Wandering Retirees

Not much to say about today.  It was very wet and windy so our riding involved a lot of hunkering down to get from our start in southern Maine to Danbury, CT for the night.  

The highlight was when I took a wrong turn (despite having expert navigation) and nearly got us lost on some beautiful Connecticut back roads.  Connie got us found soon enough and led us where we wanted to be.  She’s good at this.

Our route took us on major highways for quite a ways: I-95, I-495 and I-84.  Except when rain was particularly heavy we kept up with traffic easily.  My only criticism is the flagrant insanity of Massachusetts drivers: their turn signals are always either broken or missing, especially on quick lane changes, and they will not be denied their desired lane opening, no matter how small.  At 80 or 90 MPH or whatever.  Even DC and Jersey drivers (like me and Connie) give them a wide berth.  Amazing.

This is our last night on the road.  We have had a lot of fun and have enjoyed each other’s company so much.  And we’re happily tired, ready to get home.  

Avoiding NYC traffic as much as possible, we figure about 4-1/2 hours riding plus stops.  For now its feed the tummy time.  Have a great night.

We were up this morning at what felt like the crack of dawn to get ready for the ferry from Yarmouth, NS to Bar Harbor, ME.  The ferry departs at 9:30 am ADT, but they ask you to arrive for check in about 2 hours earlier.  The crew is very careful how the ship is loaded and needs to know who is present in order to balance the load.  For passengers it’s a lot like getting to the airport: hurry up and wait in line, try to relax and hurry aboard when called.  Boarding and securing the bike was quick so a coffee and sweet soon in hand.  

The ferry ride was 3-1/2 hours like the trip the other way and really comfortable.  We were pushed off from Yarmouth at low tide so there wasn’t a lot of room to maneuver.  This big Catamaran used auxiliary thrusters to turn itself within its own boat length, then thrust ahead toward the channel out to sea.  I loved watching that!

When we arrived in Bar Harbor at noon EDT, we rode ashore and cleared Customs and Border Control.  Then it was heading south out of town through heavy tourist traffic on Maine Rt 3. Because we are trying to avoid the remnants of Debbie, we stuck to highways to make time.  Our route covered 225 miles about 5 hours.  The weather was good until it started spritzing at the end.  Tomorrow promises to be lots wetter.  Full rain gear for sure.

We met a number of neat people today.  One that stands out is Kevin who rode his big Harley from northern Ontario to see family in New Brunswick.  Since he’s in the neighborhood, he decided to visit Nova Scotia and Newfoundland for the first time.  Meeting on the lower ferry deck while tying down our bikes, we compared some favorite rides and spoke proudly of how filthy our bikes are.  Sounds odd to see it in writing, but in the moment we shared the belief that it’s good to accumulate a bit of schmutz from heavy use.  If beauty is in function, then our steeds are gorgeous.

We also met up with Dale again. Dale works for the ferry company and was helpful in finding Hank’s phone on our outbound trip. Dale is a hoot and loves his job. Today he drove the golf cart of “walk on’” to the ferry hold. As a passenger on the motorcycle, Connie road in the golf cart.

We are heading out to eat in a second, so saying good night and farewell for now.

So how did your day start you ask? Perhaps with witty comments from the youngest son?

What do you call old folks wandering toward home?

Meanderthals.

So said youngest son. He went on the elaborate:

Slow elderly people use walking sticks, we should get ourselves Hurry Canes. 

Funny funny boy.

We took our meandering selves from Grand Pre to Yarmouth tonight.  Staying with back roads, we stopped at a couple of delightful lighthouses along the way.  The first was at a small harbor town called Margaretsville, the second was at the larger port at Digby.  The ferry to St. John’s, New Brunswick sets out from there.  We took that ferry on our last visit in 2013.

For the most part it was a relaxing ride of 215 miles.  The only exception was when Google sent us down a 10km road that started as packed dirt and graduated into deep stone gravel.  The packed earth is no problem, but we have the wrong bike for heavy gravel.  We had to choose discretion over pride and turned around to find another way.  Which we did.  

Returning to Yarmouth meant we could dine again at Rudders which we enjoyed so much when we arrived three weeks ago.  Still very good.

Tomorrow we’re up early to catch the ferry to Bar Harbor.  Brief comments tonight, I know. But it’s off to bed soon.

A note:  we are curtailing our trip by a few days because of anticipated weather.  While we normally don’t mind the rain when riding, the forecast is for extensive heavy rain for nearly all of New England in the days ahead.  So we will be heading fairly directly home and expect to arrive Saturday late.  No complaints because this has been an awesome trip.  In fact, we celebrate the month we’ve had to explore and experience.  

