Day 49: Fri., July 31: Sarnia ON to Grayling MI

Anneke and Offroad Ed and I parted this morning after breakfast in Sarnia -- me to hit Highway 402 west to Michigan and them to head north homewards. Sad to say goodbye -- these two are good folks!

Not a terribly interesting day riding-wise as I've been on interstates all day - first the I-65 out of Port Huron after I crossed the international bridge and then I-75 to get me into Northern Michigan. It was another windy day, so I'm pretty bagged -- early to bed it will be for this ol' chicken ... BOK BOK.

Tomorrow, I'll aim for Charlevoix, where my great-great grandparents farmed. I believe there is some scenic riding to be had around there, and then I'll head across the Mackinac Bridge further north. Not sure how far I'll actually get beyond that -- depends on how much fun I'm having, I guess LOL

Later, gang!

Day 48: Thurs, July 30: Mount Forrest to Sarnia ON

Well, the day started nicely with Offroad Ed cooking a yummy breakfast for us (with Elliott the Wonder Dog trying to mooch the whole time LOL).

Anneke and I got packed up as the two of us were riding off to Sarnia along the coast of Lake Huron with Offroad Ed to follow later in the evening to meet up with us. (As I write this, he hasn't arrived yet.)

It was beautiful weather, so we had a really pleasant ride. Anneke led as far as a place called Kincardine and I led the rest of the way.

BTW, we stopped for lunch in a place called Kettle Point near Ipperwash run by a tribal group - tax-free, yet :-) The food was scrumptious, so if you are ever by that way, stop in and enjoy!

Essentially, we just followed our noses along Highway 21 and then Highway 7 and lucked into a great hotel (the Village Inn) just off an exit on Highway 402 -- so it should be an easy getaway tomorrow morning -- them homeward bound north and me west to Michigan.

Day 47: Wed, July 29: Orangeville to Mount Forrest ON

Day 47 Orangeville to Mount Forrest

Hmmm, well, I guess you'll notice that pics of Niagara Falls are conspicuous here by their absence. Fact is, I looked out the window this morning at the crappy rain pouring down and decided to give it a miss. Instead, I did a little tour of villages and hamlets in Huron County, where some of Big Daddy's ancestor's hailed from, which is most of the pics you see.

Then I headed up a bit further north to Anneke and Offroad Ed's summer place at Mount Forrest. We had a great afternoon with their grandsons and Elliott, the Wonder Dog, followed by a steak BBQ prepared by Ed and sitting around the campfire.

Now, I should mention here, I had a leeetle bit of trouble getting into the 'compound' they have their trailer at. Anneke had said to stop at the barrier 'straight ahead after I came in the gate'. So, I toodled ahead, because I could see a barrier in the distance -- seems, however, I had the wrong barrier -- one which did not open AT ALL. So there I was, at the very end of a gravel lane, too narrow to do a UE and too uphill to back up, so I said the hell with it and did an overland scoot through a wide, shallow ditch, over a small curb, between two other barriers and hey presto, got in -- good thing no-one was watching, though LOL (Look out Steve McQueen!)

I finally wound up using the sleeping bag I've been lugging around, BTW. I woke up in the middle of the night freezing cold and finally remembered I had it with me, and hey, presto -- warm snugglies at last :-)

Tomorrow it's off to Sarnia in preparation for the cross to Michigan.

Hasta la vista

Day 46: Tues., July 28: Port Perry to Orangeville ON

After a hearty breakfast with Sue, Bill, Edna and Bill, and fond farewells, I set off for Huron County and environs. Didn't quite make it, but close -- got to Orangeville about 3:00 and decided that was enough for one day. I didn't actually ride that far, but it took forever because I chose to go via Hwy. 7, which was just so slow and congested, I got fed up with it all.

Anyway, when I stopped for a break, I texted Anneke and Offroad Ed, cuz I realized when I lookin' at my map, that their summer place in Mount Forrest wasn't too far away. I thought perhaps we could get together for lunch tomorrow, but that didn't fit into their plans, so instead, they jumped in the car and headed up here to Orangeville and took me out to dinner - what a blast; Conga libations and lotsa laffs - just as if we'd never been apart.

So, yakking away, we started looking at some maps and Ed decided I couldn't possibly go home without having ridden down to Niagara Falls; so, weather permitting, tomorrow that will be the plan -- I will ride down there and back about to Burlington, where I'll meet up with Ed and we'll head to their place in Mount Forrest for the night.

Next day, Anneke and I will ride around Huron County, so I can get some pics of the area where Big Daddy's ancestors lived and then the next day or day after, they will both ride down to Sarnia with me, where I will cross into Michigan. (We may be joined by a gal from Windsor, if I can hook up with her too.) Sooo, tomorrow looks like being a busy, busy day!


Port Perry Pics

Day 45: Mon., July 27: Kingston to Port Perry ON

I was up bright and early this morning -- but not early enough to beat Michele and Laurie, who were up with the birds to head off for their early morning swim :-)

By the time they returned to the house, I had packed up my stuff and was just getting Delilah loaded to head off on a run through Prince Edward County. They got ready for work and we all had a big hug and said our goodbyes (as I said at the time, it seemed funny to be waving them off from their own house!)

What a fabulous time I had with these two lovely gals -- they are truly helpful and caring women to their sisters-on-the-road, as well as being able and welcoming hostesses -- thanks, Goils for making my stay so comfy and cozy HUGZ.

Laurie had suggested that, on my way to Port Perry to see my friend Sue from back home, I ride out on Hwy 33, also known as the Loyalist Parkway, which meanders along the shore of Lake Ontario from Kingston to the Elora ferry to Picton and thence to Prince Edward County, where there is a lotta great riding to be had. I got started out of Kingston about 8:00 a.m. and encountered practically zip traffic-wise, so it was really pleasant - sun and the lovely, curvy road all to myself -- mmm-hmm, don't get much better than that :-)

I arrived at the ferry terminal just as one was unloading and so didn't have to wait long; the ride itself was short too; a pleasant morning interlude.

Riding through Prince Edward County I was struck with firstly, how little traffic there was (seemed to be hardly any tourists around) and secondly, how many tiny farms lined the roadway -- really a pretty sight ... and most of the towns throughout the county were very quaint, with a lot of buildings from the early 1800's. Gawjus!

I continued on Hwy 2, which took me through Coburg, Colborne and other small towns and villages in between, until Port Hope where I headed north on Hwy 28, intending to make a segue onto Hwy 7A and thus onto Port Perry, but due to some road work at the junction of 28 and 7A, I couldn't get on at that point and wound up making a huge detour around it all -- luckily, Gertie the Garrulous GPS did 'er bit and got me there fine.

Sue and I had a great old natter after dinner along with her dad and some old family friends of theirs, Don and Edna, so it was a fine, relaxing evening -- no Conga libations there, but we sure made short work of a couple of bottles of wine ;-)



EDITED TO ADD: Day 45 Kingston to Port Perry ON

Video: Ferry to Picton

Day 44: Sun., July 26: Kingston

Ah, this was a super day too. Laurie, Michele and Deb (who came back and stayed overnight with us Saturday) and I breakfasted together and then the three of them went off to ride to Deb's place in Port Hope and back, which wound up taking a good deal of the day.

In the meantime, I stayed home with the doggies, Idgie and Seely, and got down to business uploading over a hundred pics and videos via Laurie and Michele's much faster internet connection.

I also set up a photo album page for them, as well as doing some blogging, all of which took pretty much all the time they were gone. Soooo, I felt quite smug and virtuous that I got my 'homework' done (Michele is a TOUGH taskmistress LOL) and also had a little rest from riding.

They came back with shish-kebabs and fresh green beans for a BBQ dinner, as well as lots of lovely red wine (I'm really likin' that 'Fuzion' brand :-)

Off to bed fairly early as we all have to be up promptly tomorrow a.m. -- me to head off westwards to meet up with my friend Sue in Port Perry and them to 6:00 a.m. swimming and then back to work.

