Day 6: Russell, Manitoba to Vermilion Provincial Park, Alberta

The morning started out pretty misty and sunless again but while I was loading up the sun made an appearance. It wasn't out long though and Manitoba bit farewell the same way Saskatchewan said hello, with a shower. So far I've been rained on in every province I've visited. But the rain didn't last long either, I'm writing this part at a nice little rest stop with the sun warming me up. I did see a huge rainbow as I was entering Saskatchewan. I should have stopped for a picture but it was facing into a huge, dark cloud and I've been reluctent to just pull over on the highway for pics.

I almost toppled the bike pulling away from the Jolly Lodger. The parking lot was marble sized loose gravel with nothing to hold it. I was a little wary of it last night and this morning was no better. I had to do a little turn to get back on the road and my front tire just started plowing the loose stones. I got a foot down but I was losing it and the advice I've always heard is gas it through, so I did and the ship righted herself as a blasted out of the lot. Close one. Speaking of the bike, I've been having some trouble with the clutch today. I had to pull it all the way to the grip to get the clutch to disengauge at all. I adjusted it all the way in so now I've got enough room to play but I'm worried if I lose any more I'll be stuck. There is a BMW place in Edmonton I was planning to visit tomorrow anyway to ask about a tire and maybe oil change so I'll add the clutch to the list. I'm wondering if elevation affected my clutch fluid? I wouldn't think so but I'll ask tomorrow and hopefully they have an idea.

I saw a mile long train next to the road this morning, I know because I measured, it was stopped with no engine attached. I saw another that looked even longer but it was further away and moving so I didn't get to measure it. Also saw a big front end loader zipping along the tracks on train wheels, interesting. Not a ton out here to see besides fields and rial tracks, and huge train loading facilities.

For now, back to the road...

Later that evening...

As I was making good time today and the weather was nice I started thinking today might be the day I get in 500 miles. Not that I need to but I've done it before (and more on longer summer days) and I've been pushing that direction so I thought today I might. But it was not to be, I'm at 492.5. Somewhere around 490 I saw signs for gas, food and a provincial park so rather than risk missing any of those I decided I was close enough. But today was probably my best chance. I'm less than 350 miles from Jasper and I'm planning to stop in Edmonton for a couple hours. Then I'll be messing around Banff and Glacier NP so if I'm making big miles those days I'll have done swomething wrong! Then I'll be headed back east and my days will be getting shorter, not longer. I've been figuring, just rough gut feel that I've been gaining about 1/2 hour of sunlight a day by making miles west. I'll be giving that back when I head east. Now that I mention it, I see I've crossed another time zone, I'm now 2 hours behind Eastern, I must have missed a sign.

My dad asked me what the draw is for Jasper. Basically it's as far west and north as I'll be on this trip (actually Edmonton is a little further north but in general you get the picture, Jasper is as far from home as this trip goes), everything else is on the way home. The reason to go to Jasper at all is to do the road between Jasper and Banff. It is supposed to be worth this whole ride out here.

What else to say? The people of Canada are awesome, everybody has been friendly and wanting to know where I'm from, where I've been, welcome to the country. I did see some Albery Hell's Angels today on the highway, I didn't make any effort to keep up. Who knows what they're like but I was content not to find out.

Oh, the earplug issue I mentioned yesterday. Two parts, they are harder to use in the cold. Cold fingers, cold ears, they just don't get as soft and sticky so they tend to fall out more. Also after a number of uses they lose their stick as well. I'm sure the cold temps made it worse but yesterday I was having trouble keeping them in if I wasn't really careful. Switched to a new set today and much better. So they first set lasted me about a week of daily use counting times I used them at the office. Hopefully I can make it through the trip with what I've got. They are also harder to place if your ears are wet so if you use them swimming put them in first.

That's all for tonight. Hopefully tomorrow I can tell you about Jasper!

Day 4: White River to Dryden, ON (Aaron Prov. Parc) via Thunder Bay

Around 3 I crossed into the Central Time Zone. I've never done that on the ground before. I also entered the Arctic tributary region. Rain that falls here flows to the Arctic Ocean. Or any that I spill from my lunch. Well not really, there evaporation and weather patterns so mine probably won't make it... but I'll spill a little before I go, just in case.

