On my last campout I read The Road To Missanabie on dead tree. It’s not even remotely deep but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Just pure enjoyment. Highly recommended for the six guys out there that want charming stories about riding old motorcycles on the backroads of Ontario.
This was a dead tree book win! Nothing is quite so fine as sitting at a campsite flipping through a paperback. Such a simple pleasure; cheerful campfire burbling away, bourbon seeping though my bones, foolish luxury of a bright Coleman lantern burning away over my shoulder to illuminate the pages. Yes, I drink alone and read in the dark. What about it?
Anyway the book was such a good fit I took a photo.
The author doesn’t do anything earth shattering. He just fires up old motorcycles of the supposedly less reliable sort (he talks at length about the pros and cons of his antique Moto Guzzi bikes) and then he rides all over Canada (often to remote locations… which are my favorite places!).
Of course, I’ve got a bit of wanderlust myself. Y’all might remember I bought an “antique” motorcycle of my own last year? I bought it specifically to road trip from nowhere to nowhere. Just like Nick Adams. Apparently, I wanna’ be like him when I grow up!
Just like Nick Adams likes his goofy Moto Guzzi motorcycles, for a “touring bike” I rejected the obvious mile hauler Honda Goldwings and purchased Honda’s oft mocked market failure from the 1980’s: the Honda Pacific Coast 800. It is supposedly mechanically excellent and incredibly reliable and I know for experience it can carry a lot of luggage. On the other hand it’s repelling to most motorcyclists based on its visual aspects alone.
I absolutely love my PC800. I know it’s weird and (in some eyes) butt ugly but who cares? I like “ugly ducklings”. I also like how it “does what I want it to do without getting in my way”. (Hard to explain but a true thing.)
I’ve only ridden my PC800 (purchased used of course) a few thousand miles so far. It hasn’t been started in 2024 yet. I never got to take that big ride I dreamed of. But is a new year isn’t it?!?
My funky PC800 practically causes organ failure among chromed out Harley guys who care deeply about looking cool. (Non-rider females have called my bike “cute”… which I take as a compliment. “Cute” comments would cause Harley guys to freak out. Go ahead and tell some dude his chromed out cruiser with Screaming Eagle pipes and the optional skull motif paintjob is “cute”. See what he does!)
The PC800 looks so un-cool as to make the word cool belong in a different dimension of time and space. I humbly think I do that too. I bought one and had high hopes to ride it many miles.
Then things went south. I had a hard 2023. These things happen.
Anyway, Nick Adams turned his questionable taste in motorcycles toward my chosen ugly duckling and decided to get one of his own! Here’s a video of Nick Adams buying a $750 Honda Pacific Coast 800 and roaming around Canada.
Could there be a video more perfectly tuned to motivate my ass? Bike, location, attitude… everything is perfect! Adams hit me dead center with a shot of optimism I desperately needed. I can do naught but follow.
As they say, the first sample of crack is free. After that, you gotta’ do the thing!
After reading his book and watching the video… I looked at the still melting snow and sighed.
Then I got “pro-active”. I bought a high quality paper map of Canada.
It cost $14 and it’s very nice; fiberglass “paper” that’s hard to tear, really excellent resolution, etc… It’s worth $14. (Especially for a man who’s been inspired to ride to the vicinity of Nowheresville Canada!) I intend to navigate by paper map… as God intended!
You have to be careful buying it. Amazon will do everything in it’s power to route you to purchase damn near any other map. I hate how Amazon just can’t shut up and serve the thing I request but it is what it is.
I was very particular about the section of Canada I wanted and Amazon is baffled. I suppose it should be. There are parts of Canada where even Canadians hardly go. This is the place I’m headed. Here’s the map:
I also bought a cheaper more generic “gas station map“. It cost about half of what the National Geographic map costs and it’s less than half the quality. Two is one and one is none.
I don’t know if I learned anything about dead tree books versus e-books but I did get a happy and appreciated kick in the pants. Nick Adam’s low key happy little adventures spurred me to get back to living. Neil Peart’s very well written and deeply thought consideration of grief was just too hard on me at the time.
Two Canadians. Two books. Two motorcycle road trips. One I couldn’t bear. One lifted me up almost by accident. Adam’s whimsical Moto Guzzis did what Pert’s superior BMW couldn’t. I’m glad for both authors, they both did their best. Now it’s up to me and my shiny new maps (and the weather). Wish me luck.
So you like your PC 800 for its looks, but hate the Gremlin?
By the way, when are you going to get around to running the TAT?
Uh oh, I never considered that the chunky weird PC800 had any similarities to the abomination of the AMC Gremlin. But now I’ve got internal dissonance!
I think I’ve backed away from the Trans America Trail for now. (Though I did scout out some bits of the TAT in South Dakota and in particular the Black Hills just to see what it’s like.) I keep laughing about the Wisconsin state level variant because the acronym on the Trans Wisconsin Adventure Trail is the TWAT… but I could probably knock that one out in a few days on the TW200.