….2 Wheels To East Coast

This morning we caught the ferry from Digby to Saint John, headed up the highway and we are overnighting in Edmonston.  Tomorrow we are going to head into Old Quebec and spend a little time there.  Nothing interesting to add today as the highway is pretty boring.  We did however get 100% totally soaked, drenched and washed not 3 minutes away from the hotel.

Yesterday we made our way North from Lunenberg up to Middleton to meet my friend and moderator of my Yamaha Motorcycle website. Mike is the man that “in a nutshell” runs the site and keeps members in check. I have never meet him, nor have I ever talked to him on the phone, we have only conversed through website. Co-incidentally he lives only 5 minutes from Middleton and he met us for coffee at the Timmies. Then he proceeded to take us for an awesome ride through the Annapolis Valley to the different leather shops in the area. I picked up a new vest & Joce got some kickbutt riding boots. We then headed to another small village for lunch. This ride was amazing. It was the first time during the trip that I could wear a t-shirt, the sun was shinning bright, and it was HOT!!! Thanks again Mike for being a great host and for taking care of the YMF site.

In the afternoon we headed West to New Minas so that Joce and I could catch the UFC 100 at the local Boston Pizza. We were there at 8:00. UFC didn’t start untill 11. Bar tab Big. For those of you that watched the UFC I don’t need to explain anything.

Today we made our way to Digby (in the rain) but when we arrived it stopped and we were pleasantly surprised by Digby. Digby kicks *ss. What a great little town. It has everything you could possibly want. We are staying at the Seaside Inn that is right on the Gulf. We just finished the biggest seafood supper I have ever had. Scallops, Escargots, more scallops & LOBSTER. This time we got to pick our own. I had a nice 2lb’R. I’m so stuffed I could explode. I hurt. As we were eating the tide went out (about 30ft worth) and we walked along the shore back to our motel. Quit the experience since not 3 hrs earlier we were looking at the seaweed floating in the water.

Tomorrow we are taking the ferry to St. Johns and making our way to Edmonston.

Useless Fact Of The Day:  Don’t ask the locals about what is interesting about the next town, as they will always lie to you.

Funny Fact of the Day:  Locals are full of crap.

Today we woke up and scarfed down a quick breakfast before we headed on the road. Rob and Mark were actually in Truro this morning so we stopped by the motel for a group shot and to get caught up. They are now on their way to Antigonish to visit Rob’s family and then making their way up to Newfoundland (although their ferry is now delayed by 3 hrs).

We headed off to Peggy’s Cove as this was supposedly the thing to do in Nova Scotia. It’s a nice place, very commercialized and the lighthouse is under construction (you would think they would do this during the off season, just like all the construction on the roads). I did manage to snap off a few “classic” Peggy Cove images. I noticed that these boats are the same boats in all the images you see of Peggy’s Cove. They are actually “props” that are maintained every year.

We are now in Lunenberg which was  great ride.
 

Where I tried Oysters for the very first time.

Useless fact of the day: Oysters look like boogers

Funny fact of the day: Fish cakes have finally caught up with me.

Bought a few little trinkets and such and I bought a couple of 5×7 prints from a local Wild Life Photographer.  He had some awesome Macro photography and some great captures of the Bald Eagles. His site is http://www.jesse-botanical.deviantart.com/

We now just finished supper that included live entertainment.  Belly Dancers.  Was kind of odd considering the establishment we were in, and within 10 minutes we realized that they were amature belly dancers.  No, we were not in that kind of establishment.   Mom had the lobster and it was amazing how protective she is over her seafood.  I didn’t think that an ordinary supper fork could puncture a human hand.  We are now trying to find some gauze and tape for Reg.  

Funny fact of the day#2: Mom has now said REGGIE!! 62 times during this trip.

Well we are back in Nova Scotia. After spending 1.5 hrs at a yamaharley dealer getting my bike checked out, we managed to get back on the road around 12:00 and headed on towards Truro NS. It seems that I have a rear ignition coil that is starting to go South and the only thing I can do is ride until it fails. These things are not readily stocked and it seems that Yamaha has them on backorder so even if I did need one now I couldn’t get it it. Not to sure. I can get the bike up to any speed I want if I give it normal acceleration, but If I just twist the throttle to the max in one twist it sputters as it accelerates. At 120 - 130 Km/hr the engine purs like a kitty on cracknip (not that I’m doing 120 km that often ) The sun is shinning bright and the weather has warmed up. I actually got to ride without a jacket today. Last night we stayed at a Quality inn in Sydney that had a great room, but the food and service sucked the big one. They didn’t really care either. So for those of you that are thinking of staying here, I wouldn’t. I’m writing this because I told them I would, because their service and attitude sucked, and the fact that they didn’t care just made it more……………..crap. Even the “continental” breakfast was crap. I mean, I could have found something better in the lobster traps that are stacked up on the docs. It’s nice that they have a FREE continental breakfast for the guests, but fruit loops, rice krispies, stale cinnamon buns, and dry toast does not constitute a continental breakfast. At least they could have had some Oatmeal, but no, when mom had ordered it, the cook looked disgruntled. I would to if I had to actually do some work while I was working.

