Newfoundland!

 

 

My first destination was St. John's.  What a difference a day makes.  When I got on the ferry in Nova Scotia, it was over 30 c but as I rode off, thinking it would be warm, I had to make a quick pit stop to bundle up.  The temperature there had dropped overnight to 14 c at noon!  It took about 2 hours to ride to St. John's and with my trusty GPS by my side, headed straight to Pippy Park Campground situated right in the middle of the city.  Except for the constant drone of the city, you would think you're in a secluded park in the country. 

After I set up my tent, I grabbed a cab and headed down to George St.  The cabbie suggested Kelly's Pub who, in his opinion, has the best fish and chips in the city.  Who am I to argue.

Sooo, After a few beers and a plate of, quite tasty, fish and chips, I wandered around a while and headed it back.  My plan was to get up at 4:30 and see the sunrise so I couldn't be too late.  (I'm too sensible for my own good sometimes)

The Ferry ride to the Rock

Before I go on and on about Newfoundland, let's go back to the ferry ride from North Sydney, NS to Argentia NL.  They recommend getting to the ferry terminal 2 hours ahead of the 5 o'clock departure, so, I get there 2 1/2 hours early at 2:30.  Typical me.  The ferry ends up being over 3 hours late departing due to some minor detail.  Seems the front loading door won't close.  I supposed that's important.  I had booked the ferry just a couple of days ahead of time and any overnight accommodation was sold out.  There is, however, a number of very comfortable lounges with big reclining seats so I settled on that.  The first lounge, although very comfy, was also very hot so I moved downstairs to the movie/lounge area.  The a/c was working very well so I settled in for a long night.  But first, I had to sit though 2 movies which were played very loud.   The first was an animated movie that was at least entertaining but the second movie, which started at 11:00 was one with Jennifer Anniston and Adam Sandler.  As Andy and I both agree, ADAM SANDLER ISN'T FUNNY!!!!  When that was finally over, I tried to sleep.  I got maybe 3 hours of broken sleep and gave up trying around 6 am.  The ferry was supposed to arrive at 8 am but with the delayed departure, it finally got in at 11:30.  Now, unlike the BC ferries where you head down to the car deck early and get ready to peel out the minute it docks and open up, the Atlantic-Marine Ferries don't let you go below until the boat is docked.  So by the time me and the other 100 or so Harley bikers (there was a big rally in St. John's) got ready, it was another 45 minutes.  All in all, the ferry was very similar to the cruise ship we were on in May.  The big difference is that you pay for your food. 


On the Ferry

 

Confederation Bridge

I took a detour off my plan. As I followed the coast of New Brunswick with no particular destination in mind, I caught site of the Confederation Bridge. The lure was too much and before you could say McCains potatoes, I was headed to PEI. To cross the bridge to PEI is free, but the kicker is that it costs a motorcycle $40 to get off the island, by bridge or ferry, which is what I'm on now taking advantage of the free WiFi. The next destination is North Sydney NS to catch the all-night ferry to Nfld. I might have to make a pit stop at Future Shop to look at a tablet. I think my netbook is packing it in so before I loose all my data, I'm going to see if they can transfer everything over. I'm unable to transfer my camera pictures to the netbook so for now I'll be using my phone.

Bay of Fundy

I met up with Wanda, a driver with First Canada, around 9 and headed towards the Bay of Fundy.  It took about an hour to reach our first destination...

Hopewell Rocks.

This was a great introduction to the power and volume of the tides.  We hiked down to the seashore but didn't go very far away from the shore.  There were a number of school buses that brought in all these teenagers who showed us first hand what happens when you tangle with the mud.

About the Bay of Fundy:  Fundy's tides are the highest in the world.  Based on the position of the moon, if all the conditions are right, the tides can be as high as 53 feet.  In the area where we were, the tides were generally around 40 ft.  There are two high and two low tides each day.  The time between a high and low tide, on average, is 6 hours and 13 minutes.  We arrived in the morning at low tide then came back at high tide at 4 pm.

Low Tide

High Tide

Made it to Moncton

After a 6 hour all night flight to Moncton, I've made to Marcellin's house where my bike was delivered safe and sound. Absolutely gorgeous weather has greeted me so the plan is for a quick nap and then a city tour in Marcellin's Mustang

and then check out a car show with 1600 entries.

Before we headed out to see the show, I was treated to a lobster dinner, Levesque style.  Tin foil plates, crackers and not a salad in sight.  Loved it!!  

The car show was held on Friday night on the main drag downtown Moncton.  With the fabulous weather and the lure of tons of cool cars, the streets were packed.  It was hard at times to stop and admire a cool car with the flow of people making it difficult to stand still.  Despite that, lots of fun with interesting street entertainers and a number of band playing.  

This one's for Andrew

A Bricklin

T

The countdown is on!

Only a few more days until I fly out to Moncton.  The bike finally shipped but not without some concern.  The shipping company, contracted through UShip.com. promised to pick up the bike on many occasions.  They finally showed up on Saturday.  A couple of "sketchy dudes", as Andrew, my son put it, picked up the bike and loaded it into what is basically a travel trailer.  We do have a nice big driveway to back a trailer into but they elected to wheel the bike 5 blocks down the street to load.  Nevertheless, Andrew was a bit concerned.

As of today (Monday), I have head from them.  They're apparently in Ontario.  I am a bit nervous on all this but I guess I'm a little to trusting. Hopefully, Friday morning when I arrive in Moncton, all will be well. 

All the little details.

I've stressed about this long enough and now it's crunch time.  The bikes all loaded and ready to be shipped to Moncton Wednesday.  I've packed, unpacked and repacked.  I'll just have to use the old saying; "If I don't have, I don't need it".  The fact is, I'm not exactly travelling in the wilderness far from any amenities.  If I have forgotten something, I'll just go buy it.

I've gone over the bike many times and I'm sure it's ready.  The oil's changed, new chain and sprocket and having gone over everything I can think of, it's as ready as it's ever going to be.  Unlike the Yukon adventure where the bike took a pounding off-the-road, this adventure will be on, pretty much, 100% slab.

I plan to camp most of the time so I downloaded this interesting app that finds the nearest camping spot to whatever location I am at the moment.