Doc gets a trailer !

Preparing for a couple of upcoming long rides, I felt that I really needed a trailer for my SWing. (Note here: a bikers "need" should not be confused with a normal person's "need". If you are a biker you understand. If you aren't a biker, you might not unless you have some other hobby which also has it's own "needs")

Looking at all of the trailers available for motorcycles and the costs and benefits of each, I decided a Monogo trailer was the way for me to go. (see Monogo.com)  Fortunately Monogo isn't able to sell in the US yet so, a trip to Granby Quebec would be required. (A biker thing again. A "required" trip to Canada is a good thing to a biker whereas a "normal" person might feel that is a drawback. That's why it's fortunate they don't sell in the U.S.)

Checking MapQuest I discovered Granby, Quebec was just about 400 miles from my NJ home. So, a trip to Granby would be about 10 hours or so up and another 10 back. This would be the longest motorcycle trip I'd taken in almost 30 years. (That last trip was from NJ to Maine and had resulted in the "meltdown" of my 1974 Honda CL360, a bike I really loved. I took the engine down to the block, rebuilt it and rode it for another couple of years after that. I was hoping nothing similar would happen to my 2002 Silver Wing scooter.)

I contacted Michel at Monogo, found he had a trailer in stock and he would fabricate a hitch for my SWing on Friday. So, on a sunny Thursday in late June, I hopped on my 600 cc Silver Wing scoot and headed north for a little adventure. 

The first part of my trip was up route 287 in NJ, a highway I'd always found to be very windy. Today was no exception and the scoot was moved around the road by steady wind and heavy gusts. I'd recently read about another biker who had experienced problems with his Uni-Go trailer and described it as a "tail wagging the dog". I wondered how the Monogo would handle when I got back home and hit the winds on 287. Would handling be a problem ? I hoped not but would have to wait and see.

Within an hour I was in the Catskills of NY and the beauty of that area made the time go fast. Where I live in  NJ it's fairly flat and quite urban whereas the Catskills are mountainous and sparsely populated. As I took in the beautiful mountain scenery, the miles flew by and before I knew it I was going thru Albany NY. Another hour and I was passing Lake George where I'd just recently attended Americade with some of the Pacific Coast riders and also had met up with Jeff Barnes and seen his Monogo trailer hitched to his Silver Wing. My scoot was pulling to get off and do some partying again but I kept her on route 87 and passed the exit.

Continuing North I passed the Saranac Lake region, the turn off for Lake Placid and, before I knew it was approaching the border. I'd stopped for gas a couple of times, once to eat  and once for coffee so, I was amazed that approaching the customs station it was only 7 o'clock. I'd made it to the border in only 6 hours !  Weather had been beautiful, the bike had been comfortable and the ride was just great so far.

I pulled in line behind a couple from Virginia on a Harley. As slowly moved our way up to the customs agent, we chatted and they told me they had stayed the night in Jersey, incredibly only about 10 miles from my current house. The Harley had broken down (anyone surprised ?) and they'd had it fixed at Kosco Harley which is even closer to my house than where they'd stayed. The couple remarked at how comfortable my SWing looked and asked what it cost. When I told them both their jaws dropped and, I think I see a Silver Wing in their future. A lot of people think a SWing is expensive but at about 1/3 the cost of a full dress Harley, I think it's pretty cheap and I think they did too. As we got to the customs agent they told me some good places to stay in Quebec and we bid goodbye.

Getting through customs I stopped to check my map again and noted Montreal was only about 20 miles out of my way and, since I hadn't been there in 30 years, I decided to take a look. From the border to Montreal there is very little except vacant land. An occasional exit on the highway leads to what looks to be small towns. Gas stations, diners and such are difficult to find so, when I finally saw some buildings in the distance it was quite striking. Montreal seems dropped in the middle of nowhere and you can see many of the tall beautiful buildings from quite a way off. A ride over the Champlain bridge and by 8 p.m. I was riding the streets of Montreal. The downtown area was filled with people walking, eating at outside tables and generally enjoying a summer evening. Based on my hour or so riding around, Canadian women are all young, beautiful and quite curvaceous. 

