Cape North - across Canada 2025

[CollingsBob]

Now you know way we all said to stay far away from Toronto. There is no rush hour because it's ALWAYS rush hour.

Face palm..

[wheatonFJR]

Now you know way we all said to stay far away from Toronto. There is no rush hour because it's ALWAYS rush hour.

Face palm..

I remember heading over from Wheaton in 2007 for the first CFR. East over from Sarnia, then north on 400 on a Friday evening towards Huntsville. Now that was a party lol! Thanks to Tom Cale for rooming with this lost Yankee and also showing him around along with Dave Dykes, and others. The 500 series roads were awesome at impound speeds...the 400 out of Toronto at night, not so much. Lol.

[huron52]

Friday June 6, 2025. Day 23 - Buffalo, NY to Niagara Falls ON CA to Tobermory ON CA.
Worst ride day of the trip - Interstate out of Niagara Falls, terrible traffic, didn't relax until late afternoon on ON 6. 262 miles 7.2 hours riding, 2.5 hours off the bike.



As one can easily discern, Spotwalla didn't report my position today? I queried Jason about it, he revealed that Garmin MapShare didn't have my positions either. When I shut off the InReach Mini this evening it showed that we had traveled 210 GPS Miles and was on for 10 hours. I emailed Garmin for some help, like anyone works there on the weekend. I was able to send my position from the InReach to mapshare and it does show up on Spotwalla.




As mentioned above, we got off our intended route, ended up on the damn interstate in a stopped for miles traffic jumble all the way through Hamilton. It was a cluster %$#@!

Tomorrow we take the ferry to South Baymouth, Manitoulin Island, ON then ride to Sault St Marie, MI for the evening. Sunday we ride several objectives and end up in Ludington MI for a ferry ride on the SS Badgerm the last coal fired vessel in commercial service in the USA.

Stay tuned...

Too bad.... There a few locals that could of helped with routing.

[bigjohnsd]

Saturday June 7, 2025. Day 24 - Tobermory ON CA - Sault St Marie MI with an excursion off CA 17 up and back ON 546/129 and back to CA 17 on 129. Great roads to ride, purported to be the "Canadian Dragon" we were told. Not really "Dragonesque" but still good roads if ridden well above the 80K posted speed limit.
332 miles 7 hours riding, 5.5 hours off the bike. Total miles so far 7,363.



Ferry from Tobermory to Manitoulin Island


We arrived early


The "Sea Gulls" sat on the rail and watched until loading time


Bikes loaded first and left first




I watched the scenery and talked to the pretty girls







Manitoulin Island was rural, agricultural, lots of dairy.

We had to wait for the swinging bridge, but were first in line! A clear run for miles or Kilometers if you prefer.


Our jaunt up 546/129 was on better and more challenging roads





Crossing back into Estados Unidos at Sault St Marie was easy, no cars in front of us at the crossing, the Agent even gave us a good dinner recommendation "Zorba's" a Greek place downtown was excellent and inexpensive.

Scott and John are planning tomorrows route now, the dang GPS devices refuse to recognize that there is a Mackinac Bridge - Grrrr.

InReach Tracker Update - Obviously it worked today. While on the ferry I was able to force it to upload several positions. Then it locked up and no buttons were working. I was about to launch it over the side when John Wilson took it and just started pressing and holding random combinations of buttons. He found a combination that seemed to perform some kind of "Factory Reset" and it started working and tracking properly again. Don't mess with success I say.

Tomorrow we will head across the Mackinac Bridge, then wend our way to Ludington MI, do some laundry, eat dinner, drink some beer and prepare for a ride across Lake Michigan on the SS Badger, the last Coal fired vessel in the USA in commercial service.

Stay tuned......

[bungie4]

Ha! That's where i was camping a couple of weeks ago. Not much up there! The most overrated road in Ontario.

[wheatonFJR]

Hopefully yer taking MI22 on the way down to Ludington.

I dare ya to ride the Mighty Mac with no hands on the grated lane. I double dawg dare ya!

[bigjohnsd]

Hopefully yer taking MI22 on the way down to Ludington.

I dare ya to ride the Mighty Mac with no hands on the grated lane. I double dawg dare ya!

I'm told MI 22 is in the mix.

I'll pass on the "No Hands" challenge thank you very much!

[danh600]

Good RR!

The SS Badger sounds cool.

[huron52]

The Badger is one cool boat. Only motorcycles are allowed to ride in and out. Everything else is backed in by the crew and driven out by crew. Some of the big stuff is cool to watch the crew back in. And there is some BIG stuff that they stuff in there.

[fontanaman]

These GPS woes are troubling. Do you all have Garmin XT's?

Just for fun I fired up Basecamp and created a route across the Mackinac Bridge and I am confident it will transfer to my Zumo 590. I have had some routing issues but mostly in the backcountry riding the DR650.

The reason I am asking is I continue to wonder if a Garmin XT is in my future and your experience is important. I think a Garmin XT would look great on my Triumph.

[Dan Cooper]

These GPS woes are troubling. Do you all have Garmin XT's?