Tomorrow is another day.  Have a good night!

Happy Tuesday! It’s nearly a crime, but we’re beginning to hurry across Nova Scotia on our way home. Our ride covered 275 miles along the Trans Canada Highway and secondary roads, like Provincial Rt 236. It’s fun on the back roads though you have to pay attention to rapidly changing speed limits posted on Kilometers. A limit of 60 kph is about 37mph, a big enough difference. After two weeks you’d think it would be natural by now, but …. No tickets, thankfully. Yet.

Our destination is a cute little motel we stayed at in 2013 called The Breeze. It has all of 10 rooms and is right at the shoreline. It is not fancy at all, but is plenty comfortable and offers a ringside seat for the antics of the Bay.

The Bay of Fundy has the largest tides anywhere in the world. Where most tidal changes elsewhere average about 3-5 feet, this funnel shaped bay between the provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia has a range of about 50 feet. Where we are at Grand Pre, low tide finds the waterline nearly 1/2 mile off shore. Six hours later, water surges in to cover everything to the breakwater. It comes so fast that rivers flowing into the bay become tidal bores where surges of white water flow upstream. There are businesses that cater to upstream white water rafting, kayaking, even surfing. It’s nuts! It’s also spectacular.

Tomorrow it’s on to Yarmouth and then our ferry back to Bar Harbor the next day.

At the moment everything is quiet and beautiful. We’re so glad we came here again.

We sadly left Rocky Harbor to head to Port Aux Basque and tomorrow’s ferry to Nova Scotia. Not much excitement beyond a welcome chocolate/vanilla twist cone on the way.

The Trans Canada Highway West ends right at Port aux Basque where we’re staying the night. We logged about 200 miles in the clouds and sunshine. We’re take a ferry from Newfoundland back to Nova Scotia. It leaves late morning and takes 7 hours to arrive in North Sydney. Seems like a good day for napping, if you ask me.

There is a patch of the Highway between Rocky Harbor and Port aux Basque that is called “Wreckhouse” where ocean winds cross largely unfettered and can reach tropical storm speeds. The winds have a notable history of blowing a train off its tracks. Today was a calm-ish day so we traveled comfortably. But we planned to come a day early just in case.

We’re staying at St Christopher’s Hotel, named for the patron saint of travelers. Pretty good marketing as it’s located nearly next door to the ferry terminal. The view overlooks the harbor and it’s blessedly quiet.

There is a mystery here. When we pulled into the parking lot, there was a Harley Trike parked a few feet away. Nothing startling about that, except it has Hawaii tags. How did he get it here? Will he ship it back? Why would you bring your bike when you could surely rent one? I’m sure I’ll waste a few hours on this one.

There’s not much to report as you can see. Maybe tomorrow?

At the suggestion of a rider we met Friday, we rode south toward Corner Brook on the TransCanada Highway past Deer Lake, then west on Rt 450, which follows the trail of explorer Capt. James Cook. The roads were a little choppy once off the TCH but the sights were worth it. It was sunny and clear at about 85F. All the towns and villages were clearly working towns built at the shoreline. There were vacation cabins, too, but you can clearly see the difference. The road ran out at Lark Harbor where we stopped for a bite at a nice little place called Myrtle’s On The Bay. On the way back we noticed the entrance to “Blow Me Down Provincial Park.” Really.

On the way back north, we diverted to the Tablelands in Gros Morne Park. They come by their name honestly because these huge hills are flat as a table on top. As I may have mentioned before, this geological feature is made of earth’s mantle that was beneath the ocean floor when two tectonic plates collided about 460 million years ago. (The mantle is super hot material beneath the crust.) This event continued the formation of this part of the Appalachian Mountain Chain by pushing mantle and immense quantities of sea bed up. The mantle at Tablelands was then gradually exposed by the procession of glaciers over the next millions of years. It’s fascinating and a bit overwhelming to see evidence of processes at work over such a long time span. Lots to think about.

While at Tablelands, we encountered Jessica and Francois again as they prepared to hike. Their vehicle is a 1992 Chevy Conversion Van that belonged to someone’s father and has been restored. It provides them with inexpensive, mobile accommodations and it’s in great shape. Remember when you’d see these everywhere? Now they’re rare as hen’s teeth but they have one!

All told, we covered 260 fun miles today. Back at our room, we’re getting set for tomorrow’s ride to Port Aux Basque where we will pick up the ferry to Nova Scotia on Monday. It will be nice to ride towards home, but sad to leave this wonderful island.

Have a good night.

ps Connie takes the majority of her photos from the back of the bike. Hence there are lots of roads featured here.