OK, all the computer thingys seem to be talking and playing nice- So, continuing along.  Here is a repost of Sept 22, new and improved with pics.

out of sequence- Sept 22


I have not had power for a couple days- I’ll recap today while it’s still fresh.

I was up at dawn, slowly breaking camp while the sun warmed and dried everything. Yea!! Thunderous waves coming ashore this morning- last nite, too. Gotta love earplugs while camping.

The 2 girls that past me on the climb yesterday are camped next to me. The friendly one is from Maine, the grumpy one from Boston (go figure ;-). The friendly one was amazed that I came all the way from Michigan.

Into town for some hot tea and internet access. I stopped at a gift/coffee shop that looked cute. Turns out, it is a morning gathering place for locals. I did some quick emails before my computer battery died, and chatted with to crowd. One is a rider (FZ650- not bad for a 65 year old dude). He and the others gave me some ideas on where to ride & play tourist today. The road to Trout River was fun! And one of the prettiest so far this trip, too. Thanks for the tip, guys.

I checked in at the Discovery Center and bought my day pass for hiking. The ranger recommended a café in town for a sandwich. I figured that was as good as any, had a decent sandwich and bowl of soup. It turns out the ranger’s wife works there. Ha- that is how things work, especially in NF. They had internet and I could plug in my computer- yea! I checked the weather- tomorrow is supposed to be nasty, and made ferry reservations for Friday in hopes the weather will be a bit more settled and fewer puking passengers. I’m booked on the ferry that was broken and couldn’t clear the dock when I was inbound…..

This sign was at the Discovery Center- there are lots of these signs along the roads.

I stopped to hike the Tablelands- a bit of Earth’s mantle thrust to the surface, with lots of unusual geological features- rock slumps, rocker circles & such. The rock is orange. I parked the bike, arranged it so the wind (40mph) wouldn’t blow it over, changed from rider to hiker garb, and hit the trail. 4kms, should take about an hour according to the guide.

About ½ way, the mountain gods wanted me to turn back. They sent high winds at me. Like a heathen fool, I pressed on. Then the gods sent winds around 60 mph, and to emphasis their point that I was unwelcome, sent a cloud speeding into me. I understood clearly that I was not welcome here today and turned to leave. To reinforce their message, the gods followed the cloud with rain. and kept the wind up, too.  These clouds are about to spill over the peak, down the valley, and run me off.

Of course, I left my rider gear piled on top of the bike, my boots sitting under the bike. Things were a bit soggy, and rearranged a bit when I got back to the bike, but thankfully everything was still there.

I’m camped at Zen(something) campground near Stevenville. I was really looking forwared to a hot shower and doing a bit of laundry. They have showers and laundry facitilites. They were pretty clear that tents are not welcome, but since it is the end of the season, they are almost empty, AND I am only staying one nite, they were willing to take my money.
This is OK,

This is not,

I was thinking the price of poor customer service is often hidden as I washed my skivvies in the shower.

I'm alive and well.  Back home in fact.

For the last half of the trip, I had only very intermitant internet access.  Much of NF had no internet or cell phone service whilst I was there.  I think the hurricane messed things up.  My computer is not talking to Blogger, so this is coming from a surogate 'puter.

Lots more to come- I still kept my journal and took LOTS of pictures.  I'll post them up daily.  It would be more fun if it was in close to real time, but hey- gotta keep a sense of humor!

out of sequence- Sept 22

Very slow connection- might not have pics until I'm somewhere with faster internet.

=========================================================

I have not had power for a couple days- I’ll recap today while it’s still fresh. 

I was up at dawn, slowly breaking camp while the sun warmed and dried everything.  Yea!!  Thunderous waves coming ashore this morning- last nite, too.  Gotta love earplugs while camping.

The 2 girls that past me on the climb yesterday are camped next to me.  The friendly one is from Maine, the grumpy one from Boston (go figure ;-).  The friendly one was amazed that I came all the way from Michigan.