EDITED TO ADD: Day 44: Kingston - Michele Doubles Deb

Video: Michele Doubles Deb

Day 43: Sat., July 25: Kingston - Motor Maids Pool Party

Kingston Motor Maid Pool Party

We had a totally great day today. After imbibing excellent fresh-brewed, fresh-ground coffee at breakfast, along with my first taste of steel-cut oatmeal with brown sugar and cream (yum!), the weather cooperating nicely, we headed out on a lovely ride before heading off to the BBQ and Pool Party at Tammy's.

We (Laurie, Michele, Bonnie and me) first stopped by the CAA office to stock up on state maps for my Michigan-Wisconsin-Minnesota-North Dakota jaunt as well as maps for Laurie's Motor Maid contingent who will be heading off to AMA in Colorado in August.

Then we headed off on a circular jaunt from Kingston which eventually fetched us up a couple of hours later for an ice-cream/french fry interlude(I MUST remember NOT to buy small portions anymore LOL). We went up hill and down dale and around sharp curves by lakes and boat launches and farms and quaint villages and I don't know what all. At some point we stopped to meet up with Shannon, another Motor Maid and then headed off to the BBQ at Tammy's.

You can see from the pics that there was a good crowd attending -- the food was yummy - hot dogs, burgers and corn provided by our hosts, Tammy and John and pot-luck goodies by the rest of the gals. (I, as usual, was a freeloader ;-) ) A strawberry-cheesecake cum shortcake dessert worthy of Martha Stewart appeared as if by magic off the motorcycle of one 'Hooper', as well as salads and butter tart squares and such . Fabuloso!

Sadly, heavy rain threatened and we had to cut evening short so everyone could get home safely -- a number of gals came from very far away -- Ottawa, Toronto, Port Hope, etc. etc. Too bad, Goils -- maybe next year you'll get to see the planned fireworks!

We were very lucky to just get sprinkled on, on the ride home -- just as we pulled into the driveway, the heavens opened ... have I told yah yet, I'm lucky that way??? LOL

Day 42: Fri., July 24: Spencerville to Kingston ON

Well, up early this a.m. to get organized and get Delilah packed up and ready to go promptly as Norma and Colome (sp?) and Dottie were going to ride me to Gananoque to meet up with Motor Maid Laurie who would be leading me to Kingston.

It was my first meeting with Norma and Colome and they were both a gas -- well experienced riders with great senses of humour - had a great time coffeeing with 'em at Dottie's before we headed off. Norma's the only tailgunner I've met so far BTW who could do it from the front o' the line (ahem) ;-)

Not too long after we got on the road, as we got onto the Parkway, it started to absolutely pour. It wasn't bad as it was warmish, but was really pounding down so yah could hardly see. In fact, there were such deep puddles on the right-hand side of the road in spots, that poor Colome looked like she was water-skiing through a wall of water. LOL We had to stop, so she could take out her hearing aids, cuz she was prolly gonna get electrocuted any moment LOL (well not really, but maybe).

We met up with Laurie at Timmie's in Gan and my trio of escorts headed off in various directions, rushing off to do things in their own busy lives. I'm very grateful that they rode with me -- real troopers alla them -- it woulda been so easy to bow out of getting soaking wet -- but they stuck with me all the way :-)

So, Laurie and I headed off, she in the lead of the course cuz Ole Willi had no idea where she was or which direction to head off in ;-) We zipped off on back roads with practically zero traffic, that twisted and turned through the countryside forever -- a great scenic ride.

Then, we rode down to Kingston Mill and Locks, which is the site of a very old set of stone buildings and we watched some boats (very fancy cruisers) being lifted in the lock to the next level. I video'd a lot of the 'action' (watching water rise is not really terribly riveting, but I'll try to get the vid's uploaded for your viewing pleasure ;-) ). (Sadly, this is the location where recently three daughters and their aunt were found in a car under the water -- floral tributes were already in place from local folks.)

After that, we headed to Laurie's place in Kingston where we had a nice lunch and retired to the backyard deck for a libation or two. I amused Laurie with my word-for-the-day, 'devotee' (look THAT one up in your Funk and Wagnall's, gang LOL). I was also privileged to hear Koby, Michele's son, practising playing his flute -- a beautiful interlude :-)

Another Maid, Bonnie, popped by for a chat and pop and then when Michele got home from work, off we went for all-yah-can-eat Japanese food and a terrific drive around Kingston and Fort Henry. What a great day. We giggled and tee-hee'd a lot and had a lotta laffs -- these two are fabulous hostesses, making me feel totally at home - I'm being spoilt rotten ... yet again :-)

EDITED TO ADD: Spencerville to Kingston

Day 41: Thurs., July 23: Upper Canada Village

Ah, what a life - sleep late, grab a shower, get served fresh coffee and breakfast, get driven all over site-seeing, get taken out to lunch, get taken out to dinner, get taken for more site-seeing -- a person could get very used ta this royal treatment LOL

As you can see, I've been having a little break from riding today. Dottie, her little 5-year old granddaughter, Jenny and I went to Upper Canada Village nearby and spent a good part of the day visiting the buildings and hearing what the conservators in each one had to say about it.

For those of you who aren't familiar with it, Upper Canada Village (at Morrisburg, ON) is composed of buildings which were moved from other areas along the St. Lawrence River in the late 50's, early 1960's for conservation during the building of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Because the river was widened and deepened in order to allow huge freighters to sail down the St. Lawrence to the Great Lakes, six villages/hamlets were going to be totally flooded out, so as many buildings as possible were moved out.

Some people elected to have their homes moved to new sites, some accepted expropriation money from the Government, but it was a real hardship for all -- these historical villages are called the 'lost villages' -- a very sad consequence of so-called 'progress' I think -- lotsa history just gone down the tubes.

Anyway, it was a great time and then Dottie and hubby John took me out to a yummy pub dinner at the Red George pub across the way in Prescott - a fun ending to the day.

So, now it's time to get packed up and be ready at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow to head off to meet up with some of the Motor Maids in Gananoque and thence on to Kingston for the weekend, where Motor Maid Laurie has kindly offered me a bed and some fun rides on side roads to do plus an MM BBQ and swim -- really looking forward to that and getting some pics up. (I did take a few pics today and will try to get them uploaded pronto.)

Sad to be leaving Dottie and John, (and their loving pooch, Babe) who are fabulous hosts and lots of fun as well -- we've had some pretty good giggles together and I'm really hoping I can convince them to come on a meet-in-the-middle trip another year!

So, hasta la vista, All, till tomorrow night!

EDITED TO ADD: Upper Canada Village

Day 40: Wed., July 22: Burllington, VT to Spencerville, ON

Halleluiah, back on Canadian soil! Not that I didn't enjoy my American soujourn, but ain't nothin' that beats home, IMHO.

So, here I am sittin' yakkin' with Dottie ... again; stuffed with food ... again; and drinkin' Canuck Chicks Coolers ... again LOL (We are 'celebrating' how well her job interview went for her dream job -- workin' a local archive, so fingers XXX'd!)

I was a lucky girl yet again, with very little rain on the way here, just intermittent spitting -- thank goodness it wasn't raining when I crossed that wretched International Bridge at Ogdensburg, NY - the blankety-blank thing is surfaced with that metal grating stuff AGGHHHH. The sign sez 'slippery when wet' -- well, it was bloody slippery when dry! Hate it! Left Burlington about 9:30 a.m. and got here about 3:30 p.m. -- it was a longish haul all right.

But, Dottie popped down to meet me and escorted me to her place on her bike and we've been busy planning what to do tomorrow -- Upper Canada Village with grandaughter, Jenny and then to see the 'Golden Helmets', the Ontario Provincial Police precision motorcycle team -- sounds like a good time to me!

Laurie of the Motor Maids has also been in touch and we've made some plans to meet up on Friday and the weekend, so really looking forward to that too.

Ain't life grand!

Day 39: Tues., July 21: St. Johnsbury to Burlington VT

Hmmm, not a very long trip today, you say? Sooo right -- as Robbie Burns once said, "The best laid plans of mice and men gang aft aglae." (or something like that) and go 'aglae' they bloody well did.

Arose this morning, got ready to go, went out to pack the bike and do my (now) usual walk-around and my back brand, spankin' new, less-than-a-week-old tire is flatter than semi-truck road kill ARGGGHHHHH How could this happen???

