s talk about the U.S. National Parks. Literally the first money we spent was on the “America the beautiful National Park Pass” which costs 80$ and gives you access to all fee areas in the national parks. If you want to camp in. national park additional fees apply, and you do need to reserve a campground. Most of the campgrounds we stayed at only had pit toilets no electricity or showers, but that is mighty fine.
While camping seems to be one of THE free time activities of the Americans, we have mostly seen white people at the camp sites. Americans of color where only a handful. I have no idea why that is.
One thing that can be said is, that the national parks encompass parts of the most beautiful and tranquil landscapes of the U S. and thanks to that they are accessible for the people, all people.

Wednesday: Appleton – Little Beaver Lake Campground (lake superior)

Getting up at 06:00 am, to get coffee and start packing, as i have to go get my motorcycle at 09:00 am. Prepared breakfast and as i have found a proper avocado it was a toasted naan, cream cheese, avocado bacon and a sunny side up egg for me and over easy for Stefan.. I like that, and i believe the last time i prepared it like that was in Medellin … roughly five and a half months ago. The bike was ready and nothing major was reported. She runs pretty good. The guys in the shop said they never had a Tenere with that high mileage, let alone two. Mine is at 63666 km Stefans about 900 km lower. It seems however that on this trip we wont get over the 70000 km mark. Well at least not according to current planning. After i got back i quickly booked an apartment for Niagra Falls, where we will stay three nights.
The thing is, we have about 3000 km to go, and 28 days of travel time left. Not that we are dragging our feet, but we have got a little time to spare. We want to be in New York by the 30th of October. Drop the bikes off on 31st and then enjoy a proper party, for which we now have tickets 😉
The ride itself was ok, with the highlight definitely being the ride along the west coast of Lake Michigan. It is quite a windy day and i had to change from the summer to the winter jacket midday, even though the sun was out and the bike reported 19°C as max temperature. The campground is quite cozy, with only 8 slits overall available. Let’s see how (un)eventful the night is going to be and when i ll move from the tent to the hammock in the morning.
Yeah i´ll not be missing the camping, but definitely will miss the hammock.

Thursday: Little Beaver Lake Camground – Rapid City

Not so early morning, so no hammock time, but before we went off we took the little hike to Lake Superior and if you want white sandy beaches with trees all up to the shoreline, clear blue waters – look no further. The water might be a bit colder then in the Caribbean, but other then that. Oh yeah and a beach bar might missing. The drive started off with a nice and bendy road, we even had to overtake a car ;-). Later on we found some sand to play in, luckily it was not as deep as the first two days in Bolivia, so just a fun ride. The Mackinac Bridge was definitely the highlight of the day beside the morning walk. Found a nice place to stay in Rapid City. Dinner by the lake and a nice sunset in the back. Yep good day.

Friday: Rapid City (USA) – Sarnia (Canada)

Well that was a bit of a dull ride, not so much views on the lake. One driver almost running both of us off the road. Overtaking besides oncoming traffic doing 60 in a 35 zone (still mph). The border crossing was yet again simple. So happy that since we crossed into Northern America bordercrossings are not a half day affair anymore.
Somehow i have the feeling, that the value for money increased in terms of accomodation the farther east we are getting, even or especially when staying in places of the same chains.
Sarnia itself had to offer good food, proper drinks and a variety of bars to choose from, even though we did not take full advantage of it as the next day was a riding day.

Saturday: Sarnia – Niagra Falls

Damn, getting acquainted with traffic again, that is going to be hard. On top of that we had to drive alot of highway. Well there was this one point where you cold see across Lake Ontario all the way to Toronto. Pretty sight. Grocery shopping turned out to be a longer affair but we had to do it before we got to the apartment, as it is custom to not use the bikes while we are in one place and the supermarket is 4.5 km away.
After dinner we walked down to the falls and those are impressive, properly impressive. Being lighted, in various color schemes and to top it all off at 10:00pm there was even fireworks. The southern part of Niagra Falls is a bit of a mystery to the both of us. A lot of neon, a lot of chains, but no proper bars, or none that we would class as such. We were in bed shortly after midnight.

Sunday: Niagra Falls

Slow day, Stefan went on a walk to the whirlpools and i went to the Fallsview Waterpark. It was nice, but i like the Therme Erding better. More slides and the sauna is well worth it :-).

Monday: Niagra Falls

So today is the day, my first time playing poker in a casino. Meanwhile Stefan went on a stroll to the horseshoe waterfall and got even more impressed by the force of nature being on display there.
100$ CAD buy in, 1$ 3$ blinds, the casino took 1$ of each pot and every half hour at dealer change another 7$. Got a few nice hands right of the start, one full house and a straight, did win but probably could have gotten more out of it with a better betting strategy. Took me about 90 minutes to loose. The last hand was pocket queens that got beaten by three jacks. All in all a good experience and this was the first time i could see the appeal of going into a casino. Kind of glad that we do not have them readily available on Germany.

Tuesday: Niagra Falls – Toronto

Just 150 km ride, the sun is out and it is beautiful. So first visit is to Niagra on the lake before getting back on the QEW to Toronto. Sadly at our second stop we saw the rain clouds coming in. The first one was over by the time Stefan put the rain clothes on, but later on there was another one which lasted for the last 70 km. Regardless of the rain the first impression of Toronto was a rather good one, and by the time we were ready to explore the city the sun was out again. Had an early dinner and then some proper drinks. Meanwhile due to some difficulties on booking something in Montreal we discovered a little crisis of faith. As we have set our path for Cape Cod. But in between it is a bit difficult to find a proper path. Well found some options and as well put northern Maine and Halifax on the table but that will be decided in the upcoming week aka tomorrow. Tonight it is just bed with a slightly unhappy feeling.

This concludes week #45
Till next time
Happy hacking everyone