Into town for some hot tea and internet access.  I stopped at a gift/coffee shop that looked cute.  Turns out, it is a morning gathering place for locals.  I did some quick emails before my computer battery died, and chatted with to crowd.  One is a rider (FZ650- not bad for a 68 year old dude).  He and the others gave me some ideas on where to ride & play tourist today.  The road to Trout River was fun!  And one of the prettiest so far this trip, too.  Thanks for the tip, guys.

I checked in at the Discovery Center and bought my day pass for hiking.  The ranger recommended a café in town for a sandwich.  I figured that was as good as any, had a decent sandwich and bowl of soup.  It turns out the ranger’s wife works there.  Ha- that is how things work, especially in NF.  They had internet and I could plug in my computer- yea!  I checked the weather- tomorrow is supposed to be nasty, and made ferry reservations for Friday in hopes the weather will be a bit more settled and fewer puking passengers.  I’m booked on the ferry that was broken and couldn’t clear the dock when I was inbound…..

This sign was at the Discovery Center- there are lots of these signs along the roads.

I stopped to hike the Tablelands- a bit of Earth’s mantle thrust to the surface, with lots of unusual geological features- rock slumps, rocker circles & such.  The rock is orange.  I parked the bike, arranged it so the wind (40mph) wouldn’t blow it over, changed from rider to hiker garb, and hit the trail.  4kms, should take about an hour according to the guide. 

About ½ way, the mountain gods wanted me to turn back.  They sent high winds at me.  Like a heathen fool, I pressed on.  Then the gods sent winds around 60 mph, and to emphasis their point that I was unwelcome, sent a cloud speeding into me.  I understood clearly that I was not welcome here today and turned to leave.  To reinforce their message, the gods followed the cloud with rain.  and kept the wind up, too.  Of course, I left my rider gear piled on top of the bike, my boots sitting under the bike.  Things were a bit soggy, and rearranged a bit when I got back to the bike, but thankfully everything was still there.

I’m camped at Zen(something) campground near Stevenville.  I was really looking forwared to a hot shower and doing a bit of laundry.  They have showers and laundry facilities.  They were pretty clear that tents are not welcome, but since it is the end of the season, they are almost empty, AND I am only staying one nite, they were willing to take my money.  I was thinking the price of poor customer service is often hidden as I washed my skivvies in the shower.

This is OK,

This is not,

I'm still alive & well

Near miss from Hurricane Igor.  I climbed Gros Morne yesterday and we had winds 70-80 mph on top.  Winds of about 50-70 at sea level.


I'm scheduled to take the ferry back to Nova Scotia Friday morning.  I'd take the one available sailing tomorrow, except waves are supposed to be 3+ meters.  There were enough sea sick people on the ferry here, in calm seas.  Friday is supposed to be a little more friendly.  It will mess up my "schedule".

I've had limited internet and electrical power.  Hopefully I can stay somewhere a little more civilized tonight and update this a bit.  And I NEED as shower.  I've been to L'Anse aux meadows, Gros Morne, and lots of other cool places.  Off to hike the tablelands this afternoon.  Tablelands is an exposed piece of the Earth's mantle.

Day 4, Sept 15 continued




Louisbourg fortress





Pop quiz- What is this?


A 2 holer for the guards at the wall



I went to what is labeled as the sight of the Marconi tower according to the sign along the road. I couldn’t find a plaque or anything, but it sure is purty there!



Next stop was a nearby lighthouse. I took WAY too many pictures- I’ll only bore you with one.



Oh yeah, this little guy was on the road to the lighthouse. He would not come close enough for a good pic- some kind of fox?



Canada’s first light house was built here. I burned down almost immediately….



It replaced, and then the replacement was replaced.

Dinner was fish cakes, complete with live entertainment. 3 different people recommended the same place. It’s either good, or people here have large families. The people here are very friendly. Walking to dinner, some guy chatted my up and gave me a quick run down of what he was or fixing ( a net & line puller), how scalloping works, how New Brunswick bought the fish out from under a local operator, and more I’m forgetting.


Sorry for the faux pas of eating before pics, I was hungry.

