Trip report summary

If you're thinking of touring on the bike into places unknown, just do it. It's an experience in itself and I felt like it was more an adventure than a vacation or a trip. I hadn't planned anything, I didn't know where exactly I was going and didn't know when I was coming back. It was great freedom to just do what I wanted, go where I wanted and when I wanted to.


days travelled -- 17
motels stayed at --13
nights i camped -- 1
provinces travelled in -- 5
total Kilometers ridden -- 8030
total kilometers walked -- probably around 4
liters of fuel used -- ~375
total cost of fuel -- ~$500
number of animals avoided -- 22 (forgot the chicken type bird)
number of large unidentified dead animal run over -- 1
pictures taken -- ~ 1600 (about 200 used for panoramic)videos of ocean taken -- 2
times i swam in the ocean -- 1
close calls because of morons on road -- 1
close calls beacuse i'm a moron -- 2
times bike died -- 3
times i push started it back to life -- 2
times it was charged with a trickle charger -- 1
number of wasp stings while riding -- 1
Number of stops from police -- ZERO
visors scratched -- 3
ferries crossed -- 6
number of other M50s i saw -- 2

I overpacked some things (since it was my first overnight trip) and underpacked others. i'm dumb.I totally believe in having a mascot on the bike for good luck. I put on a mini A&W bear on my handlebars. i called it MR. Weeble. i'm calling the Bike Mr. Wobble now (until i can get that fixed) so they make a great team of Weeble Wobble. Either the mascot brought me luck, or just gut instinct or Saint Christopher (patron saint of motorcycling) was looking over my shoulder...
But i had great luck... and i'm not religious.

A few things i learned from this trip. -i like dirt roads.
-the road less travelled usually has something really interesting at the end
-cruisers and beaches don't mix-trust the locals for interesting things to see
-easterners are great people
-i want to do an Iron Butt challenge
-i like churches
-i like old graveyards
-i like monuments commerating the dead
-i really like camping
-donation/community museums are great (i give money) and the museums you have to pay for, suck.
-there are more diary bars/ice cream shops in the east than any other type of outlet. those maritimers like their ice cream
-ziplock bags and kitchen garbage bags are a godsend (a tip from a buddy of mine)
-the coast is really windy
-fog sucks more than rain.
-chatting with service people (gas station, waitresses, etc) give the best advice on what to do, go see, etc.

1st's I did on this trip
1st time that i've ever
-been stung by a bee/wasp/hornet
-swam in an ocean
-camping with my motorcycle
-taking a big ferry with my bike
-going overnight with the motorcycle
-being totally alone for my birthday...and I was happy
-had the bike break down
-push started a bike
-run over a dead animal
-eaten dixie lee food (gross)
-been east of Quebec city
-eaten fresh cold lobster (very good)


Had a blast. I think everyone should go take a trip like that. no planning, no destinations, just point the bike in a direction and go for a few weeks.

Day 17, August 4th

Today is a happy/sad day. Happy because I'll be home by the end of the day and sad for the same reason. I don't want to stop riding. I feel like just getting back on the bike and riding across Canada. not gonna happen as I have to work to support this addiction.

I rode through Levis/Quebec and decided to stay on the south shore of the St Lawrence as I stayed on the north shore from Ottawa to Quebec city on the way to New Brunswick at the start of my trip.

I crossed the St Lawrence at Trois Rivieres and rode through the town. Nice town actually and saw a few picture worth things. A monument to the dead, the eternal flame which has the famous slogan "je me souviens" meaning "i remember". The internet says it's a political thing, but as seen on this pillar, i'd like to think it has more to do with a memorial to the dead in a long forgotten war in 1634. this was erected in 1934 i believe.

What was really neat in this town is that they had dedicated motorcycle parking!! The downside to this is that motorcycles aren't allowed to park in regular parking spaces or else they'll get a ticket. I wasn't so fond of that. I saw a bunch of places i would have stopped to take in the sites in Trois Rivieres, but gave the city a big F.U. and left. they don't even treat motorcycles as a regular vehicule, and i wasn't about to take a 15 min walk where cars can park right out front. not very fair. the Smart thing to do would be to spilt up regular parking spots and have three meters. 2 for bikes and 1 for cars. Why I like monuments for the dead, i don't know... I figured that if someone erected one for a reason, the least i could do it read about it and pay my respects for war veterans, fisherman, et al.

The quebec side of things were starting to piss me off. not one sign was in both official languages, only in french. Why stop at a historical site when everything is written in french?? All the signs in french only and the motorcycle parking fiasco pissed me off, so I left Trois Rivieres and took the country rodes south west, leaving the St Lawrence and taking a more direct route to Ottawa. Along the way i stopped for a coffee and there were quite a few bikes there already. A few more came and the riders came over to talk to me. He knew all about my bike, which is odd, since most harley riders know nothing about it. It turns out his riding buddy had a 2005 red M50 which he bought in 2005. The sad part was that in 3 years of riding, he covered only 4800km wow. I was at 29,000 at that time and mine was just over a year old. Guess he just rides from coffee shop to coffee shop. :) The harley guy did the same trip i did, but in 1977, which I found kind of neat.

The ride home was quite nice on the country roads and only had about 60km left till I got home. I stopped over for a smoke, in a little sightseeing spot which is just a little gravel patch. It's pretty much just the river and bogs which i've seen countless times riding past this point.

I got back on and tried to start the bike. No go. I tried to push start it, but i think i screwed something up and the back wheel locked up. I pushed it up the hill (seen over my shoulder in the picture below) unloaded everything on the bike and pushed it down. booya it started!

Road all the way home and i was having big problems with the headlight, the console and the signal lights flickering and mal-functioning. Once home I figured out what the problem was...loose wires going to the battery.

Took this picture before the 2nd try to get the bike started. I wasn't in a good mood and the sun was going down fast. Over my shoulder you can see the little gravel slope I got the bike started on.

In all, I had all kinds of weather, all kinds of terrain and saw all kinds of things. Now it's time to go through what I brought and what i needed on the trip so i'll be ready. I'm thinking of bringing a battery, just in case :)

Day 16, August 3rd

I noticed my headlight was flickering when the bike was in high revs and vibrating, but the bike started up every time I stopped it, so I wasn't too concerned. I headed up on the smaller roads again towards Edmunston. I had planned on going over the world longest covered bridge and it is quite long, at 1282 feet. Here's a picture overlooking it from a timmies a little ways away. Gotta love those wooden statues. :)

I decided to stay on the smaller roads and headed to plaster rock. It looked interesting on the map and had an interesting name. Heading into the town a sudden downpour came down so fast and hard I could hardly see so I pulled into a gas station and got myself a coffee (attendant didn't want me to pay!) nice folks in these parts :)

Having a smoke and coffee i looked up and what do i see? the World Largest Fiddleheads! I like roadside attractions like this one, and it was a pretty sweet find.