One of the chambermaids very handily had one of those little electric compressors so I was able to pump up the tire and then headed off to the tire store I'd seen down the street. No dice there - they "don't do motorcycles" -- the guy obviously couldn'ta given a $hit about my plight - he didn't even have any suggestions about who or where I might get help.

I remembered I'd seen a Yamaha shop down the road, so off I went, PRAYING the tire didn't go flat and annoying the hell out of all the drivers, cuz I rode REAL slow, just in case. Anyhoo, made it to Yammy and the service guy took a look and didn't think they could help -- but he was on the phone trying to find me another tire, when the motorcycle sales manager got down on his hands and knees and took a look all over the tire -- he couldn't find any marks or punctures; he got the Windex bottle out and sprayed around the rim and found the leakage area. Then called the service guy back and they pulled the wheel and tire and (eventually) found a pinhole in the tube. Which they figure happened when it was installed -- apparently, it is very easy to 'pinch' the tube when installing it -- more GRRRR.

So, I'm now riding around on a brand new tire with patched tube, which don't make me real happy. I'd like to get a new tube installed asap, so will have to watch out for another HD place, I guess. I'd like to give someone at Red Rock HD in Charlottetown an earful, I tell yah!

Anyway, after all the to-ing, fro-ing and general frickin' about, I didn't actually get underway today until about 12:30; got to Burlington about 2:45, had a bite to eat, intending to head much farther north, when the heavens opened up and I thought, "Eff this -- I've had enough stress for one day," and booked into the nearest Best Western for the night. I'll try again tomorrow LOL

I seem to remember, back in the day when I was taking flying lessons, that my instructor's favourite saying was, "Time to spare? Go by air!", meaning the blinkin' machines break down alla time -- sounds like motorcycles are on a par with that, I tell yah!

Anyway, I'm eternally grateful to the great guys at All Power Yamaha in St. Johnsbury, VT who really went above and beyond to find and fix my problem.

Day 38: Mon., July 20: Bangor, ME to St. Johnsbury, VT

I wasn't too far along U.S. Rte. 2 this morning, when the sign "Welcome to Mexico", gave me real pause. "WTF", I thought, "Where the heck am I? Boy, did I take a wrong turn somewhere". But no, pulling over to check my map, I discovered that there really is a town in Maine called Mexico. Too funny. It was sorta duded out a bit in western-cum-latin theme stuff, very unlike the rest of the areas I passed through.

First of all, I had gorgeous weather all day (and it's supposed to more of the same tomorrow) and secondly, although there were occasional clumps of traffic, Rte. 2 is a pretty low-stress ride. Speed limit is anything from 25 mph in small towns along the way, to 55 mph on longer, clear stretches.

Rte. 2 (according to Wikipedia) started life as the premier east-west highway in America, and was originally known as the Teddy Roosevelt Highway (that really appeals to me; I've had a soft spot for Ol' Teddy ever since my first viewing of 'Arsenic and Old Lace' -- and if you haven't seen THAT, you must -- at once!)

Today, you can still traverse the U.S. on Rte. 2; it is in two stretches - one goes from Everett, WA to the shores of Lake Michigan (I believe) and the second goes from east of Lake Ontario (?) through to Bangor, ME.

Anyway, it runs up and down hills and around corners, through twisties and the White Mountains, wending its way through every little town (and there are many) along the way. I love the towns -- each seems to have a bandstand in the park and a flagpole and the larger ones have a colonaded building that is either the courthouse or a local government building. Lots of folks have the Stars and Stripes flying and there is often a Historical Society and/or a Museum open. Most towns seem to have been established in the early 19th Century and there are plenty of vintage buildings too.

I loved every minute of this ride today -- I kept thinking of the town (River City, Iowa) in the musical film, 'The Music Man' and expecting a band to burst out in front of me any minute playing '76 Trombones' LOL

Anyway, I'm ensconced here at the 'Holiday Motel and Annex' (mustn't forget the Annex LOL) for the night ... and an early one I think it will be as I'm pretty tuckered. Just grabbed some very mediocre Italian food for dins and couldn't even be bothered to walk up the road to a place with a liquor licence to have a libation (quelle horreur!)

Nighty-night to All!

(Tomorrow will head a little further west and then north in Vermont towards the border.)

Day 37, Sun., July 19: Saint John, NB to Bangor, ME

Here SHE comes
To SAVE the day!
That means that Mighty Mouse
Is on her WAY!

Not really - just me! Heh, heh - I just love it when I can casually produce just the tool needed (in this case the right sized socket) to a stranded motorcyclist ... especially if it's a guy LOL (Acourse, I only have a lotta tools with me cuz Big Daddy insisted, so he should REALLY get the credit ...)

Anyway, I was zipping along Rte 9 through Maine between Calais, where I crossed at the International Border and Bangor, when I came across a Nebraska couple on a trike pulling a little tent trailer who were stopped at the side of the road, with him grovelling around on the ground beside it. I pulled in and asked what was the trouble and turns out his heel-toe shifter was acting up. I pulled out my magic 'bag o' tricks' and low and behold had the right socket (plus a fancy extension) which was just what the fella needed. (I think Wifey was pretty impressed)

Anyhoo, if you are ever riding in Maine, get on Route 9 -- what a fun road, lots of sweeping curves, speed limit 55-60 mph, lotsa passing areas so you have time to gawk at the scenery: plenty of evergreen forest and many little farms and garden centers. And when you have to reduce speed for the small towns in between Calais and Bangor, it's worth it to look at the lovely older homes, probably many from the 1800's and early 1900's with gingerbread trim and nice, big verandahs, mostly very well-kept. A very charming introduction to this part of the world.

And the weather was fabulous by the time I crossed into Maine -- sunny and bright, a little windy/gusty, but much better than pouring rain or the dense fog I had this morning all the way from Saint John almost to the border. I hadn't realized how much the topography climbed from Saint John to the border -- quite impressive and beautiful, actually. I'm very pleased I decided to come this away.

The weather is supposed to cooperate for the next few days, so I will be heading off tomorrow through New Hampshire, hoping to make it to Vermont and will report more then.

Day 36: Sat., July 18: Moncton to Saint John, NB

Well, another shortish day -- due to the wet, wet weather. It's not too bad here in the south side of Saint John, but I got pummelled all the way from Moncton to Sussex this morning, where I stopped for lunch and to wait for it to let up a bit, which luckily, it did.

It remained clear all the way to Saint John and I decided to stop for the night -- tomorrow it's supposed to be foggy in the a.m. and possible showers later on, mixed with some sun. I guess we takes what we gets LOL

On a more positive note, I spied an HD dealer down the road, so perhaps some fun may be had here after all ;-) ...

Hoping to head for Maine tomorrow.

Day 35: Fri., July 17: Charlottetown to Moncton, NB

Well, today's journey was a short one. It started to rain just as I was packing up the bike this morning, so I held off until about 10:00 and headed out when it looked like letting up. It stopped completely once I was about 20 km along, so that was great.

But that frickin' Confederation Bridge -- 13 km (well, 12.9 to be precise) of gawd-awful hellish WIND, WIND, WIND. The speed limit is 80 kmh and I was barely able to hold it at that. Sometimes the wind was head-on, sometimes it came from the side, but it was a white-knuckle ride, I tell yah. Campers and trailers coming toward me were pretty scary to behold as well -- I wasn't sure if I was gonna be picked up and chucked in their path or whether they'd be pushed in front of me, or mayhaps the tail-gating cretin behind me was gonna rear-end me but I was fairly certain Death was imminent!

