Brent, Ralph, Tracy, Marty, and Sally go to NE NS NB

[MartyA]

Day 5 The Cabot Trail!
(see map above)
What can you say about the Cabot Trail - it is beautiful, wild, has great sweepers and long scenic straight roads. It has a few sections of road that are terrible, but most of it is excellent. We saw moose AND whales. There was one pull off that had a tiny triangle of beach way-y-y down there, and you could suddenly see whales spouting (?) and then they were just as suddenly gone. Around the next bend high up on a mountain there was the only live moose we saw.

We travelled in the anti-clockwise direction from Baddeck. Worth the trip. Just be slow on the rough sections, one big bump bounced Mitch into the opposite lane.

Leaving Baddeck, we stopped briefly at the Alexander Graham Bell Museum then off we went.


You don't starve on the Cabot Trail:
Hannah's BIG breakfast.

Tracy digging in.


Never enough scenic photos, but here are some:



Ralph and Tracy, Mitch and Hannah, and Brent are down there...








Typical view of the ocean with a twisty section of road:



Rustic Gas stop, run by a nice Arcadian gentleman:


Typical rustic restaurant on the Trail:


Saw thousands of these signs all over northern New England and the provinces:


But we only saw one of these:




We took the Pictou Ferry to cross to Prince Edward Island.
Mitch and Hannah

Sally with Brent


They require you to strap the bikes down, but they don't hand you straps, you have to hunt for them, usually finding them piled in a dirty corner... The ride was very smooth anyway, the straps were mostly decoration.
Getting ready to disembark:


Another province collected!

We arrive at Prince Edward Island:


Our motel was in Cavendish, reported to have world class sunsets and beaches. We caught a sunset as we pulled into the PEI Preserve Co. for an excellent supper:


We'll check the beach tomorrow.

[prometheus578]

Excellent write-up and some great pictures!
Really enjoyed the history aspect of the trip.
(And Barnabas Collins' Castle... Man, that was a freaky show)

[randy]

Geez, Prom,

Scooters, dolls,

now Soap Operas?

Alarm bells are ringing!

[madbiker]

He did not live in that one . His place over looked a cliff some where. that was the newer of the family place the one where Werewolf lived.
Ralph

[blue giant]

Great Report, Thanks for sharing it!

[tiredoffixing]

Great report!!!!! If you need someone to tag along next year look me up

[Brent]

Lost? in Lobster land

Great job on ride report Marty. It was a most XSellent adventure.


Perhaps I can add a little. Lobster was delicious! We do have imported lobster in Atlanta. (not the same). When you have to park next to the warf where the lobster boats are moored. beside the stacks of lobster traps, and it is all genuine, The one pound lobster with all you can eat buffett is an exceptional value at $15. Yes we had a coupon for "Warrens"provided by our candle toting host at Kittery Maine.

Just where did Mitch come to meet us? I am still not sure. I was not lost either. I was in Canada, about 2 thousand miles north of my house. After taking the marked road construction detour on unpaved road, and coming back to the right hwy, only to go in the opposite direction earlier, I can see why someone might think we were lost. We were in a remote area, maybe 30 miles from the nearest house. I believe we rode for an hour without meeting another vehicle. The fog & mist was so thick that it was difficult to smoke a ceegar. Visibility was low - what pilots call 0. I really did not want to see any moose that night, not up close. Knowing that many of the roads in northern Canada do not lead to a town, simply end far north in the wilderness, perhaps at a hunting camp, I was concerned about fuel. It was a big surprise to me to see Mitch on his bike along that empty road 50 miles from his house. He also knew where the open gas stations were.

Mitch "appeared out of nowhere". While that may sound impossible, it is fairly accurate.

Life is short. Ride hard.
Brent in GA

[MartyA]

Day 6

Day 6 Prince Edward Island

Some of the interesting points on Prince Edward Island (in no particular order)
1. Sunsets (see above)
2. Beaches
3. Anne of Green Gables series (Lucy Maud Montgomery birthplace)
4. Cute (some say it reminds them of Ireland)

We covered sunsets in a previous post.

