If you don't know where you're going......

One of the things on the long list of things I wanted to do once I got rid of the store was a road trip to New England. A few years ago I did a two day motorcycle trip there and ever since have longed to return. Upper New York State, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, are simply one huge motorcycle playground filled with a never ending maze of roads. Some twist and turn as they climb and dive like a roller coaster, some have long sweeping curves that let you wind the engine right out as you run up through the gears, and some reveal sweeping vistas of mountains, lakes, rivers, and ocean. Many are a blend of all three.

Entirely by coincidence, and it has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on the decision to go tearing about at dangerous and unsafe speeds in a foreign country, but it just so happens that Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine do not have reciprocal demerit point sharing arrangements with Ontario. In plain English, that means that if you get caught speeding you don't get hit with demerit points on your drivers licence, and no tickets appear on your driving record for insurance purposes. You're still on the hook for the ticket (always pay the ticket or it may come back to haunt you the next time you go back to the States), but no points, and it's ALL about the points.

Before people start questioning the wisdom of making this trip 8 weeks after having suffered a broken neck, I would just like to point out that my Doctor, an Orthopedic Surgeon, a trained medical professional, a specialist who has spent even more time studying medicine than I have studying the effects of alcohol, a man who has examined all the medical reports, charts, and x-rays connected with my accident, has approved of this. Two weeks ago at my last checkup when my cervical collar finally came off and he told me what I could and could not do, I specifically asked about riding a motorcycle. He questioned me about what type of motorcycle it was and what my body position was while riding it, then gave me permission to ride. If it hadn't been pouring rain that day I'd have been out tearing around as soon as I got home. True, I didn't mention the possibility of heading to New England for a five day road trip with a couple of friends, but he mentioned no restrictions.

I'm sure everything will be fine, Jennifer and Mark will be present to act as adult supervision. Jennifer even put her foot down and stated categorically that she had absolutely no intention whatsoever of speeding on this trip. Twenty minutes later she blasted past me on the autoroute doing 35 kilometers an hour over the limit, but I'm sure that wasn't normal.

The plan is pretty simple: get up every morning, check the weather, find out if it's raining somewhere, then go the other way. Quickly. Very quickly. Return in 5 days. The only preparations were several hours spent at my dining room table poring over a series of state maps and high lighting all the best bike roads as reported on a couple of motorcycle websites.

Lewis Carroll said: "If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there." We intend to take as many as we can.