Imagine my relief when I actually made it to terra firma ... that lasted about six seconds till I saw the huge yellow sign at the side of the road warning of EXTREME CROSSWINDS! Oh, no! Not again! So, I braced myself and waited and waited a bit more -- and very little happened. Oh yeah, there were crosswinds, but NOTHING like the ones on the Bridge -- trust the silly Government to get it wrong LOL

Tummy was grumbling after awhile so I zipped off at Shediac and found a great little homecooking joint called the Four Winds -- had a fabulous lunch of seafood chowder and haddock au gratin, served with real homemade coleslaw and real vegetables -- the last time I saw a cooked turnip on my plate was one I cooked at home ;-)

Well-fed and more energetic, I headed off again, thinking I might get as far as Saint John, but I only got a little way down the highway and it was all ripped up with those ribbed thingies, very slippery dry and thank Gawd it wasn't raining - it was a nightmare for about 10 km, so I got off at Moncton when I saw a Comfort Inn sign and here I am for the night -- I shall feast on my Uncle Ben's microwavable pseudo-food, drink a little red wine, route plan and maybe watch a little telly -- Boy, does Ole Willi know how ta live or WHAT, eh?? :-D

EDITED TO ADD: Just to let you all know, my mileage ('kilometerage'???) the day I left home was 11,145 km. It is now 21,186 km. You guyz can do the math LOL

Day 34: Thurs., July 16: Riding all over PEI

I blasted off on Delilah this morning about 9:30ish, determined to see the Island and to shake off yesterday's blues ... and I succeeded mahvelously, dahlings, I'm glad to say :-)

With the able assistance of a PEI Touring Map I picked up from Red Rock Harley Davidson yesterday, I set off north on Hwy 15 toward Brackley Beach and then segued my way over to North Rustico and Cavendish on Rte 6.

This area is where all Lucy Maud Montgomery fans congregate -- there are various popular spots - Green Gables, several LMM museums, her birthplace, etc. etc. I have to say that the area around her birthplace almost brought me to tears, I was so thrilled to see the setting of my favourite of her books, 'Jane of Lantern Hill', so faithfully replicated. I could almost hear the Snowbeam family and the Jimmy Johns nattering at each other over something LOL (And if you don't know who THEY all are, well buy the damn book and find out! ;-) )

I continued West and then south to Kensington (lovely old verandahed homes there) and then got onto Rte 11 which took me west and north all around the North Cape Coastal Drive, although somewhere along the way, I made an unintended lurch eastwards and wound up going up Hwy 2 and then deked off to Tigmarsh (Irish heritage there) and then north again to North Cape -- lotsa windfarms in that area, )plus an old lighthouse), which Big Daddy and I have seen in Alberta and Hawaii, but these were extra-impressive, as they seemed HUGE.

I then made my way back to Charlottetown, following Rte 14 on the west coast as much as possible, finally crossing back to Hwy 1A around Summerside. That part of the ride wasn't all that much fun as it is part of the TCH and everyone drives like crazy, but most of the day, I had very little traffic to contend with (you were RIGHT, Indie). I arrived back at the hotel about 7:45 p.m. with 424 km on the clock -- not a bad day's riding if I do say so myself. Mind you, I can't feel my thumbs yet - they are still somewhat numb ;-)

Anyway, the weather was fabulous, although it feels like it might rain a bit tonight; hopefully that will be over by morning, when I shall set out over the Confederation Bridge to New Brunswick. Not sure exactly how far I'll go tomorrow - we shall see what we shall see LOL

I will now upload some photos from today's ride -- with any luck, they'll be online before I hit the hay LOL

EDITED TO ADD: Riding all over PEI

Day 33: Wed., July 15: To the Repair Shop (Again!) and a Ride to Summerside

GRRRR ... I wonder if the world can hear the grinding of my teeth ... GRRR

I woke up exhausted this morning with all kinds of aches and pains in my arms, shoulder and especially my elbows ... and I realized that yesterday's ride to get here had been really taxing, and that in fact, riding had been becoming harder and harder physically.

I also realized that riding has not been as much fun as it had been previously. What is wrong, I wondered -- I then realized that is has just been plain hard work to wrestle around curves, etc. and the roads here are in quite rough condition in many spots ... and it has been plain hard work because the bike is not functioning as easily as it used to ... so, I abandoned my ride plans and rode Delilah straight over to Red Rock Harley Davidson to see if they could solve the problem.

I explained all about thinking that the front wheel is out of true, hard to steer, etc. even though tire pressure is fine, blah blah blah.

The technician took her for a ride and totally agreed that she was handling roughly like a 1946 John Deere tractor ... and then went to work on her for about an hour. Well, he pulled the cap off the steering column and discovered that the main bearing was loose, about 1 and 3/4 turns, which is quite a lot. They told me it was something that would normally have been done at each full service (!)

Anyway, I was happy about that; I took her for a ride but she still felt not quite right, although the massive vibration was gone, totally gone. Then he suggested to me that perhaps the back tire was the culprit as it was just about time to replace it, as it was getting that flat look. I told him to go ahead and do it - they did, I took it for a spin and it's like night and day. Thank goodness. So, all this tinkering and to-ing and fro-ing took about 3-1/2 hours.

So then I went off on my ride and wended my merry way to Summerside, a little seaside community. But I wound up on the way back to Charlottetown snarled up in rush-hour traffic and congestion (why is there always a semitrailer bearing down on me from somewhere???), so didn't really have as good a time as I'd have liked -- and I missed hooking up with the Steeletto's, which makes me a bit grumpy. Oh, well, maybe tomorrow.

I think I will eat chips, drink beer, watch violent, unredeeming shows on the TV and take my grumpy, sulky self off to bed ...

Day 32: Tues., July 14: North Sydney to Charlottetown, PEI

Holey Mazoley -- I CAN'T BELIEVE IT, but I'm now in my 10th of 10 provinces!!!!

YEE-HAW, I did it, I did it!!! Helped hugely, along the way, I must add, by a bevy of generous Canuck Chicks and a select few Cabana Boyz! T'anks to you all from de bottom of my heart :-D I think we ROCK!!!

And PEI is no exception -- a phone message was waiting for me at my hotel from Sue of the Steeletto's Lady Riders -- I called her back and she picked me up and whisked me off to a fabulous place called the Dunes for dinner -- it's also a combo art gallery, pottery, decorative garden all in one, so an absolutely fascinating venue -- we had a great time over a meal and then adjourned to her home for a Canuck Chicks Cooler.

I got to tour her wonderful heritage home (150 yrs. old), which has been in her family for generations, meet her wonderful mutt, Skye, and see her gorgeous Vulcan 1500 - the yummiest metallic purple you can imagine (Tanya would go nutz over it!). Oh yes, and how apropos, find out she is related to PEI's L.M. Montgomery - very kewl!

Sue provided me with some phone numbers of other Steeletto's, so hopefully will be able to hook up with one/some of them for a ride while I'm here :-)

My entire day was pretty fantastic. I packed up and headed for checkout from my hotel in North Sydney, expecting to have a chat to the manager about the rotten restaurant service yesterday, when what to my wondering eyes, my dinner bill had been comped for me -- pretty hard to make much of a fuss after that, so I just rode off on my merry way.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous -- I intended to take highway 4, to take me via Big Pond, so I could visit Rita McNeill's tearoom, but I ran into a bit of road construction on the outskirts of Upper North Sydney, which sent me down a different road -- 223 West, which was one of the most fun roads I've ever been on -- up hill and down dale, left-hand curves, right hand curves -- miles and miles of it, through villages like Ironstone (with the gaelic below it on the sign) and Highland Village, culminating at Little Narrows, with a ferry to take me across (what I believe to be) a section of the Bras d'Or Lakes, west of Baddeck onto Hwy 104.

I really hate that highway, as it is horrendously windy all the way -- across the Canso Causeway and right up to New Glasgow, NS. But that was the price I paid for a fabulous morning ride on 223, I guess ;-)

Just after the turnoff at Exit 22 for the PEI ferry, a huge raincloud came over and pounded me for about 5 km, then disappeared as quickly as it had arrived, the sun came out and beamed down on me and I arrived at the ferry, steam coming off my damp jacket and pants, just in time to head onto the boat -- talk about good timing, eh?

The ride to Charlottetown was not too bad -- many parts of the TCHwy were in rotten shape, frost heave and patches everywhere, so it made for a lot of 'slaloming' or lowering of speed, but I made it. GPS even located my hotel in a reasonably timely fashion too, so all was good. :-)

Tomorrow I plan to explore a bit in town and around, I think. And I believe there is a Steeletto's ride somewhere tomorrow evening, so hopefully I can hook up with the gals to do that. Looks like the weather is going to stay lovely for awhile, so all is good :-)

Now, I just have to think a bit on my revised route home. I'm fairly positive at this point that I will NOT do the Gaspe and Quebec, but will head down south through New Brunswick to Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Upper New York and thence over to Dottie's in Ontario and carry on down through Kingston, London, Windsor etc. Have to get out the maps and think on it!

