Ride Across Canada – Day 10 – Steel Horse Journeys

Days distance / Total distance – 411 miles / 3,123 miles

While it was in the high 50s and cloudy this morning in Sudbury, it was sunny and in the high 70s in Montreal this afternoon. I am riding this streak of good weather for as long as I can!

I was up at 6am, having a coffee in my room and was first in line for breakfast at 6:30. By 7:30 I was starting the bike up.

I did stop for gas before heading out of town. It would be another two hours before I would stop again.

As expected, I didn’t take many photos today. There were scenic bits of the route. Farms dotted the landscape just east of Sudbury. But the route was especially gorgeous when the Trans-Canada Highway began to follow alongside the Ottowa River, starting in Mattawa, Ontario.

Traffic was heavy through Ottowa, which I reached about 2pm. There had been two traffic accidents earlier in the day and it appeared that rush hour had already started. I put my feet down, in other words stopped fully on the highway, a few times before getting through the city.

The traffic in Montreal was heavy going out of town. I had it easy going into town and reached my hotel at 4:30. My GPS originally predicted I would reach it at 2:55, so I only lost an hour and thirty-five minutes to fuel stops / food breaks / construction zones over the course of the day.

For the blog today, I thought I would list some of the many things I am grateful for, since I don’t often stop to acknowledge these.

I’m grateful for my best friends back home, Carson and Will, who help to support my trips. While I travel alone, it is not without help from them. Knowing they are available brings me the confidence that I can overcome any hurdle the road throws at me.

I’m grateful for my health. I travel by motorcycle while I have the option to do so and expect to continue as long as I can. Lyam and Jason both help keep me in top shape, making possible these crazy long adventures.

I’m grateful for such a reliable motorcycle and for those who help keep it serviced, especially Jorge, who has supervised most of the maintenance of my bike since I bought it nearly seven years ago. And there’s Chris, whose knowledge and experience with bikes in general and BMWs, specifically, has come in handy many times.

I’m grateful for all those who follow my travels through the blog, sending encouragement all these years. Family members, Charles, April, Al, Christopher, Jed, and Lynda come to mind, but I know there are more.

Finally, I am grateful for the motorcycling community. From a quick wave or a head nod as I pass, to a conversation at a fuel stop, I can say that while I travel solo often, I don’t often feel I’m traveling alone.