Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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22 UCW AUGUST 20-26, 2014 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM LEGEND'S PUB BIKE NIGHT August 23rd 4624 BRAGG BLVD. SEPTEMBER 6 • 5TH ANNUAL WE RIDE FOR THOSE WHO CAN'T REMEMBRANCE RUN at Freedom Biker Church. Registration 9 a.m. KSU 11 a.m. $20/rider, $10/passenger. Missing Man Table ceremony, lunch, door prizes, vendors. Proceeds to benefit veterans programs. Find out more at http://www.rollingthunder-nc1. com. SEPTEMBER 13 • FALL VA HOSPITAL POKER RUN to raise money and nonperishable items (razors, shower, shoes, under garments, etc.) for the Fayetteville VA Hospital and its Patients. Registration begins at 1:30 p.m. at Busters Bar and Grill. Kickstands up at 2 p.m. Final Stop is the Veterans Motorcycle Club Club Housefor entertainment, food and drinks available by donation Call 910- 322-3003 for information SEPTEMBER 14 • 1ST ANNUAL ALR STATE WIDE MEET AND GREET at Old Gilliam Mill in Sanford. Poker run KSU 11 a.m. $20/bike $5/ pass, bike rodeo, 50/50, door prizes, DJ, vendors, food. SEPTEMBER 20 • 7TH ANNUAL RIDE TO ROCK OUT ALZHEIMER'S at Pine Knoll in Southern Pines. Registrations at 7:30 a.m., $20/sgl $30/dbl, door prizes, food, music. Call 910-246-1066 or visit www.sjp.org for information. PATRIOT GUARD RIDERS The Patriot Guard Riders is a diverse group of patriots from every state that come together to honor fallen soldiers at funeral services across the country. Visit www.patriotguard.org for more information about the group. We are quickly approaching fall and prime motorcycle season. Many will head north and wander towards the Canadian provinces. I've crossed into Canada several times now. Each time I learn something new. Here are a few lessons I learned from my recent trip. As you come to the border, it is all business.You get the "Welcome to Canada"greeting while all of the time computers are passing strings of data about you to the agent. They will ask to see your passport and with a scan of the barcode on your passport, your life will flash before the agent. "Do you have a weapon?" "No." "Are you sure you don't have a weapon?" "Yes sir, I do not." This question is asked because I have a concealed carry permit, and the computer told them, that I might be pack'n heat. Expect them to ask you where you are from, where are you going, and how long will you be in Canada. They will ask you what your tag number is even though they have cameras on you. If you are military, be prepared to show your leave papers in case they ask. One agent told me they catch people trying to go AWOL. As you cross, you may see a sign telling you the speed is measured in kilometers and not miles per hour. When I rode there, I quickly noticed that looking at the speedom- eter wasn't as easy as mph. I know that 1 kilometer equals .62 miles so that was not a big deal and 100 kph equals 62 mph. However, as I started to figure my range, my little pea brain started crashing with math to figure how much gas I had left before the next gas station. My bike's computer was telling me that I had 75 miles to empty and I had road signs telling me how far cities were but running at 62 miles an hour I didn't have time to pull out the stubby pencil. Knowing I was going to ride about 4,000 miles across Canada, I did not want this dis- traction. I looked at my Garmin GPS and knew it had a button that would switch the bike over to kilometers. Seemed simple enough, problem solved. As I started consuming miles, my math problem was still there. My new GPS did show my speed, and it did turn red if I was over the speed limit. I switched the bike back to miles and it showed the speed in red if I was going over the speed limit. Now I could calculate my distance, speed and speed limits in something I could understand. The next thing was currency. I took 500 Canadian dollars with me. This had to be ordered at the bank and then I had to pay the conversion fee and service fee before I left. At the time of this writing, one U.S. dollar equaled 1.09 Canadian dollars. If I used my credit card, then there was an international fee added on top of that. As I turned on my weather app, the weather came up in Celsius. Great, more math. Celsius is the same as 32 degrees Fahrenheit which is when water freezes. On the opposite end, 100 degrees Celsius is the point where water boils (or 212 degrees Fahrenheit). As my weather app said 18 degrees Celsius, again I was stuck at trying to figure out what this means. If you have the patience, you can do the long math which is to multiply by 9, then divide by 5, then add 32 to get the conversion. In this case, my 18 degrees Celsius was actually 64.4 degrees Fahrenheit. Of course, you can make sure you have a good conversion app on your phone. I did. My new Garmin GPS also had a conversion tool buried under "tools" but it was very limited with the types of conver- sions it could do. Be sure to check the country's website before you try to cross. Some border crossing stations have limited hours. Check with your insurance company to see if you need an international insurance card. My company did provide one for me for free. Check with your cell phone service to see if you have coverage. I opted for international voice calls while I was gone but not a data plan. When I got to the border, I turned off the data roaming feature on the phone. If you do not know this, a smart phone will push data whether you know it or not. If there is a topic that you would like to discuss, please send your comments and sug- gestions to motorcycle4fun@ aol.com. RIDE SAFE! Crossing Canada by JIM JONES JIM JONES, Motorcycle Enthusiast, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@ upandcomingweekly.com. Canadian border Visit our website for food and drink specials! MacSpeedShop.com 4 8 2 N . M C P H E R S O N C H U R C H R D . = SMOKIN' DAILY LUNCH SPECIALS OVER 200 CRAFT BEERS BIKE NIGHTS • LIVE MUSIC • CATERING