The road got a lot longer after Thunder Bay. GPS said something like, next turn 430 miles when I turned west rather than continue south. I made sure I got gas. There will be towns and such along the way but nothing major until Winnipeg. I'm feeling a little daunted at the moment. I'm just about 1500 miles into the trip so I think I'm about half way to Banff, plus anything I get before calling it quits today- it's just 3:45 as I write this, or rather 2:45 central. Just seems like a long ways left to go before I can turn around to work my way home. I do the same thing with running sometimes, start feeling that every stride is another I'll have to make on the way back. At least it's not raining, looks like today might be the first day I avoid getting rained on.

I'm staying at a provincial parc tonight. Seems really nice. Rode around to find a campsite then went back to the gate to self check in. Just when I was done a ranger pulled up and asked if I needed anything, like firewood. I had looked around earlier for any but it was all locked up so, yay, I get to have a fire after all. Its going to be cold tonight so that's nice.

I'm missing some people from home but I got to talk to my mom for her birthday for a few minutes. Finally figured out I need to dial 1 before the number up here, even from a cell phone. Not sure if incoming works.

Freeze dried chili mac with beef was really good for dinner.

The journey continues!

Day 5: Dryden, ON to Russell, MB vie Winnipeg

Ontario had signs for moose every hundred yards. Manitoba has wide open spaces. About 20 miles before Winnipeg things got flat. And windy. But more on that in a minute. I decided rather than take the loop around Winnipeg I'd go right through the city. I figured since I had come all this way it'd be a shame to pass it by. And it was nice, I'm glad I took the extra time. One part of the road was liked with elm trees on both sides, really beautiful and very nice for in a city. There were also traffic lights every block so it was slow going. And the sun was out for the first time all day. For the first time in days I actually felt hot. As soon as I got out of the city though it was cloudy again and I was blasted with a cross wind. It was rough going for a while. The best I could do was hunch over, point my helmet 45 to keep it from getting wrenched sideways and lean on the left handlebar to keep the bike going strait. With all that my neck was wearing out, me right leg was cramping up from constant pushing and my hands were burning keeping a hold on the grips. So I got in 460 miles todayb but they weren't easy ones and felt like a lot more.

I did get a nice dinner at Mr. Rib in Neepawa. Of course then I was full, feeling good and set my sights about 100 miles up the road- at which point the cluouds I'd been eyeing all day decided it was time to have some fun with me. So it started raining. Not the most pleasant way to end a long day so I decided to go ahead and do a motel again. After all the wind my body wanted a bed but the rain sealed the deal.

I want to write more, tell you how long I found the earplugs to last and how they fail but the yawns are telling me its bedtime and I've earned it today. More later.

Day 3: Sudbury to White River, ON via Sault Ste. Marie and Wawa, ON

Wawa has gas! I'd been seeing signs for Wawa for many hundreds of kilometers. The last few I paid special attention to because the gas I had left in the tank just might get me there. In the end it did though the engine sputtered on a few of the hills. Was I nervous? Extremely. I wasn't too far and I could have hitch-hiked (fairly common up here) but I was really trying to avoid that. Lesson: any time the tank is below half and you see gas, get some!

More on that later, time for dinner.

OK, now that I've eaten and found a place to stay (motel tonight) I can recount the day. This morning was beautiful but chilly. In fact the whole day was chilly, I saw my thermometer go above 50 twice and trust me, I was watching it. I put my thermal liners in this morning and that wasn't a mistake. I still got a little cold a couple times and had to stop to warm up. The handlebar grip heaters were running all day. I do have a couple extra layers I can use but if it gets much colder I'm going to have to start taking warming breaks every hour. So aside from the cold, I mentioned its beautiful here. The foliage was in full color outside of Sudbury. I stopped at the Spanish river to eat a scone I grabbed at breakfast and switch gloves and I finally broke out the big camera. The best stuff I saw was just off the highway so I didn't get pics but I have them in my mind, around every turn was a beautiful scene.

Sault Ste. Marie was a nice looking town but nothing grabbed my attention lunch-wise so I continued on and found a little beach spot on the side of Lake Superior and ate a Cliff Bar and some peanut M&Ms while I warmed myself in the sun and took more pictures. The ride around Superior was also beautiful, just the bluest water today. Whenever a view of the lake opened up it also brought a blast of wind but I had to take a peek over anyway in spite of my bike getting pushed around.