2. Here are some photos of the beach at Cavendish:


Tracy tests the water:

Brent and Hannah take a dip:



3. Who doesn't know that Lucy Maud Montgomery is the author of "Anne of Green Gables" series and lived in Cavendish and based her books on her experiences growing up there? And everywhere you go in that area you find "Anne of Green Gables" chocolate, "Anne of Green Gables" Realty, "Anne of Green Gables" Chiropractic, and on and on.



Here is the house with the green gables:





Public TV did a movie of "Anne of Green Gables" and built a prop town right down the steet from the Green Gables house. They left it up and now you can tour the movie set. Isn't that cute?



4. PEI is just so darn cute! The shops are cute, the land is cute, everything is just cute.

Cute lighthouse:




Even at the Prince Edward Island Preserves store and Restaurant you can be cute:

PEI Preserves store hangs hand-made quilts on the ceiling!



The United States took advantage of North Atlantic fishing for many years after we became the United States. One fishing fleet was always at and around Prince Edward Island. In 1851 a hurricane came up so powerful it wiped out the "Yankee Fleet." Since then the storm has been called the "Yankee Gale." Hundreds of bodies washed up all along the north shore of PEI. There are several sites along the northcoast with commerative plaques and small cemeteries where the known and unknown fishermen were buried near where they washed up. Here is one:





We took the International Birdge back to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. It is a looo-o-ong bridge!


Brent demonstrates the ease at which you can navigate a bagger on a straight stretch of road... wink wink


We arrived back at Mitch's in time for supper and ALPINE!!!.
Tomorrow we pack and head home.

[madbiker]

Marty you forgot to mention the wildlife on the island
.[IMG][/IMG] [IMG][/IMG]

[MartyA]

Day 7 Leaving Canada back to Maine
We head back home.
You will see that the route does not take us to Baxter State Park, one of the most scenic areas of Maine, and one of the favorite places to spot moose in the wild. Because Baxter State Park forbids motorcycles, I said the heck with 'em..


We said goodby to great hosts. Mitch and Tina and Hannah were fantastic hosts!
Packed up and ready to head south.


The trip to the border was uneventful, except for an early wrong turn out of Mitch's driveway, but Mitch chased after us and after we were back on track he met us at breakfast. We arrived at the border, Brent went first and chatted with the guards for a while, softening them up, then the rest of us went through no problem.

Well, don't we LOOK like model citizens?




We travelled up the coast on the trip north, and now we are in the middle of Maine for our trip south. The Rangeley Lakes region is noted for it's scenery:








We travelled along Rt. 16, the "Old Canadian Road"

Scenic in addition to being historic:


BUT, this IS New England. The summer past time of all New Englanders is off road driving... Yeah, "Pavement Ends" again...


Lunch stop somewhere in the middle of Maine, Brent tries to find us on the map: "I think we are near here..."


"Nope, look a little closer..."


"Well, no, but that is close."


We had a great dinner here, across the street from our motel in Waterville. We didn't speak New England, fortunately the waitress spoke mid-west and southern.



Brent and Marty caught the last of the Waterville 4th of July fireworks.

Tomorrow NH-VT.

[Wildkat]

Hey! Cool!

We've eaten at the Weathervane before... yep... that one... Driven by it numerous times... how funny... It's a small world... made a little smaller through this group... VERY cool!

What a great ride and super pics!
Looking forward to the next bunch of pics and the report to go with them...

