Home and Time to Dry Out

We arrived home on July 9th, a few day ahead of schedule. Of the 25 days on the road we encountered rain on about 20 of them. Perhaps this was payback for a trip to Yellowstone several years ago where we encountered no rain at all during a month on the road.
From this experience we have learned several important lessons. Namely: that rain in not so bad as long as you have good rain gear; it doesn't rain so hard that you can not see the road; and, that it is not raining when you pack up in the morning. Also on this trip we decided that we are getting too old to camp so we abandoned our camping gear in favour of motels.
One thing we noted was that in recent trips we we have met fewer interesting people. Upon further reflection, we realized that have met the most interesting folk in local bars. So in future, after a long day on the road, we resolved to hang out in bars rather than restaurants.

The Day of the Ferry's

As we near the end of this trip we decided to ride a few ferrys - always fun on a bike trip. From Watertown New York we travelled a few miles to Cape Vincent and caught a small ferry to Wolfe Island Ontario. The always officious Canadian Customs officials let us back into Canada without too much hassle and we then drove across Wolfe Island to catch the ferry over to Kingston.

Wolfe Island must be the windmill capital of Ontario. The whole island seems to be covered with them. Unlike the Cape Vincent ferry, the ferry to Kingston had a long line up of cars. We drove to the end of the line and were waiting patiently when the fellow directing traffic told us to skip the line and park down on the dock ahead of all the cars. It seems bikes get loaded first (finally some preferential treatment!) which was great with us.

While in Kingston we toured the Correctional Service of Canada Museum and got to see just how small a Jail cell really is.

From Kingston we took the Bath Road ( Hwy 33) down to the Glenora Ferry and had a short crossing of the Bay of Quinte. Highway 33 from Kingston to Picton, along the coast of the Bay of Quinte is one of Ontario's most picturesque roads.

Green Mountains & Adirondacks

We continued to cross northern New England. From Bethel we crossed into New Hampshire and went to the base of the road up Mt Washington. Dave has wanted to do this road on several other occasions but the weather was always bad. This trip was no different. It was raining at the base and close to freezing at the summit. We passed on Mt Washington and drove on to Conway and made our way slowly through 4th of July traffic to the turn off for the Kanamungus Highway (Route 112).

We had sunshine all the way up the east side of the mountains. When we looked west at the summet we were met with black clouds of a nasty thunder storm coming up the valley. We quickly doned rain gear and had a rather scary trip down to Lincoln in a very heavy rain. In Lincoln we stopped for lunch and their 4th of July parade that closed the only road out of town.

We let the GPS take us over two more sets of mountains ranges on some great back roads to Killington Vermont. In Killington Bev wanted to show her bike to Susie who manages the Timeshares where we have our ski vacations. Susie and her husband have a bike. We stopped off to see what our timeshare (Swiss) Chalet looks like in summer.

From Killington we went on to Lake George New York where the long weekend traffic was really heavy. We headed north on route 9N to get away from the crowds and ended up stopping in Ticonderoga. On July 6th we finished crossing the mountains and stopped in Watertown NY.

Twisty rainy White Mountain roads

We crossed into the US at St Stephen with the intent of following the Maine coast down to Bar Harbor but with the persistent coastal rain and fog we headed inland. We drove through Bangor and ended up stopping for the night in Bethel Maine (in winter the home of Sunday River ski resort).

On July 4th we drove through great twist roads in the White Mountains. The weather was a real mixed bag; bright sunshine one minute and a down pour the next. We let the GPS guide us from Conway New Hampshire to Killington Vermont. We do not know exactly where we went but we crossed three sets of mountains on great twisty back roads.

Confederation Bridge

On July 2nd the rains returned and we left PEI via the Confederation Bridge. Fortunately the winds on the bridge were not too high and since a bike rider is higher than a car driver we had a excellent view of the straight as we crossed.

Because of the rain we took a pass on the Bay of Fundy coast and other tourist attractions and drove past St John stopping at a motel outside of St George with a magnificent view of the coast and the fishermen working in the bay. While eating dinner on an outside balcony by the bay we witnessed the drama of a bold eagle swooping down over a mother duck and her brood of chicks. Right on queue, just before the eagle struck all the chicks dove and avoided the outstretched tallons. After three passes the eagle moved on to find other prey, while Bev lamented, "but the eagle needs to eat too!!" making her quite unpopular with the other diners at the restaurant.