All kinds of gas stations and motels so I pushed on, even past my half a tank of gas. Then I realized I hadn't seen gas in a good long time and I had about 80 miles left in the tank. That should get me the 50 miles to Wawa. Then I started gaining elevation and my 30 mile buffer dropped to 18, and at the same time I realized I ran out of gas last time at 16... 30 km to Wawa, 20, 10 then I hit a hill and the power drops. I shake the tank a little and it keeps going. Then again. I see a couple more hills but no gas station. Somehow I keep going and there on the left, some gas pumps, but the building has boarded up windows (something I've see ona lot of building up here, and whole towns too). I'm doomed. But somehow the BMW keeps pulling and I see an Esso, and it's open! But it's not only on the other side of the road, it's off a sevice road so I have to drive 1/4 mile up and loop back. I don't know how she made it but I limped into that service station on fumes. But after all that I had a full tank again.

Gas is generally first priority on the road. Second is water and food. I found a trucker restaurant next to the gas station and ordered something to get me through the cold night, a bacon cheeseburger and fries with cheese and gravy. After I somehow destroyed that plate and a Pepsi (out of root beer) I felt rejuvinated and decided to put on a few more miles before dark.

I felt a little guilty at spending over 100 for a hotel last night so I was thinking I'd try for camping. I wasn't seeing much for official camping so I was starting to consider "distributed" camping, ie find a dirt road, hide the bike and pitch my tent. I'm just really leary of police or the angry land owner waking me early and rushing me off. I even explored a picknic area to see if it explicitly said "no camping", it did, after "caution". Caution for what? I guess I didn't want to find out. So the sun was rapidly decending and about every 100 feet they have beware of moose, night danger signs so when I found a cheap looking motel I grabbed it. So here I am, internet and all.

Tomorrow I should definitely reach Thunder Bay and beyond towards Winnipeg. The weather report for Glacier has me worried. Banff will be cold but with night temps in the low 20s Glacier might not be doable formy rig. We'll see. It seems every night I feel worn out and beat but every morning I'm renewed in my quest so start taking bets on who wins over!

Day 2: NP d'Oka to Sudbury, ON via Ottowa

Well I made it through the night! To/ clarify, the big thunderstorm was last night, Tuesday night. One thing the mobile blog app I'm using doesn't do is allow me to set the date. I wrote the post last night but didn't get internet until tonight.

Anyway, tonight I'm in Sudbury, Ontario. It was mentioned in the movie "One Week", with Joshua Jackson. Great movie and though not an inspiration for my trip, it was a catalyst.

Today started pretty poorly. I woke up and all my stuff was wet. Or wet and muddy. So I went back to sleep. In my dreams I hoped the sun would come out and make everything dry and warm but the sun only peeked out so I finally roused myself and got to the task of packing wet and muddy gear. One big mistake, I didn't take enough care keeping my gloves and helmet off the tent floor so they were really wet. Fun. My other critical gear I had better about protecting so all in all I wasn't bad off after a drenching night.

So a late start but I got to the ferry between Oka and Hudson a few minutes before departure. That was a fun ride and beautiful conditions. It was recommended and I'll second it. The ride through Ottowa was beautiful too. Did I mention all the wind I was fighting yesterday? I wasn't sure if it was abnormal so I didn't want to complain but it was abnormal, I found a bunch of limbs and leaves down in Oka. Anyway, today was much less wind so easier miles.

It was a cooler day, in the 60s mostly and threatening freezing overnight. That plus I pushed myself to get all the way to Sudbury rather than stop early to find camping has me at a Comfort hotel tonight and I will say, it is a comfort.

Tomorrow I head toward Sault Saint Marie and Lake Superior. I won't make it all the way to Thunder Bay tomorrow but I'll be headed in that direction. Thunder Bay holds an interesting decision- continue west towards Banff or cut south and call it a Great Lakes loop? Winnipeg will be the next and last such decision point. After doing 400 miles today I'm glad to have made the miles but my back is achy and started twinging while I was riding. So that, the cold temps this evening, and some personal things have me doubting my commitment to making it all the way this time. I just want to voice these doubts because they do pop up for me in trips like this- it happens and I like to be truthful in these accounts. Hey, half of Charlie and Ewan's discussions are about giving up :-) (Long Way Round is another excelent view for people interested in adventure travel).

For now, good night. I'll pick up again when I find more internet.

