Well, it looked ok. Monday is a day off, and I thought to myself, why not go back up to Lake Simcoe again? I wanted to check out and talk to the people running the ferry to Georgina Island, to see if it would be cool to cross and ride on the island via moped. Georgina Island is a reserve and is governed by Chippewas. I thought it would be a great trip in the future to take the ferry and ped around the island for an afternoon. I was then going to continue on my journey up to Lagoon City on the east coast of the lake and head back. I would like to do a full circle around the lake, but I am now realizing, its a bit longer trip than I imagined, so I think a whole day would be in order for that trip. I will do it, just not yet.
Well, enough with the plans for the day. I made it up in record time cruising non stop at around 30 mph, I decided today I wouldn't need the extra gas can as I know now I should be fine as long as I check it when I get up to the lake and throw in a liter. I got up to Hwy 48 near Sibbald Point, and headed east. I arrived to my amusement in a town I hadn't seen before called Virginia ... I even took a picture for my friend who lives in Virginia (the real one in the US). Convieniently, there was a gas station there so I pulled in to top up. When I went in to pay, the woman behind the counter said " Honey, I would advise you to boogey on home, they just warned for severe thunderstorms". Now I realize it was cloudy, but it didn't look that bad, and besides, the weather network I check this morning said 70% rain in Toronto and only 40% near the lake ... well, how wrong they were yet once again!
I took here advice and turned back, and not a kilometer later the first drops hit my sunglasses. I sped up from the slow gentle roll down the street as more rain started to fall. I was going full speed ahead heading south again towards Ravenshoe Road, when it started to get more intense, so I pulled over and pulled form under my seat my dollar store rain poncho thing and threw it over my head and continued on. All I can say is, there must have been a hell of a leak up there, because the rain suddenly came down so hard it sounded like someone was playing drums on my helmet! I couldn’t really see where I was going as the sunglasses didn’t have wipers … But one thing was for sure … I wasn’t stopping. Years of traveling with my 1972 CB350, I learned that if you just keep the motor nice and warm, and keep it so the electrics stay semi-dry, you’ll be fine … problem is when you stop, and TRY to start again … I remember just how many time I had to push the 750 Norton Commando for kilometers because the coils were wet. Well, I kept up a good speed, but the rain wasn’t going to end … I decided a detour to my parents house was the new destination. I was totally impressed with the little Honda … she kept going through all of it … well almost. About 2 KMs away from their house, over these massive hills which are a bitch on moped even in dry weather… she died on me. The nice thing is of coarse the moped weighs relatively nothing. So I walked for a couple minutes until I got to the top of a big hill, engaged the motor again, ran … jumped on, let go of the decompressor, and bump bump bump, put put put … she suddenly sprang into life yet once again … I rode the rest of the way to their house, parked in the garage, and dried out. Mind you only the shoes and lower half of my legs were soaked. Those fugly as hell leg shields Honda had on the earlier models and on the C90 etc. would have come in handy today! But all in all, it could have been worse. At least I know that the Honda isn’t that sensitive to moisture … good to know on future travels …
As for the lake? I will head up there and try it all again, and maybe next weekend attempt the full trip around … we’ll see… for now … I am going to go home and change these damn wet shoes!