Anyway, time to get to bed -- night All!

Day 31: Mon., July 13: Port Aux Basques to North Sydney, NS

OK ... I'm only gonna say this once, right?

If a video pops up on Youtube, purporting to be on the MV Smallwood, from Port Aux Basques to North Sydney, NS, featuring a chubby redhead essaying a frenetic but abbreviated version of a down-east step dance, well, it's not ME, riiight? It's someone else who looks like me, my doppleganger maybe, riiight? ... And that's all I have to say on the subject -- DO NOT ask me any questions about it ... AHEM.

Day 30: Sun., July 12: Corner Brook to Port Aux Basques, NL

This morning, just after I'd had my shower and got my hair dried, the phone in my room at the Comfort Inn rang, "Are yah decent? A fellah here wants to come down and talk ta yah", sez Enid the receptionist. "Well, I'm almost decent", I said, "What does he want?" So, Enid puts this guy on the phone who sez (in a thick Newfie accent), "Jaysus, I'm sorry Girl, but I knocked over yer blue 'n white boik here in da parkin' lot and she's layin' dere on 'er side, with all 'er gas leakin' outta 'er and she's gota coupla scratches, looks like ..."


Acourse, he never got a chance to finish his sentence, poor guy, cuz I went absolutely ape$hit on him -- I won't repeat what I said, but there were a lot of short explosive high-pitched utterances starting with the letter 'F' - I'll leave it to your imagination!

When he could get a word in edgewise, he roared with laughter and told me it was all a big joke - he was 'Ern' (friend of Mikey), the fellah who worked on my bike in Grand Falls.

He and his wife, Maureen and their friend Terry (another friend of Mike's that I had met) and his wife were staying at the same hotel; in fact they checked in after I did the previous night and Maureen recognized the bike immediately but the night receptionist wouldn't give them any info. They had to wait to see the day gal who had checked me in ta get hold of me LOL

Anyway, we had a good ole natter and laugh and Terry's wife had a sit on my bike and loved it, finding it a way better fit than her top-heavy Sporty 883. So, a great start to the day :-)

We hugged goodbye and they headed off back east to Grand Falls as I headed off to Port Aux Basques and decided to just go the whole way without stopping (212 km). It was a wonderful ride. The TCHighway is mostly 2-lane the whole way with lots of passing sections and there was barely any traffic going in my direction (being Sunday, I guess), so I enjoyed it immensely in the beautiful sunshine. It was quite windy but it really got horrendous the last 30 km as we neared the ocean -- Man, I thought my helmet was gonna get ripped right off my head! The last 15 km I did, bent forward over my tank behind the windshield, slowing down to about 80 kmh. There were warning signs about the wind all that way, and boy, they weren't kidding!

But here I am, stealing an internet signal from someone called 'Allen' and staying at the Shark Cove Suites, which is the only accommodation I could get. Let's just say that it ain't the Ritz and leave it at that ...

I'm a bit disappointed cuz I expected Port Aux Basques to exude charm and old worldliness -- what it exudes is general unkemptedness (is that a word?) and grit. Your basic ICK, only relieved by the presence of a Tim Horton's and a liquor store open on Sunday ;-) Oh well, I'll be up with the boids and heading for my ferry ride to Nova Scotia tomorrow (after a caffeine run to Timmie's) :-)


Day 30 Corner Brook to Port Aux Basques

Day 29: Sat., July 11: Rocky Harbour to Corner Brook, NL

Sooo, get a load of these two just getting ready to jump on their bike -- see the non-shoes she is wearing - don't they look like great protection? Just like her tank top. And the icing on this non-ATGATT pair is that their son and daughter-in-law were similarly attired. They thought it hilarious I had leathers and full gear on ... DUH!

This was a pretty easy day, riding-wise, as the trip was not a long one. After a 'hearty' breakfast (on the morning after the night before) (what happens on the road stays on the road ;-) ) at Rocky Point, Mikey, Tequila Sheila and I headed out back through Gros Morne Park to Deer Lake, where we parted company with many hugs (and much sadness on my part - they were great to me and we had a fab time together); they to return to Grand Falls and me to carry on down the TCHighway to Corner Brook.

I arrived about 12:30ish, which gave me plenty of time to devote to uploading all my pics to Photobucket -- thank goodness the connection at the hotel was a fast one - it took till about 5:00 p.m. to get them uploaded and linked to the blog (hopefully, this satisfies those who have been prodding me to git 'er done LOL).

I then treated myself to dinner in the hotel's restaurant, 'Jungle Jim's'. Yes, that name gave me pause too -- and it turned out for good reason LOL A Mexican-cum-Jungle-cum-I-dunno-what-kinda-theme. Dreadful service -- no-one looking after my table for about 15 minutes and then three different servers asking me the same questions repeatedly -- one seemed seriously DU-UMB. The food was indifferent but hey, the red-wine sangria was very good ... so I had several HIC and am turning in early.

Night!

Day 28: Fri, July 10: Grand Falls to Rocky Harbour, NL

Fisherman and brewis ('broos'). Ever heard of it? Neither had I, but Tequila Sheila knew I wanted to try some typical 'Newfie' dishes if possible, seal-flipper being out of season ;-). Last night we had this wonderfully big lobster feed so today she fixed this dish for our brunch before we headed out.

The previous night, she took a salted cod and soaked it in water. The only way to describe the aroma is to conjure up the smell of sweaty teenage-boy sport socks combined with a touch of parmesan cheese and that other smell that occasions accusing looks around a room which mean, "OK, who let THAT one???"

Woof, I'm tellin' yah, at that point, I was definitely NOT lookin' forward to brunch. ;-)

But, next morning, when I got into the kitchen, Sheila was frying up 'scruncheons' (which is little pieces of fat back pork) and onions and cooking the fish with the brewis (which is like a hardtack biscuit which softens as it is heated) and it all smelled mahvelous, Darlings.

And believe-you-me, it tasted out of this world. I oinked up two helpings topped up with molasses drizzled over it, I liked it so much. The cod tasted amazingly delicate, which I didn't expect YUM. Anyway, I know Big Daddy would love it, so Sheil will send me some brewis when I get home and I will get some dried salted cod and give 'er a go :-) More broadening of my horizons, eh????

We got ourselves off on our journey to Rocky Harbour (me managing to leave my spare keys sitting on their kitchen counter!), westward on the TCHighway and then, at Deer Lake, heading north through part of Gros Morne Park.

We stopped for a bit of an ice-cream break at Deer Lake and visited the Insectorium there. Absolutely fascinating! We loved the butterfly house and I took tons of pics of the butterflies, which landed on everyone repeatedly (very tickley feeling on the skin); I was really trying to get shots of these two lovely bright blue ones, but they were too fast for me and when they did settle, they closed their wings up, so all you could see was the black outer side SIGH.

There was also a honeybee colony set up, enclosed in glass, so you really got a great look at the operation of the hive and a very informative guide told us all about the whole process of the birth of a queen, how she is in fact selected as queen (the usual fight to the death scene) and so on. Big Daddy woulda love it!

Our ride through Gros Morne Park was very impressive -- the scenery is astounding -- I did get some pics, as you can see, but the best vistas had no stopping places for us. :-(

Once we checked into our hotel at Rocky Harbour, we headed to the Lounge for libations. NOT the most efficiently run establishment we've ever encountered. Sheila and I were easy to serve, as we ordered Corona and lime (they had no lime and never did turn up with the lemon they claimed they had), but Mikey's Caesar was a tough nut for the (seemingly) teenaged bartender gal. In the end, Mike had to go behind the bar and demonstrate the making of one.

He was quite hilarious about it, actually, calling for Worcestershire, Tabasco, celery salt and making them open a new Clamato Juice cuz the open one was past-dated (!) Sheila and I (naturally) offered streaming comments and criticisms, so a good time was had by all.

