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Toward the end of summer in 2012 I had my first long distance touring experience. It all started in the early summer when two girls from Toronto stayed at my place in Clarksville, Indiana on their way to Bonnaroo near Manchester, TN. Dana had sent me a request through couchsurfing which I'd hosted several people before. As soon as we met we instantly got along, and they invited me to come with them to the music festival where we had a great time.
Inbetween my summer and fall classes I decided to go visit Dana and Bonita in Toronto near Bloor St. and Dover.
I left Indiana very late in the day after finally getting all the needed supplies which I secured with a cargo style bungee net. I ran into Cincinnati rush hour traffic around 5 p.m. but once I got onto I-75 I was rocketing north. I had the Bandit in 5th gear wound out for hours heading north blowing by semi-trucks and what I could of swore was the occasional OSP officer in the median but they never gave chase, I had to of averaged 90 mph before getting into Detroit around dusk. Crossing the bridge into Windsor was a strange experience with all the small white lights lit up around the bridge, and taking that huge grade of an incline across the water.
When I rolled into customs I met the most un-friendly Canadian guy in my life, I swore he had to of been born in Detroit and moved to Canada later with the attitude he had. He'd never heard of Couch Surfing, thought it was very suspicious I'd travel to meet people I only met once, and just had an all around **** attitude toward me. After looking at my bag and the bottle of bourbon I'd brought for me hosts they let me go.
Riding from Windsor to Toronto in the late night felt like an infinite amount of blackness with very few lights or traces of civilization. The Bandit was still running strong never missing a beat no matter how fast I went.
I finally got into GTA around 1 O'clock a.m. when I started to slow the Bandit down I heard a very strange sound coming below me, at first I thought I'd thrown a rod or something internally was wrong with the Suzuki, but when I pulled over and looked at the bike I realized the cheap non-Oring chain I had just bought the night before leaving had gave out on me and had a tremendous amount of slack from being stretched while riding hard. I anxiously rode into the downtown area hoping the chain would not come off the sprockets before reaching my friends apartment, luckily it stayed in place, and luckily I brought a few basic tools to tighten the chain.
I could tell a lot of other stories about what I did in Toronto, but this story is about touring.
I made it as far as Montreal on this trip and then came back the same way to Indiana. The chain started making strange grinding noises somewhere near Dayton, and never before had I been so tired on a motorcycle where sleep was a very real thing. I'd slept on a pile of dirty clothes the night before in Dana's room and at some point in the early morning Dana being the great person she is let me get into her bed to catch better Z's for a few hours before heading off in the morning. It's difficult to even remember the space in time between Cincinnati and Louisville on I-71, but the Bandit never let me down, I got home safe and sound with only my body buzzing from fatigue and the vibrations of the 1200 motor.
The photo was taken by Dana when we had amazing BBQ sandwiches somewhere in Toronto. I have a few more photos but most are just taken with friends I'd made along the way. One day we did go hatched throwing, or I should say we went to a hatchet club where they had targets set up, but I don't know if I got any photos of that.
Toward the end of summer in 2012 I had my first long distance touring experience. It all started in the early summer when two girls from Toronto stayed at my place in Clarksville, Indiana on their way to Bonnaroo near Manchester, TN. Dana had sent me a request through couchsurfing which I'd hosted several people before. As soon as we met we instantly got along, and they invited me to come with them to the music festival where we had a great time.
Inbetween my summer and fall classes I decided to go visit Dana and Bonita in Toronto near Bloor St. and Dover.
I left Indiana very late in the day after finally getting all the needed supplies which I secured with a cargo style bungee net. I ran into Cincinnati rush hour traffic around 5 p.m. but once I got onto I-75 I was rocketing north. I had the Bandit in 5th gear wound out for hours heading north blowing by semi-trucks and what I could of swore was the occasional OSP officer in the median but they never gave chase, I had to of averaged 90 mph before getting into Detroit around dusk. Crossing the bridge into Windsor was a strange experience with all the small white lights lit up around the bridge, and taking that huge grade of an incline across the water.
When I rolled into customs I met the most un-friendly Canadian guy in my life, I swore he had to of been born in Detroit and moved to Canada later with the attitude he had. He'd never heard of Couch Surfing, thought it was very suspicious I'd travel to meet people I only met once, and just had an all around **** attitude toward me. After looking at my bag and the bottle of bourbon I'd brought for me hosts they let me go.
Riding from Windsor to Toronto in the late night felt like an infinite amount of blackness with very few lights or traces of civilization. The Bandit was still running strong never missing a beat no matter how fast I went.
I finally got into GTA around 1 O'clock a.m. when I started to slow the Bandit down I heard a very strange sound coming below me, at first I thought I'd thrown a rod or something internally was wrong with the Suzuki, but when I pulled over and looked at the bike I realized the cheap non-Oring chain I had just bought the night before leaving had gave out on me and had a tremendous amount of slack from being stretched while riding hard. I anxiously rode into the downtown area hoping the chain would not come off the sprockets before reaching my friends apartment, luckily it stayed in place, and luckily I brought a few basic tools to tighten the chain.
I could tell a lot of other stories about what I did in Toronto, but this story is about touring.
I made it as far as Montreal on this trip and then came back the same way to Indiana. The chain started making strange grinding noises somewhere near Dayton, and never before had I been so tired on a motorcycle where sleep was a very real thing. I'd slept on a pile of dirty clothes the night before in Dana's room and at some point in the early morning Dana being the great person she is let me get into her bed to catch better Z's for a few hours before heading off in the morning. It's difficult to even remember the space in time between Cincinnati and Louisville on I-71, but the Bandit never let me down, I got home safe and sound with only my body buzzing from fatigue and the vibrations of the 1200 motor.
The photo was taken by Dana when we had amazing BBQ sandwiches somewhere in Toronto. I have a few more photos but most are just taken with friends I'd made along the way. One day we did go hatched throwing, or I should say we went to a hatchet club where they had targets set up, but I don't know if I got any photos of that.
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