Day 18 PAB to Corner Brook Day 2 NF

Day 2 and still in PAB. We finally got to the sign! We drove up the TCH - can you translate these initials? Ive never seen it before but it's on the road signs in NF. We started off in a light rain and a stiff breeze. We were in a range of mountains called Long Range Mountains. They are covered in trees, still not as tall as NS, NB, etc. The trees are both deciduous and evergreen. It looks like a 3-D quilt. It didn't take too long and it began to get warmer.

We drove off the TCH to Flat Bay and St Teresa. There was not anything special going on here but we saw the first of St George's Bay.













We then went across the Stephenville crossing. It was quite windy. Obviously this is not new to this area. Just take a look at the direction of the trees and shrubs!The people we saw were still walking upright -no tilt!

Day 16: Mon Aug 28-06-Antigonish NS to Port Aux Basque NFLD

One of the buildings of the famous St Francis Xavier University. There are blocks and blocks of them. The folk man is one of many carved wooden folk figures around Antigonish.
We spent the night in Antigonish and got up about 07:30. After having coffee and packing we got underway. We drove along # 2 east for about an hour and then stopped for breakfast at the Canso causeway. That is the road that connects Cape Breton Island with the mainland of Nova Scotia. After breakfast we continued on and got to North Sydney about 13:30. The road from Canso ( Port Hawksbury) to North Sydney was a motorcyclist's dream. Very windey with lots of steep hills and sharp curves.
We arrived in North Sydney and drove to the Ferry terminal. I called Myles Burke who lives nearby. We used to work together in Calgary. I was his officer coach when he first came on the job. He is now the Inspector of North Sydney division of the cape Breton regional Police Dept. I think it must be due to his superb early training......we met up for a bit and went to his office which is right near the Ferry terminal. we will visit him and his family on our way back from Newfoundland.We boarded the Ferry at 15:00 and tied down the bike and went up on deck. The departure was delayed for an hour because of a jammed ramp but we got underway at 17:00. The ferry was named the "Carribou". It was named that to honor the first "Carribou"which was torpedowed by a German U-boat in 1942 and sank with a loss of 137 passengers and crew.......On a lighter note...I had baked cod for supper and Judy had fish and chips and they were both very good. The crossing took six hours and about half of that was in the dark. The weather was good and the crossing was smooth. We got to Port Aux Basques at 23:00 and drove about 5 blocks to our Hotel.

Day 15 Sun Aug 27 : Fredericton NB to Antigonish NS

Our trip through New Brunswick was just that, through New Brunswick. We really didn't see much except for trees on each side of the highway. There are a few lakes and rivers to see. We didn't stop at any attractions as we made that trip a few years back. We really are just concentrating on getting to NFLD while the weather is reasonable. One thing I have to say about NB is that their highways are superb - brand new and they seem to be continuing with the highway improvement. It was interesting in that right after we saw the Nove Scotia sign the scenery seemed to change to rolling hills and more trees cleared from the land. The buildings are wood as compared to Quebec's stone buildings and not as much human landscaping. The people weren't as interested in that we are making the trip again as compared to Quebecers. There was alot of motorcycle couples and groups out as it was the week-end and sunny. I must say that when we stop it's pretty toasty but going down the highway at 70K it is a bit chilly in the beginning and end of the day.
We had breakfast at Aulds Cove in Nova Scotia. Pancakes are called griddle cakes. We have been hitting a roadside gas and restaurant called Irvings. This chain starts in Ontario. The food is like homemade and lots of it and very resonably priced.
We originally had wanted to make Sydney NS on Sunday night. But Terry was getting tired so we called it a night @1830. It seems that 7pm is the time when we call it a day. We still haven't seen any moose out here. We finally saw 3 deer in NS. I think these provinces are just fooling around when they post all these warnings!
We stopped at a motel that advertised high speed internet. Terry comes out and says that it is only offered in the business suites and it was $10.00 more. There were no cars in the lot so you can guess that I wasn't too impressed. The guy at the counter decided that we could have it no charge. Then we go into the room and it had one of those stand-up showers. Then we find that the room did not have the internet cord. (You wouldn't believe how many times we ask if they have wireless, yes they do, then we end having to phone and ask if you need a password -oh yeah you do - I ask you why won't they tell us that when we pay for the room?) Terry gets tha cord and it was 3ft long - we would have had to sit on the floor to use the computer! Again phone the desk do you have a longer cord? Oh yes we do - I go over there - do you have a room that has a bathtub AND internet - Oh yeah the room right next to you!!!! Needless to say we made the switch.
I had good intentions of updating the blog but we had to decide when to catch the ferry and where to - Port Aux Basque or Argentia. Factors to be considered - time of crossing, time of arrival and weather. The winner was to leave Sydney @1600 Monday (or 0700am and we had a 2.5 hr drive to get there-no way) to arrive at Port Aux Basque. The deciding factor is I could get a hotel reservation at POB because we did not want to be riding at night and both arrivals would be around 11pm. So we will be working our way around the island from POB to St Johns. Then we plan to take the ferry from Argentia back to Sydney rather than do the ride in reverse again. We both don't like to backtrack. I find that I don't even like seeing things that we have seen on previous trips because there is so many new sights out there. And heaven knows life is short enough!
Right now I'm blogging on the ferry. This most certainly will make the 6 hours go by quick. Well I'm going to add some pictures (the pictures are beginning to look the same but you'll have to take your complaints to the "Big Guy") and then see if we can find a plug-in for the computer to keep the power going.