I’m camped out in the same place again, and probably tomorrow night, too. It seems like a good base to poke around the area, is convenient to the ferry, and I HATE making and breaking camp in the rain!! I’m becoming known as the crazy guy that rides his motorcycle in the rain. And the 3rd nite is free

Of course it’s raining again. I’m in the gazebo updating my blog & eating really good chocolate. Gotta remember to buy me some booze.

It's not raining! It's 7am Saturday morning.  I'm going to have breakfast at the hotel here in Pt aux Basques, NF, then head north.  Internet service has been spotty.

Today I head as far north as possible.  I might make it to the viking site, or I might be stopped by dark.  All reports are the roads here are owned by moose at night and travel is not recommended.  The trucks here have serious armor on the front.

Northward!

I take the ferry to Newfoundland tomorrow.  I'll spent some time updating this while I'm on the boat.

There are 2 hurricanes in the Atlantic- swells are coming in from at least one of them.  It might be a rough ride, even though this is the ferry.

Day 4 = Sept 15

I made reservations for the Newfoundland ferry for Friday.  It’s supposed to rain- may as well be under a roof on a boat.

I was awake about 6am and got a much needed shower.   Then I typed up the previous report.  Today was spent drying my stuff.  Everything not in my sidecases was soaked.  

Although I’m camped in a sea of RV’s and spent the night camped out here,

This is the view:

After lunch I toured the Louisbourg fortress. 

It was built by the French and successfully taken by siege by the Brits.  Twice!  The French picked a spot that looks to me almost indefensible.  I guess they did hold out for 6 weeks each time.  The guards had a 2 holer:

I went to what is labeled as the sight of the Marconi tower according to the sign along the road.  I couldn’t find a plaque or anything, but it sure is purty there!  (pics are still uploading- they will be in my Photobucket album.  Some good ones...  I guess the rest has to wait)

 

From the Playhouse

Adventure!

Day 3 = Sept 14

I broke camp early, in the rain, and was able to sneak away without paying.  I would have paid but nobody was there to take my money.  I went into Fredricton and found a good looking prospect for breakfast.  Eggs, ham, baked beans, and raison bread toast.  Yum. 

NB was really pretty.  I entered Nova Scotia  and For 3 glorious hours there was no rain.  I was able to strip the bar end mitts off the bike, wear my summer gloves… life was good.  When I got to Cape Breton, I even had to stop along side some railroad tracks and remove a few layers of clothes.  1 minute farther and I had to stop again- this time at the Cape Breton visitor’s center.  One stop shopping for any CB info.  I chatted with the staff and hit the road again.

I need a down day- my ass needs a break.  I decide tomorrow will be tourist day at Louisbourg Fortress.  There are a couple campgrounds nearby, and a scenic route (Fleur de Lis) that goes there.  It looks like a few hours and I should get there about 6:30.  I missed the first opportunity to get on the scenic route and ended up on a boring 2 lane hwy for about 20 miles, wishing I was on a more local road. 

Finally, I got on the right road the roads and scenery are breathtaking.  I wish I could have taken more pics, but probably did take enough to bore everybody.  Once I was good and committed to the “scenic route”, the rain returned.  It started out as a gentle shower, and steadily ramped up to an angry downpour.  The road is very twisty/curvy/hilly without much sight distance, so I didn’t want to stop on the road to gear up for serious weather.  The shoulders of the road looked mushy, and I could see where other vehicles and bikes had trouble.  Got it - STAY ON THE PAVEMENT.

Eventually I came to an intersection where I felt I could stop without fear of being run over.  I made a quick dash to the woods to empty my bladder, which was on emergency reserve capacity.  On with the rain gloves (Who in the hell designed rain gloves with a liner that gets sticky when wet?????) and forget the warmer gear.  It’s getting late, I have miles to make, and I’m chasing daylight.  I really, really do not want to ride around Cape Breton, in the rain, at night, on black top, after a long day in the saddle, and think about moose. 