While there are a number of modern office buildings, there are also a great deal of older buildings with very European design. The French influence is definitely very strong in all the architecture, not only office buildings but apartment buildings and even many of the one family homes I saw. It is a very beautiful city that seems made for walking. Another trip to Montreal is a definite must for me.

The Silver Wing drew a lot of attention which surprised me based on the number of motorcycles and scooters on the streets. I wasn't sure what that was all about but found out later that the Honda Silver Wing is not imported into Canada. The Suzuki Burgman is and I'm told is a big seller there but for some reason Honda choose not to also follow suit. As a result, the appearance of a Silver Wing causes a bit of a stir and lot's of stares.

After my short tour of Montreal I headed back across the Champlain bridge and east to Granby.  Leaving the city I was almost immediately back in the middle of nowhere and crossing an area that was farmland as far as you can see. The highway runs right through the middle of these low lands and the wind in this area was incredible and probably some of the worst I'd ever experienced. The handling of the scoot was made all the worse by the passing tractor trailers, the scoot being sucked toward the truck as it began to pass and thrown away from the truck as it completed the pass. Then, the "wake" from the truck and the heavy winds took over again and I was pushed all over my lane. Since the wind was fairly steady, after 15 minutes or so I just got used to all of it and enjoyed the surrounding farmlands while I was pushed all over the road. There wasn't too much traffic and the shoulders are wide and grassy so, even being blown all over the road there isn't much to worry about. Another 45 minutes or so and I was in Granby. I found a cheap motel and called it a night.

Friday morning was cool and overcast and the scoot was soaked from a rain storm during the night. I'd never heard the rain, being too tired from the ride the day before. I felt good other than some neck pain, a problem I experience whenever I'm wearing my helmet for a long time. Thursday I'd had it on for almost 10 hours so several Advil were in order. I packed up and headed out to find Monogo and, after a short ride saw a convenience store. I went in asking if they would accept American dollars and the 3 people behind the counter stared at me with blank faces. I don't speak French but after a short time it was obvious even to me that they were telling me (in French) they did not understand English. I smiled, said Merci and headed for the door. At that point one of the women behind the counter apparently felt sorry for me and said "We can take dollars but can't change them for you." I replied that I just wanted a cup of coffee and she said that would be fine. As I prepared my coffee the young man behind the counter came over to me and began speaking English. I apologized for coming to his country and not being able to speak French and he began asking about my scoot and my trip. As I paid the woman behind the counter, the only one I hadn't spoken to yet,  said "Have a good day and a good trip" and they all bid me goodbye in English.  I made a mental note to learn some basic French before returning to Canada. It was impolite of me to come and not even make an effort at learning some phrases and I didn't feel slighted at all at the initial denial of being able to speak English. Once they saw I wasn't some ugly American "demanding" they speak my language, they were very courteous to me.

A few more miles down the road and I was at Monogo which is behind the house of the owner, Michel Vachon. Michel is a very friendly man who makes you immediately feel at home. He has a beautiful 1990 Paris Dakar BMW with over 100,000 kilometers on it, a very shiny red and white paint job that doesn't look anywhere near 14 years old. His garage is filled with a variety of tools and machines, many of which he built himself. The most impressive is his homemade motorcycle lift with various added items like a slide in ramp, a tie down bar for strapping the motorcycle and various other items, all added by Michel as the need arose. We chatted a few minutes, then he put the scoot on the lift and got to work.

Michel had recently built a hitch for Jeff Barnes, another SWing owner so, he knew what to do, what to avoid and how to construct the hitch. Still, even with this knowledge Michel worked on the hitch for the next 8 hours. He was constantly interrupted by his workers, potential customers and the telephone, however, I estimate that he actually spent about 4 hours purely devoted to building the hitch.  He is perfectionist and several times when unhappy with a bit of clearance that looked more than adequate to me, reworked that part over and over until he was satisfied. Any concerns I had about having a "home made" hitch or his "home made" trailer were quickly alleviated. It was crystal clear that nothing was leaving this man's shop unless he was 100% satisfied with it.  During the 8 hours I was there I watched his cousin and nephew putting together some of the trailers Michel had fabricated and another worker construct the lighting fixtures for the back of the trailer. Every step was overseen by Michel and he made sure every trailer was up to his specs.

