Tuesday, August 25th, went for the longest one day ride so far, from Dunnville to Grand Bend. After a search on Google maps I was surprised to find it listed as a 3 hour and 5 minute ride. With siestas I figured 4 hours door to door. I don't know who figures out the time vs distance at Google, but averaging 20 kms an hour over the limit I just made it in the allotted time.
When the kids were young we used to go to the Pinery, a provinical park in Grand Bend. I always found a low number of mosquitoes and other bugs there and the park is huge with 8 different beaches strung out along Lake Huron. Wonderful walking trails and a great morning kids program to keep them amused. I had always travelled along Hwy. 3 to get there and we averaged about 4 1/2 hours, so I was surprised to see the time difference by sticking to the 400 highways.
Took off at about 8:45 am and I was filling up the bike and draining me at the Woodstock service center by 10:30 am. This service centers (one on both sides of the highway) are quite nice with picnic areas for a rest, but beware of the prices, they WILL shock you. Best to have a picnic lunch packed. When I first got on the 403 bypassing Ancaster there was some grey clouds from an industrial fire around 52 & 2. The stench was unreal, chemical plastic smell that had me covering up my mouth as I rode passed. I found out later that it was a furniture factory that burned and the MOE had some problems with air monitoring equipment, so no readings for the first few hours. Believe me, that was some nasty smelling stuff and I would not of wanted to be anywhere near that fire without breathing protection.
The ride up and back was quite pleasant, with no problems or unforeseen events. On the way up there was quite a traffic jam in the eastbound lanes around Woodstock due to construction, but lucky for me it was cleared up on the way home and it was clear sailing. I stopped in Parkhill on the way home at the Parkhill Dam, I had the whole place to myself.
Grand Bend has changed a little in the last few years, with a Shoppers Drug Mart and Sobey's plaza being built on RR 81 just as you get into town. The "main drag" is the same, full of beach stores, fast food, head shops and t shirt stores. A very popular place for the college and university crowds. I made a stop into Archie's for a t-shirt, but the wrap at Cheryl Lynns had to wait, the lines were too big! I strolled around for a few hours, jumped back on and rode home.
I think that this is going to be the new way to cruise, longer and bigger destinations, stretching the distances to see how far is cool for a day trip. Being retired now, all I have is time, so lets start travelling, enough with the Niagara Falls route already!