The GPS shows a short dirt road that will cut about 20 miles off my route.  Said road looks well maintained (foreshadowing), so zoom- let’s hit the dirt.  After about 1/2k, the road quickly goes to hell.  It’s an unholy mix of rock, dirt, and something the consistency of moose snot.  I press on to the top of the next hill (fairly steep- I was worried about the traction of my Tourance rear tire).  Looking down the back side of the hill, it’s obvious this is NOT GOING TO WORK.  There is some hard surface, covered with the aforementioned mix.  The edges are mostly snot.  I decide to turn around and get thouroughly stuck in snot.  The hill is steep enough that I had to kick a good sized hole in order to put my sidestand down.

After some pulling, pushing, and a bit of power assisted turning, I get the bike firmy planted in a truck rut.  I’m about 140 lbs soaking wet.  A fully loaded Wee, full take of gas- yeah I’m stuck.  I’ll figure something out….   About 2 minutes later help arrived.  A dude that looked like Paul Bunyon came along in his pickup and “helped” me push her around.  “Helped”- I tried to look like I was doing something.  This guy could have carried the Wee out with one hand.  He followed me out to the pavement, made sure I was not going to do anything else stupid, and I was on my way again.  Did I mention it was raining?

Now I’m really hurting for daylight.  30 minutes to go, 15 minutes of light.  Shit.  I crank of the speed as I’m able, can see, whatever.   All I want is a place to park and hopefully a hot meal and shower.  I get to the nearest campground, in Louisbourg.  It’s right in town, another field filled with RV’s.  The people at check in are really friendly and let me know I can stay in the “gazebo” in back of the office to hide from the rain.  It’s a steady torrent.  Sounds good- I’m exhausted and just want to fall over.  They mention there is a playhouse next door and there is a show tonight.  (yawn)  I’m leaving a huge puddle as I chat- my gear has a rain liner, the outer layers are like a big sponge.

Then she mentioned it’s Mark MacIntyre with Jason Kempt and Jennifer Roland.  I’ve heard of Jennifer Roland- high energy Cape Breton fiddle.  My ears perked up.  The show starts in 10 minutes.  I parked the bike, ate a Clif bar on the way to the theater.  Stripped off my soaked gear- the staff insisted that I leave it inside, not out on the covered patio.  The show was awesome.  I ate more than my fair share of oatmeal cakes and tea at intermission.   Tomorrow some chic named Rachel Davis is playing.

I came back to the gazebo to find I was now sharing it with 2 other refugees from the rain.  Their tent is underwater.  The are from Coos Bay, OR, and were also at the show.  The roof leaks, but we were all able to find some dry floor space.  I’m eating oatmeal and drinking tea the gazebo now.  The skies are clear (it’s supposed to rain in a few hours), and my stuff is spread everywhere in hopes of drying out a bit.

I’m off to tour the fortress.

Day 2- stopped in Fredricksburg, NB

Yea!  I’m in New Brunswick.  It’s PRETTY here! 

Today started with a hot shower- I’ll take it while I can.  I typed up yesteerday’s notes while having their breakfast.  It promised to be a nice day- the clouds were parting, and the weather liar said mostly sunny, 20% chance of thunderstorms.  I didn’t wrap up anything on the bike.

About an hour down the road, it started to rain.  Just a bit, I ignored it.  When I got to Quebec City, I stopped to tarp my gear & get ready for heavy rain.  The heavy rain found me about 30 seconds later.  I got back on the road and didn’t understand my GPS, so I made a wrong turn and headed into town.  The bridges and E-way are pretty.  It was too rainy and foggy to see anthything else.  Silly place for a town- in a fog bank.  Maybe it’s Shangri-La?

I tried to stop for lunch in Reivere du Loop (spelled wrong for sure!).  It’s a really cute, pretty town in the rolling hills along the St Lawrence.  It was raining hard, the streets are all asphalt, and some are really steep.  Not fun on a bike!  Lots of great looking cafe’s and such but nowhere to park the bike where it would not fall over on the ridiculous slope and crown of the roads.  I ended up starved, at Timmy’s again.   