Canada Day

We decided that Charlottetown would be a great place to spend Canada Day so we stayed on for an extra day. The rains held off and they had a concert during the afternoon and evening. We caught some of the acts and then took side trips to some more local pubs and restaurants. In all , it was a very relaxing day. At 10:00 after the last group played they had a spectacular fireworks display - the biggest east of Ottawa they claimed.

Charlottetown, PEI

Heavy rain getting here....what else is new?.... we learned how to navigate loaded bikes up a mud hill during construction.

While in Charlottetown, the birth of Canada's Confederation, we visited Beaconsfield Historic House, Province House (where the famouse 1864 conference where Canada was created in principle) and generally toured around the old part of town. One evening we went on a pub crawl that consisted of beer and munchies at about four bars. We took a double decker tour bus to see other sites as well.

Cavendish & Anne of Green Gables

From Souris we travelled around the eastern tip of PEI and along the north coast to Cavendish. PEI is a very peaceful place with lush green rolling hills, smooth roads with gentle winding curves and little traffic. En route to Cavendish we stopped at a railway museum and an intrepertative centre near St Peter that explained the ecology of the sand dunes and north coast beaches. Unfortunately it was cool and cloudy so we did not get to do any beach time - oh well at least it wasn't raining.

In Cavendish the rains returned and with umbrellass in hand we walked from our motel, through the "Haunted Woods" of Lucy Maud Montgomery's imagination and in to visit Avonlea the setting for her most famous novel "Anne of Green Gables". While there we learned a lot about this famous author, her incredible imagination and her life.

PEI's Eastern Shore

We drove down from Pugwash towards Pictou and took the ferry to Wood Island PEI. You don't pay to get to the island, you only pay to get off whether by the ferry or the "link" (AKA Confederation Bridge). We visited a lighthouse there and then traveled along the eastern coast to Souris where we had a great lobster dinner. Dave had to pick his lobster out of the tank. The lobster didn't like the idea and flailed around and splashed salt water all over Bev. The next day we travelled around the eastern end of the island and on to Cavendish, the home of Anne of Green Gables.

Joggins, Springhill & Pugwash

Well the rain finally stopped and we got to drive some great Nova Scotia back roads. From Shediac we headed south to Joggins a tiny town with a world famous UNESCO World Heritage fossil cliff. The coal seams exposed and eroded by the rise and fall of the Bay of Fundy tides are full of fossilized trees and these trees contain fossils of the creatures that lived in them millions of years ago.

From Joggins we headed over to Springhill on to ass hole Road, or correctly spelled Athol Road. We feel the road name is most appropriate as it is 10 km of loose gravel and loose gravel is not fun on a fully loaded bike. In Springhill we visited the Anne Murray Centre and went down a coal mine.

In Pugwash we met up with our son Brent and his wife (of 4 months) Jess. As a child, Jess spent her summers in Pugwash with her grandmother. If in the area, we recommend Sheila's B&B (great food too).

For those of you awaiting a video (helmet cam), yes we finally did another one given the lack of rain and we positioned it down to avoid getting the sky....oops, lots of shots of the broken asphalt....next time we'll hit it in the right place WE HOPE.

New Brunswick's Acadian Coast

We have endured heavy rains for the past few days. In fact it has rained almost every day since we started this trip. Hopefully the weather will improve.
From the Gaspe we traveled only a few km each day because of the rain. We have stopped in Bathurst, Miramichi and Shediac (lobster capital). While on this route we had a great salmon dinner in Chatham, visited Lord Beaverbrook's childhood home in Newcastle, saw some big sand dunes and an Acadian village. Due to all the rain we have no photos to post.

Baie Des Chaleurs

We spent Sunday June 21 being tourists and making our way around the bay to Bathurst NB. We stopped off at the Miguasha National Park, a UNESCO heritage site, to see the fossils and continued on to the sea battle of Restigouche historic site. It was here that the British finally defeated the French in what is now Canada.

Gaspe

The Gaspe coast to truly beautiful, perhaps even more spectacular than the Cabot Trail. We met Paul along the way and rode together for a couple of days. He's riding one of those new three wheel Bombardier Spiders. This vehicle has a number of advantages including a reverse, the ability not to tumble over when stopped, semi automatic transmission with no clutch, F1 type paddle shifters. But, he couldn't counter-steer, rather he had to steer like a car and use his body to balance the change in direction.

