We get our luggage back on the bikes and head a quarter mile down the road for a trip to McDonalds. Although I was able to get a decent amount of sleep, I was completely ready for an iced coffee and a southern-style chicken biscuit. In fact, I don’t think I’d be able to continue on without it! As I slowly approach the counter, staring intently at the menu behind the counter, my hopes come unanswered. I see no southern-style chicken biscuit on the menu! OH NO! We’re still in Canada, and they have the international menu, meaning no chicken biscuits! One out of two isn’t bad, but my iced coffee just wasn’t the same without a good biscuit.

I think Judd was more pissed off than I was about it. As I sat down, I could see the gentleman at the counter shaking his head “no” when Judd tried to order. Judd responded with a completely blank look. I knew at that point he tried to order a chicken biscuit too. I soon realized at that point that a breakfast menu at McDonalds without any biscuits is just about worthless for two guys from Georgia.

McDonalds, with subtle Canadian influence:

Ready to go:

Heading back our way to Niagara Falls, we find some free parking and walk around. There are some really cool buildings in the area from Niagara Water Works that have long been deserted. I’m not sure why, but the buildings look straight out of Gotham City.

An interesting site:

A random abandoned building. It was in surprisingly good shape, though:

Words can't describe the amount of water that was just flowing through this small section next to a Niagara Water Works building:

In the distance a shell of the "Niagara Scow", a boat that came very close to falling over the edge in 1918:

Squirrel!

After hanging out at the Falls, we soon end our stay in Canada. So far, the trip has just been incredible. We discuss that we should probably start heading home. Getting back on a Saturday would not be a bad idea at this point; I know I could certainly use an extra day to catch up on some much needed rest.

We ride over the Rainbow Bridge and finally enter back into the States. We hit Interstate 90 which takes us towards Erie, PA. While still in New York we hit up a service station to get some gas. I check my chain oiler and my quick fix didn’t hold up. Unfortunately the service station doesn’t have any supplies at all.

Back in the USA!

Going over the final trip plans somewhere in New York:

While taking a break, we hit the maps and look over our route. We still need to get a set schedule for the rest of our trip. I have always wanted to hit up the famous Skyline Drive in Virginia, and only a small detour would get us there. We figure with hitting up some side-roads through PA, WV, and MA, we could probably be in that area by nightfall, and find a decent place to set up the tents.

Once we hit Erie, we head south down on I-79 towards Pittsburgh. At the next stop, we find a decent size Pilot gas station. I get to work and tackle the chain oiler that’s been acting up for the past couple days. After re-fitting new applicators and cleaning everything up a good bit, I think I’ve got things straightened out now.

While working on the bike in the parking lot, an older gentleman on a Harley pulls up and asks if I need any help. I explain what I’m doing and about our trip in general. Coincidentally he has been to Nova Scotia before, “back in the day”. This guy was pretty cool in my book, and he totally looked like a cliché old sea captain.

Soon after our stop, the skies unleash a fury of rain upon us. Continuing on through southern Pennsylvania, we’re impressed with a pretty decent landscape, and an interstate which was once boring has become pretty twisty. We come upon a pair of riders on adventure bikes and we ride along through the rest of PA. Shortly after, we split off from the interstate and make our way to Hwy 40 towards Maryland.

This ended up being a pretty cool road. It took us through some relatively twisty sections, but more importantly it took us through some really interesting towns. All seemed to not have aged in decades and they all had a pretty cool town square area. Some buildings we rode through were even built in stone, and a few had cobblestone driveways.

Before getting back on the interstate, we fill up at a "Sheetz" gas station:

I can't help but laugh at the stupidest things, sometimes:

The rain never did let up the whole day. In fact, the temperatures became downright chilly before dinner. We made our way back onto the interstate for the rest of the day, getting on I-68 East, then I-81 South, then finally I-66 East for a short jaunt to the top of the Skyline Drive at a small town called Front Royal, VA.

By now the rain had finally stopped, but everything was still wet. Judd made the executive decision that camping would plain suck in this weather. We’ve completely failed to camp out as much as we wanted, but with as much rain as we had ridden through so far on this trip, a line has to be drawn so that we still enjoy ourselves. We followed the signs leading towards the Skyline Drive and looked for a cheap motel nearby.

Front Royal, VA:

Being in the heart of Virginia’s mountains on the Fourth of July, fireworks were everywhere! Some people even had the big time mortar shells going off. While sitting at traffic lights and stop signs, we could hear them going off like a warzone. It was pretty surreal, although much of that I could probably attribute to my exhaustion.

Before calling it a night, we head over to the local Wal-Mart, to get some milk, cookies, and ice cream. No… seriously! I think that’s all we got!

And it was awesome! A perfect way to end the day!