Hi Gang

This year for our annual motorcycle trip we decided on the maritimes and travel through the USA to get there. We will be taking the back roads as much as possible and the interstate where neccesary.

We left on July 6th and headed to the Fort Erie/Buffalo border along the old #3 hwy and seemed to just miss rain as we went along. The roads were wet but there was no rain falling. Stopped at duty free for a couple bottles of rye (whiskey) and went through with no problem. We found route 20 and cruised until lunchtime and stopped at a lunch bar near Darien lake. It had a funny name and the owner said it was the name of his deceased dog and there were dog pictures and castings everywhere. The food was ok but not anything to write about. We cruised along some more until we got to Oneida and stayed at the "Inn" about 1/2 mile from Turning Stone. It was under $100 bucks and had a frequent shuttle to the casino and back.
We showered and went to the casino. You have to get a card at the cage and then you load it with whatever money you want. There is no ticket in ticket out. Just put your card and pin number in and play. When your finished you just take your card out and do the same thing at the next machine. There are plenty of choices as well as VP and a good sized poker room. We stayed and played for a couple hours and went back to the Inn for the night.

Next morning we headed along route 20 and hooked up to route 9 through Vermont and finally landed in Portsmouth New Hampshire where we stayed at the Holiday Inn. I wasn’t impressed by this place except for the restaurant in the hotel. I had the best Spaghetti and Meatballs I ever had.
Next day we traveled along the Maine coast on route #1. This was an extremely hot day and there were lots of sights and some beautiful old homes.
We decided to head over to Bangor for the night and got a room at the Hotel adjacent to Hollywood casino. The room was $139 plus tax. The casino is all slots and VP, no table games. There is a good variety of machines and the hotel was modern and clean.

Today was a long ride to Moncton to meet up with a buddy who runs the slot department at Casino New Brunswick. He lives in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (PEI) and stays here during the week. He brought his bike this week so he could ride with us when we got there. We have ridden the Cabot Trail before with him and the Casino Manager. We checked out the casino for a few hours. It has all the latest machines and a small amount of table games, craps and a poker room. We left there and headed to PEI over the Confederation Bridge.
This bridge stretches across the Northumberland Strait and takes 10 minutes at 80 Km an hour to cross. It costs nothing to go on to the island but $17.00 to leave if you come back along the bridge or $40.00 by Ferry to Nova Scotia. We arrived at his house and were greeted by his wife and two great kids, both girls. She had beds all set up and we talked for the rest of the night.

Today Mike is going to a wedding and has left us the keys to the truck so we headed over to the racetrack/casino to check it out. This is a small casino with no tables and maybe 200 slots. We didn’t stay long and went back to his house to chill. Mike called and said the wedding went well and they were just finishing up the speeches then he was coming to get us to go to the dance. This was a great time with an old fashioned east coast party. We got back home around 2:00am.
We got up and Mike cooked breakfast before we headed out to Cape Breton. The brides father came roaring up on his bike and said he was coming as well so there were the five of us ready to go with rain pouring down in buckets. This was what had happened last time we took a ride to the east coast and got rained on for 10 days out of 14. Oh well we all got our rain gear on and off we went. We got to the ferry and they were just loading the last cars for that trip but we got lucky and they let us on at the back otherwise we had to sit and wait for 1 ½ hours in the rain to catch the next one.
We all have ridden the Cabot Trail so we went to the Fortress at Louisburg. This is a fortress built by the French in the early 1700’s to protect the colonies from British invasion. They fished for cod to send back to France. This was interesting in that the workers dressed in period costume and for the most part stayed in character during their shift. You are greeted at the gates by a guard who wants to know why your there and drills you with a bunch of good natured questions and finally lets you enter the fortress. Anyway it was worth the $18.00 and we spent the rest of the day there.

( As a side note I have to tell you how close I came to wiping out. Everyone of us are experienced riders and have ridden together many times. Mike had taken the lead while we were looking for the entrance to the fort and as we came around a corner there it was and unexpectedly he brakes and starts to make a turn with me right behind him. This is a bad move as I do not have time to stop and all I could do was veer to my left and pray I get by and no vehicle is coming the other way. I missed him by mere inches otherwise we both go flying and I hate to think of the result as we were going about 45 mph. Poor Mike was kinda shook up and kept apologizing but these things happen when you lose concentration and we have all done it. It’s the reason I do not like riding in large groups.)