Oh, something I forgot to mention... I drove over the Mississippi River today! First time ever. Turns out, in Canada they keep it much further east so it's easier.

Day 1: Maynard, MA to Oka, QC via Montreal, QC

Well, I'm in Canada! Montreal was... well it's a big city with lots ofx traffic, what can I say? If I had a couple days to appreciate it I'd probably find some things to love but to spend an hour wasn't worth the trouble. I will say, like any big city with miles of standstill traffic I really had to fight for my space in traffic but was it my imagination, given the circumstances people seemed more polite? There was no honking, no revving of engines.  It was 3:30 gridlock in the city but nobody really seemed angry. Did I mention it was pouring? So I gave up on finding a late lunch and instead pressed on to National Parc d'Oka. Beautiful place. I had to find the beach to register for camping which I eventually did, my french is horrible, and saw some people kite-boarding- something I'll have to try one of these days.

For now I'm enjoying souvlaki in a pita at the one place I found open in Oka. Might try for a campfire tonight, it's getting pretty dark out.

Later...
Well, no campfire tonight. Before I could leave the restaurant it started coming down, hard. This is not the night to be camping. Thunder, lightning, heavy rain. Everything is pretty soaked. At least I had the tent up and it's stopping 90% of the rain. Wow, it must be right over me now, instant lightning/thunder in every direction. I'm going to try to stay as dry as I can and hope it passes soon, have a good night everybody.

Day 0: Maynard, MA to Maynard, MA via St. Johnsbury, VT

Um, so this is awkward. I did travel 360 miles today as I had intended but unfortunately I netted exactly 0 miles progress on my trip. I'm right where I started this morning. Bugger.

When I leave on a trip I almost always get the nagging feeling that I forgot something. Usually I pacify my nagging subconscious by responding that anything I forgot I can buy along the way. This does not hold true for important legal documents like vehicle registrations that will undoubtedly be asked for at any border crossings.

Anyway, I can take this time to comment on a couple pieces of gear I've found useful. First, I've been very impressed with some earplugs I recently bought. They are marketed as "Worlds Finest Ear Plugs" and can be found here: http://www.earplugsonline.com/. They are made from beeswax, cotton and lanolin. The sample pack is a great price so I figured I'd give them a try. They have roughly the consistency of playdough but smoother and doesn't dry out and crumble. They are kind of heat-activated, they get softer by rubbing between your fingers and a little firmer when they cool. What really impresses me is that I can leave them in all day long. For me, normal foam earplugs they feel fine at first and block out the sound well (if I can get my helmet on without dislodging one) but after an hour or so the pressure of the foam in my ear really irritates me. These guys kind of just mash in and stay without putting pressure on the ear canal. And when I yawn or adjust my jaw they don't dislodge. The way I'm using them is a half a plug in each ear, I roll them into a sphere and kind of mush it into my ear canal, not really deep in like a foam plug would, just enough that I get some material in the hole to hold it. Done. They block out the wind noise in my helmet really well but I can still mostly hear my GPS directions from speakers in my helmet. I've started using them at work too, it's amazing all the background noise I mentally block out during the day. Throw the plugs in and things seem much more peaceful. Anyway, so if you have any interest in ear plugs it's worth giving these a try. I did probably 300 out of 360 miles today with them in and no ear ringing now.

What else. Lets talk about my BMW Streetguard3 suit. I take protection on the bike very seriously. It's something I think about and try to improve whenever I get the chance. When I took the basic riders course I had a decent helmet but just wore jeans, a sturdy jacket, some leather gloves and leather work boots. At 15 miles an hour those are OK but even then you're still exposed to injury if something goes wrong. When I started driving in traffic I moved up to Draggin jeans with a Kevlar lining around the knees and butt and a somewhat cheap armored mesh jacket. Kevlar is great for abrasion resistance but you're still exposed to impact injuries. The mesh jacket was probably good for impact, the armor feels decent anyway (elbows, shoulders, back), but I didn't have much expectation it would hold together sliding across pavement- especially with it's age and use. I've also found I do more riding and my longer trips in the Fall and usually to cooler climates. So for ultimate protection and better cool weather performance I decided BMW Streetguard was the way to go. Overall I'm pretty happy, the stuff seems to do what it's supposed to and I'm confident in the safety aspects. A few things I don't like. The cut is very generous. I'm 5'10"-5'11" and I knew I wanted to be able to fit some extra layers underneath so I went with size 54. The lengths are spot on for what I need for coverage, especially in riding position but I feel like I could fit two of me in the pants and jacket. Great on the bike and I'm not worried about fitting a fleece jacket underneath but walking around I look like I'm ready for sledding and my pants swoosh when I walk. Oh well, I can deal with it, easy enough to take them off and room for normal clothes under, which I do like. Oh, except for the time the zipper started binding and I couldn't take the jacket off anymore! The zipper wasn't like any I'd seen before, even accepting the zipper pull is on the "wrong" side. It had a sort of gasket in between to seal out any water. Seemed like a good idea until things went bad and I wouldn't get out of my jacket. And that was a little over a week ago so I really need to give props to Max BMW for facilitating an exchange in time for my trip. I notice the zipper on the exchange jacket is different, more standard like I'm used to, though still with the pull on the "wrong" side. Overall, still a great piece of gear, just not quite everything I had hoped considering the cost.

