Au Canada

This past week Janda and I took our last trip of the summer.  We hopped on our motorcycles and headed up to Mont Tremblant Cananda to watch Ironman Mont Tremblant.  It was by far our most ambitious trip on the T-dubs, but it proved that it can be done!  The entire trip people were stopping to talk to us to say either a) "Wow, what cool little bikes" or b) "You've ridden HOW far on those little bikes?!?"  It was a really cool trip and until the last two hours from home, we really enjoyed all the riding.

The first day we left late morning with the intention of getting as far north as possible.  We rode west to Rt 119, which is an awesome scenic route through northern MA and southern NH.  Then we headed into VT, which is the most scenic New England state, if you ask me.  We stopped to have lunch at the Vermont Country Store on Rt 103.  The store is full of quality, locally made goods, with lots of free samples.

The two bikes all packed up

Making sure we're going the right way

After we got back on the road, we headed towards Middlebury.  Right before we got there, we got poured on!  It was my first time riding in real rain- about as fun as it seems like it would be.  Basically it poured for about 10 minutes and then I was cold and wet for the next few hours.  I had on a waterproof coat and boots, but my jeans and gloves got soaked and once my jeans were wet, the water dripped inside my boots.  Surprisingly, the wind from riding the bike dried everything but the inside of my boots.  We stopped for a quick dinner in Burlington before heading up to the campsites on the islands that are in between NY and VT just shy of the Canadian border.  RT 2 goes up through all 3 islands and the whole way you can see Lake Champlain on your left and right, interspersed with tiny towns and farms.

The next morning we had breakfast on one of the islands and headed into Canada.  We were in a hurry to meet Kat and Jeff and their kids, so we took the highways instead of scenic backroads.  The bikes cruise pretty well, so it wasn't bad, except that there was a lot of construction and detours in Montreal that added to our trip.  As always it took a little longer to get to Mont Tremblant than expected, but we made good time overall.

The bridge to NY/Canada

After dinner, we headed up to the ski village at Mont Tremblant with Jeff and the kids.  The first thing that we had to do was the luge.  I was terrible because my helmet kept sliding off and then to fix it I'd have to take my hand off the "accelerator."  Everyone passed me!  But it was good fun.  Then we headed to an extravagant sweet shop and got some mango and raspberry ice cream to eat while we toured the little village.  It was very European and super cute.

Looking down the main street of the village

Janda and Jeff riding the gondola behind us

The upper level of the village

The next day we spectated Ironman Mont Tremblant, which was actually quite hard due to all the road closures.  We rode a lot of extra miles going around them, but we did get to see the whole bike course, have a great breakfast, hit up a grocery store and still catch some of the run.  After the race we had a great dinner at the Au Coin pub in town and watched the back half of the race go by.

After the race there was a double complete rainbow: "What does it mean?!?"

After a hike up Mont Tremblant the next morning, we started our trip home.  Since we weren't in a particular hurry, we took the scenic route, no highways this time.  We knew though, that rain was closing in on us, so we were kind of racing the weather.  As we got closer to the Canadian border, we started to see the clouds rolling in.  All that we were hit by was a couple of sprinkles, but we decided to hedge our bets and camp in Burlington.  After the biggest dinner ever at Panera, we settled into our tent to rest up for one more day of riding.

Janda and the bikes on the ferry across the Hudson in Canada

Me and the bikes on the ferry across the Hudson in Canada

The view of the mountains from the NY/VT bridge

He looks calm, but really we're racing the rain at this point!

See how close it was?

The next morning we rode across VT.  It was amazing to see all of the damage from Irene that was still un-fixed.  Although we were quite tired by the time we made it to the MA border, we made it home in one piece.  Thank goodness.

Overall the trip was awesome.  I really wanted to try a longer motorcycle trip, so I guess that 1100 miles counts!  The little bikes held up great and did well on the back roads, the dirt roads and the highways, so no complaints there.  Next time who knows how far we'll go.  :)