Hoser Run 2014

Welcome to the Quinlan's Great 50-State-by-Motorcycle Adventure - 2014 edition.

Our first trip, The Hoser Run, took us across the border to Canada. Yes, we know Canada isn't one of the 50 states, but there is a reason for our trip up North and not just to revisit our teen years in the '80s:

Take off! To the Great White North!
Take off! It's a beauty way to go.--Bob and Doug McKenzie

Our Great Adventure this July starts in Alaska and ends in Sturgis. Between the two is Canada and since we are going to be in four Canadian provinces during this trip, we decided to add "and 12 provinces" to the Quinlan's Great 50-State-by-Motorcycle Adventure.

To prepare, we figured we'd better try out our new GoPro camera, test our knowledge of kilometers per hour, liters, the Canadian dollar and how to say "Eh" properly... so we headed to Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

Day 1: 185 miles

We started out on Friday of Memorial Weekend, and joined our fellow travelers in sitting on the freeway for a couple hours.

Friday night was spent Duluth, where they were having record high temperatures and ice still on Lake Superior.

Day 2: 431 miles

Early Saturday we left the United States and entered a foreign land.

We were both happy that our passports were valid and passed inspection. Suddenly, we were in Canada.

Ontario

Driving through Ontario was surprisingly beautiful with lots of lakes and hills. The day was sunny and bright, which helped the trip pass quickly.

We arrived in our home base of Winnipeg in the early evening and in true Canadian style had a good meal of poutine and a couple Canadian beers (Budweiser, brewed in Canada for Sean. Grasshopper Wheat for Anne) while watching Hockey Night in Canada. We were fortified and prepared for a long trip to Saskatchewan the next day.

Day 3: 414 miles

Though Winnipeg had hit a record high of 30 degrees (Celsius. That's 86 to us) on Saturday, Sunday was cold and rainy as we headed out. The nasty weather did give us an opportunity to test out our new rain gear.

We made our way through Western Manitoba. This is pretty much the view we saw all day.

Several hours later reached the boundary line between Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

Manitoba

Saskatchewan

and then turned around and headed right back to Winnipeg for more sustenance and sleep.

Day 4: 521 miles

We headed home on Monday with our missions accomplished. It was a fast and easy ride - until we were about 90 minutes from home when it started to rain (of course) and with the Memorial Day traffic, our 90 minute ride turned into another 4 hours on the road.

We are now prepared for our next great adventure at the end of July. We learned a lot on this trip:

• Kilometers are not the same things as miles and it's good to have a KPH vs MPH cheat sheet attached to your gas tank so you don't accidentally drive 90 mph instead of 90 kph and be pulled over by a friendly Canadian Highway Patrol person. 
• GoPro batteries only last a couple hours.
• There are many more liters in a tank of gasoline than there are gallons, so $1.25 isn't as cheap as it sounds.
• Western Manitoba is painfully flat and desolate. There was seriously nothing to look at for hours, and hours, and hours. I apologize to anyone from Manitoba - but ugh! And this is coming from an Iowa girl.
• It was much easier to get into Canada than out.