I left there and headed towards Grand Falls. Again I didn't know what was there but it was on the way to Edmunston and the name looked promising. Got to Grand Falls and stopped for a coffee. When you stop for coffee and you're on a motorcycle with out of province plates, people talk to you. I talked with a guy who used to have a Volusia and we talked about bikes for a bit and asked him what's there to see in this town. It appears I rode over the bridge where the grand falls are and I didn't even see them! I went back down and took in the sights. It was nice to watch the falls for a bit.

From Grand Falls, I followed the river on the border of Maine and New Brunswick. This was a nice ride as well and finally wound up in Edmunston. I was getting ansy on getting home due to not trusting the bike as much so i opted to take the trans-canada between NB and Quebec. This turned out to be a good thing, since the other road which i was leaning towards (highway 289) had a huge problem. Seems the night before at 9:30pm a car was travelling down it and the road gave way, the car and road both slid into the river. I may or may not have taken that exact road, but many roads in the area were a complete washout. If I hadn't crashed I would have to backtrack quite a bit. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2008/08/03/road-collapse.html?ref=rss

On the trans-canadian I entered Quebec and instantly froze. I crested a large hill and on the other side the temperature must have been at least 5degrees C less and there was intense fog.

I stopped at a timmies along the highway and chatted with a biker couple that had just come from where I was going. They said after 30 mins of being inside they were still freezing from the cold and some of their gear was totally soaked.

Thankfully I had my full rain suit on, rain booties rain gloves, and put on a fleece sweater under my riding jacket and put the rain liner in the jacket for an added layer. I love my Aplinestar SR2 drystar gloves. They would soak up water like a sponge on the outside but kept me dry on the inside without losing feeling or grip. great gloves.

I kept popping on and off the trans-can trying to find better weather as it was really really foggy along the trans-can, as well as the smaller country roads. At around La Pocatiere, I stayed on the smaller country roads and decided to head inland. you see some of the oddest stuff in these small towns. I don't even know what this religious crap is supposed to be, but it's kinda creepy if you ask me.

It was really foggy so i decided to call it quits for the day and get a room somewhere. All the rivers, lakes and streams i passed were swollen. Even the St Lawrence (pic below) was pretty swollen and up to the grass. Good thing today was that i didn't get soaked, but everything was humid and some gear in my bags got pretty wet, even with the rain covers on them. I wound up in Montmagny.

not impressed with the weather.

Day 15, August 2nd

Packed up everything, jump on the bike and try to start it. Bike was totally dead this time, even though i must have stop and started it about 15 times since the last time it died.

I called KROW back to tell him i'd be late meeting up and had to get the bike going again and he called a buddy who was in sussex (fellow RCMP officer and rider). Rick came down with a small battery charger and helped me boost my bike. It just wouldn't charge and went into 'trouble' a few times. I noticed one of the lights on the lightswitch i added kept going on by itself so i figured the switch must be fried. Upon opening it up at least a tablespoon of water came out. Wow. they build electrical devices to put on a motorcycle that isn't waterproof? great. $90+ spent well on a switch. :( I ended up cutting the bottom switch off the battery and kept trying to charge. the light for the switch kept coming on, tripping the relay for the lights. son of a... I cut the whole switch off so i would be running without lights until I got home and figured out what to do about it. Now I was charged and ready to go.

I need to thank KROW and Rick... without their help I'm not sure what i would have done, but I'm certain I would be in a pissy mood for a while. It would have put a big cloud over this trip if I couldn't get it going again. Note to all. be nice to law enforcement, even when not in uniform, they are great people. Always give these people the respect they deserve.

I slabbed it down to Saint John and met up with KROW. We rode up to his place and his wife made us a great lunch and we chatted for a while. It was great to meet KROW and his wife, great people... We chatted about Newfoundland where she is from and now I want to go more than ever.

I decided that with the bike acting like it was, I should make up as much ground as I could and get home as soon as I could without having to slab it the whole way. KROW showed me some of the country roads out in the area and we followed the Saint John river up to Fredericton. It was a great ride, nice scenery and pretty good roads. During the ride I felt a bug hit me in the face and it hurt, then it hurt even more. Looks like a wasp hit me in the face, and when I looked I couldn't see it, but it was under my sunglasses. I didn't see it when looking down, but it stung me while riding and it hurt like hell. I got the wasp off, i pulled over for a little bit to see if i was allergic or not. I have never been stung by a bee or wasp that i know of, so I wanted to see if I was going to swell up like the elephant man. About the size of a quarter, not very big bump and it throbbed only a little bit so i figured I wasn't. KROW and I stopped for a coffee in Fredericton and we chatted for a while. We parted ways as he had to get back home, and I had to get on my way.
I rode through Fredericton very quickly and I think it would be a nice town to visit if I had the time. Took a few snaps and kept going.

Alternating between country roads and slabbing, I wound up in Woodstock and it was getting near the end of the day. Got rained on a bit on that ride and avoided most of the storm (see pic above), but the rain suit held the water at bay. I couldn't find a room in town as there was some sort of country fair in progress and everything was booked solid. I slabbed it for about 5 KM when i saw a vacancy sign on a motel. Got a room for the night in a motel that looks like it was going through renovations. The room had 3 beds, was quite large, but no coffee maker. heh.

I crashed pretty early that night, being drained from the last 2-3 days of riding and since it was raining on and off I was pretty tired from riding that day. I took a pic of myself, hoping to see the wasp sting bump under my left eye... nope, all you could see is a bit of ugly. :)

Day 14, August 1st

I still haven't slept and kept riding through the night. Why get a room at this time only to wake up in a few hours? I kept to the slab for a little bit since I was worried about my battery failing again, but right out of Truro there's a toll road. I didn't want to spend any more cash so I took route 2 by Minas Bay and rode through some light fog. The road was in good condition (except for 8km of construction so it was all dirt/gravel) and went through some nice towns. Maybe it looks better at night, I don't know.

unattractive, i know... but i had been riding for 24 hours straight!

Taking the 106 out of Moncton I took route 890 and followed that country road in the hill sides. I was pretty much lost but I didn't care since I was enjoying the ride. I couldn't see any motels, let alone any towns, gas stations, etc. I was pretty much in BF nowhere. probably around 8am i rounded a crest and saw a cute little down with a big steeple. I figured they would have rooms there!

a wonderful sight to see when you've been riding in nothing and need to sleep badly

I found a room at the Covered Bridge Inn. Cute little place with a babbling brook behind it. I knew nothing about this area and never heard about it until I got there. Seems this area is well known for the many covered bridges and painted murals on the buildings. When I got the room they warned me that the local militia group were doing military exercises. I feel to sleep with the sound of rapid machine gun fire...quite relaxing actually as it sounded like an old WWII movie.

I took a nap for about 5 hours and got up for some more riding. Rode around town and drank from the naturally carbonated fountain. tasted like sulphur and it was gross. There's more history to the fountain, like being the first to have carbonated ginger-ale.