Eventually I got the directions right and continued on, with the rain lovingly following me.  I stopped to adjust layers several times, losing daylight at each stop.  I planned on getting to Momcton, NB today and Cindy was looking for lodging for me.  I didn’t make it that far before dark, have no cell or internet service, and am taking the MOOSE WARNINGS very seriously.  (I didn’t stop for a pic of the signs).  Somebody spent a hell of a lot of money on fences and one way animal gates along much of the road.  The signs alternate between moose and deer warnings. 

Little traffic on the roads east of Quebec City.  The trucks are polite and professionally driven.  Apparently, as a public service, they clean the roads after a rain.  If there are 2 lanes on the expressway, they line up 2 abreast and travel at exactly the speed limit.  This creates a huge swirling cloud of water, mist, and road slop.  This unholy mix then settles on the cars and motorcycles behind them, leaving a cleaner road surface.

My electric gear does not seem to be responding to my wireless controller properly.  Sometimes it goes from “comfy” to TOO HOT for no reason, and I am unable to turn the jacket liner off.  It is cooking me, so I unplug it, only to freeze.  It also takes lots of power to run.  I got my all time shortest distance on a tank of gas today- 190 miles = 38 mpg.  I should be getting about 50.  I’ll have to play with it in the morning.

.   I’m at a campground on a nice lake in the hills.  The first “campground” I passed was a field filled with RV’s near a lake.  No thanks.  This seems to be a nice park.  I got here right at dark and set up camp in a light rain.  Supposedly they are open, but nobody was in the office.  I’ll be outta here early in the am…..  Maybe I can save a few $$ to make up for the big bill yesterday.

No restaurants around here, so I had one of my back up dinners.  Joe’s O’s- a better knock off of Spagetti-O’s.  No pot needed.  Much better with buffalo jerky added, too.  a cup of hot chocolate (coulda used the rum I didn’t buy), transfer the days pictures to the computer, write this, and it’s time for some sleep.

Not many pics today.  We’ve all seen rain, right?

Tomorrow I should be in Nova Scotia.  I’m not sure when I can upload this, so tomorrow might have passed….

Day 1- Mt Clemens to Montreal

I was able to actually get out the door and on the road at 9:36.  The weather was a bit threatening, but the weather liar promised clearing skies as I went.  LET’S GO!

I had an uneventful trip to Port Huron and crossed the Blue Water Bridge.  That was my first time across a BIG bridge on the bike- usually I take the ferry at Marine City.  I made a wrong turn at turned onto the bridge forgetting I wanted to stop for a bottle of duty free booze.  Oh well.  No big deal crossing the bridge and I sailed thru customs with no waiting. 

Passing Toronto in the early afternoon on a Sunday is always a good thing.  Almost no traffic.  A few hours later I passed Ivy Lea, a favorite campground of mine, directly on the St Lawrence River.  It was about 5:00, WAY too early to stop.  Sometime that evening I passed Cornwall, ON.  That’s are far east as I’ve previously been in Canada before.  The next 3500 miles or so are all new !!

I came into Montreal at sundown, with Michael Stipe on the MP3, the sun reflecting everywhere.  Not a bad entrance J  There was a traffic wreck, stopping traffic on the E-way.  I got off the big road and poked thru town, generally heading east.  Pretty place.  I want to come back.

I started looking for a place to stay about 9pm.  I rode around a efw small towns looking for a motel (the GPS lies!!).  The GPS led me to an EconoLodge which has changed its business model in the hard economy.  It’s pretty clearly the local whore house.  I kept looking.

I found a Days Inn about 10:30 and called it a day.  More $$ than I’d like to spend, but it’s a room, a shower, and a “continental breakfast” which I am having now.

Time to make some ferry reservations to get to Newfoundland!

Yea! I'm in Quebec

I finally got on the road.  I'm about an hour east of Montreal.  WoooHooo.  Great ride today, even with the occasional rain.  Not enough rain to be a problem, just enough to make a mess.  Bike is working great.  It's too late & I'm too tired to write much.  Lots of pictures coming.

