Earache

Met up with some of my old buddies from Chicago at our former meet up place - MA's Pizza ...

Spent my first day there at my bud's house, changing my oil in his shop. And stopped by Chicago's finest restaurant for lunch. Had the whole place to myself ...

Wheels down in Chicago amid 97F / 37C temps and 90%+ humidity. Felt great to get into the a/c in my room...

No Diet Dew on the Turnpike service areas so I had to switch up brands at lunch. This shit is foul ..

That night landed us in Akron, Ohio. What a dump. I should have known better than to stay there, but was the only place I could get a hotel discount. Ate dinner sat the hotel bar - forgettable burgers and beers. The next day Craig and I split up; he headed north to Michigan and I west towards Chicago. Rode on the fabulous Ohio Turnpike for hours of tedium ...

More shots from Route 6 across PA...

We dined at nothing but the finest fuel stations. I think I actually got the "Sheetz" from eating here...

Roads were mostly empty as we cruised along across northern PA ....

After two days at the Artisian, we slough off to Scranton, Pennsylvania. PA gets a bad rap but the riding was decent - better than anything in Vermont, New Hampshire or New York. Good view from our hotel ...

We did manage to get into the hotel bars though. Packed with single, hot looking women and no men at all. Odd. But Stella's at $11 for a 10 oz draft might have been the reason........

We ate at the hotels Tuscan market - kind of an open air market that also had a bar and some table service. Good food - had pizza the first night and pasta the second night. The hotel's restaurants were a little pricey for us and had weird food - Pedro style . The open air beer garden was too packed for us to get a seat...

Craig / DesmoDog moved in fast ....

Made it to the hotel that my wife;s firm owns. Good thing I got the "I'm married to the boss" discount or else I couldn't afford to stay here on a bike trip. Salem, New Hampshire. ...

I have - it's not too bad but like most of the northeast; it's not worth the effort to get there. Amazing amounts of traffic on this trip - the northeast is just over run with cars going 10 mph under the limit and shitty driving in general. I'll get back to posting pics later today............

We bolted outta Lake Saranac the next day, headed across Vermont and New Hampshire towards Salem, NH. Quaint old fuel stations and restaurants are all over the place....

Our hotel was in an old art deco building and looked cool from the outside....

The town of Lake Saranac was kinda cool - although mostly empty buildings and not a lot going on...

Had a nice bar though, vaguely reminiscent of Hitler's office at the Reich Chancellery...

So goodbye to Canada - home of expensive fuel, nice people and shitty food. We landed in Lake Saranac, NY at a fancy schmancy hotel. Smallest room ever and a bathroom so small, I didn't fit in the shower!

We then rode another couple hundred miles to Sudbury, Ontario for our last night up here. Wings and beers were thew only thing we could find foe dinner within walking distance from the hotel ...

Hanging out at agas station , waiting on Craig to cross into Canada and he finally rolls in...

Stopped by the Lake and waded in a but. Amazingly clear water ....

Left Thunder Bay, Ontario and headed to Sault Ste. Marie to meet up with my buf from Michigan - Craig. Had to leave at 0400 again as I had a 650 mile day ahead of me. Again. rode along the Lake for hours....

We are currently sitting just north of Boston in New Hampshire - raining all day and night because of some hurricane / tropical storm. Leaving tomorrow though, regardless of the weather.

I should at least get a Christmas card from them.