Day 14 Sat Aug 26 : Quebec City to Fredericton NB

After staying overnight in Beaumont/Quebec city we got up and packed and headed east again. Judy had the escape route planned and it's a good thing she did because I was all turned around and didn't know where the hell we were. We had thought about continuing up # 138 but decided to not do that. We therefore passed on Baie St. Paul and Tuddusac where there is beautiful scenery and whale sighting areas. If we had gone that route we would have had to cross the St. Lawrence on a ferry from Cape Simeon to Rivieres du Loup. It took us 30 miles and a bunch of freeways to get to highway # 20 east. It runs from Quebec on the south side of the St. Lawrence towards New Brunswick. The ride east on #20 was just cruising on a 4 lane past scads of dairy farms, corn fields and towns with HUGE churches. We stopped for a coffee in Rivieres du Loup. It's on the way to Rumouskey which is the home town of Sydney Crosby. After a stop in Edmonston NB we got to Fredericton about 19:00 and shut down for the day. We had pizza for supper and watched the football game.

Day 13 Fri Aug 25 : Cap Sante to Quebec City

We stayed overnight at a little motel just outside of the ittle village of Cap Sante. It means
"Cape of good health" Legend has it that some french soldiers fell ill on their trek east and when they stopped at this spot they found something that cured them, hence the name. The motel owner was French and from Montreal. He was very friendly and told us about a good place to eat supper. We went there and had supper. It was quite busy with "locals". The guy next to us was having a big bowl of Poutine ( chips with lumps of cheese and gravy on them)....Yum Yum. After supper we went back to the motel and went to bed....This holidaying is hard work.
The next morning we had our coffee outside on the garden swing and Judy worked on the computer while I packed the bike and visited with the owner and a group of travellers from Munich Germany. We left heading east and stopped in the village to check out the church square and the main street which is noted to be the most beautiful street in Canada.
The next stop was the village of Donnacona where we stopped for lunch. It was obviously washing day there.
We got to Quebec City about 15:00 and followed #138 right into Beaumont which is a suburb of Quebec. After booking into our motel we rode the bike to downtown and parked near the railroad station and statred hoofing it. Lots of steep hills and stairs to climb. We toured around "Old City" till about 20:30 and then headed back to the motel.

Judy bought a CD from some guy busking with a harp. I think it was Albert Einstein.

Evening Thurs Aug 24 Trois Riv. to Cap Sante PQ

another church...bridge to Grondines...behind me is the bridge to Drummondville from Tr0is Rivieres... Ursuline Basilica

After the tour of Trois Rivieres we rode East on # 138 through all the little towns along the way. They all had big churches and narrow streets named after Saints. (from Judy... And a big river on the right side. Old houses made of stone, that are lived in and in immculate condition. Fields of corn. Strip fields leading to the river. Flower beds in all the yards -all the autumn flowers and shrubs blooming. vast green lawns all cut neatly.

Day11: Trois Rivieres & Onward to Portneuf

Oldest house in Canada
We stayed in Trois Rivieres . We toured the old part of the town before we continued on to Quebec City. We drove downtown and walked around. We saw the two oldest buildings in Canada. One was a private house of a guy that helped the regions' natives. It was built in 1668 on the site where it now stands. The other is an Ursuline convent. There are a lot of historic buildings throughout the town. The town center is right adjacent to the docks.
This is the St. Lawrence Seaway and this is one of the largest shipping ports in North America.
The reason it is named Trois Rivieres is because when Cartier was sailing upstream past the mouth of the river he passed two big islands at the mouth and he thought there were three rivers emptying there. Later he found that it was one river which was later named Rivier Saint Maurice.

Judy says...

