Hello Family and Friends,
I hope all is well with you and yours.
It’s been a while since my last update on things here, so here’s the scoop.
Sorry it's so long!!!!
Because I'm as long winded as usual, I have to post in 2 parts
this is part 1 of 2
Sue and I got back from our trip to NB and NS Canada. We traveled just under 2000 miles round trip. A very close friend Delta rode with us, always a pleasure to ride with him and as usual we had a great time. I was a bit under the weather most of the trip, even though, still had a great time. The money exchange rate was worse than I have ever seen. Nothing was a bargain, Rooms and Food was highly priced. In fact middle of the road type rooms were as highly priced in Canada as upper middle class Hotel/Motels in the northeast of the States. More than not the evening meal for the 3 of us cost more than the room for the night. We ate a lot of seafood, it was very good tasting too.
We crossed the border into Canada at the Calais, Me/ St. Stephen, NB crossing. We rode an hour or so more then called it a day and got a room at Saint John, NB. Our plan was to go to the Hopewell Rocks and Bay of Fundy National Park as well as the fishing village of Alma. But the weather report showed cold and rain was coming and rather than riding the Cabot Trail in the fog, rain and cold that would be there in a couple of days we headed for the Cabot Trail the next morning to beat the bad weather. Our new plan paid off. The Cabot Trail ride was very clear and mild temps as the link to the pictures that we all took will show. The ride there put us in the direct path of strong and cold winds that led the bad weather front our way. Once we made it to Nova Scotia the winds really picked up and the temps really went down. At one point we were riding in 40 degrees F temps. I don’t know what the chill factor was But I could see my breath, we did finally make it north of the weather front and the weather turned much warmer and clear.
This is a good time to say, I should have paid more attention in school on the days that conversion of gallons to liters, miles to kilometers because there was no way I could figure my gas mileage per gallon. lol The only way I knew the temp that I can understand was when Delta told me what his ambient air temp read on his fairing gauge. My GPS maps were all out of kilter once I crossed into Canada, and Delta’s GPS was better but not much better. At least his was more reliable than mine. In fact, a couple days after I got home, I called Garmin to get help to reload the updated maps, much better now. What’s a bit funny was, I brought with me an Atlas, a nice large print with lots of city maps as well. But, when I really needed it, I found that it didn’t include Canada. Go figure!! Lol
The Cabot Trail is a trip that Sue and I have wanted to do for many years. We have been so close to the Trail a few times, but when just miles away we decided to turn away to head west and went to Prince Edward Island to avoid the rough weather we were in and the weather that was still coming our way. So to finally make a successful ride of the Cabot Trail was a riding victory for me and Sue. We rode the Cabot Trail clockwise and at times the views were just amazing. Again, the pictures will show many of the spectacular overlooks that could be had along the Trail. I was amazed at the number of bikes that were also along the trail and so many nicely keep older cars. There must have been a car show nearby. Before I forget, I want to mention that the largest black bear I have ever seen walked across the road ahead of us maybe 200 yards or so. He didn’t have a care in the world. Saw 3 or 4 eagles and I thought I saw a seal, but at a closer look it was a buoy. Sue and Delta got a laugh at that, but, later a Park Ranger called attention to a seal that also turned out to be a buoy. Then I didn’t feel so bad, the Ranger even thought she saw a fish in the mouth of the seal/buoy that she had her telescope locked on. We didn’t put many miles on that day because of the slower coastal route we were riding. We ended that day with a room on the other end of the Cabot Trail and more seafood.