Several days later it is time to ride again. I arise before everyone else at 7AM  and take off on a brisk August morning and plan to spend the day riding the Isle of Man(itoulin). I put it that way because Hwy # 6 which runs North and South through the island has long sweeping curves much like the Isle of Man. The Savage does not have the legs for this kind of road and by that I mean you can spot your apex and exit well in advance so a sport bike with 150 mph capabilities would be the weapon of choice. Oh yeah, they should also close the traffic to motorcycles only.
Anyways, I exercise Black Betty’s legs and she seems happy to be on pavement again. There are lots of great views from the roads here. You are never far from water, be it the North Channel or the many Bays surrounding the island, or the incredible number of inland lakes here. Sometimes you are flying around a corner and come within 20ft of shoreline. After an hour of riding I decide to head slightly off the island to the north again and visit the group of islands that lead to the mainland. It is around this area and including the mainland that the hills are famous for the white rock and clear lakes. It is so inspiring that four painters from the Group of Seven have come here to paint the landscape. One of them, whose name escapes me, was so inspired; he built a cabin near Whitefish Falls and returned constantly. His most famous painting was a portrait of himself sitting in the foreground painting nearby Grace Lake.
I guess you get the point here. It is really nice up here.



I get off my bike a lot when I am exploring. Quite often I will climb a hill and look about, or stop if I see someone fishing. I can’t resist abandoned buildings as well.
On this day I circumnavigated the Island and at my sometimes slow pace rode about 8 hours including time for breakfast and late lunch. I pretty much stuck to paved roads. Black Betty has avoided the traditional Savage failings during my ownership but on today’s ride, two common maladies strike her. The speedometer is vibrating noisily and the head/cover plug cap has begun leaking. Problem #3 and #4 come simultaneously. Gee if more problems continue I will have to do my winter maintenance when I get home.
I spotted a BMW parked at a German take out restaurant that I’ve been to before so stopped for schnitzel. The bike was an 1150RT and I talked to the owner about his B(ring) M(ore)W(allet). He was new to biking and didn’t know much about motorcycles. I told him my last bike was a Beemer and that there was no such thing as superior German engineering. I asked him how he could pass on the Honda ST1300. He said he just wanted a BMW. Typical RUBE. Nice enough guy though, he just fell for the BMW hype. We rode off in opposite directions (hey how prophetic is that) and after a while three other riders pass me on a new Wing; a Concours, and a Valkyrie which waves me along to join them. I have to pick up my pace and I rather enjoyed the company of other riders since I’ve been solo for so long.  We were heading east on hwy #540 coming from Meldrum Bay and for me, this part of the Island ride is a bit boring so we made good time. We parted company in about half an hour and I headed back to the homestead at an even faster pace.