On the first day we drove from Matane to Cap-des-Rosiers on the very tip of the Gaspe penisula in glorious sunshine. The next day, we awoke to rain, drove to Gaspe Village for breakfast, said goodbye to Paul at Perce, and continued on in the rain to New Richmond.

For those of you awaiting our video, we didn't forget to do one.....we just got the angle wrong. Rather than gorgeous rodes and spectacular cliffs, we got 30 min. of blue sky with the tips of trees and the occasional helmet top. On the next sunny day, we'll try yet again.

Cap-Chat

We stopped in at one of the first Wind Farms in Canada at Cap-Chat; unfortunately we arrive one day before the start of summer tours. Standing in the middle of the wind farm, we couldn't figure out why all those Nimbys are so upset about wind farms. You have to be pretty close to hear them, but then again maybe the wind in our helmets have made us deaf !!! We took some pictures for the Sunil and Kevin in Genivar energy group.

Whale Watching

In Tadoussac, we went whale watching in a Zodiac. Bev thought the boat driver was even more cute than her trainer, so even though he didn't speak ANY English he got a great tip! The world is truly global....a woman from France had to translate between the Quebec driver and us...and we three were the Canadians. That said, at times she was stumped as she couldn't understand his accent and was really frustrated. We managed to see buluga and finback whales, as well as a few curious seals. The driver also took us for a nice ride up the Saguenay river/fiord.

From Tadaussac, we headed north Baie Comeau and took the ferry across the St. Lawrence to Matane. If any readers are planning a similar trip, we suggest taking the ferry from Forestville to Rimouski, because it runs more frequently and travels at twice the speed. PS: while on the ferry having dinner, one of the crew members found Bev to tell her that her bike was wailing and the lights were flashing; it seems that the rocking of the boat set off the alarm so she had to bring the keys/faub back to bike to settle it down and save her battery.

Hautes Gorges Dela Riviere Malbaie

Thanks to Brian Oak for suggesting a visit to this Provincial Park, northwest of Malbaie. The road in was twisty and hilly and with no traffic, just an ideal motorcycle route. The park has spectacular cliffs, rising up on either side of the river. If you want to see cliffs and don't want to travel all the way to Yosemite, then visit this provincial park. We took an hour and a half boat trip up the river. From here we travelled northeast to Tadoussac.

North Shore of St Lawrence

We set off from Richmond Hill on Sunday and travelled to visit Dave's aunt Cathy in Burretts Rapids south of Ottawa. We got as far at Perth when the heavens opened up and got to test our rain gear. Dave's worked Bev got wet.

We had a nice visit with Cathy and her new, very excitable teen age dog Casey. The next day we continued north east on the 401 and route 40. We got as far as Trois Rivieres before the heavens opened yet again with perhaps the heaviest downpoor we have ever encountered. We had to fight with cars for a place to stop under a overpass, even the biking cops had pulled over on the other side and were waving at us.Dave finally got wet and Bev was really soaked, with her eye makeup on her cheeks.

Tuesday dawned bright and sunny and we went all the way to le Malbaie. We stopprd for lunch at Montmorency Falls just north of Quebec and took Route 362 from Baie Ste Paul to Malbaie. This road, inspite of the construction with sand, stones, and groves, offers spectacular views of the St Lawrence.

Getting Ready

Bev was fortunate to be able to ride her bike to work most days this spring so she's well seasoned and ready for this year's trip. Dave unfortunately has had few opportunities to ride, so he felt it necessary to do a few warmup laps on the backyard ATV.

OK, we're back!!
This summer we only have 4 weeks and so we are going to the east coast of Canada via southern Quebec, North Shore, Gaspe, eastern New Brunswick, over the bridge to Prince Edward Island, through some of Nova Scotia and then down to the States via Bar Harbor, etc. I'm just now planning the route and the potential sites to see, so stay tuned.
This year I have a helmet video-cam and we will concentrate on loading some interesting sights along the way and, of course, the backside of Dave ahead of me. I tested the camera out on the way to work one morning and the resolution was great. It only will hold a 2G memory card, but that seems to be quite reasonable for filming a few hours. It was supposed to record my voice too, but I couldn't hear much of myself whether on the highway or a residential road.
Can't wait to get going on another trip.........we will be on the road between June 13th and July 12th.