I rode around town and small country roads in the area and it was a nice ride for the most part. I got in contact with my friend (KROW) I was going to meet up with the next day and all was set. I hit the hay for the night and wanted to wake up earlish so I could get the bike packed up and get going to meet KROW.

Day 13, July 31st

I started the day out by going back to the lighthouse on Cape Forchu and took some pics. it's a funky looking lighthouse and not the same as all the others I had seen so far on the trip. I looked on the GPS and Brier Island looked interesting to go to. I didn't know much about it except that I knew I'd have to take 2 ferries to get there. It sounded a bit adventurous so I went.

The trail on this shore was the Evangeline Trail which has some nice roads cutting through some nice towns on the way up. I stopped along the way because a sign caught my eye... Smugglers Cove. I checked it out and it the cove was used by rum runners during prohibition in the United States. Pretty neat little cove, and there was a beach access there. I think it would have been pretty neat to swim into the cove, but knowing myself, I'd probably drown and get smashed up on the rocks going in there. Also that i'm a big chicken. kluck-kluck.

Up to Digby for some timmies and KFC (I know, why??) and rode down the peninsula towards Brier Island. I was a really nice ride down there and enjoyed it quite a bit. This route was the Digby neck and island scenic drive. I took a ferry to Long Island, rode south on that and took a final ferry to Brier Island. It's a tiny Island, but it was really cool to go to such an out of the way place. On the Island there isn't too much except for a few lighthouses, a fishing community and a nature preserve. It was relaxing though even though most of the roads are gravel/dirt.

Took some pics, relaxed some more at the lighthouse locations and checked out the monument of Captain Joshua Slocum. He was the first man to sail around the world, alone. This was done between 1895 to 1898. This guy had some balls. It was inspirational to read someone doing a solo trip while I was on one myself. cheesy/corny, I know. There was a little crate with 'Gifts from the Sea'. It was cute and there were all sorts of things like painted shells and painted driftwood. There was also a jar to pay for the items (10 cents to a buck). I bought a small painted piece of driftwood that I found cute. It's better than a t-shirt or hat I think. I got the one in the bottom right corner in the picture.

Well, getting late in the day at this point and I wanted to meet up with a friend near Saint John, NB the following day. I figured I'd ride up to Digby and just ferry across to Saint John and save me a trip going the long way around. When I got to the ferry port (around 6pm) the next ferry was at 8:45 and it's 2.5 hours to cross. I would be in Saint John and getting a room somewhere close to midnight. I decided to take the ferry until he told me the price. $90 one way! I thought about it for a few minutes and figured that for $90 of fuel I could ride for about 1200km's. I decided to ride the 'long way round' since slabbing would be about 600KM. Half the price of a ferry.

I rode on and the sun set, and kept riding. I alternated between slabbing short bits and going through the towns. The towns I went through were all interesting, but I didn't stay in them for any length of time. I stopped off in Cornwallis as there was a tank and a jet with a monument. nothing else was there...a bit odd. I stopped over for another break at a monument of Bloody Creek. The monument was to commemorate the conflict for the possesion of Acadia in 1757. neato.

Instead of slabbing it down to Halifax and then back north to Truro, I opted to take route 14 which cuts across from southeast to northwest. It was a great route to take at night and I had all my lights on, so I avoided more animals there without a problem. About 10km away from the major highway, the 102, I needed to pee real bad and couldn't hold it any longer. I left the bike running and did my business, figuring it would be a short stop. I got back on the bike and put it in gear, forgetting the kickstand was down. Stupid security feature on the bike kills the engine, but the worst of it was that all my lights flickered and my bike wouldn't restart. It was about 11pm at night in pitch blackness with no traffic to speak of. I had to think.

I figured that since I had all my lights blaring, i must have drained the battery and that's why it wouldn't restart. (I learned later it wasn't the cause) I pushed it down a small hill, hoping to push-start it. didn't work. I pushed it up a bigger hill unloaded the bike and pushed it down as fast as I could. It caught and I was on my merry way once more.

It was really dark and i was stressed so I didn't think of taking any more pictures. I rode on through the night, heading for Truro.

Day 12, July 30th

I'm an idiot. I thought that tomorrow was the 1st of August. Nope. I remembered this morning that July has 31 days. Should remember that knuckle trick my folks taught me for remembering how many days in a month there are. Sometimes, we just get too dependant on technology.

I knew today i wanted to see peggy's cove. I think I remember people talking about it, but the only real reason I went down to it was that it looked good on the map, had a sightseeing mark on a map I looked at and through work I worked on circuit troubles in the area

From Dartmouth i rode through Halifax and took 2 pictures. One of Cornwallis (founder of Halifax) and one of Alexander Keith's Brewery. I wasn't on the east coast for the cities, I was out there to ride. The tourist traps can wait for the next time I'm in that area.

The Lighthouse route along the 'Southern Shore' is fantanstic. If you're on a motorcycle, get the Nova Scotia Motorcycle Travel Guide. It gives all the routes and what to see along the way. Even for non-motorcyclists it's useful, but they have other guides on the website for you cagers.
Peggy's cove was absolutely amazing. I fell in love with the place. I must have been there for a few hours... I can't remember as I lost complete track of time. I stayed there longer than I should have but I figured that it was worth slabbing it if I had to.

Further down the road there was a monument for Swissair flight 111. 229 perished off these shores 5 miles out. Cause was a fire on board that couldn't be contained. nasty. And they saw motorcycles are dangerous. heh.



That much time in one spot i must have taken about 300+ pictures. Many were on continuous shot so I could get of the water splashing around, but it's a digital camera with a lot of memory, so why not?

There was a small beach on the side of the trail so I stopped for a smoke and thought it would be nice to at least stand in the atlantic before I miss it completely. There wasn't anyplace to change or else I would have swam there. I rolled up my jeans to my knees and went into the water up to my ankles. The waves come in high enough that Iwas soaked to mid-thigh. heh. I'm dumb. I rolled them back down and kept riding. They were dry in about 10 mins, so I wasn't uncomfortable for long. Pic of the place I walked on water... ok, not on, in.On the big highway (the trail and highway intersect) I saw a sign for the Bluenose II and took the turn off. Didn't know where It was, so I rode around for a bit and asked an tourist info person in Mahone Bay where I'd find the ship. The ship was docked in Lunenberg a few mins down the road. No one in the east measures distances in KM, it's always in time. odd. I chatted her for a few mins and I told her i never swam in the Atlantic, but that day I waded in for a bit. She gave me this photocopied hand-drawn map of the area which showed Hirtle's Beach. She said it was a great beach with nice sand.Lunenberg is a really nice town and for anyone in the area they should really visit it. Saw the Bluenose II and another tall ship and the town itself had a lot of historic presence. I'd like to go back there and hang out for a day, but it is very 'touristy'. For those of you who don't know, the original Bluenose you can read about it here. It's on the 10 cent coin, in case you didn't know what that ship what.

