Deliver us fron Toronto

Day 8

The Pirate is up by 6 am to hunt down the battery for the Girl. We have exactly 4 hours from the time the car parts shop opens to when we need to check out. It seems do able. For the remainder of the morning, the Pirate and I have very different adventures. Mine was mostly blogging, packing and worrying. The Pirate explored the various car parts stores of Toronto first in a cab, then the subway, then a bus, then the subway again, and then a cab again. By the time he returned, he was exhausted and we had 30 minutes to get out of our room.

The battery was installed using the bicycle tool that we brought. We had to re-load the Girl entirely, as we were nervous to leave our camping gear out there on the city streets all night. Neither of us had eaten yet today, and with our shakey blood sugar issues, we were feeling pretty nutty. It is approaching noon, and with Toronto's heatwave, we're rushing to get on the road. In the end, this will cost us.

We grab a quick bite to eat the “American Diner” in the hotel. With our bellies full and the Girl's fresh battery, we are ready. We are especially grateful that we are on this side of town. To the west of us is chaos; the roads are gridlocked due to an Indy race that goes right through the streets of downtown. We make it to the mouth of our escape route, and the Girl dies, just as the light turns green. We hurry to push her across 3 lanes of busy, pissed off traffic.

Within view of the beautiful harbor, we make a call from the Francophone Center. The only motorcycle tow service and repair shop is on the west side of Toronto, nearly 30 miles away, right through the chaotic traffic that we rode through yesterday. After a 40 minute wait, the Girl is loaded onto the back of a pick up, and slowly driven west. It is now 3 pm.

At the repair shop, we are greeted by a sweet Canadian man, Ralph, who owns this shop. He offers us short ribs right off the grill, the Pirate is happy. The repair takes only an hour. In our haste to get out of town, the battery was installed in such a way that a crucial cable was melted on the exhaust. Dammit. In one day we have spent 1/6 of our budget for the entire trip. And the story isn't over.

Back onto the highway at 7pm, we figure we'll ride until it's dark and at least get out of Toronto. Back into the traffic, we creep along, bumper to bumper, 3 lanes deep, just like last time. In an hour we go 25 miles. Unfortunately, Toronto sprawls as audaciously as any American metropolis. We ride through block after block of bullshit commercialism, with either an Indian slant, or Pakistani, or what have you. There is no good way in or out of this city. Congestion abounds, both on the roads and in our lungs and sinuses. This is exhausting.

Our goal tonight is Oshawa, a town just outside Toronto. It should have taken an hour. It took four.

Before we left the repair shop, I “pricelined” a room in Oshawa so we could just roll in and crash. I figured we'd be there by 9:30, and we were already exhausted. With the traffic, we arrived at 10 pm and no hotel in sight. We drove around and around, finally pulling into to the plague-that-is-Tim- Horton's to get online and double check the directions. We would have simply called, but we have no phone service in Canada (thanks Verizon!). With more specific information, we're back on the road. It's now 10:30. Six miles later, we pull into a dark parking lot of a dorm. Yes, a dorm. It's locked and vacant. We are too tired to be mad at being scammed. We turn the Girl around, and pray for lodging.

Another hour later, we are at a Best Western. With in minutes, we are in a much needed coma; not so much tired as defeated.