After a couple (!) of drinks, we retired to the dining room and ordered dinner from our young waitress who turned out to be from the same training school (NONE) as our bartender gal. (Obviously, help is hard to get in the nether regions LOL) Anyway, the food was GREAT and we had a fun time, getting louder as time (and wine) went on. We soon put a muffler on it when a whole wedding rehearsal party trooped in to the dining room -- turns out they had every table reserved except ours. As they were rather a sedate crowd (no alcohol served there), we took the first opportunity to sneak off to the Lounge with our bottle of wine in hand.

We had a heck of a good time -- I will miss these two great folks a LOT!

Ta-ta-for-now!

Day 28 Deer Lake, Insectorium, Gros Morne Park

Day 27: Thurs, July 9: Day Trip: Grand Falls to Twillingate, NL

Piece of iceberg video


Iceberg scene video

Now, this turned out to be an A-ONE-FABULOSO-HAPPY-HAPPY-HAPPY DAY! For a variety of reasons, but first of all ... because Tequila Sheila FORCED me into a shoe store (against my will, I might add ;-) ) ... and I hadda cheer myself up with a bit of retail therapy -- only ONE pair, mind you, as I can't carry any more on the bike LOL

But, second of all, cuz Mikey the STAR, whom I shall (probably) forever worship took Delilah -- she who has forsaken me with her mechanical upsets -- to Ern (the Harley Guy) for diagnosis of her ills ... more on THAT later.

Thirdly, cuz Tequila Sheil, Mikey and I had such a wonderful day -- doing the sightseeing thing -- to Lewisport (to pick out feisty lobsters for our dinner) and thence to Twillingate to sport with the icebergs and 'bergy bits'.

Fourthly, to come home and join the ever-ongoing party on Sheil and Mike's back deck with the 'hood' (AKA all the neighbours). Lotta fun people there, I tells yah!

Fifthy, to enjoy the lobster dinner with LOTS of garlic butter and BURP Corona's and lime.

And Lastly, to get the news from 'Ern the Harley Guy' that all Delilah needed was a to have her shifter mechanism cleaned and lubed thoroughly (which should have been done at her last service at the dealer in Chilliwack!!! AHEM) So, dat was dat, as they say here. No parts needed and Ern would not take a penny from me for his time, even. (So I got Mikey to sneak him a case of his favourite beer, at least!).

What a fab day, fab company, fab results for Delilah :-) I be doin' the Happy Dance once again!

Night All!






EDITED to add photos: Day 27 Twillingate

Day 26: Wed., Jul. 8: Harbour Grace to Grand Falls, NL

Well, me boyos (and girlos LOL), such a bee-atch of a day, I cannot tell yez! Oy, it was H E Double L Hockeysticks!

After a delish breaky at the Rothesay B & B by George and Lynn, we headed off from Harbour Grace, thinking we would explore a bit on some of the back roads on the way to Grand Falls where Tequila Sheila and Mikey live. We soon ditched that plan and decided to head directly there on the main highway as expeditiously as possible because my bikey, Delilah Deluxe was just not cooperating today.

She started up fine, still idling rather high, but then we headed off down the road and I had a bee-atch of a time getting her shifted into second gear. The next shifts up were fine and on we carried.

But, after the first stop for gas, same thing -- then I would have to bang her down into first and start trying to upshift again, sometimes several times. She always eventually got into gear, but it's a little dicey when you're trying to get onto the TransCanada Hwy and semitrailers are bearing down on yah. ACK!!!

And the wind buffetting was something else! This is due to the fact that crossing the Avalon Peninsula, via an isthmus, is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the winds come from all directions ... a lot ... all the time. By the end of the ride, I felt deaf as a post and sort of as if I'd just got off a boat.

And of course, we several times had to stop for gas, food, comfort stops and the dreaded road construction -- so everytime I had to shift up or down, it was a dicey situation to say the least -- which of course raised the stress levels tremendously -- my poor old arms and shoulders were quite sore by the time we arrived WHOOSH

But, Sheila and Mikey were terrific riding companions through this -- I will be forever grateful for their patience as I really had to slow down quite a bit due to the wind and stress. Mike actually offered to ride the bike for me, but I felt I must be true to my 'mission' and do it myself. And, ultimately, I am glad I didn't wimp out and go all girly (although for a second I seriously thought about it ;-) ) I mean, I think there might be few of my 'buds' who might be giving me the gearz for some time to come if I had LOL

Anyway, safe and sound here at their home here in Grand Falls - have drunk their beer, eaten their food, patted and loved up their two doggies and am just preparing to drift off to sleep in their comfy guest room. And Mikey has arranged to have bikey looked at tomorrow afternoon while we all go sightseeing for icebergs, so things is lookin' pretty good for the morrow :-)

Maybe I'll actually get some of my pics posted soon ...

Night All!

Day 25: Tues, July 7: Argentia to Harbour Grace, NL

"Harbour Grace". Isn't that the most lovely name? I'm gonna do some research to find out the origins of the name -- I think it would be fascinating ... along with Heart's Content, Dildo and other weird and wonderful monikers ;-)

Anyway, we are staying here in this little town of 3,000 on the sea, at a fabulous B & B here, Rothesay House, built in 1855-ish (full of paneling, wood floors, bay windows etc., etc.) and run by George and Lynn, who are the quintessentially perfect hosts (plus Meggie the dog). Very highly recommended folks and place to stay, if you ever get to the Rock.

We arrived here in the late afternoon, after having had a very late lunch on the way and enjoying the views and (windy) ride in the burgeoning sunshine ('burgeoning' is my word for the day, yah see). LOL

First stop after checking in was to head for the local beer store -- Alexander Keith's Pale Ale turns out to be a perfectly acceptable substitute when Corona & Lime is unavailable, BTW -- aren't I just broadening my horizons sooo much, eh?

I see that I should back up here and say that the ferry came in about 1-1/2 hours later than advertised (what's up with that eh? Perhaps the captain was Mexican and we were on manana time?)

Passengers were not allowed down to the vehicle deck until she was completely docked and tied up, so then there was (somewhat) of a mad stampede to get down and get the bikes untied as well -- luckily for me, a fine young laddie parked behind me helped me wrestle the straps open and we jumped on our bikes and away we went off the boat -- where I promptly wound up pulling off in to the terminal area cuz I spotted what looked like two bikers waiting -- one with those wonderfully 'slutty' Drifter fenders I was pretty sure had to be Tequila Sheila.

Yep - it WAS them and it was like Old Home Week all over again. Both Sheil and Mikey are warm outgoing sorts and we've already had plenty of giggles. And the fun part is, they both are interested in exploring a bit off the beaten path as they haven't had the opportunity to do so before, so we will all be touristas together :-)

Once the formalities were over, we headed off down the road, where we stopped at the local Tourist Information Centre for maps and a guidebook and wound up chit-chatting to a fellow and his wife and trying to help him persuade her to learn how to ride -- don't know how successful we were, but at least we got her to sit on all our bikes -- just to try out the fit, doncha know!

Interestingly, Mikey quickly identified that my bike seemed to be idling too high and I realized he was quite right -- that is probably what is contributing to my difficulty with shifting smoothly -- happily, he was able to arrange an appointment for day after tomorrow for me to get 'er in to be computer-analysed in Grand Falls near their home, so hopefully that will get sorted out pronto. I will be doing the happy dance then, boyoboy!

Pretty bushed now, so will sign off and get some sleep. Oh, yes, I have taken a number of pics and will get those posted, hopefully tomorrow night.

G'Night All!

EDITED to add photos: Day 25: Harbour Grace, NL

Day 24: Mon, Jul. 6: Long Day's Journey into Night

Hi everyone,

Just a quick note (cuz the signal is crappy onboard the ferry) to let you know, that thanks to good friend Gravol, I had a reasonably good sleepy-bye in my dormitory bunk (no snorers, thank Gawd!) and we are now about 2 hours out of our landing in Argentia, Nfld on Tuesday morning.

Challenge was to get the bike tied down on boarding -- big thanks to Big Bob for the previous lesson in how to do it and to Wilf the Goldwinger, who demonstrated how to tie the tiedowns tight (and basically did most of the work!) -- aren't bikers grand -- really helpful folks!

Met a couple from Metchosin of all places, Gary and Carla, who are BICYCLING -- seems we stayed at the same place last night -- anyway had a nice old natter and I was even able to recommend a Metchosin restaurant to them, the Garlic Rose, where the Women's Weekend had dinner in May -- too funny.