We decided to continue down the Chemin du Roy (highway 138). It was very scenic and although we could have made it to Quebec City (we call it Quebec city but here it is referred to as Quebec), we decided to call it a night at a little place called Portneuf. We did not want to miss seeing anything and it gets quite nippy as soon as the sun goes down. So it wasn't a hardship to stop. We went for something to eat at a local restaurant. All the older guys were there having coffee, sugar pie or poutine. I am not kidding. The poutine there is a meal. It has a whole portion of the menu to itself. The guy beside us had a bowl that probably held about 2-3 cups of poutine -it was fries, chili, huge chunks of cheese and everything is drowned in gravy. The buns in Quebec is served in celophane and is always white buns. The butter is light yellow and the margarine is white. The menus are in French so some of that high school french comes in handy, although there are some words we still haven't figured out. The waitresses are very friendly and can speak better English then we can French, There has only been a couple that can't speak any English but there is always someone that they can send out to translate. one day Terry ordered 2 Teen burgers in french and the young girl said to him in English "You speak very good French." Honestly we could grunt and they would know we are English! By the way Teen burger in French is "Teen burger".! One time I wanted a hotdog and Terry wanted me to order it in French "chaude chien". Well that threw everyone for a loop. So when they finally knew what I wanted I asked them how to say it and you guessed it ..."hot dog"! We were once offered an English menu and it still was partially french. I guess there are some words/phrases that they can't figure out. However KFC is PKF (for you non-frenchies -poulet is chicken). Go figure!

The end of Day 10 @ Trois Riviers

We had a good ride today but didn't do that many miles. 138 miles today and 2792 miles since we started. The ride along # 138 East was scenic and aromatic. There are lots of dairy farms along the way. Yesterday was interesting too. Ottawa is very historic. On our tour of the RCMP Musical Ride center we happened to run into an old friend of mine, Sgt. Jerry Mayo. We were in Lexington Kentucky together back in 1992 at the Mounted patrol symposium. He showed us around the place and we kept our stuff in his office while we were doing the tourist thing downtown. Another thing we couldn't help but notice was this. Oh yeah...We spent about 2 hours trying to meet up with a guy I had met through the "Blue Knights". We never did find him and finally stopped for a coffee at "Tim's"in the Vanier area of Ottawa. A retired postal worker sat down next to us and talked non-stop for the full time we were there , telling us about the attractions on our way to Quebec. When we left we still didn't know how to get to the road we wanted.
This morning right after breakfast we pulled into Repentigny at the tourist office and happened to meet a real nice couple from Pennsylvania who were on a tour like us but in the other direction.

Day 9 : Touring Ottawa

We got up this morning and booked the room for another day then got ready to head downtown. The city is pretty easy to get around if you RTFM ( M for Map ). We parked in a parkade downtown and walked a block to the Parliament buildings. We walked around Parliament Hill and took a bunch of pictures before taking a tour on the Center Block at 14:30. I had a chat with a young Mountie who was out there on horseback. The tour was very good and we learned a bunch of stuff about the history of the place. We were in the House of Commons and the Senate Chamber and the Library. It's a very impressive building. Too bad it's wasted on politicians. We then took the elevator to the observation deck at the top of the Peace Tower. While we were up there I was talking to one of the security gaurds and a lady standing near by overheard me say I was a retired cop from Calgary. She asked me if I knew Paul Phibbs so I told her he was my first sargeant when I hit the street in 76. She was Paul's niece. We had a good visit. After the tour we walked around downtown and went for lunch then walked along the Rideau canal. We then jumped on the bike and rode around a bit. We went down Sussix Dr. past the PM's res and Rideau Hall where the Gov. General lives. We would have stopped in for a chin wag but we wanted to get back to the Hill for the lazer light show at 21:00. We watched that and then rode back to the motel....Another busy day.

End of Day :We are in OTTAWA

We made it to Ottawa! We didn't have much rain...A few sprinkles here and there. We stopped in Pembroke ON for a tank of gas and a soup & sandwich....Oh by the way. Gas was $1.01 a litre. Go figure ? We are now in our room watching the rain come down.

Day 8 : North Bay to Ottawa ( We Hope! )

It's 10:15 here in North Bay and it is overcast and raining off and on. We are going to pack up and start out for Ottawa. The trip planner says 222 miles : 4.5 hours. The weather is forecast as rain pretty well all day. On go the rain suits.

Judy The Biker " Born to Raise Heck"

Pretty scary eh!....

