Troy, Toronto, Quebec

Dear friends:

I am happy of hearing French for first time in my life. I got the first goal of my trip: reaching Quebec city riding all the way from Vancouver visiting the most important Canadian towns: Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. If I plus the miles done from San Francisco through Oregon and Washington, I did about 8000 km and there are still few more left till ending up the East US coast. But I am pretty satisfied because most of the job is done.

I had a lot of fun the last three days. I met my friend Troy Jenison near Thunder Bay and we rode all the way to Toronto, where we have split Troy lives in Minnesota and the first time we met was in Saunders, Texas, near Big Bend and the Mexican border. It was the last winter and he had some troubles with his KTM. I saw the bike parked in a crappy motel and stopped to see was going on. We had Mexican dinner and beers under the clear sky of Texas and we have keep on touch since then. When he knew I was going to ride Canada he decided to join part of the trip and rode almost 1000 km to meet me. Some of you are not bikers. Do you understand now why bikes are something else than just vehicles?


Distances in Canada are enormous and these days we finished riding late, sometimes was at night. We stopped in a small motel, the place was quiet and beautiful, we were tired, but they didn´t have beer. So we left. 40 km later, we found a tiny village beside Lake Ontario. We were exhausted, it was very late and the night was really dark, but the clerk in the gas station said: “No beer in town. Next one is 40 km far away”. So we looked each other and no words were necessary. Both started our bikes and rode those fucking 40 km more till we arrived at the town, the dinner and the beers.

We arrived Toronto on Friday evening, one of the biggest cities in North America. The backpackers was full. Every other place was expensive or full. We were seated in the street and one guy approached and said he knew a good hotel. “It is a place of crackers and prostitutes, but they are not going to bother you. If you say not they won´t put a pussy on your mouth”. We looked each other and agreed it didn´t sound bad. A hole can be home in a real need. But the place was so expensive and we left. And then we found the RIGHT PLACE. Madison Manor. A hotel with pub in the University area. And remember, it was Friday night. So, plus pub, Friday night and University area and the result is… party!! And, of course, hang over this morning.

Be well.

http://americanmotorcycletrip.blogspot.com/