Took a look of the hand drawn map and figured it was now or never to go swimming in the Atlantic. Luckily there were restrooms (outhouses) that I could change in. The beach was very beautiful and waded in. The water was so cold I think my berries crawled back up inside me. I finally dunked myself and swam for a bit and I was instantly freezing. It was such a hot day riding, especially with all my riding gear on and with the contrast of the coldness of the water, I think my body was going into shock and I was almost hyperventilating. I had never tasted seawater before and got splashed in the mouth from the waves. Salt water is pretty gross.

After drying off and changing, I kept on the Lighthouse Route heading south and really enjoyed the ride there. I went to Port La Tour, since I saw it on the GPS and I think I had heard about it through work. There wasn't much there but I was on the side of a road near the harbour when a guy and his son stopped their truck and chatted with me. In Ottawa, you don't talk to strangers much... out here in the east, it's expected. It's a different experience, that's for sure.

Leaving there I headed to Barrington Passage. On a country road an animal that looked like a dog darted out of the ditch on my left side and was heading right for my wheels. A honk scared him long enough to stop and look so I could swerve around it. It was a coyote!

Yay for timmies in Barrington Passage. I asked a few people about motels in the area and it seemed there was really only a B&B or two around here. It was late in the day ~7:30 so I flipped a coin wether to go straight to Yarmouth, or search around locally for a place to sleep. Yarmouth won the coin toss and off I went, sticking to the lighthouse route until around Argyle when I slabbed it until Yarmouth.

Got a room at around 10:30pm or so and went back out for some night riding around town for food and some sights. Rode to the lighthouse on Cape Forchu, which is a nice ride really, and on the way back avoided a family of 3 racoons in the middle of the road. Yarmouth is nice, but there's not a whole heck of a lot there.

Day 11, July 29th

I look like an absolute tard in this picture. Oh well, I'll take what I can get. I stopped here because of a historic site. Seems Prince Henry Sinclair landed on these shores in 1398, many years before Cabot did. Then again, who cares, the Vikings were here in 1000AD. It was a nice place to stop for a break and watch the 20+ bees in one plant alone. they were all over the place but with the flowers growing there, I wasn't too fearful of the bumblebees. It was an interesting stop at any rate.

I continued along route 344 heading towards Canso. The road was rough in parts and didn't have that many views. Got to Canso and didn't feel like stopping much, but I went to the Harbour and relaxed for a few mins. Heading out of Canso I saw this monument to the fallen. Even in a little village like Canso, people died in the wars. So sad. Left Canso and headed south.

Had I known how the Eastern Shore was, I wouldn't have ridden it. To any riders out there, I suggest you skip the Eastern Shore. I almost fell asleep during the day. The roads were really rough and sucked and there's a lot of nothing with no views... hence no pictures. It was in this area I forgot how to counter-steer in a curve and almost ran into a ditch. Luckily i figured out what I was doing wrong and only had to look where I wanted to go to get out of trouble. close call. This is also the stretch of road that i almost hit a chicken looking bird. damn thing was in my lane and wouldn't move.

There was a neat little Acadian commemorative park in Larry's River that had 10 painted rocks depicting the settlement of the area. It was nice to see the origins of the people of the area in that way.

Across the road from this commemorative park, there was an old church that was built a long long time ago, and there are a few pictures of it over time, so I had to get the bike in the picture too.

Onward I went and I had read about a ferry crossing at Country Harbour, so I decided to take it and stay near the coast. $5 for a 10 min ride. Worth it to skip more crappy roads. The roads started to get a bit better heading to Sherbrooke village. that part was a nice ride.

Finally reached Sherbrooke Village and fueled up. I guess I was lucky since the Wilson's gas station there had not only fuel, but cooked food, laundry and ice cream. It cost $2 to wash and $4 to dry, but it was well worth it to have clean laundry again that I could put back into my Ziplock baggies. If you ride, put your clothing in Ziplock, you'll thank me later. a) it uses less room b) keeps clothing dry c) you can see through the bags what you got left that's clean :)

Stopped in sheet harbour since I had to pee real bad. Nothing was opened so it was going to be bushes for me. I decided to take pictures of a some wooden 'big things' and noticed a river nearby, and I didn't take much notice before when I rode over it but others were taking pictures. It was relaxing to watch the river /falls/ rapids.

I continued down the coast and got a place in Dartmouth for the night. I figured that I only had a six days of riding to get home for the 6th so I wanted to push as far as i could each day.

Day 10, July 28th

Saw a giant fiddle, so i needed to take a few pics of that! A nice couple walked by and asked if I wanted my picture taken with the bike. Of course I did, and she took a pretty good picture I think :)

I Left Sydney and went north up the coast and noticed a church looking building, with a tank beside it. I didn't notice the sign at first, but it was the Fort Petrie historic military museum. Talked to the guy there and we talked quite a bit about war, etc. the building was made to look like a church to fool the nazis. There was also an under submarine net to catch nazi subs if they came into the channel to the Sydney harbour. It was a great find on the side of the road and quite unfortunate that not much money has been put into places like this preserving our history. The museum ran only on donations, so I gave $5. Funny how I'll give money to small museums like this, but refuse to spend money on the 'real' museums.

I got to walk around the Bunkers where the anti-aircraft guns would be, and I would hate to have been in there when we were at war.

If you are in the area, I suggest you check it out.

I followed the coastline to glace bay and got to the Marconi historic site. I would have thought that there would be more of the original 'workings' at the site of the 1st transatlantic complete wireless message. It was still interesting to go to, and most of all, it's free. Still neat to imagine in 1902 a complete wireless message was sent from Glace Bay to Ireland at a time when Canada was still forming.

I took the Marconi Trail, heading to Lousibourg, the fortified historic site. about 5 mins from Louisbourg a freak storm came down hard out of nowhere. I wasn't wearing any rain gear, and by the time I was able to pull over safely I was already soaked to the bone.

note to self: if they call for rain in the area, wear the rain suit, even if you look goofy

This picture was taken about 15 mins before the downpour. When riding in fog, wear rain gear!

I pulled into Louisbourg and covered my bike with a tarp I brought. I hadn't put the rain covers on the bike either. After the rain stopped about 10 mins later, i decided to change on the side of the road. Cold, wet and nekkid with a big blue tarp around me. heh. quite an experience.

Thankfully, since I had put most of all my clothing in Ziplock bags, I had dry clothes to wear. I felt a bit miserable at this point so I decided to just ride on. I didn't feel like visiting anything. It was pretty Much fog and trees all the way south, but it finally cleared up late in the day.

I had arrived at Port Hastings at the 'entrance' to Cape Breton and decided to get a room for the night and get a head start for the next day. I didn't really, what i did was go riding at night. Avoided some more critters along the way, and had a bat fly next to me for a few seconds and had a firefly buzz by. Even at night you can get interesting sights.