[John]

My old stomping grounds

All those pics in Maine...I've been to just about everyone of them, growing up in Maine. My home town was te very next town to the north of Waterville, called Fairfield. (Go Bulldogs) Y'all drove right through there when you got to the intersection of US 201 and I 95. You were only a half my from my old house. In fact, you drove over the stretch of (% that I used to drag race on back in the 70's. Traffic was much lighter then. If you were eating at Weathervane, you must have been staying at the Econo Lodge, or is it a Best western? I don't remeber anymore. When I was a kid, the Weathervane was called the 'Silent Woman'. We used to call it the 'Headless Hoar", because the sign had a headless woman on it.
Y'all should have called me, I can speak Yankee. ayuh, I can. Ain't that wicked? You don't know how badly I wish I had a bike up there in Waterville. I could spend an entire weekend on those roads, and I know many of them pretty well.
Nice pics, and glad you enjoyed the ride.

[MartyA]

Day 8 New Hampshire and Vermont




New Hampshire has the White Mountains, the tallest peaks in the northeast. Beautiful! We know about the "Presidential Range" - Madison, Adams, Monroe, Franklin, Eisenhower, and the big one - Washington:



Brent points to some of the presidents:



Ralph and Tracy in front of Mt. Washington:

Brent in front of Mt. Washington:


Snow on Mt. Washington July 5th:


We spotted a New Hampshire beach:


In Vermont, we were greeted by this Green Mountain Boy:


The Green Mountains are also scenic:



We saw a lot of these "walk-thru only" bridges:


But only a few of the "drive-thru" ones:


We drove the famous Kancamagus Highway. Scenic, a few nice twists and turns, mostly leaf peepers and Harleys leading the slow parade.


On to New York State tomorrow.

[Brent]

The ride

In the beginning was the ride, and the ride was without form and void..."we are thinking New England in 08"
And Marty said "let there be a route." And there was a route; complete with itinerary, schedule, and room reservations.

On the morning of the first day, Ralph led us from his driveway into some dense fog, past sheeves of wheat tied neatly together on Amish farms, down winding country roads & through picturesque villages, to a fuel station. There we greeted one of the good country folk riding a sport bike also getting fuel. Apparently, these folk have a great deal of respect for men of advanced age and refer to them as "Sir" (even if they are riding harley-davidsons). Brent was less than gracious in accepting this newley bestowed honor.
Ralph was sore amused. And Ralph said "this fog will burn off. Let it be sunny & bright." And it was sunny & bright.

and Marty led us to a room in another state. So ended the first day.

On the morning of the second day, Marty led us past some tall wooden ships in the harbor at Mystic, Conn to free parking near the statue of liberty and out of the city down the NewJersey turnpike. For just $14 each in tolls, we were able to get out of town the same day, and on to Paul Reveres ride to historic cities and sites. One square was so beautiful...that we circled it 4 or 5 times. The clouds gathered and Marty said "Let there be rain gear." And there was rain gear for all. It rained for 40 minutes in the day, and 40 minutes in the night. The winds blew, and the water fell from the sky, and Brents cigar was extinguished.

and Marty led us to a room in another state. So ended the second day.

On the morning of the third day, there was no light in the Inn, and darkness was upon the face of the alarm clock, and dark was the room and hall. Dark were the traffic signals and streetlights. Marty led us to the Sunrise grill, where there was light inside with hot coffee and food. And Marty led us to a grand cottage beside a beautiful lake in a forign country, but it was closed. Then Marty led us to a border crossing, where the guards did check passports, question, & search untill they found the half smoked, soggy, extinguished cigar. Thence they ceased and immediately granted passage. And Marty led us through another border crossing to a far distant wilderness beyond the Great North Woods, where he found Mitch looking for riders on a lonely road.

and Mitch led us to his castle where a feast and party awaited us. So ended the third day.

[Brent]

the ride day 4

On the morning of the fourth day, we followed Hannah with Mitch piloting. Hannah wisely called for rest breaks to keep the old folks from getting too stiff & sore with their rheumitism etc. Then Hannah kindly pretended that She needed to streach her legs or rest.

and we followed Hannah to an Inn in another Province, in another time, East beyond Eastern, where we found a pool also a fine dining resturaunt down the road at a secluded resort with a good view of Canada Day fireworks over the water. So was the morning & evening of the fourth day.