Well that's all for now. Wish I had more to share on the actual journey but so goes the nature of adventure, hopefully tomorrow I'll be making better forward progress!

False Start

New Hampshire was beautiful today. Franconia Notch was breathtaking and I didn't even mind the construction for the chance to take in the views. I had a late start but was making good time and expecting to make it to my intended campsite with plenty of daylight. I was seeing milage markers to Canada so I was getting close. My milage said I was about half way for the day. Then I realized one of the thing I need for the border cross is back home, my registration. They like to know you own the vehicle you're driving across the border. I've also had the opportunity to find out that police like to see it if you ever have a traffic infringement as well...
I have a whole story about how I always keep it in my jacket but I had to exchange my jacket due to a faulty zipper so it went into my work bag but I kinda doubt that'll help my case so for now I'm eating a loaded pepper steak sandwich in Vermont, appreciating the great ride I've had so far (following a pretty great weekend I might add) and remembering it's all part of the adventure. I guess the next step is to head home for one more night in my own bed and try not to find out how important a registration is if you are pulled over.

Equipment

I'll try to talk about the equipment I use on the trip and how well it works (or doesn't) as I go along. Most of the gear I'm bringing I'm pretty familiar with and have used many times before. One item that is new and I hope not to have to use is bear spray. When I first described it to some friends they assumed it was like bug spray, spray it on yourself and the bears stay away :-) While you may use it like that once I doubt you'd buy it ever again. Think of it more like bear strength pepper spray.

The product I have has a range of 30 feet and emties in 5 seconds. 30 feet with a charging bear isn't far so it really is for close contact situations. From my time in Alaska last year I learned a bit about what to expect when a bear attacks. In most cases the charge is a bluff so its best to stay calm but I know I'll feel better having a backup plan too, specially since most of my hiking will be alone this time.

(I also wanted to see how well pictures work from my phone to the blog)

The Route (Roughly Drafted)

View Larger Map

Inception

I've been thinking about Glacier National Park for a few years. I saw a program about the park probably 5 years ago and as is standard I got excited and wanted to go. Between changes of geography and changes of job the idea was put on the back burner but I never lost the desire, what I really needed was the time.
This year things changed. After 10 years with IBM I earned myself an extra week of vacation. That extra week made it possible to make it out to Glacier. So I took out my trusty (google) map and started playing around with routes. After some initial playing with possible routes I noticed a string of parks up above Glacier. Banff. Now my imagination was taking off. I've been to the travelling Banff Mountain Film Festival a few times, once in Colorado while I was visiting a while ago and two years ago in Sommerville. Could I fit a loop up through Canada on my journey? I decided I could.
So far this is the general route: Boston, Montreal, Ottowa, Sault Ste Marie (Ron Francis birthplace!), Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Jasper, Banff, Calgary?, Glacier NP, Grand Teton NP, Billings, Badlands NP, Sioux Falls, Cheboygan, Flint, London ON, Ithaca, Boston!
I'll post the prospective route soon. Expected departure Sept. 12th!
Also note this is my first time posting to the blog from Android. It seems OK but I expect I'll still keep a written journal- post quick updates here and FB when I can and go back to update with details later.
More soon...

How Do I Create My Maps?

I often ask myself how I create the maps I post for my trips. The answer is: it's complicated. I don't have a fast workflow to create the maps with my tracks but I like the results. Maybe in the future I'll automate something, for now it's a manually intensive process.

