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.