Just for fun I fired up Basecamp and created a route across the Mackinac Bridge and I am confident it will transfer to my Zumo 590. I have had some routing issues but mostly in the backcountry riding the DR650.

The reason I am asking is I continue to wonder if a Garmin XT is in my future and your experience is important. I think a Garmin XT would look great on my Triumph.

I happen to have a Garmin Zumo XT new in the box, with a carry case, that I decided not to use.
Never been turned on, never been registered.
If you're interested, I'll make you a fair price.
Drop me a PM.
Fair warning, I'll be out of pocket for a couple of weeks.

dan

[Hppants]

I’ve had the XT for several years. Use it on both bikes. It’s bounced around pretty good on the DR and even been dunked once.

No issues with reliability. I have some complaints with the software but none of that has anything to do with the reliability of the unit.

[bigjohnsd]

These GPS woes are troubling. Do you all have Garmin XT's?

Just for fun I fired up Basecamp and created a route across the Mackinac Bridge and I am confident it will transfer to my Zumo 590. I have had some routing issues but mostly in the backcountry riding the DR650.

The reason I am asking is I continue to wonder if a Garmin XT is in my future and your experience is important. I think a Garmin XT would look great on my Triumph.

JREW and I have XTs Scott has a Garmin produced BMW NAV6 which uses different logic, preferences, etc. In generalm if JREW and my XTs are set to the same preferences they usually agree. Scott always has a different solution.

The XT is different than the previous Garmin GPS in logic and in other ways, the newer XT2 is different from the XT, one big difference with the XT2 is that it is no longer bluetooth capable to transfer routes etc amongst users.

I went from TomTom on my FJR to BMW NAV and now to XT (since 2022) as "Pants said, I dont love all of it but it works.

Todays issues crossing the bridge seemed to stem from construction zones misidentified in the traffic scheme as road closures. Google Maps would riute youy across the bridge, Garmin would not and there was a construction zone just North of the bridge which had a "Road Closed" Identifier in the Garmin mapping database.

[bigjohnsd]

Sunday June 8, 2025. Day 25 - Sault St Marie MI to Ludington MI via the Mackinac Bridge, the Tunnel of Trees.
306 miles 7 hours riding, .5 hours off the bike. Total trip miles so far 7,669.



We left Ludington under clear skies, temp about 60f, a little wind from the SE. Rode I-75 across the Mackinac Bridge then got off and took US 31 to a county road to get to MI 119 South through the famous "Tunnel of Trees" From the Tunnel we headed South on US 31 towards Traverse City where we encountered a traffic jam of monumental proportion. We then took a circuitous route to the East to get away from the jam and joined MI 22 at Frankport MI missing the Northern portion. We rode 22 South until we got to Onekama then jumped onto 110 (Lakeshore Rd) until we got to Manistee where we once again joined 31 until we reached 10 and Ludington. Even with the Traverse City Traffic Jam it was a good ride, beautiful day, great scenery, a few interesting bits of road.

80 mph on I-75, a treat after so much 100 kph in Canada - LOL!



Approaching "The Bridge"

We rode the pavement lane







MI-119 the "Tunnel of Trees"







MI-119 was one of those roads that was fun to ride at or below the posted speed limit!

The Lake





We are doing laundry now while waiting for a shower line to pass before riding to dinner at "Scotties" downtown, it only seems appropriate.

SS Badger tomorrow at 0900, have to be there at 0800. Bikes load first. Breakfast aboard the Badger!

Stay tuned.....

[FJRPittsburgh]

Hey John. Any new reviews of the Suzuki after all this time on the road?

[wheatonFJR]

I've ridden over the Mighty Mac, or Big Mac that I like to call it, twice on bikes. I've never had the pleasure of riding on pavement. Pavement lanes were always being worked on...so lucky you. Looked like a very clear day...you have all the luck! Lol. Its a beautiful bridge that resists significant structural forces from wind and ice. The only "land" connection between the two Michigan peninsulas. Even though the upper peninsula should rightfully be called Wisconsin... and would have been if the politically powerful (at the time) state of Ohio hadn't tussled so much with the Territory of Michigan in earlier years.

[bigjohnsd]

Monday June 9, 2025. Day 26 - Ludington MI to La Crosse WI via the SS Badger to Manitowoc WI then 223 miles 5.25 hours riding, 4.5 hours off the bike including the 4 hour SS Badger transit. Total trip miles so far 7,938



Boarding the SS Badger was easy - they are quite used to motorcycles, and even have greasy tie-downs you can use.










Threatening Skies as we rolled out of Manitowoc on 151.


Typical little Wisconsin borough.

We are now in La Crosse WI for a few days to ride a few twist single and double lettered county roads. Many thanks to WheatonFJR for his recommendations.

Stay tuned.........

[escapefjrtist]

Thanks for the update BigJohn. Posting that Mobil sign is just cruel for us west-coasters!

~G

[bigjohnsd]

Hey John. Any new reviews of the Suzuki after all this time on the road?

I'll have something once we get home.

[wheatonFJR]

Looks like a ride got cut short and you are at a Powersports Dealer. Mechanical or tire issues?