“Imagine if you will” a road with many lanes filled with motorized vehicles. There frequent construction sites some with a sign saying this project is funded by the “BiPartisan Infrastructure Project.”

While in these construction sites, the vehicle drivers close their eyes move forth in random patterns. It is rainy and windy. You are unseen.

And then imagine you are on a motorcycle.

You are in Massachusetts.
And all of this is
normal
here.

~Rod Sterling and Connie Schwedes

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.

Today was a day to explore a bit. We rode and then walked about 3 kilometers to take an excursion boat on Western Brook Pond. It’s a fabulous place that almost nobody has heard of. Except Connie, who found it and booked it. (Connie says: No. It’s highly promoted by Newfoundland Tourism)

Western Brook Pond is a fresh water “fjord” carved out of the Long Range Mountains by a succession of 20 glacial ages over several million years. The Long Range is the northeastern extension of the Appalachian Mountain chain and covers most of western Newfoundland. When the glaciers were here, their weight compressed the land downward below sea level. After the last glacier receded over 9,000 years ago, the reduced weight allowed the earth to rebound. The lake is now totally above sea level and is one of the purest freshwater lakes in the world. With the exception of the excursion boats and a limited number of hikers, this area is untouched by humans and pristine. Connie got some great shots!

At the end of the tour we started talking with a young couple from Quebec, Jessica and Francois. We felt drawn to them and we were so thrilled to hear them echo our sentiments about the impact of travel on our lives. There are so many more nice people in this world than not. It makes us feel hopeful.

Our excursion took a large chunk of this afternoon. Our morning was spent inside because it was raining pretty hard. We devoted the early evening to laundry and lounging. Another good day off the road.

Our later evening’s entertainment will be fireworks presented by the town of Rocky Harbor in celebration of their summer festival. We can hear a band playing from our front door, and they’re quite good if you like Country.

An observation: food portions here are really big. Really big. Yesterday I ordered a burger and a small order of fries. The burger was at least 1/2-pound and the small fries weighed at least 1/2-pound. That’s the small portion.

A fish cakes supper comes with three hefty cakes, plus 2 toutons (fried bread) and baked beans, which I couldn’t finish for $16 Canadian. A lot of the food hereabouts is fried and could be called substantial. Come with an appetite.

Tomorrow some pleasure riding along the coast.

A long day on the road, 265 miles from Twillingate in the east to near Gros Morne Nat’l Park on Newfoundland’s west coast. Quite a change! This is a mountainous region that is part of the great Appalachian Chain that starts in central Alabama, runs through Georgia, West Virginia, New England and finally Canada’s east coast.

The Appalachian Chain was formed over the course of 900 million years, from 1.2 billion to around 250 million years ago from collisions by immense tectonic plates. The last big push upward finished about 240 million years ago when parts of the Appalachians were about as high and rugged as the Rockies. Erosion over such a long time and glacial grinding have reduced the mountains to what we see today. It blows my mind the think that where Connie and I are sitting right now, the ice was more than a mile thick at one time.

Gross Morne Park is named for Newfoundlands second highest peak at about 2,600 feet. Not very impressive compared to Pikes Peak or Dinali or the Himalayas, yet substantial for this area. This is a UNESCO Heritage site because former ocean floor and portions of the earth’s hot mantle that were thrust upward when the mountains were formed are now visible on the surface. (This is exceedingly rare, hence the UNESCO designation.) we are excited to have a chance to walk on this ground in the next day or so.

Some passing thoughts.

Newfoundland has approximately 510,000 residents in 2024. The Caribou is the national animal. There are far more moose than caribou, nearly 200,000 according to local warnings. That’s a moose for every 2.5 persons. And they’re really big, tall, and ugly and mean. There ain’t no Bullwinkle in it. They are not afraid of people or cars or much of anything, but come out mostly from dusk to dawn. During the rut they will likely attack as not. Canada has posted many warning about the need to slow down and be alert on the roads. Riding a motorcycle makes us particularly sensitive to the warnings.

That being said, the provincial department of transportation takes it upon itself to clear road sides back at least 100 feet on each side in order to give motorists a chance to see and avoid moose as they cross. Remember, moose don’t care about cars. We noticed some crews who are going further, by digging very deep and wide trenches along side roads to slow the critters down. It’s fascinating. Sure hope it works.

Have a great night!