We went to Sydney and stayed at a dive there. Again we went the local casino and like Charlottetown it was very small and had a couple tables but they do not open them on Mondays and Tuesdays. We stayed there for about five minutes and went back to the hotel to drink and gab.
Next day we head out and leave Mike and his buddy to go back home on the Ferry and the rest of us keep going and are heading back to Moncton where we score a free room at their hotel. The hotel had only been open a week or so and Mike and the casino manager wanted us to give them an opinion on the room and amenities. It was a really nice room with huge walk in shower. I would say on a par with the higher end rooms in Vegas. They have a gym, spa and pool. Included in your room stay is breakfast. This is not a continental breakfast but a full menu with made to order omelette station and everything you could think of. It was really good.
Next day we headed back through the states and got as far as Bangor and decided to spend the night at Hollywood casino again as we liked it when we stayed on our way in. The front desk quoted me a rate of $141. I told her I paid less a week ago and she said those rooms aren’t available. Hmm well how about a auto club rate? That is the auto club rate but when you stayed last week did you sign up for a players card? Actually I did and so did my traveling mates. She starts typing and then says how does $105 all in sound? I said sounds like music to my ears and we book the room.
My brother won $400 that night and we enjoyed our stay here. If you are in that vicinity try it out.
We left Bangor and travelled along the back roads the rest of the way home stopping for two more nights but nothing exciting happened.

A couple of notes:
There are a lot of great little towns and eateries along the Maine coast as well as things to see if you have the time to stop and take it all in. It is a great destination for a week of sightseeing.
Except for Turning Stone all the casinos we visited closed at 2:00 or 3:00 am and reopened at 11:00am. None served comped alcohol. Turning Stone just started serving alcohol in the last month or so. I forget which one also charged for soft drinks which we were dumbfounded to find out after we had ordered. I will have to ask my brother which one it was.
We were gone for 11 days, 5 of sweltering heat and 6 of those were rain. A couple times it was near impossible to see because of the volume of rain coming down and we had to pull over until it slowed down.
This was my third motorcycle trip to the Maritimes and I think I have seen everything I wanted to so I can’t see me going back unless it is by plane to visit friends.
Terry and I are hoping to get to Vegas in September or October depending on her work volume.
I probably have one more summer motorcycle trip in me and I would really like to go to the west coast and ride the Pacific Coast Hwy. Terry thought I could fly to Vancouver and rent a bike and that may be what happens.

Well that is a condensed version of my trip and I just wanted to let you all know we are still alive and kicking and read the board pretty consistently. Take care.

Thanks for the report. I have to admire your determination. I always found riding my motorcycle in the rain to be a completely miserable experience.
I have never seen anything like the card system you report at the Oneida casino. It would seem to have a lot of good points. Let's them check for underage ID, reduces the potential for losing your winnings to people grabbing things while you aren't looking. Has a sort of down side that all your winnings no matter how small are going to get reported to the government. That would be a major down side in Indiana where the tax law does not let you net your losses against your winnings.
Another interesting thing is that casinos are so wide spread now that you can have a cross country trip where you can hit a casino every day.

Thanks for reading.
Believe me, if I am home and it looks like rain I dont go on the bike but when you have no choice you try to change your mindset and just deal with it.
Our trip south last year was basically the same as far as staying at casinos. They were all Harrahs so we had a bonus of free rooms as well.
I meant to add that Regis and Kelly were broadcasting from PEI and that was a big deal for the locals.

Great report, and ride! I do not miss bike rides in the rain!
Thanks for taking the time to type it all up for us!

Thanks Lee
Have you ever had near misses when your in the boat? Hows the plans going for a fall trip to Vegas?

Near misses happen all the time, we are effected by wind and current, and no brakes. When docking we don't use the steering wheel, we just steer by using the power of the motors. Boating in the rain isn't so bad, but the wind and the waves make it a real rough go. Storms are the worst, and bridges arn't a safe haven, like they are for bikes! I'm a fair weather boater, just like I was when I had a bike (honda, 650, nothing cool like a HD or a BMW) LOL
The Fall trip....
Yeah I want to go, October is out of the question as I have a cruise planned. So it's got to be sometime in September. Late August is a slight possible, but I am just so busy with work right now, and trying to make up for last years poor performance. I like the second week of September, although Sharon has gotten no offers for that week from Harrahs!

Thanks for the report. I had bikes in my younger days. My only wipe out was a little Yamaha in the snow and ice when I went to tech school in Oklahoma. I made it all the way to school, slowly drove up the icy driveway to park, and as I was getting off, the bike fell on me and I slid back down the driveway with the bike on top of me. It seemed like it was in slow motion and lasted forever as my friends were laughing at me.

Your report was interesting, but it doesn't really sound like fun casinos. I'm guessing the riding and eating was the best part.

My son just got a boat and he is taking his licence course today. New law that you must be licensed to operate a boat in Ontario. He was saying the same things about wind and waves.
We are either going to Nashville and Memphis this fall or Vegas not sure yet but I will let you know if its vegas and when so maybe we could hook up for a lunch if the timing is right.

Now thats a funny visualization Joe. The eating was a relief. I have been on a diet since mid April after the dr told me I am borderline diabetic. I weighed 224 and the local donut shop was killing me. I got down to 198 the day I left and when I got back I had gained 5 lbs. I didn't go crazy and stayed out of Coffee Time but I did enjoy a burger and stuff from the side road eateries and the buffets at the casinos.
I'm back to 198 and hopefully get to the 185-190 he recommended before I go back to see the dr. aug 9th.
The riding is what these trips are all about but it is getting more and more difficult to go 7 and 8 hr days.