Will be meeting up 'somewhere on t'other side' with Tequila Sheila and hubby Mike ... will try to blog tonight!

Cheers!

EDITED to add photos: Day 24 Voyage to Argentia, NL

Day 23: Sun., July 5: St. Ann's to North Sydney, NS

Well, today's journey was a short one -- about 40 or so km., but holy Hannah -- the fog this morning coming up and over the mountain between the two places was absolutely pea soup. It was really scarey as you couldn't see very far in front at all. And what's up with these boneheads who DON'T put their lights on???? Sheesh.

Last night, we had a lotta thunder and lightning in St Ann's and lost the power, so hadda go to bed early.

Anyway, got here to North Sydney, which is where the ferry to Newfoundland will leave from at 8:00 p.m. on Monday night (tomorrow). Checked into the Clansman Motel, which is mentioned in the Motorcycling Guide to Nova Scotia -- has covered parking for bikes and a bike wash station and the owner is a rider and great enthusiast and there are a number of other riders staying here -- so felt right at home.

The only fly in the ointment (or one of them) is that I suddenly came down with a whopper of a headache, like I haven't had in years. The staff kindly let me check in early so I could have a lay down and get over it, which I eventually did. But didn't feel good enuf to do any sightseeing, so hopefully will get to that tomorrow in the daytime.

The other fly in the ointment, unfortunately, is that my clutch seems to be slipping a bit. There are not HD places here to have it looked at, so I'm going to wait till I get to St. Johns, Newfoundland, where there is a dealer who can have a look-see and figger out what the problem is -- hopefully, it will be a minor adjustment.

Hope you are all enjoying your Sunday and riding your sox off!!!

Day 22: Sat., July 4: Baddeck to St Ann's, NS

View from St. Ann's Motel

First of all, Happy 4th of July to all my American friends (and geez -- sorry we burnt down your White House all those years ago ;-) )

OMG OMG - I just rode the frickin' Cabot Trail ... all by my lonesome ... and it was GRAND, lassies (and laddies). Totally incredible. (I only wish Big Daddy had been with me -- he woulda absolutely loved it, I know!

Started off this a.m. from Baddeck where the receptionist informed me that we were in for thunder and lightening storms. 'No way', sez I, 'I'm lucky that way' ;-) How's that for tempting Fate????

So, what happens -- I get about 2 km down the road and the sky starts spittin'. 'Hmmm', thinks I -- better get that rain gear on -- then it won't rain. That's exactly what I did and that's exactly what happened -- until a pretty long way into the trip anyways :-)

VALUABLE NOTE TO SELF (and whoever else is listening -- ladies -- ) ENSURE that anything you put in your pocket is absolutely secure BEFORE you sit on the throne in the local Timmies ... lest you suffer the same fate as Ole Willi ... which is to have to fish your 'Buff' neck warmer outta the toilet AFTER you have done your thang!!! THAT's a big ICK, I must say -- and you get the darndest looks from other women LOL

I took quite a few pics -- now just have to get Photobucket to load them -- I'm barely getting an internet signal here, so hopefully can load them tonight -- otherwise, will try again tomorrow night -- some very nice view pics, especially up high on hills, looking back on the roads I've just ridden up -- AWESOME!

Most of the journey was reasonably good weather -- dull in most spots but occasionally the mist would rise and the sun would peak out and it was great -- sometimes I got a spot to stop off to record it, sometimes not. This is one heckuva ride, ladies -- hope yah get to do it sometime.

Anyway, real rain didn't start until I turned south on Hwy 105 for St Ann's -- had to really slow down from 80 kmh to 60 or less because of the frost heave on the road -- if I tried to ride over it, I got airborne, so tried to avoid it by zigging and zagging down the road -- luckily not much traffic, so pretty easy run, considering the ole visor was a little heavy with rain. Good news is, the rain gear kept me dry and toasty, so all to the good. :-)

Pulled in to the St Ann's Motel (at first glance, a cousin to the 'Bates' Motel in Carberry ;-) , but turns out the owner has been to my home town of Mission and fished (with result - he caught a big salmon) in the Fraser River, so I was welcomed practically like Royalty -- that made me smile, I can tell yah -- I've already met three people on this trip who've been to the booming 'metropolis' of Mission - what are the odds on that, I wonder????

Had dinner at a fabulous restaurant next door -- great seafood and great wine, too. I ordered a carafe of St Jost Cabernet -- that was a totally yummy local wine -- would give our BC wines a run for the money, for sho'.

Anyway, goodnight all -- gonna try to get some photos uploaded -- though it may take awhile , really want you all to see the beautiful Cabot Trail.

EDITED TO ADD: Anneke, in Cheticamp, just as I was heading into the Highlands Park, a fella warned me there were at least 10 moose per km (the park ranger later told me that was an exaggeration!). Sooo, of course I watched like crazy, but none of your 'friends' came out to play ;-) But I must say, the moose on the Nova Scotia warnings signs look a whole lot meaner than the ones in Ontario LOL

Hasta la vista, gang!

EDITED to add photos: Day 22 Baddeck to St. Ann's - The Cabot Trail

Day 21: Fri, July 3: Tantallon to Baddeck, NS

I'm here at the Silver Dart Lodge in Baddeck, NS on the shores of Bras D'Or Lake. I've posted a few photos below to show how gorgeous it is here, plus a few snaps I took this morning of Indie and Big Bob while we were getting packed up to go.

They were heading for PEI and I, of course, for Cape Breton to ride the Cabot Trail (which is on the agenda for tomorrow).

We rode together until the turnoff to the PEI ferry via Pictou where they turned off and I carried on straight for another hundred and fifty or so km. It was a reasonably pleasant ride at that point, warmish but dull and cloudy, but the winds just prior, on and after the Canso Causeway onto Cape Breton Island were somethin' else. Holey Mazoley, even the cars were slowing down because of the gusts. But, Delilah got me here in one piece, thank goodness :-)

When we started out this morning, the mist was really heavy and it got horrendously foggy on the highway between Tantallon and just before Truro, where it just miraculously lifted as we stopped for lunch. Amazing!

Anyway, I got here around 3:45 p.m., got settled and went for a little walk, then a short dip in the (supposedly) heated pool (apparently, the concept of 'heat' is somewhat less here in the East than it is back in Lotusland. :-( Jaysus, thought I was in a cold bath LOL)

Enjoyed a fabulous dinner here at the Lodge and have been (trying to) upload pictures for ages - rather frustrating this evening, it's not working very well.

Anyway, tomorrow I set off on a clockwise ride of the Cabot Trail and then on to (probably) St. Ann's at the end of the trail. For those of you who are not familiar with the Trail, it's about 300 km long and it encompasses the Cape Breton Highlands National Park as part of its route. It rises quite high through rocky areas and plunges down almost to the sea in other spots and it is chock full of twisties and turnies (there are a number of videos on Youtube, for example), so I'm looking forward to quite a ride!

Bon Nuit!

Day 21: Tantallon to Baddeck, Cape Breton

Day 20: Thurs., July 2: Riding, Riding, Riding in Nova Scotia

Well, first of all, Indie and I didn't manage to drag our lazy butts outta bed very early this morning -- it was more like 9:30ish by the time we actually achieved the vertical position. (Poor Big Bob had already gone off to work way long time before THAT.)

THEN, acourse, we had to have our coffee to pry the eyes open.

THEN, Indie hadda fart around with doing her hair. (Now, I ask yah -- who needs to fluff up their hair, when all yer gonna do is slam a helmet on it and squish it all back down again???? I don't get that LOL)

After all those ablutions were performed, we jumped on our bikes and headed off to the local mall to pick up a coupla new memory cards for my camera (I seem to have managed to have destroyed the two I had!)

We also paid a visit to the local Dollar Store where Indie insisted I must have a pair of leopard print reading glasses (to match my Buff) LOL

Then, a brief stop at Timmie's for more coffee and a goodies, after which we headed off on our ride to the South Shore, then over Hwy. 12, heading through Kentville, New Minas and another place, the name of which escapes me at the moment. The little towns are charming, full of beautiful old houses, big and small, with lovely verandas and plenty of gingerbread railings and so forth -- my favourite style.