Day 7: Saulte Ste Mari to North Bay Ontario

Judy let me sleep in this morning so we didn't get on the road till noon. Just when we left the "Soo" it was starting to rain. At first it was a light sprinkle but it soon was coming down hard. A two lane road with traffic made for a wet ride but the temp was warm. About an hour out we stopped at Ironbridge ON and had lunch. It was still pouring when we left. The rain eased up a bit near Sudbury so we decided to keep going. At Sturgeon Falls it had stopped raining but it was overcast. We stopped there at "Tim's" for a coffee. After coffee we visited with some local bikers who had stopped for a coffee too. They were nice. We also met family and their new puppy "Gus". We had a room booked in North Bay so we found our motel and booked in about 18:45. Didn't see much today except clouds and rain and a puppy....Oh yeah , and Judy's black hands from her new wet leather gloves. It's 23:30 now and its still pouring....What we do tomorrow is quite dependant on the weather.

My thoughts (not yours) by: Terry

This bike is superb. You have to be really careful...I was passing a line of trucks etc and I happened to look down at the speedo and I was doing 100 MPH. Hope the OPP doesn't read Blogs! We did see some running radar but I was not speeding then. In the late afternoon I was getting tired. I was glad to stop in the Saulte.
Judy gives me a hard time about meeting people I know...Well..... After we booked in to our motel I was going to the car wash to clean the bike when I met a guy in the parking lot from Detroit Mich. He asked where we were from and I told him. He said he had been to the Calgary Stampede with his wife in 1990. I asked him if he had a good time and he said it was great. I told him I was a retired Cop from Calgary. He said that when he was at the Stampede he took a picture of a cop that sort of looked like me at the Stampede. He said the guy was riding a HUGE bay horse.....Now I ask you.....What are the odds !
Today we are heading for North Bay then Ottawa the next day if the weather is OK.

Day 4 : Sask. to Manitoba

Judy and I stayed overnight at my brother Gene's place. We had a bar-b-q steak supper that was great! This morning we got up about 08:00. Gene and Joanne had left for work. I took the bike for a bath and we did a bit of laundry and then re-packed and left quite a bit of stuff behind. We were carrying too much spare clothes. Now things fit in the saddle bags. We didn't get on the road till 13:00. When we left it was very windy from the northwest. We travelled east on #13 to the Manitoba border it
becomes #2.

This highway is the Redcoat Trail. If only we could see the past.
We stopped in Redvers, Sask. for a coffee and a piece of Saskatoon pie. I just had a SMALL taste of Judy's. After that the wind died down so now we will stop for Saskatoon pie if the weather turns nasty.Our next stop was Souris MB where we got gas and then walked across Canada's longest pedestrian suspension bridge. Of course Judy had to get it swinging and scare the Crap out of a lady that was trying to cross it.
I'm a BRAT.
We toured the historic house/museum/butterfly collection adjacent to the bridge in Souris and then headed east again.










The next stop was Glenboro which is just south of a real desert in the prairies with sand dunes etc. We didn't go to see it...We wanted to get to Winnipeg .
We did make a quick stop at Holland MB for a photo-op.
We got to Winnipeg just before 19:00 ( MST) and took the Perimeter road to #1 east. We decided not to try for Kenora Ont. which was another 2 hours away. We headed south on #12 to Steinbach where we got a room with wireless internet and then went and had supper. The ride was great after the wind quit...nice road, no traffic, interesting scenery. Off to Ontario tomorrow.

Second Day Out..Medicine Hat to Moose Jaw

We slept till about 09:oo this morning after finally shutting down at 02:37. Brewed a coffee in the room and got packed. Its going to take a day or so to get things organized so stuff goes in the right place all the time and we don't have to search for stuff. Space is at a premium. The alternative however is to pull a trailer...UGH!...I do that in the Oil Patch. Went to the Honda dealer in "The Hat" to try to find a heated jacket liner for Jude...No luck. We had lunch and finally got out of town @ 13:21. We crossed into Sask. @ 14:15. We stopped for a drink in Tompkins and had supper ? in Swift Current ( "Speedy Creek") about 16:30. We gassed up and headed east...stopped at the shore bird look-out near Chaplin and got to Moose Jaw @ 19:30. We went to visit Jude's Mom and will spend the night at Ron & Dorothy's...A pretty good day all things considered and about 725 k's on the books since we left.

Sunday Afternoon Ride..........South

On Sunday Afternoon we took the dogs for a run and then got on the bike and rode south on #2 . We didn't have any place in particular in mind. We thought about riding out to Carmangay to visit a buddy but it was a bit too long to leave the dogs alone. We rode down to Nanton and had supper at "Ken's Cafe". It was a nice place and quite busy. After supper we rode west from Nanton towards the Chain lakes.We didn't go right to the lakes because it was getting late and starting to cool off. We turned around and headed home.