1- Pull the current GPX file from my Zumo. By the time I get around to pulling the current gpx it's usually in the archive with days and days of extra track data.

2- Decompose the GPX into daily files. I use Eclipse to edit the .gpx like an xml file because it is. It is slow due to the size of the files. This is the first process I should automate. I put each track tag on a separate line. Then I copy each day into it's own file keeping the xml and gpx outer tags. Then I strip out all the tags except the first, effectively combining all the tracks from one day into one .

3- Each daily file goes into GPS Visualizer to be converted to a kml file. I used to export to an image but I found a way to embed Google maps with the track data allowing me to zoom and pan as well as link to a full size Google map. Much more useful. There is also a way to export a Google map directly rather than go through the following kml process but that would have it hosted from gpsvisualizer and they clear out old maps every so often (nightly?).

3a- The settings I use when creating the kml:
General Map Parameters
Output file type: .kml (could save space with kmz)
Units: U.S.

Track Options (show advanced)

Colorized By Speed

Colorize max: 75 (or whatever the fastest I think I was going on the trip)

Legend: Yes

Show distance...: Yes

Max. points per track: 200 (important!)

The rest I pretty much leave alone.

4- With my new kml file I next go to Google Maps and login to My Maps. Then select Create new map. I give the map an interesting name and select Import. Now I can upload my kml file from my local system for permanent storage on the cloud. I've found that besides only accepting a 10MB file, only the first 200 track points are accepted. Thus the importance of having GPS Visualizer only export that number of points.

5- I change the maps to Terrain and select Link at the top right. The HTML to embed is close to what I need but I need to tweak the zoom level to fit the entire track so I select Customize and preview... I leave the Map size at Medium but in the preview I usually have to zoom out one level. From there I can copy the HTML and paste it into the Html editor in blogger.

Notes: Using Eclipse to parse the GPX sucks the life out of my laptop. I really need a lighter editor or a bigger computer to be doing that kind of manipulation. One thing that helps is to delete any tracks outside the window of my trip first. Still it's hard to work with and a small xml parser could do the job so I really should write something to do it for me.

Second, having a lot of maps on the page seems to slow it down and many trackpoints don't help. I have the impression using track colorization rather than speed would help but I find it interesting to see how fast I was going in different areas.

Finally, I've just realized I can now upload kmz files to Google Docs. This will allow me to avoid the 200 point limit and should make it easier to organize my maps. Also the track curves look smoother, not as jagged. I can put the link to the kmz file in the Google Maps search box and it will bring up the track. From there I can jump to step 5. I'll have to see what impact this method will have on page loading.

Day One: Smuggler's Notch

View Fall 2010 Day 1 in a larger map

Maynard, MA to Smuggler's Notch
Distance: 245.4 mi

Day Nine: Maynard, MA

October 2: Portland, ME to Maynard, MA

miles: 137

time: 2.5 hours

Slept in for a while on the Aerobed in my old room. Called Katie to make plans for lunch. First thing had to get some oil, the sight had been looking lower and lower, so I headed up to Street Cycles in Falmouth to buy a couple quarts, one for now, another for later. Came closest to dropping the bike by taking it off the center stand on some uneven pavement. Fortunately I was smart enough to stand on the side I thought it might tip and saved it. Took the boulevard in near Deering to meet Katie and Bill for lunch at a Chinese place then an episode of NCIS: LA... Chinese was good, new NCIS not so much. I called it NCIS meets Saved By The Bell. Weird. Finally took the last leg back home. Even had time to wash my bike before the rain came in.

Now the unpacking starts.

Fin.

Day Eight: Portland, ME via The Cat

October 1: Kejimkujik National Park of Canada to Portland, ME

miles: 125

time: 3 hours


View 2010_10_02 in a larger map

We boiled up the last of the original water I brought for oatmeal- the water I got from the camping area this morning looking awfully yellow for my taste, then packed up our camping stuff to hit the road. On the ride out of the park I saw the porcupine I had seen last night a mile or so from where we had seen him before. Still eating grass but this time he rustled toward the bushes when he heard us coming.

Turned out to be a cold day. Temp on my bike hung around 53F but it seemed more biting than the other days. We stuck mostly to rt 1 when we could and took 101 when appropriate. It turned out to be a little challenging finding a place for lunch this time of year, many places are closed for the season already but we did find a good diner to warm up and get a couple lunches.

