back to toledo

Planning the route across unfamiliar territory requires lots of back and forth between maps, journals and websites. Although exciting in its own way, it is definitely more comfortable planning the route through familiar territory. Even if the roads are ones that we have not ridden, they seem so much less foreign than roads through towns whose names seem strange. The strange names in Michigan like Kalamazoo and Muskegon don’t faze me in the least because I have been to those places and can picture the territory. Even if I don’t remember it correctly, I do remember it and that somehow eases my mind. I feel much more confident planning the routes through those areas.

I really want to go to Pelee Island, a place that has been on my list to visit for many years. I recently visited another island on my list – Isle Royale. I know. Probably more people dream of visiting islands like Tahiti, Barbados or Bonaire, but I prefer the exotic. Isle Royale, Kelley’s and Pelee.

My great aunt owned a tobacco farm on Pelee. It is in the south after all – Southern Ontario, that is. I thought about catching the ferry to the island in Sandusky, but at the time of year we will arrive, the ferry only runs two days per week. It runs daily from Canada, so that is a safer bet.

This will involve a bit of cheating, but then who says that we have to to a continuous line across the continent. Toledo is a must on the trip because that is where we lived for many, many years. And from living there, we know that there really isn’t a great route to ride back up to Detroit. I-75 is ok and will have to do. We will have to ask somebody to drive us up to Windsor. It is just about an hour away and much more sensible to drive there than for us to attempt to ride back up that way. Maybe we can get some of our friends from Toledo to join us. If we time it right, they can take the ferry back to Sandusky and ride home from there. We will continue across Ontario as far as Niagara Falls and then follow the Erie Canal. That will be a lot easier to plan as we get into familiar territory again. At least I have maps for those areas, unlike those Oregon maps that I have requested three times and still have yet to see.

Onto the route details for Ontario.