Like the title says, this has been a bit of a down day with Lolly-Gagging and slow motions. A bit before noon, we mounted up and rode the 5 miles to Long Point Lighthouse, set high on stunning cliffs overlooking the Labrador Sea. Following a short trail, we came to a lookout at cliff’s edge that allowed us to view small rocky islands offshore festooned with birds, and a smaller whale (maybe a young Humpback according to a local source).

We returned to town in time to get an excursion boat to see some whales up close, which we did. Magnificent creatures!

On board we met Jerry, a crewman originally from Ontario. He’s retired now from manufacturing operations for a huge auto parts plant across the border from Detroit. He and his wife, Jackie, found a home near Twillingate big enough to host the grands and select parental units each summer. They love small town life (Twillingate has around 2,100 residents) and don’t miss big town amenities. For those they cane go to Gander with 9,000 folks and an airport. Fun, gregarious and smart, my guess is he works on a boat to earn a few shekels and keep out of Jackie’s hair.

We returned to the pier in midafternoon and made our way to Pier 39, a small restaurant we enjoyed last night. After a great meal we walked back to the inn and are settling in for the night. Tomorrow is a long day riding to Gros Morse, a famous park in Newfoundland. Happy and relaxed, it’ll be an early night.

We are impressed with how hard working the folks we have met are. Our waitress from last night, Juanita, and her serving partner were back again this morning serving breakfast despite an hour drive each way. She works six days a week yet presents as a dynamo of good cheer and humor, and we fell in like right away. Hard to find an ambassador of good will greater than Juanita, though we’ve met many who are kind and gracious. She will take her day off this week to see her doctors in St John’s, 3 hours away.

This, we think, gets to the fact that Newfoundland’s economy is greatly dependent on fishing and tourism. The whole “make hay when the sun shines” seems true in spades for so many here: when folks visit from out of town, they need to eat and sleep and recreate and everything else. Make folks happy and they’ll come back and maybe bring their friends. The genuinely kind spirit of these people matches perfectly with the wants and needs of visitors.

That’s our take, anyway. And we feel it is just and proper. I’ll get to that in another minute.

We rode about 215 miles to Twillingate today, with a stopover in Gander. You may recall that on 9/11, there were hundreds of aircraft flying when the US closed its airspace in response to the terrorist attacks. That included many passenger jets that were over the North Atlantic who were forced to either turn around if there was sufficient fuel, or find another airfield outside the US to land.

The field at Gander, NL had once been an air base for the Royal Canadian Air Force , but was used less after the end of the Cold War. On Sept 11, 2001, it became a refuge for 38 airliners who carried nearly 6,500 passengers and crew. Other fields in Canada that could handle large aircraft, like Halifax and Vancouver, also took in many planes. Folks needed to eat and sleep and bath and so forth. The town of Gander, however, had only about 9,000 inhabitants. Thus started Operation Yellow Ribbon, in which municipal facilities and workers, local folks and folks in neighboring towns opened their homes, kitchens, cars and trucks, clothes closets and laundry rooms for these people they did not know but who needed them.

We spoke with Brian, who works with Gander Town and took part in his community’s response. He told us that grocery and clothes stores from Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, the other Maritime provinces, and the eastern mainland just voluntarily re-routed trucks destined for their stores to Gander. There was a need to meet and work to do. And it was done with good cheer.

Brian reports that of the people came from 92 countries, speaking dozens of languages and some representing the most privileged elites. No one among the stranded passengers kicked up a fuss or demanded special treatment. Not one person among the hosts complained or showed resentment.

Speaking personally, this story has always moved me greatly. This is how life is supposed to be lived: Where there is need, meet that need. And thus friendships are made.

There’s a Memorial to Operation Yellow Ribbon placed in front of Town Hall. On a 9,000 pound Newfoundland granite, a plaque and a piece of the Twin Towers are bolted. The steel piece had been donated by the Bethpage, NY FD, who themselves were gifted it for their gallant response at the scene, which cost the lives of 70% of their crews. It was a gift of thanksgiving for the inspiring, selfless service at Gander.

Newfoundland is sometimes called the Rock: a solid, steady and safe haven. With people to match. Thus the memorial was designed with a place to sit and reflect.

It brought back some meaningful memories of that time. Connie and her co-worker, Tom Keevey, worked to staff the NJ Family Assistance Center at Liberty State Park with companions to give assistance to families of NJ victims. These companions were comprised of volunteers from throughout NJ as well as across the US (and include Hank).

So many people from around the world came together to help those affected by a senseless act of violence.

We hope you will indulge us for this homage. This has been a moving day.