Luckily the rest of the day was icing on the cake. We had a great ride around Bras D’Or lake, stopped at a great Fish ‘n’ chips restaurant in Big Pond NS (where I snapped the pic for Stress Relief) and had a great supper at the hotel we are staying at now in Truro.

Tomorrow we are making our way down to Peggy’s Cove and Lunenberg and then over to Digby to take the ferry to Saint Johns. I’ll keep you posted.

Useless fact of the day: There are passing lanes on all hills in NS. This is useless to you if your not in NS.

Funny Fact of the day: Don’t try the stress relief remedy below if your not stronger than the other person.

Today we we woke up and boarded Captain Marks Whale watching tours out of Pleasan Bay NS.  We immediatley saw Bald Eagles and a crapload of Pilote Whales.  They large suckers came right up to the boat.

We then proceeded down the rest of the Cabot Trail which was very twisty and mostly downhill, not something I recommend for an inexperienced rider, or someone who is afraid of heights.  We stopped for lunch at Ingonish where I had yet again “fishcakes” and tried to acquire their wireless internet.  I don’t know if Nova Scotia Residents know what WIFI really is.  Most of the motels offer free wireless which consists of a wireless router that is in a building 1000 ft away from your room.    I have better luck connecting to the internet by plugging my cable into a moos’s butt and putting tinfoil on his antlers than I do at most of these establishments.

Now for some comedic relief.  Here is Joce doing the happy sun dance aboard the ferry to PEI

Tomorrow we are heading to a local bike shop to have them check over my bike. I think I have some bad gas (The bike) as it seems to sputter anytime I gun the gas ove r 120 KM (usefull for passing transport riggs).   Then we are going to make our way down the coast of Nova Scotia towards Peggy’s Cove.

The weather now is sunny and we are starting to see more bikers on the road.  The nice thing about the crappy weather is that all the motels are offering “off season rates” as the tourism is down.  This has saved us some $ that we can now spend on googaws for the bike. :)  Although we have eaten a lot of seafood, I notice that the majority of restaurants are just like our Greeeeeesy Spoons.  Yes they offer lobster and Scallops, but the rest of the menu is dreep fried this, hamburgers, and nachos.  In the next 2 days we are on a mission to dine at a 100% Classic Seafood Restaurant.  I’ll keep you posted on what we find.

Useless fact of the day: We had our first restaurant that didn’t have Soya Sauce.

Funny fact of the day:  Joce is still doing the jig.

Yesterday we got an early start at and headed to Woods Island to catch the 10:00 Ferry to Nova Scotia.  It was a quick
hr & 1/2 scoot across the pond in which we had a great eggs & bacon breakfast (this was better than most restuarants).
After landing in Pictou we headed to a carwash to clean the bikes.  We accumulated alot of dirt and bugs over the past week
and it was starting to build up. You couldn’t even see any part of my oil filter.  After that we headed to Cape Breton
and the Cabot Trail and GUESS WHAT?  THE SUN CAME OUT AND SHONE DOWN FROM THE HEAVENS AND BATHED US IN IT’S EVERLASTING
WARMTH!!!  No kiddin, no less than 1 minute after getting on the Cabot Trail, the clouds were gone and the sky was clear.
I can’t imagin doing this ride any other way, it wouldn’t be the same cloudy and raining.  We stopped at the first
scenic lookout so that we could walk on the beach and taste the salt water.  We then headed farther up the trail
to Pleasant Bay where we stayed at the Mountain View Motel with free wifi internet (that has a working radious of 4 feet,
hence why this post is a day late).   Today we are finishing up the Cape Breton and moving down the Eastern Coast of
Nova Scotia.

Useless Fact Of The Day: Most seafood chowder is “Seafood Soup”, not chowder.

