In Kingston Town

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4i8s3QCSEw

Kingston, Ontario was not on my original list of cities to visit. But I ended up spending four nights in the vicinity.

I spent the rest of that stormy night in the hotel, and woke up in the morning to sunny skies and birds chirping outside of my window. (Okay, I don't actually remember if there were birds, but I'm trying to create a certain ambience.) I checked out with the front desk, and apologized to the hotel staff for all the dirt I had left on the floor of my room (mud turns into dirt when it dries). I then rode my bike over to Tony's Cycle. They let me know it was going to take at least a couple of days to get the part in, and they didn't have an opening to work on my bike until Friday. I didn't have any other options, so I left the bike and through my saddlebags over my shoulders and made my way to the rendezvous point I had arranged with my CouchSurfing hosts.

Harry had told me I would recognize him by his camouflaged Tim Horton's cap, but he saw me first. I was easy to spot-- the guy who looked like a stranded traveler, sitting next to motorcycle saddlebags. Harry was an interesting guy. He had spent much of his adult life in the Canadian military, and then got into international contracting. He spent seven years travelling back and forth between Canada and Madagascar. We chatted in the hour it took to get to their place in a small little country town called Marlbank. Harry explained that Marlbank isn't really big enough to be called a "town." Barb was working during the day, so I met her that evening. They told me about their travels and life in Ontario. They took care of all of my meals for the next two days and Harry let me tag along with him to run errands. It was nice to have some downtime. I got to relax and read, and even went on a long hike through Harry and Barb's property. I am so thankful for the way this couple reached out to me when I was in need.

I decided to try and find a CouchSurfer back in Kingston on Thursday night so that I could leave ASAP on Friday, if my bike were finished early. I stayed with a guy named Graham, a graduate student at a local university. Graham had once gone to Kenya with plans to teach there, but ended up helping lead a building project for a school (he has a degree in civil engineering). He made me dinner and then took me to trivia night with some friends at a local bar. Kingston is a really cool and beautiful city in the summer. I really enjoyed meeting Graham and wished I could have stayed more than one night.

The next morning, my bike was finished in the morning. The shop had replaced my front right handlebar and the brake lever on the same side. Total cost for the repairs came out at about $150, and I was SUPER happy about that. I was prepared for something much worse.

I hadn't been on my bike for several days, and I appreciate the break. But I was about to log some serious hours of riding. I rode from Kingston, Ontario through AWFUL traffic in Toronto, to Detroit and then to Kalamazoo, MI. My host in Kalamazoo had told me I could wake him up whenever I got in. I arrived around 2am after riding about 550 miles. I met my hosts chatted for a little while and then slept on the couch, and woke up around 8am. My host's roommate made us breakfast and then I hit the road again. That was the record for my shortest couchsurfing stay. Approximately 7 hours.

I think it was about noon in Downtown Chicago when my bike started to overheat. I couldn't believe it. WHAT NEXT?! I was in bumper to bumper traffic, which wasn't helping matters. I went to a gas station and bought some distilled water to put in the radiator. It kept overheating. I then pulled over and used the internet at a Caribou Coffee to try and find a motorcycle shop, to no avail. I bought some at a grocery store and filled up the coolant container to the fill line. Better, but still really hot. This was NOT good.

I stopped several times to let the bike cool and kept heading north. At a certain point I-94 and HW 41 separate, just north of Chicago. It occurred to me that there might be a bike shop on 41, so I went that way. And sure enough, ten minutes later I pulled up to the GenX Performance shop in Highland Park, just as the employees were heading to their cars after closing the shop. I had arrived 15 minutes after closing. The mechanics, Jon, Josie, and Gres responded with encouragement and smiles when I told them my problem. They said they would be glad to help me out. The reopened the garage and went right to work. They explained that I had put coolant in the reserve and needed to put it directly into the radiator. They went ahead and drained my coolant since I had put water in, and filled it with their own coolant from the store. They checked out other things on the bike, and said I should be good to go. It took maybe 15 minutes. I asked what I owed them, and Jon said, "How's ten bucks sound?" Ten bucks sounded AMAZING.

The mechanics wished me well, and I headed North on my bike toward Kenosha, a place I used to live but hadn't returned to in almost ten years...