Day 9, Part 3

Back on the Cabot Trail I road east until Cape North. I stopped for Gas and chatted with the woman running the place. I told her about Stupa and she wasn't surprised. She told me that had i kept going a little bit further, I would have seen their monestary, which you can visit unless it's the dinner hour. At that time, it's complete silence and visitors aren't allowed. I'm kicking myself for not going all the way to the end of the road, but what can you do. Maybe I'll go next year. Going north I pulled over to take a picture of this Estuary. I liked it.


I headed north and the GPS said that a historic site was up here called Cabot's Landing. People think that John Cabot discovered the continent of America at this location in 1497. The Cabot Dilemma No one can prove where he landed it seems.


It's still neat to think that somewhere around where I was Cabot found the continent. (personally I think he found Newfoundland)


There was a nice beach here, but I didn't feel like going swimming at this time. heh. Maybe I'm afraid a big sea turtle will think my toes are lunch.

I headed north and wanted to get to Meat Cove as I had heard through work that this was a remote spot and the road was bad going up there, so I knew I had to see it for myself. The road was rough but great at the same time (i think about 13 km of gravel/dirt) and almost ran over a suicidal chipmunk, but I missed him and he ran back to the trees. stupid chipmunk. Stopped a few places on that road and enjoyed the view. You do get the sense of how remote this area is. It's one road and there's no other way out but the way you come in. here's a view overlooking the campsite at Meat Cove from the road. From the trails off of Meat Cove people can whale watch from the shore as they swim by. I didn't do that myself... need to get in shape if I'm going to be doing any hiking!

Left Meat Cove and as usual, stopped to take pictures along the way. Some really nice scenery in this area. I stopped at a little fry hut called "The Hut" for a dog and fries and headed back south, hoping to find a room somewhere before dark.

The road south was nice, stopped a bunch of places along the way and made my way to the 105, which i followed north to Sydney. Got a room and went back riding in the area. some nice little communities there and had a nice sunset near Point Edward.

Day 9, Part 2

STUPA

Coming around a bend, I see this very large monument/statue of Stupa. I was quite stunned to say the least as there's pretty much nothing but a dirt road and trees on both sides, and to one side on a little clearing, is this very bright white buddhist monument. it seemed a little out of place at first, but then it didn't. it was peaceful reading the slogans and saying which were inscribed in stone around it.

I liked these slogans, when applied to riding.

well, the last one at least. Don't try to be the fastest. goes with motorcycling and as the saying goes there, it's "ride your own ride"I read the stones and sat around for a bit and relaxed. The more I thought about it the more it made sense to put this were it was. nothing around to distract you. I'm not one for meditation and religion and all, but if I were, this would be a perfect spot for it.

I got back on the bike and went about 100 yards further down the road which dwindled down to two ruts and was getting really narrow. I figured it was a driveway for a private residence, so i turned around and headed back to the Cabot trail.

There was a little store on the Cabot trail to get some smokes and some food and I picked up a pepperoni stick that was packaged with a cheese stick. It was the oddest thing ever and a good little snack on the side of the road. wish I could find that around here, but I guess I could always buy pepperoni and just cut some cheese. I also bought a pack of 'Bailey's' which have an biodegradable filter. neat to see that, but the smokes sucked.

-to be continued-

Day 9, July 27th

Slept poorly in the tent. Back isn't used to hard gravel ground. I used one of those little blue pads you can buy, but it's crap. To add to that, i had some kind of forest rat rummaging through my luggage that was under a tarp outside the tent. Don't think I had any food in there. At first i thought it may be a bear (there are some in the park I was camping in) but i got up and went out to look. I scared away the little chipmunk. damn him. The shower at the park was one of the best I've had all trip. The water was hot and there was a lot of pressure. Packed up and checked out of the camping spot.

note to self: get inflatable mattress.

Today I was going to do the Cabot Trail in the Cape Breton Highlands National park. I was all psyched since people were telling me it was the best thing since sliced bread.

The western shore of Cape Breton through the park is quite a nice ride with many places to pull over and look at the scenery of the coast. Once you turn more inland the road is still nice, but looking at trees can get a little boring.

I was looking at the GPS and I could see a road splitting off the Cabot Trail at Pleasant Bay, going north to Red River. I didn't know what was there as I didn't read any guides or touristic information on the area. I just felt like exploring, and figured if there's a road, there's usually something interesting at the end of those roads. I decided to turn off Cabot Trail onto that dirt road in Pleasant Bay. It's a gravel/dirt road and anyone that saw me waved to me. Nice people in these parts. Slowly continued on this dirt road and then about 8 km later, a buddhist statue!!

Today was to be a very long day, leaving the campsite at around 9am and getting a room at a motel that night at about 9pm, only having gone about 400km. but many pictures were taken and and I had a pretty good day in general.

-continued in next post-

Day 8, July 26th

Woke up and got my morning coffee at a Timmies and decided to up the coast and see what's up there. I followed the Sunshine trail i believe it was called up to Cape George. it was a nice ride, the roads were good and the views were really nice. got up to the Cape George lighthouse, and snapped a few pics there. It was a really nice site, high above everything

I really liked Cape George... it was very peaceful. I keep saying that, maybe i was just looking for some peace and quiet and solitude. Guess i found it in little bits.

Did the loop of the sunshine trail and it comes back to Antigonish. I figured that since Antigonish was a university town, there would be an internet cafe somewhere around there. Bingo. Found one. used it for about 45 mins and it cost me $2.40 i thought he was kidding me. I've used an internet cafe at one place in montreal and it cost me like $20 for an hour. heh.

Off to Cape Breton!

Right before i hit the Canso Causeway canal, I stopped for fuel and food at the Irving truck stop there. Good food. While chatting with the waitress about my camera and she loved the 10x zoom on it, she said i could probably take a picture of the bald eagle from where I was sitting. it's nest was far away in a tree, and could barely make it out. when I finished eating I went out and took a picture as close as i could, which isn't much, but thankfully high-rez and zoom works well :) here's the original picture... i reduced it/cropped it to get this. Not the best picture but at least I got a bit of it.

Hopped on the bike, went across the causeway and made a snap decision as to go clockwise or counter-clockwise around Cape Breton. Since I was going clockwise around the maritimes, I decided to keep with the theme and took a left. I didn't go to the Cabot Trail as i wanted to stick next to the coast. I landed in Port Hood and little did I know it's Al MacInnis' home town. woot. cute little town. little is the key word here. I kept going north and eventually got to Cheticamp. no vacancy on any motels to be found, so since I had some camping gear, i decided to camp out for the night (it wasn't supposed to rain that night) and headed for the park for a camping spot.

I went back to a store I saw on the way to the park and they advertised camping supplies. woot. Walked in and got some fire starter, an axe, hot dogs, beans, milk, bread and water.