The roads are all twisty-turny and plenty of them are very narrow by B.C. standards. In fact, the speed limits on many of these roads surprises me -- I would never have expected them to have been set so high -- but I guess Nova Scotians are usually in as big a hurry as the rest of the world ;-)

We stopped at a shop called Fritz's, near New Minas, which Indie's chum, Beth had recommended -- the lady who runs it has quite a collection of riding gloves, rain gear, socks, neck coolers and I don't know what all. She has stuff there for all kinds of outdoor activities, so I'm sure she has a huge customer base. I found some great boot covers for the rain and also picked up a couple of neck coolers (as the one I had died of old age!) for half the price I paid in B.C. Indie also bought me a couple of nice pins - one a little map of N.S. and the other a motorcylist which says, "I toured Nova Scotia".

We finished up our ride by heading east to stop off at Indie's sister, Jeannie's place. She is renting another one of these old houses, verandah and sash windows and lots of wood floors and panelling. She really has a great flair for decorating and has been painting it room by room and bringing it back to life after years of neglect. Fabulous! And of course, she was just as much fun as her sister - we had a great visit and then headed off on the road for home.

There was only one slight detour on the way home, and that was to the local liquor store to stock up on 'libations' for the evening. That was our reward after a long day of riding. We each cracked one open and proceeded to get dinner on the BBQ (or Indie did) and we then scrubbed and washed the bikes -- mine in particular was filthy! That took until about 8:30 p.m.

Big Bob had got off work early and was home when we got there about 7:30 p.m., but had already eaten, so he set off on a ride of his own to Fall River. He just arrived back about 15 minutes ago and the sweet man put the bikes in the garage for us and is putting the tourpak on his bike in preparation for their departure tomorrow for P.E.I. (weather permitting). I will be heading off to Cape Breton myself, so the next missive from me will be coming from somewhere near Baddeck up in that neck o' the woods.

Nighty-night All!

Day 19: Wed., July 1: Canada Day in Lewis Lake/Tantallon

Well, I certainly hope everyone else out there had as great a Canada Day as I did. Indie and I loafed (well, I loafed, she cooked, etc.) around while Big Bob went off to work, poor laddie. It was soooo great to have a relaxing day, with no deadlines to meet -- I really appreciated it. Got some (much-needed) laundry done, too and so forth.

Then, the famdamily showed up for a Canada Day dinner -- all Indie and Big Bob's two daughters and son, in-laws and grandchildren. A wonderful warm, friendly bunch and it was a lotta fun to see all the little ones and the young parents interacting -- oh, yeah and 'Nana' and 'Papa' were pretty cute to see with all the little ones too -- THREE 2-year old grandchildren - two boys and one girl YOWSA!

And the food that was served -- OMG, Indie sure can cook! (She has to do THAT well, she's a terrible navigator LOL)

Acourse, we stayed up til all hours, imbibing a bit of wine and laffing and talking and then off to bed, planning on a ride on the morrow. Must get another memory card for the camera, cuz I've broken THAT one too! Geez.

Day 18: Tues., June 30: Riding near Halifax

Well, I tell yah, SUCH a day we had yesterday! OY!

It started off great -- Rhonda and I were up reasonably early and ready to go when Beth arrived on her 650 V-star and after some preliminary yakking, and with Rhonda 'coaching', I 'braved' the chore of backing out the Deluxe from Big Bob's shop. I did this with more than a little trepidation -- Delilah Deluxe can be capricious and it's a back-up down a ramp (thank goodness that was dry!) But it all turned out to look worse than it was, thank goodness and off we went.

We headed off on a nice coastal ride which took us down to Queensland and Chester (South Shore) (coffee at Timmies there) which I thoroughly enjoyed -- nice twisties and beautiful views (and sea smells to match) - it was grand.

Funny (peculiar) thing though. As we started our bikes at Timmie's, my battery warning light flashed on, as did the four-way flashers - just momentarily, but enough to worry me. Then I remembered that when I started the bike at Rhonda's that morning, the battery warning light had just flashed very briefly. THEN I remembered that, after we left Privateer HD the day before after I had Delilah serviced, just as we were merging onto the highway, the light had done just one flash ... hmmm, something to watch, I thought.

So, off we rode and as we went along, the light started to come on again -- about five or six times, all told. I was getting really concerned and we pulled over and decided to make for Privateer along the back road so they could have a look at it - I was quite concerned about having a breakdown on the fast highway route. (At the tiime, I thought maybe when they were putting the bike together after having taken the wheel off to check the balance, that they maybe they'd bumped the battery terminal connection or there was a loose wire or something of that nature. )

Anyway, we rode along, me getting tenser and more worried by the moment, and then suddenly, in a curve, Delilah lost all power for a split-second (seemed like an eternity) and then just as suddenly, the power came back on -- man was that a wobbly execution of a curve! Scared the bejeesus outta me and by the time we got back to Privateer and I got off the bike, my hands were shaking like a leaf -- NOT an experience I'd care to repeat.

So, the good news was that we made it to the shop safe 'n sound. The bad news was that we had a lot of waiting around to do, while they fit the bike exam into their schedule (which was great of them, considering they looked fairly busy). The next good news was that they were able to discover that the voltage regulator was not functioning properly and needed to be replaced. The REALLY bad news was that they didn't have the part in stock and it would take AT LEAST three days to get it from Toronto :-(

I could quickly see my holiday in NS going into the toilet and possibly not being able to make my ferry booking to Newfoundland. But, thank goodness for Rhonda - she phoned Big Bob and he did some phoning around and found a brand-new part at Power Trend in Halifax, an authorized HD dealer. Fabulous! But the kicker was that Privateer would not pick up the part for us - they WOULD install it, but I had to pay over the phone for the part and Power Trend got the part delivered to me by taxi. (The parts fella actually told Rhonda 'Power Trend buys from us; we don't buy from them'. Hmmm)

Great! At least we had the part. The Privateer service fellas installed it and test-rode the bike and it looks like it works fine now. HURRAH. But, without Rhonda and Big Bob stepping up and insisting that there was a better way to get the job done, I'd now be bikeless and who knows how long for. So I'm eternally grateful to 'Indie' (Rhonda's new nick is 'Indefatiguable') and Big Bob -- I learned a good lesson from watching these two in action, for sho'!

By this time, it was after five p.m. and I was bagged, I tell yah. I was glad we were going straight home -- I really needed that libation tonight, uhhuh! We headed off, as I thought, for home, and I was so disoriented, I didn't really realize we weren't anywhere near until we had been riding for ages and I saw a sign for Peggy's Cove. I had expressed the desire in the morning to do the Peggy's Cove loop and Indie was still going with Plan A of the a.m. while I thought we had segued to Plan B, which was to bugger off home and drink alcohol.

I was really pooped and stressed out, and when she realized it (my riding was getting pretty sloppy as I was sorta punchdrunk by that time), she headed for home pronto, the darling girl, so just had a brief stop at Peggy's Cove -- it truly is beautiful. But the seas are very powerful and dangerous there -- just recently, Indie said, a woman was swept into the sea when she ventured too close to the rocks ... and apparently it happens every year. NO TE TO SELF: stay away from Atlantic Ocean!

So we got home, did a brief liquor store run in her van and enjoyed another wonderful homecooked dinner (she IS a better cook than a navigator ;-) ), drank and yakked and laffed and generally de-stressed with her and Big Bob and had a great evening.

Today, we decided to to kick back and hang out at her place for Canada Day and just recharge MY batteries (Delilah's seems fine after all that LOL); I'm doing my blogging and uploading photos and a little laundry and Big Bob & Indie's kids and grandkids (3 two-year olds!) are coming for dinner, so that will be great fun too. We might even wash our bikes too -- how much more excitement could yah possibly ask for, eh??? ;-)

Then, tomorrow, weather permitting, we can hopefully get another ride in (and maybe meet up with my niece) before it's time to think about heading up to Cape Breton for the weekend and then on the 6th, on the ferry to Newfoundland ...

Have a Wonderful Canada Day Everyone! It's our 142nd birthday this year, isn't it???

Day 18: Riding near Halifax