The Cat Ferry was easy to find, just follow the signs when you get to Yarmouth. We even had almost an hour to spare before loading onto the boat. The ride itself was pretty nice, we saw a couple porpoises and maybe whales, nothing really jumping out of the water so it was hard to tell exactly what you were looking at. On the boat there wasn't much to see, a bunch of older people on a tour. The best view was out of the back of the ship, seeing the rooster tail and the wake. From the front the seem doesn't seem very fast. The sound of the casino though nearly drove me insane, we didn't have the best choice of seats since we had to secure our bikes once we made it on and bikes were one of the last groups to be loaded.

Once we got to Portland we found our bikes made the trip without incident even though the ride wasn't exactly calm. It is a quick jaunt to my parent's house after getting through Customs at the ferry terminal which was good because it was getting to be a chilly night.

Day Four: Inverness, NS

September 26: Cavendish, PEI to Inverness, NS

miles: 208 ridden

time: 7 hours with the ferry

View day4 in a larger map

The ride out of PEI was nice, good roads and finally out of the rain. We drove through Charlottetown towards Wood Islands to catch the 12:30 NFL ferry to Nova Scotia. The ferry ride was nice too, 75 minutes. We got lunch as we rode.

Decided to bypass Port Hawkesbury and find some camping along the Ceilidh Trail. The first option at Port Hooddidn't look great, an arena in a field, exposed to the sea. The next option at Mabou hadn't opened this year. That's how we ended up at Inverness Beach Village.

Dinner was a cafe in town, Coalminer Cafe I think. Another couple from, I think Vancouver, maybe Calgary, were the only other patrons on our side of the restaurant and were interested in talking. The had come in from Newfoundland and were headed through PEI toward St. John, so the way we had just come.

Back at the campsite, I found a friendly dog waiting when I left the washrooms. He startled me at first but turned out to be really friendly. He was huge but very friendly, wanted his belly rubbed more than anything. He stayed at the campsite for a couple hours after following me back.

Day Three: Cavendish, PEI

Sept. 25: St. John, NB to Cavendish, PEI
miles: 220
time: 6 hours


View day3 in a larger map

First the rain, then the wind, oh the wind. Today was a test: rainy, cold, windy. In the 40s and rainy but the worst was the wind. Especially on the bridge out to PEI. But otherwise the countryside was beautiful. Prince Edward Island seems like it could be a worderful place to see in the right conditions. With all the wind churning the ocean I would have loved to get a dramatic photo of the seaside but the rain kept my camera in it's home today. We also decided to go for a relatively cheap cabin rather than camp to give our gear a chance to dry. Not a bad day, I hope I didn't give the wrong impression, just a lot of adventure and some battling against the elements.
Now off to find a hearty dinner.

Day Two: Saint John, NB

Sept. 24: Portland, ME to Saint John, NB
miles: 300
time: 7 hours

View day2 in a larger map

Lots of miles today. Set out with dad this morning around 9. Great weather for riding, started out a little warm at 70 but soon fell to around 65 for the rest of the ride. Crossed the border in Calais. Not a problem but more security than there used to be. Apperently I followed too closely to the car in front when we pulled in to the booth? I didn't see any instructions...
Had lunch at a little diner before Calais, nothing special.
Hotel tonight, oh the luxery. Off to find dinner now, not a lot of prospects nearby. -kp

Day One: Portland, ME

September 23: Maynard, MA to Portland, ME

miles: 124

time: ~2.5 hours with a big stopover in the middle

View day1 in a larger map

A working day but worked the morning at home so I could finish packing. As soon as I got to work my coworker friends were in the parking lot to usher me to Flatbread. I'll miss working so close to such a great pizza place.

After an unremarkable afternoon and a final meeting I headed up to Portland. Had some of my mom's spaghetti. A good day food-wise. It hardly feels like the trip has started, being at my parents place, but I am on my way- a few more miles on the R1200R.

Tomorrow should be more interesting.

Nova Scotia Loop Trip

My next trip begins tomorrow. I leave Massachusetts in the afternoon and over the course of a couple days I'll make my way up to Meat Cove at the northern tip of Nova Scotia.

Check back to see how things go, I'll try to keep updating as I travel.
-kp