When he finished constructing my hitch I felt sure I could probably pull a car with it  and had no qualms at all about pulling the 55 pound Monogo with it. We hooked up the lights and I took the trailer for a test ride. Most of the test ride I spent looking back to be sure the trailer hadn't fallen off. I couldn't believe that I couldn't feel the trailer behind me and was sure it had somehow come disconnected.  Test ride over I bid farewell to Michel, his wife and employees  and headed toward home.

Within 15 minutes of leaving Grandby I was back in the farmland area and the amazing winds. Despite my concerns about the trailer I was easily able to maintain 75 mph and did not notice any difference from my ride in the night before. The trailer, now loaded with about 20 pounds of gear, just could not be felt. I was still being blown all over the road but having the trailer attached made no difference and I was able to easily keep control of the scoot. I continued back to the border and waited for what I was sure would be an exhaustive questioning and search from the border patrol. (I even made sure I had on clean, hole free underwear in case the "search" got personal.  :-)     Since I did not yet have proper documentation for the trailer, I was additionally concerned they might ask me for my registration. After answering that I lived in NJ, had spent the night in a motel in Granby, I was asked "What's in the trailer?"  "Gear" I replied and the border agents response was to wave me on and say "Have a good ride."  I was glad to be on my way but wondered about terrorists coming from Canada on motorcycles with trailers. I'd expected something more involved but was happy I'd been wrong.

This northern part of route 87 was virtually empty and I was easily able to maintain 75+ mph. I continually calculated my speed and distance and believed I could make it home by 1:30 a.m. or maybe 2.  I wasn't anxious to ride that late but I'd told my wife I would be home around 9 p.m. since it never occurred to me that fabricating a hitch would take so long. I'd thought 2-3 hours would be about right and I'd be able to leave by noon and get home in about 9 hours. Leaving at 5:30 I was hoping to at least get home to fall in bed and join here for breakfast Saturday morning. I was already tired but still felt I could handle the ride if I could be home no later than 2 a.m. I decided to ride through the first tank of gas and see where I was and how I felt before making a final decision on trying to get home or stop for the night..

After a few minutes, it seemed like the temperature was dropping almost as fast as the miles were passing. Since it was the end of June I hadn't packed any heated gear or sweatshirts, either of which I would have been grateful for. By 7:30 p.m. the mountains were blocking any direct sunlight from shining on me and I needed something to warm up. I stopped and put on my rain gear which helped somewhat but did nothing to warm my hands in my summer gloves. I knew any emergency braking would be dicey but since the road was pretty empty, I thought that would be unlikely. By 8:30 I was so cold I was shivering and my teeth were chattering but my calculations were I might still make it home by 2 a.m. or maybe 2:30. I was starting to feel that I was probably going to have to stop somewhere for the night and maybe somewhere soon would be a good idea. At 8:45 about 25 miles north of Lake George my reserve gas light went on so I pulled off the next exit looking for a station. Right off the exit was Lees Motel and it looked like the most welcoming place I could imagine. Not yet I told myself, it's too early. A mile or so down the road was a gas station and as I pulled into it, shaking and freezing, it began to rain. At that point I knew my night was done. There was no way I could safely maintain 75 mph on a wet road, in the dark, when I was pulling a trailer and was bone tired and freezing. I filled up, bought the largest hot coffee they had and headed back to Lees Motel. In what I thought was an extremely kind twist of fate, apparently my unit had a heater malfunction so, when I entered my room the temperature was about 90 degrees. Between that and the coffee I soon warmed up. A little TV and then to sleep.

Saturday morning was sunny and warm and I headed to Lake George and the Mountaineer Restaurant for breakfast. I thought it was appropriate that I stop at the place where I first saw the Monogo on Jeff's bike. A nice breakfast and I was back on the road for the final miles home which, were thankfully pleasant and uneventful.

So, in just about 48 hours I'd ridden a total of 850 miles and now had my Monogo trailer which I've named "Dox Box". I had a great trip and decided that I'm never taking any trip more than 100 miles from my home without packing my heated gear and winter gloves. This wasn't the first time I'd been caught unprepared riding in the mountains in the summer but I'm really going to try and make it my last.

Ride Safe

DOC