Like J.G. said, what you forget or don't bring, you can buy... he was right got back to the campsite, loaded up the wood I bought there (you have to bring in or buy there since it's a protected park and you can't even burn dead wood, branches or twigs)
had myself a fire, cooked my food and entertained myself with my lamp

Day 7, July 25th

Happy birthday to me.

heh. I think I wasn't fully awake when I took this picture.

should make a list of things to do on my birthday.

• ride down a long red dirt road
• get bike stuck on a beach
• take a ride on a big ferry
• eat an ice cream cone
• Ride it like it's stolen
• watch the sun set

Sound like fun, don't it?

decided today that i would follow the old biker mantra and never double back on my own steps. so instead of taking the same road i did the day before to get from the east coast of PEI to Charlottetown, i decided to take back roads to get to Montague. The dirt roads are actually pretty smooth and fun to ride, but i wouldn't want to do it in the rain, that's for sure.

From Montague I took the 17 around to St. Mary's bay where they had a really really long beach. pretty nifty as the road to the lighthouse had water on both sides. still didn't feel like swimming though, so i got back on and wanted to get to the ferry before it got to late in the day. On the 17 there was a sign for another beach, so i turned in that direction. I believe I found Poverty Beach. I drove down the dirt road until it turned into sand, and kept going figuring that others came before me , so I shouldn't have a problem. BZZT. wrong answer. The bike can go over sand and deep sand with only a few snags, the problem I didn't think about is how I was going to turn it around without getting it REALLY stuck.
The picture with the 2 sandy ruts is where i came from and had to go back out of. It took me about 20-25 mins, and about a 40 point turn rocking the beast with all the gear on it, and i managed to get it turned around. heh. At least now I know what not to do.

Got back on and toured around a bit more and ended up at Wood Islands ferry crossing. I bought my one way ticket ($38 i think) and since I was on a motorcycle, I got to be first in line on the ferry (after the walking passengers). Got to be first on and they provided straps to tie the bike down, even though they didn't expect any rough waters.

note to self: buy tie down straps!

The straps they provided were slimy, disgusting and stank!! after i took the straps off the smell was still on my bike. nasty stuff. tied it down, went up and enjoyed the 2 hour ride. We had musical interludes on the ferry. One guy played guitar and sang (was pretty good) and when he was done, a guy got his bagpipes out and started busking on the top deck. It helped pass the time. I had my GPS on me, so i know the ferry was moving 21km/hr at most. that's like what... 10 nautical miles/hr?

Gave me time to eat an ice cream cone :)

Hit Nova Scotia and I was one of the first off which was nice and headed into new glasgow... not much there, but a nice little town nonetheless. Headed towards Antigonish and was trying to see if i could make it to Cape Breton before sundown. Got a room outside of Antigonish and toured around for a bit before hitting the hay. I got on the big highway between Antigonish and New Glasgow and let 'er rip. was a while since I opened her up :)

Was on Mountain Rd. near New Glasgow and watched the sun set. very relaxing. went back to the motel for some sleep as I could see the storm clouds coming.

Day 6, July 24th

From New London Bay, I road the Blue Heron Coastal Drive up to highway 2, and drove north on the 2 to the 16 to see the eastern side of the Island.

I went through cavendish, but it seemed more of a tourist trap and a kids type of thing. Where else can you see a replica space shuttle on the side of the road?

Continued on to PEI national park where I took some more pictures of beaches. I kept thinking to myself I have to swim in the ocean at least once on this trip. The day was ok, but I didn't want to dilly-dally around and wanted to get a move on to hopefully get to Charlottetown by sundown. It was a nice beach, but was quite windy and overcast, and I wasn't that hot that i needed to cool down any. There would be other beaches.

Taking some smaller roads I wound up in a small fishing community and drove over a tiny one lane bridge to another side that had a beach and an empty pier. Of course I just had to ride the bike to the end of the pier and take a pic of the bike. It was hard to get there and back due to the really deep sand between the road and the pier, but it was only 40 feet or so of sand so I didn't think I'd have much of a problem. I didn't :)

I rode to the north east point of PEI, to another lighthouse... 3 corners of the island done so far, 1 more to go. While here I could see the ferry from Souris to Iles-de-la-madeleine in the distance and i also saw a band from the 80s. heh.

Made my way out to Souris and could see where the ferry takes off from, and again another monument to those lost at sea.

It's sad to see really. People should just stop eating fish ;)

I left Souris and headed for Georgetown. Didn't know what was there, but it sounded interesting and it looked interesting on the GPS.

Wasn't that interesting, but still nice to ride out there and explore a bit. took a little photo-op for my bike with some boats in the background on the pier.

From there I headed to Charlottetown and got a room for the night in Stratford, which is across the Charlottetown harbour. The room was nice enough and decided to go out and explore the city (town) for the capital of the province, i guess i expected a bit more. It's a nice city, but not huge by any means. Did a bit of night riding before going to bed and avoided quite a few animals then.
A group of 3 porcupines, 3 raccoons, a cat and another porcupine.

When there are that many animals in a short distance, it's time to go to bed and ride during the day.

Day 5, July 23rd

I figured if I kept up my fast and furious pace like in the last few days, I would blast through the maritimes and not see anything, so I told myself to slow down, take it more of the sights and enjoy the journey more. I can't really call it a trip as I didn't have a real destination. I now understand what Denis from sudbury told me in Caraquet that some days he only does 200km. It's about the journey and what you see and do along the way.

I looked through the phonebook for an Internet Cafe and they only had 3 for the whole province listed. The phonebook threw me for a loop as both the white and yellow pages were in this tiny little book no thicker than my cell phone. wow.

It was raining when I woke up and they announced rain for the day. I suited up and made sure the luggage was covered up.

I decided to try to take all the coastal routes around PEI, and left summerside going southwest, clockwise around the island. This put me on highway 11. The road conditions were horrible with big potholes, potholes filled with sand and gravel and generally in poor repair. This road is almost dangerous if you are going too fast and catch a sand filled pothole in a corner.
I stopped along the road at one point for a smoke and could see a storm/rain coming my way, and it didn't look too promising

The 11 dumped out onto the 2 and went northwest and got onto the 12. I made my way up the coast to a nice little town of Alberton.

They had a monument on the side of the road so i had to check out what it was about. In 1906, 10 men quickly volunteered to save some mariners from a 60 ton vessel that was being shipwrecked and only the captain of the ship was lost. the monument is to commemorate the bravery of those 10 men.

The more I visited small towns on the coast, the more of these types of monuments I've saw. Many war monuments and mariner monuments. and churches. holy crap there are a lot of churches.
Continuing on the 12, I went north and stopped at a rest stop/beach along the way south of Tignish. This was the First time I went to a beach anywhere and decided to sit and relax and listen to the ocean for a bit. Quite peaceful.

I went to North Cape and took some pictures there. It was worth the ride up to know I went to the most north western part of the island I could. North Cape also has a wind farm and I believe a government windmill test site. neato.
Pictured here is the longest natural rock reef in north america. There's also one of the oldest lighthouses in PEI here (built 1866) and the Black Marsh Trail. You can easily spend a day at this site looking for shells, etc.