Set for Sunday morning blast off !

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Departure is set for Sunday morning.  Everything is packed – I think. 

Here are some details people have asked about:

I’m planning to camp most nights (hopefully for free).  The first and last days I will probably get a motel so I don’t have to take time to make & break camp.  I’ll stay at a campground or motel occasionally to clean up & dry out.

In anticipation of big, GIANT sized bugs, I treated my clothes with Premetherin (sp?).

The bike is a 2004 Suzuki V-Strom 650 with about 35,000 miles.  About 50 mpg, with a safe range of about 250 miles.

 I have hard sidecases, a small tank bag, and a big duffel on the seat behind me. 

I hate being cold.  I have electrically heated grips and jacket and pants liners.  The bike does not have enough electrical power to power up everything at 100%, so I will have to keep an eye on the voltage indicator when I’m using the electrics.  100% would cook me anyhow.

I can drink while I ride.  I have a 3L MSR Dromedary bag in my tank bag, along with some dried figs, buffalo jerky, and Clif bars.

I have put a lot of thought into the plan of the trip.  I’m planning to ride, eat, ride, eat, ride, and sleep.  I will break up the routine by alternating the order, and adding large doses of looking at things, doing things, and doing nothing as the opportunities arise.  It sounds arduous, but I think I can stick to the plan.   

Places I really want to see are:

L'Anse aux Meadows, where the Vikings landed.

Gros_Morne_National_Park

Cape Breton- beautiful, full of fiddle music

The Louisbourg Fortress

I’m carrying food for about 13 breakfasts, a few lunches, and a dinner or 2.  I’ll cook my own food most mornings, and see what happens for lunch and dinner. 

OK, this work nonsense is getting old

The winds of a few days ago tore up lots of boat covers- good for business, bad for getting out of town.  Current blast off date is Sunday, unless more people are willing to pay me too much to work another day...

Here is a $1300 cover, installed but not yet paid for.  A piece of the guy's boat came loose and put a big hole in my cover :-((

I'm all packed up, bike is full of gas, passport in hand- let's get this show on the road!!

That doesn't look like a motorcycle

More work that has to be done before I leave.  I get to replace the clear vinyl in the windows.   Not a bad thing, I can use the money.  But, it will push my departure back at least a full day :-(

Yesterday was spent mostly working, and doing battle with my new camera.  It took me about 2 hours to get either the camera or SD card to talk to my computer.  What ever happened to plug & play?  I ended up swapping SD cards with my dad- problem solved.

Packing day

Most of today was spent packing- clothes, food, and assorted motorcycle junk.  I packed lots of oatmeal, tea, and chocolate.  Good stuff for rainy weather.  10 servings of oatmeal is a BIG BOWL 

Hmmm- my camera is going sailing on the HMS Bounty

My family is sending my dad sailing on the tall ship HMS Bounty for his birthday Tall Ship Bounty.  That means he is taking his camera, and I am not....   I'm thinking I'll buy another camera for my trip, take LOTS of pictures with it, and sell it when I get home again.

Bike ready to go- I think

Today I changed the oil, air filter, rear brake fluid, and fixed my heated grips.  It turns out the dead heated grips were due to a broken wire.  The wire took 5 minutes to fix- in addition to the hour to get to it, and the hour to reassemble.

Macomb Cycle came thru!

My air filter came in today.  It's a couple hour job to change it, so I really didn't want to wait until the last minute to tear my bike apart.  Macomb Cycle came thru for me and I can replace the filter this weekend.  Yea!

I finally got the Candian maps loaded to my GPS

5 hours of frustration, and it still won't talk with my computer.  I used another computer, and it worked.  Eventually.

Where is my air filter?

I ordered an air filter 10 days ago and it should have been in last week.  I stopped at the shop, and nope, no filter for me.  After a bit of conversation and a couple phone calls, Macomb Cycle agreed to next day air shipping and I should have it Friday.

Fingers crossed!