Day 20: Home: 855 km

July 18, 2013

Dendog’s mileage was less at about 750 km.

We got up early so Dendog could make the ferry over to Tobermory, ON.  Dendog obsessed over watched the radar again and we made a break around 7:10 a.m.  Spotwalla knows the departure time more accurately.  It was cloudy and had been raining when we left.  We were trying to split the weather systems again and it worked. We had a few drops fall on us and the roads were wet.

We rode in a single shot from SSM to Espanola.  We saw our last bear of the trip running along a side road near Serpent River, ON.  That was Dendog’s first bear sighting in Ontario. Everyone in Espanola loves Tim Horton’s, and the entire town was there to greet us.  They may not have known that was why they were there, but it seems they were all there.  So we skipped the Tim’s and got gas at the neighboring station. Then we had to say goodbye.

My ride was pretty uneventful.  I did try to educate people on how to use passing lanes.  I’m not sure they heard me, but I tried.  The rules are simple:  Accelerate before you pull out. Pass the vehicle as quickly and safely as possible so others can pass it too.  If you are being passed, don’t speed up, it’s not a race.

I found myself hitting the intercom button a few times. Sharing all of the little moments with my brother was one of the coolest things about this trip.

I reminisced as I passed the turn off for Sportman’s Lodges east of Sudbury, ON where I went canoe camping with some friends last October. I stopped for gas in North Bay. Stopped a picnic spot between North Bay and Deep River for some food.  The group self-portrait wasn’t the same.

More gas in Deep River and then a straight run home.  I was lucky in that I was always just behind the rain.  Some of the roads were damp.  The temperature was never too high.  It got to 31 C for a brief time near Pembroke, ON but then cooled down to more comfortable temperatures.  The rain must have cooled things down for me.

I pulled over a few km from home and affixed the GoPro to my helmet to catch the return home event.

I ate a glorious meal of Noodles Don Don.  As you can expect, it was way better than Smitty’s.

So this is what we did:  13, 248 km.  (total for Dave).  We had only one day when we didn’t ride (Whitehorse).  Dave’s total trip time was 21 days (20 for Dendog), which means an average of 631 km/ day, or 662 km/day only including the travel days.

Now it’s time for cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning.  Then maintenance and some small repairs.

In future posts we will review some of the equipment, we’ll add some video, maybe augment a few of the posts with more pictures.

Note that Spotwalla will no longer be reporting my position.

Love your people.  We missed ours.  Great to be home.  I feel a bit like Bobby Ewing.