I headed south from there and got myself on a dirt road somehow. previous rain and the red PEI soil make for a very very dirty bike. heh. I got on the 14 south and went around and met back up to the 2, but I crossed the 2 and headed towards Lennox island.
I didn't know what was there, but I was curious to see what it was. Once I got there, I realized it was a first nations community. I've never seen so many people wave to me in all my life. The population of the island is about 245, and from what i saw, there is a deep sense of pride in these people. for a small village, it was really something to see. Evidence suggests these people have been here for 10,000 years. wow. I wish I had taken pictures there.

I looped back around PEI then north on the 106 and came upon this sight. the bright white church with a red roof, with this dark onimous cloud over it with nice green grass. breathtaking to see in person.

Wound up in New London Bay, and it was getting late and rode past the New London Bay Motel. Great little place and very motorcycle friendly. The owner is also a rider :) I got myself an apartment for the night. the place was twice the size of my apartment in Ottawa!


Took a little evening ride for food and sights as the roads in PEI are actually very very good (except for the 11) and all the rolling hills makes it very enjoyable. I think i forgot to mention that every road I went down, it seemed that the grass on both sides of the road (not much gravel on the island it seems) was always recently cut, or they were in the middle of cutting it. It's such a neat and tidy island. even the farms are tidy!

Day 4, Part 3

Got to the Confederation Bridge and I wanted to take pictures of it, in case I didn't come back this way and took the ferry to NS. I snapped quite a few pics and was in awe at the sheer size and length of the beast. i couldn't see the other end of it really. you'd have to be really far back to get the entire bridge in one picture, that's for sure.

This was from a lookout near the tourist Info building. There was a sign saying people aren't to go on the beach, but since the tourist info building was shut down, and no one was nearby, I went down anyhow. I didn't disturb anything and wasn't doing anything stupid. :)

Aren't I just a rebel without a clue.

Rode across the bridge over to PEI and it started to get dark. wanted to get a room quickly as I didn't want to be running all over PEI trying to find accomodations. I headed to Summerside on a whim and after about an hour or so searching, I finally found a room. I went back out for a little night ride and a snack and ended up at a Tim's again. no smoking on the property was a bit annoying though! That's probably why it was dead and no one was around. Everyone seemed to get drive-through and go by the wharf and drink their coffee there.

Day 4, Part 2

After leaving Alma, I noticed a sign for Cape Enrage. I took the 915 (scenic drive) to get there, and it's a very nice ride. Cape Enrage road, is all gravel, but not a bad little ride. along the way i took a few pics of the bike on the rocky beach. Quiet and peaceful there, but still quite a bit of traffic on the gravel road, so i knew there was something up at Cape Enrage. At the end of the gravel road is Cape Enrage, which has the oldest lighthouse on mainland New Brunswick that was built in 1848. The whole site is run by students that raise the money by donations to keep the project going. Seeing a piece of history is worth the donation ($4). They also had a gift shop and a zip line.



I left there and hoped that Hopewell Rocks would be better than the Fundy National Park. The road going to Hopewell Rocks was a really nice ride.


I decided to walk down to the rocks instead of taking a ride on their shuttle service. I figured I don't do much excercise since i'm only riding, so i should be a bit more active. It was a nice walk down to the rocks.
note to self: next time use the shuttle on the way up


Leaving Hopewell, I followed the 114 towards Riverview/Moncton.
Along the way I noticed a Jet out of the corner of my eye. This was at the Hillsborough train museum. I would have liked to have gone to the museum, but it was closed. Odd to have a fighter jet there, but I took a pic anyhow.

Overall, the 114 was a nice road to go through is Hillsborough was a nice picturesque town.

I decided to slab it to the Confederation bridge as it was getting late and I wanted to be able to get a room in PEI somewhere. Wasn't sure where I was going to end up though.

Day 4, July 22nd

Anouncing rain again, so I suited up and got all the rain covers on the bags.

note to self: get waterproof luggage.

I wanted to go to Magnetic Hill to see what all the hoopla was about. Got in for free as the guy said it doesn't really work on motorcycles. heh. It still works. You drive down to the bottom of the hill turn around and put it in neutral. The bike crept up the hill and gained some speed :) pretty neat.

I looked around there for a Tim's and decided to get some McDicks for breakfast. sitting there i noticed something for the first time. McLobster? WTF? I hadn't had cold lobster yet, but anything seafood-ish from McDicks, can't be good. McNasty.
I slabbed it down the trans-can, to the 1, then the 114 to get to Fundy National park. The 114 was in rough shape and it cost about $7 or so to get into the park. If anyone reading this is considering going through the park to look around, go ahead but don't pay the money. All there was to see are trees and the damn tourists are up your butt in a rush to go somewhere. IMHO, not worth going through there unless you are camping or stopping through the park to do some activities. once i got to a sight-seeing lookout (i think there's only one) I took a few pics and I was a bit disappointed.

At the park exit, there was a little town of Alma where I got some fuel, and across the road there was a seafood place. Guess it was time to try my first cold lobster. I felt like an idiot, but I walked in and asked her if this is the place to eat a cold lobster and how do I go about it? Seems she gets a lot of that sort of thing around there. I picked up my lobster off the ice from the table, she cracked the claws/tail, put it on a few sheets of newsprint and put all of it in the cover of a cardboard box. I got some hot butter and a little fork too.

Before

After

Delicious.

Day 3, July 21st

Had tons of sleep so at 6am, the bike was loaded up and I was ready to go. I took highway 132 down to New Brunswick. It was nice countryside down the 132 and enjoyed the rolling hills and the small towns I went through.

Got into NB through Campbellton via the bridge there. I should have stopped there and taken a few pics, but i guess i was antsy to get going. I drove by the world's largest salmon and didn't see a place neareby to park. maybe next time.

I took the 134, and it was the roughest road i'd taken in a while. I stopped after just a few minutes of riding for a smoke, and spoke to a local there. He said we were in for a lot of rain and the clouds looked very dismal. I didn't put on my rain gear as i figured i could go for a little while without it and wouldn't get wet. I jumped back on the bike and less than 2 mins it started pouring. I pulled over and got the gear on in time before i got too wet.

I kept on the 134 until Bathurst where along the coastline it turns into the 11. I started getting hungry and I saw a Dixie Lee fried chicken place in Grande-Anse. I've seen these around ontario and quebec/NB but there aren't any around Ottawa. Pretty odd since there's not much in the area except for a few gas stations and churches. All I can say is GROSS. It's like KFC, but not as good. Live and learn as they say.

Went down and finally got a look at the coast line in NB. It was odd, but in the northern NB, there aren't many places to pull over for photo ops, and there is a lot of land between the road and the water. All farms and private property.

