Day 2: It's chilly up here!

Do you get the impression that we're trying to beat 'er out of Ontario?! We're in Sault Ste Marie tonight = 823.5km today. Uneventful trip, which is a good thing. It was 20 degrees starting out in Manotick and a chilly 11 when we reached SSM around 2030h. NO photos. Not many photo ops really - a few nice places where the highway and water met (Ottawa River; Nipissing Lake & North Channel of Lake Huron). Observations about Hwy 17: very few curves or hills, not terribly picturesque, it's in great condition and it has a crazy speed limit of 90kph! Thankfully, a lot of people don't observe it but they don't drive excessively fast either. The billboards with the menu-style list of fines ($95 for 110km) tends to be a deterrent. We struck up a conversation with 2 older Harley guys (one of them actually used to race bikes) at Timmy's and they told us the "the-police-won't-bother-you" limit is 18km over so we tried to keep our speed between 105 and 110. Far be it from 2 sportbike riders to disinguish themselves by riding in the outside lane! Besides, my bike insurance is sufficiently hefty that I don't need a speeding ticket to ramp it up by a few hundred bucks.

We didn't have a hotel reservation but had no problem getting into the Comfort Inn in SSM. We changed our clothes in a big hurry and made tracks across the street for pizza and beer.

As a postscript to today's coverage, I just asked Jim what else we had to talk about. He pointed out that we had "kind of a late start". I gave him a "look" and he pointed out that I DID ask and that's what he recalled about the day and that I could mention it - or don't ;-) To my credit, I DID spend a few extra moments in bed this morning for several reasons: I was tired!; we hadn't discussed an agenda other than perhaps we'd make it to SSM which was another 800 (!) km; we hadn't talked about a departure time; and I spent a few minutes doing a full body scan and determined that there was no permanent damage. Inspired by Louise's butt-kicking 20 MAN push-ups yesterday at Bootcamp, I got up and did 15 'good mornings', 15 squats and man push-ups. But only one set :-). I hit the shower at around 0930 and we were on the road by 1007. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Oh, one interesting additional note - interesting for me anyway: when we gassed up this morning, my odometer turned to 7000.0 km.

Now that I'm somewhat more clear-headed than I was last night I can add a few more comments about yesterday:
* I lied about how my day started. It didn't start with tire checking. It started with coffee with Janet & Jane; then, big hugs from Mark, Wayne & Suzanne who each came by to wish us well. Then the tire checking. Then a hug from Mom when I stopped at her place to say "see ya later", followed by more hugs from my sister when she met us at Jim's to take photos, and, of course, from my sainted husband :-)
* there are a lot of squids in Maine - where helmets are not mandatory equipment. Mostly older guys on cruisers, not wearing helmets or any protective gear for that matter.
* I must be more simple-minded than I suspected. I don't know what I thought about for what was essentially 9.5 or 10 hours by myself - other than trying to stay aware of everything around me and ride purposefully. Near Manotick, I had occasion to contemplat the "smell" of motorcycling. As Jim put it today, riding a bike is like an amplifier for your nose in that you notice changes very quickly - as opposed to driving in a car (windows closed; A/C on) or even walking where your transition in space is gradual. Some smells are very noticeable even in a car: pulp mill, some farms. Lincoln, Maine, is a pulp mill town. Another Maine town smelled like a Dixie Lee. Back to Manotick.... we rode by what HAD to have been a hog farm. The odor was enough to knock a buzzard off a gut cart. I reflected on the smells of the day (there had been no particularly good ones!) and decided the best one is always a newly mown hay field. It wasn't 5 minutes later that we rode by a big field that still had the mower working in it. The fragrance of the freshly cut grass was glorious !

The bugs yesterday were horrendous and we had to wash our helmet shields at every stop. In between stops, I was cross-eyed looking through bug and the odd butterfly splats. Today wasn't so bad. Must the cooler weather here. Remember, it snowed in North Bay last weekend?! Tomorrow's forecast is for light rain which should do a decent job of washing our bikes. We're headed across the big bridge into Michigan. Stay tuned!

OK, time for KSAO&E questions:
1. What is Sault Ste Marie's "twin city" ?
2. Along our route today, there is much evidence of the Canadian Shield. What is the Canadian Shield?
3. About 100 km east of SSM, we came over the crest of a hill and saw a huge body of water. Which one of the Great Lakes is this?