Day 16 - Mansfield to Home

Today was our last day on the road. Home was only about 240 miles away so today would be a short ride.

We had breakfast at the hotel and were rolling out of the parking lot right around 9am. Today’s route would basically follow Route 15 south the entire way. We would make a few detours to route around Williamsport and Harrisburg. 

The temperatures were very comfortable in the mid-60’s and the sun was out. Much better morning weather than yesterday when we left Lake Placid. We rode until around 10:30am and stopped at Selinsgrove, PA to top off the fuel tanks one last time.

We continued south along Rt. 15 until just south of Harrisburg. It was about noon and we were getting hungry and we saw a sign for Cracker Barrel. We rode through the parking lot and it was totally full and people were lined up outside the building! None of us wanted to wait so we went across the street to the Subway. Jerry treated us to lunch since we had paid for his lunch the previous day. We all got a yummy cookie to supplement our lunch.

We now only had about 100 miles to go now. As we made our way closer to the MD line, the drivers became more and more aggressive and less and less courteous. It is interesting how every four lane highway we rode in Canada didn’t have one driver camped out in the left lane. The only time we saw someone in the left lane was if they were passing someone in the right lane. Now that we were back in the USA, the left lane campers were every where. I much prefer the driving etiquette of the Canadians. 

We wove our way through the US15/US340 mess at Fredrick and crossed over into VA and arrived home at around 2pm.

We traveled around 4,200 miles this trip. We visited nine US states and five Canadian provinces. We rode through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, Catskills Forest Preserve, the Green Mountain and White Mountain National Forests, the Reserve Faunique des Laurentides, La Maurice National Park, Parc d’Oka, and the Adirondaks. We also visited the Maine coast and the eastern most point in the United States.

We even experienced our first break down and through the kindness of complete strangers, somehow managed to not skip a beat! The kindness and willingness to help that we experienced in Nova Scotia was not new to us. We have seen this trait in nearly all Canadians through our travels across all 9 of the Provinces we visited between this year and last. In addition to the beautiful landscapes that Canada offers, it is the friendly Canadian citizens that make traveling in Canada so wonderful.

Acadia National Park was the highlight of the trip and we really enjoyed being able to hike in the park for three days. The rugged coastline and amazing vistas from atop Cadillac mountain, the Beehive, and the north and south Bubbles were amazing. It was also really great to be able to share our trip and these experiences with Jerry. We hope he enjoyed the trip as much as we did.

With this adventure complete and the memories still fresh in our mind, we are already planning our next trip!

Day 15 - Lake Placid to Mansfield, PA

We woke today to rain! A cold, drizzly rain. Feeling optimistic that it would pass, we got breakfast at the hotel and started to get ready to head out. That’s when the rain got heavier so we had to get on the rain gear. By this time it was about 9:30. Just down the road about 8 miles at Saranac Lake, the drizzle stopped! And the roads weren’t even wet, so it was a very localized Lake Placid rain.

We cruised along for over an hour and took a quick rest break at a local stop. Since the rain stopped we could start to take pictures during our route.  

Our entire morning was in the Adirondacks area, so the pine tree smell and mountain views were all around us.

Our lunch stop was a bit before 1pm at the Ohio Tavern Restaurant in Ohio, NY. We all really liked our meals.

After lunch, the sun was out and we shed our jacket liners and rain gear. We apparently also went through several countries today: Norway, Russia and this one.

In some of the small towns we saw nice houses.

The weather continued to improve as the day went on.

We entered Pennsylvania a bit before 6pm and ended our day at the hotel in Mansfield, PA. Michele mistyped the town in Google and apparently found another Hampton Inn in a Mansfield somewhere else and thought we had a few restaurant choices nearby. Not so! The nice guy at the check in recommended a restaurant about a mile’s hike into town. 

The Cast and Crew had improv theme to it with menu items named after comedians. It was a very small place of modest appearance but with incredible food! This place even offered an improv meal, in which the chef can make whatever he wants without you knowing until you get it. None of us felt that adventurous. Another one of their menu items was a 27 ½ inch pizza! While we were there, someone picked one up to go. The pizza box was so big, they had to tilt the box to walk out the door!

Our walk back to the hotel was uphill so we burned off a few calories and looked at the old homes on Main St. in various states of condition.

Tomorrow is out last day as we make our way home!

Day 14 - St. Jerome to Lake Placid, NY

Our final day in Canada began with perfect weather: wispy clouds, blue skies and mid 60s temps. A few other bikers were staying at the hotel and chatted with Rob about the trailer and where we’ve been. Today was Canada Day so everyone was on a holiday, which may have been why we saw so many bikers on the road. We followed these gents for awhile.

Notice the stop sign, all signage is 100% French in Quebec!

And this one we think asks motorcyclist to please respect others and keep their bikes as quiet as possible….not a problem for the Wing!

We rode down to the Mille Iles River and rode along the shore, these ice fishing houses of various colors and designs were waiting for colder weather.

Next to Lac de Deux Montagnes (a lake) and followed that through Parc National d’Oka.

Then along the Ottawa River where we crossed into Ontario at Hawkesbury. Took Rte 34 south to the St. Lawrence River where we crossed into the US at Cornwall.

At our crossing, we had a chatty border patrol guard. At first he seemed serious and intimidating as they usually are, then he said he has a 2008 Goldwing. He asked where we traveled and he mentioned he’s always wanted to ride up to Prince Edward Island. He interspersed normal questions into our chat, like where is Leesburg and how long were you in Canada. He liked Hitched’s license plate and was the first to ask “Is it because it’s hitched to the bike or does that mean the two of you?” To which Rob responded “Yes!” Then he warned us of severe weather coming through, capable of hail and twisters. Yikes! Since we only had 60 miles to our hotel in Lake Placid, we bucked up and delayed lunch to get in sooner to beat the rain.

During the ride, the cloud formations were cool.

As was this blue truck.

Soon we could see the Adirondacks and entered the region.

On through Saranac Lake and a few miles further to Lake Placid. Home of the 1932 and 1980 Olympics! We checked into our hotel and walked over to lunch at the Upstairs Grill on Main Street. We were so hungry by 3:30 that we inhaled our meals in no time. This restaurant also had the benefit of waiters that looked like Chippendales (of the male variety, not the animated chipmunks) according to Michele.

After lunch, the skies opened and the storm finally caught up with us. We visited a few local shops in the rain and each got ice cream thanks to Jerry’s generosity for treating us!

Tomorrow we make our way to Pennsylvania on the last full day of our trip.