Continuing on the 11, I drove past the Historic Acadian village in Caraquet, NB. I wasn't very interested so I kept riding. I did stop in at a Timmies for a coffee in Caraquet, and spoke to another solo rider (denis) on his way to Newfoundland, from sudbury. he was trekking on a Vstrom and last year he went from Sudbury to Alaska. neato. same kinda thing I want to do.

best way to save money he said was to camp a lot.

Staying on the 11, before Miramichi, I almost hit a dog running across the road. stupid dog. Almost ran over a chipmunk a little later. stupid animals. also saw a peregrin falcon flying overhead me at one point. neato.

I decided to get down to Shediac and get a room for the night since it was getting late in the day and I was getting a bit tired. took the 11/134 to Shediac and near Kouchibouguac (national park) a young black bear ran across the road in front of me. luckily I saw him in plenty of time and slowed down. I didn't have to slow down much as that damn bear moved fast.

note to self: don't run away from bears.

Finally made it to Shediac and had to take a picture of the world's largest lobster. Got a room at a motel and took a little evening/night ride down some back roads to Moncton. Not much open at night in that town. heh.

View Larger Map

Day 2, Part 3

Woke up at around 5pm and decided to go take a tour around in the area. Got a coffee at Tim Hortons and snapped a few pics along the coast.





I ate at an A&W and got a the bear and zip-tied it to my handlebars for good luck. I needed a mascot, which I named Mr. Weeble. The bike was wobbling quite a bit at different speeds so the mascot and bike are now Weeble Wobble :)

I went up and down the coast and found a nice little spot to sit on the rocks and watched the sun set. It was very relaxing to sit listening to the water and watch the sun set.

Day 2, Part 2

I didn't know if i wanted to stop around here or keep going to NB. I knew I couldn't get a room anywhere before noon anyhow, so I kept riding. I rode past Rimouski and kept going north. I wanted to take Route-132 into NB though.

The fog finally cleared and took out my sunglasses. crap. they broke. I had just bought them a week earlier! bought a cheap pair at a gas station and they work just fine.

I took my first picture of the St Lawrence (along route 132). had to go down a few Kms of gravel to get to it, but it was nice to see in the morning.

I stopped in at the museum in Pointe-au-Pere, Quebec as there was a shipwreck museum. I stopped in, took a little look but there was a $12 price tag to go and have a look at the museum exhibits. bha. I saved the $12 and took pictures instead. It's supposed to be the worst maritime disaster in canadian history, but i just wasn't interested into the tourist trappings, even though I wanted to know the story behind it.

A picture of a lighthouse and the anchor of the ship will have to suffice.

At around 11am I got a room in Ste. Flavie across with a view of the St. Lawrence. a lucky find actually. I just wanted a motel with access near the bike. so much gear to take on/off that it's a pain. It was nice and cheap. had a view from the room actually, in the picture, my room was the second door in. This was at like 11:30 am, so I was really tired. I took a nap and wasn't sure what time i'd wake up.

Day 2, July 20th

I was really tired in the morning and the fog was still not lifting. I found myself in Quebec city at around 5am and the sun was starting to come out and I just drove on through. At around 7am i was in a town called Kamouraska and went to a little diner ( Le Bec Fin) for breakfast. It was cheap and it was good and coffee warmed me up a bit. I was still soaked from all the fog, but it was starting to lift finally.

This is the only picture I took near there. I really just wanted to get going. Can you tell i was tired? I thought I had taken more pictures of this little waterfall in that town, but i guess not.

Day 1, July 19th

As I got off work on the 19th in the morning, I decided to sleep for a bit then pack up and go.

As being on a first solo motorycle trip out in regions I'd never been before, I overpacked some things, but under packed others. Mostly overpacked. A friend (J.G.) gave me some adivce "pack less than more. Bring warm weather riding gear, if it gets cold, layer a rain suit to stop the wind. You know they have stores in the maritimes if you forget something"

yup. overpacked. The stuff I forgot, I bought. I didn't overpack that much though... but i could easily cut it down to half of what i brought. I was ready for almost anything! (except the one thing i couldn't prepare for which happened 3 times)

I decided to leave at night, hopefully missing sunday traffic on the way up the St Lawrence.

At 6pm I left the apartment. I Visited my dad along the way... for some reason he was really worried about this trip. Left there at 7:45pm.

I rode up alongside the Ottawa River, went through montreal on the Big 4-lane hiways and rode on and off the major highways into the night. at around midnight a very thick fog rolled in and no matter what road i took, the fog was there. I couldn't go very fast as i couldn't see and my visor was fogging up too much. i couldn't ride with clear glasses either as they would fog right up.

Trying to keep next to the major highways (as gas stations during the night aren't often open in small towns) I took many smaller roads. a few animals darted out that night. A cat, a mouse, and a dog chased me barking. That scares the crap out of you in pitch black darkness with fog.

At one point I crested a little hill and on the other side there was something in the middle of my lane, which looked like an animal about 4 feet long and brownish and at least 6 inches tall on its side.

I didn't try to avoid it since if skidded on it, i'd be toast. Motorcycles are funny that way. So i made sure i was pointing dead center, stood on the pegs a little and ran right over it.

ta-thump. It felt like I ran over a hard tennis ball. I stopped to make sure everything was ok, but I didn't go back and look. I didn't think it would be very safe for me to be standing in the middle of a dark road in the middle of the night (probably 2am at this point) with all the heavy fog.

The next time i pulled over i checked the bike for any damage and/or blood. I could find neither on the bike. maybe it wasn't an animal?

I checked out the bike and had myself some coffee. I took these pics to remind myself how cold and soggy it was riding in that pea soup. my jeans were soaked, but I used the rain liner in my jacket and that kept me dry. my gloves were soaked. I couldn't ride with either a clear visor on the full face helmet or clear glasses since they fogged up, so I rode with no eye protection. Couldn't really go any faster than 50-60km/h. It was a really slow going night.

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Journey to the east coast and back

I decided to write up a blog for my east coast travel i took solo on my motorcycle July 19th to August 4th. It was my first vacation solo over 6 days... it was one of many firsts on the trip. To me this wasn't just a trip, as I had a true sense of adventure from where I was sitting.

This vacation wasn't just somewhere to go to relax. It wasn't about destinations, but about the journey. I only had 1 'plan' and it was to see the pretty much the coast of the St. Lawrence, New Brunswick, PEI and Nova Scotia.

I shied away from all major cities and never stayed very long in it. it wasn't about big museums and tourist traps (even though i did some) but to see how the other side lived. I had never gone further east than Quebec city, Quebec, had never seen New Brunswick, PEI nor Nova Scotia and had never gone longer than 767 Kilometers in a single day trip, and no more than 1000km in a single ride in 24 hours.

I put up a day-by-day trip report with pictures.
It's best to use the left hand navigation to look through the trip day-by-day as everything in blogger is in reverse order. There are links to all the pictures on the right hand nav bar as well, separated day-by-day.