Funny Fact Of The Day: I found a bag of Lobster flavoured Potatoe Chips

So like I said yesterday we were going for a $16.99 Lobster dinner, and a lobster dinner we had.  2 lobsters, 2 PEI potatoes and deep fried dill pickles. We then walked around downtown Charlottetown for awhile checking out the scenery.  This morning after a cup of joe and a bran muffin we headed out to explore PEI.  It was windy today but the clouds were high and there was no rain in the forecast.    We made a quick stop at the Red Rock Harley Davidson Shop FUN.

Riding through PEI is like riding through Manitoulin Island except it’s alot greener and with bigger hills.  We decided to leave the coastline and travel through the interior for some different views.  We had lunch at a great little Ma & Pop shop in New Glasgow (I had fishcakes) and then headed towards Wood Island to check the ferry schedules to  Nova Scotia.

We are now in Murray Harbour and staying at the Murray Harbour Motel.  I took some new interior and exterior images for this place as the images do not do it justice.  The place is CLEAN, very cozy and has everything we need, like  wireless internet.  Talking to the owners I discovered that they are from South Korea, living in Vancouver for the past 14 years, and after visting this place last month, they bought it.  Now they live here running this motel.

Quick useless fact: I had lobster again tonight.

Funny fact of the day: I found a farm called “Hoof Hearted Petting Farm”  Say that fast.  Google map it you don’t believe me.

Tomorrow we are taking the ferry to NS and riding to Cape Breton to ride the Cabot Trail.

Because I have so many images to post I added them into this gallery.

Well, we are all settled in Charlottetown at the SouthPort Motel.  We only had 15 mintues of warm rain today, the rest of the day was warm and cloudy.  The sun did shine upon us as we crossed confederation bridge into PEI.    We are off to town for a lobster dinner (2 lobsters for $16.95, and they aren’t frozen either.).  Tomorrow, not sure what we are doing, I know we are going to take the ferry at Woods Islands into NS but I think we will venture out around PEI for awhile.

We find the oddest things stuck to the bottom of our shoes.

We need to Shower.

moms seafood stirfry in Shediac

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We are now over the bridge on PEI. In the information center trying to figure out what we want to do next, or where we want to say. Fishing. Yup, that’s what’s on my mind now. Stay tuned, I’ll post again tonight (if we have internet)

That’s what we are hoping for.

Here are the top 5 things I don’t like about motorcycling.

5.  Motorcycling through Montreal
4. Bugs
3. Turning one way while your mother turns the other. (this is a good one)
2. Rain
1.  That cold rain that somehow finds it’s way into the top part of your jacket, then proceeds to trickle down your back, and deposit itself in the crack of your butt.

We are in Miramichi today.  We arrived last night after riding the 135km highway from hell. 

After  Plantagenet we made our way through Montreal, tried to by-pass Quebec but we get sucked in by a wrong turn and several cold hours later we made our way to Rivier Du Loup.  We overnighted there at a small Country motel with water pressure that can stripe the hair off your back.  Yesterday morning we awoke to no change in the weather (I had more rain in the first 3 days of this trip than I did my whole Alaska Trip) and made our way to New Brunswick.   After stopping in Grand falls for some scenic pleasure and restocking of supplies (The rain hits you in the face kinda hard at 120km, and instead of spending $45 on facemasks from the dealers, Joce and Mom bought $5 extra large T-shirts and cut out the sleaves.  Perfect face masks, talk about Frugal bikers. ) Reg talked to a fellow Harley rider (I don’t trust them anymore) that told us to go along Highway 108 to the Gulf.  Very nice 2 lane highway straight through New Brunswick.  All the riders take the highway, very nice.  I don’t know the last time he was on that road, but picture 100km of Maley Drive.  Crap our camp road was better than this.  There was NOTHING for 135 km.  No houses, no gas, no people, just a moose.   After about an hour of riding I thought, well, it couldn’t get any worse………….rain.  Then, after that I thought, well, it couldn’t get any worse………………GRAVEL!……….WET GRAVEL!   I didn’t want to think it could get any worse than that as I was affraid that Big Foot would come out of the bush and have his way with me.

Today we are supposed to make our way through PEI…………in the rain.  I don’t think we will see the sun until around Wednesday.  They say NB and NS do see some sun during the summer so I hope we get a chance to see it.  Looking outside now it’s raining.  At least it’s a warm rain right?  That’s good right?  Stupid rain.

Just when you think out miss it.

My bike is still faster.

A brief moment without rain.

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