Go Big or Go Home Tour - Day 17 - Planes, Trains and Motorcycles

Today started out as most mornings….time adjusted though…..we got to meet yet another puppy, Missy who loves attention and gives great kisses.  So today we are breaking down the blog by the 3 topics noted above..

Planes - today we saw a crop duster.  We have seen them before in the states but we have never seen them as we cross Canada….in fact we didn’t even see it at first, it was like a shadow of a bird going overhead.  Mom and Dad are also heading in our direction having boarded their plane in New Brunswick, landing in Calgary, right about now.  We will see them in a couple of days and do mini vacation tour before we get them back on their flight home.

Trains - trains, trains and more trains….I love watching the trains as you go across the prairies!  They are hugely long.  If they were hauling trains like this long past our level crossing back home, we would probably look at it with a different perspective but I love to watch them go on forever.  Today we tracked them a couple of times.  One was travelling in the same direction at half our speed…we estimated it was about 3 kms long.  Then there was one on the siding so we tried to measure the distance with it and estimated it was about the same as the other….as we rode, Larry would spot them and let me know….on one occasion, he said “there’s a train” to which I responded “where” to which the train’s whistle blew almost to say, “hey I’m over here”. We had a chuckle about that one.  We happen to notice a lot of Canadian Tire cars or containers.

Motorcycles - this is really what the trip is all about right?…..So we have travelled this highway before back in 2016 (see blog dates for more pics).  We made a couple of similar stops, saw some familiar sites.  One stop was in Indian Head.  The restaurant that gave us a free piece of Saskatoon Berry Pie (because we had never heard of it before) isn’t open any longer.  There has been a lot of changes where we stopped, more commercial spots like Tim Hortons and such….We also passed Chaplin which is one of the worlds largest suppliers of sodium sulphite which is used in detergent.  We have always thought they were salt fields, so I guess we were half right.

The best part of Saskatchewan though is the canola fields…so beautiful.  They also have large grain silos.  The roads in most places have a lot of wild mustard so there is a lot of vibrant yellow against all of the green.  

For the most part we have had great weather and have managed to escape or ride around any major weather systems…looks like we are clear for tomorrow as well which will take us into Calgary for the next few days.  We plan to leave really early tomorrow so that we land in Calgary early afternoon.  It will be nice to make this stop and get some time with friends and with Mom and Dad before we move on to BC.

Teddy was able to ride in the sunshine today which he seemed to enjoy oh and we did find some Pop Shoppe Lime Ricky and Root Beer…couldn’t pass those up.

Every time I looked for my sunglasses, Teddy had them on!

Canola fields….so beautiful!

As good as we remembered!

Go Big or Go Home Tour - Day 16 - Time Warp

This morning we were up at 5 a.m. (still no alarm clock), however this is more likely a result of the one hour we gained on arrival in Ignace last night!

This morning we opened our windows and patio doors while we packed, in hopes of hearing the loons and they did not disappoint.  We had everything packed and on the bikes by 7 a.m. so we headed down to the main office for breakfast.  What a spread!…homemade banana bread (a Larry favourite), fresh mixed fruit, yogurt and a ton of fresh assortment.  We also got to meet Karma, the family’s 9 year old German Shepherd.  What a cutie and she loves all of the attention.  Despite all of that, she is not bothersome near or around any of the food and greets everyone with the same enthusiasm.

We headed out before 8 a.m. with a few showers here and there but nothing that we would call rain.  We made several stops today to ensure we didn’t fall into the same issues yesterday.  Making sure we took our proper breaks when facilities afforded same.

We crossed into Manitoba around noon and passed an actual tree line….where the forest stopped and the fields began….forever.  We also saw our first long train, and the “middle of Canada” (longitudinal Center of Canada).

We travelled just short of 700 kms today ending up in Brandon, Manitoba for the night.  It has been a long day and we are both exhausted.  A quick swim, shower and ordering a salad from Boston Pizza is about as much energy as we had left.  No pictures except for one….I managed to get him to pose for it but I am not sure he knew why….if you check the background you will know.

Go Big or Go Home Tour - Day 15 - Then This Happened…….

We were up early again this morning….still without any alarm clock!  Must mean we are looking forward to the day!  John arrived around 7:30 and we went to the restaurant for a nice little breakfast and FaceTime with Guylaine!

After breakfast we bid our good-byes as John headed East and we headed West.  We suited up in our rain gear as it was forecasting some showers along the way but really it was because of the 9 degree temperatures.  Now, we do our best to stay hydrated on our trips because it is really important travelling on your bike, especially if it gets really hot…then this happened!  We were on a stretch of road with no where to stop!  Two adults, full of ‘hydration’, cold temps, sitting on a motorized bike….you get the picture!  By the time we found a place to stop we were fully hydrated, tankful (and thankful) adults who could hardly walk, going into Tim Hortons.   To add insult to injury, I couldn’t believe that Larry ordered an “iced coffee”…..honestly!

We continued on, refreshed, heading to Thunder Bay.  Figured we would get there and have lunch as it was really the half way point of our trip today.  As we approached Thunder Bay, we were both getting low on fuel.  We were down to our last bar by the time we got to Hwy 102 which leaves Hwy 17 and gets you around the downtown of Thunder Bay.  Things like gas stations, Tim Hortons and bathroom facilities are really spread out around here.  We finally saw a gas station and pulled in….then this happened….it was a Petro Can.  They just had a cyber attack and could only take cash or credit card…..they were only getting cash from me today.  $2.00 a litre, the most we ever spend on bike fuel!  We decided to grab lunch across the street at Tim Hortons where we changed into a lighter t-shirt as the temperature had warmed up, and had a quick lunch.

There is a lot of construction happening north of Thunder Bay as they are twinning parts of the highway.  As always we are very cognitive of safety, especially around road work where you have flag people, equipment and lots of vehicles running back and forth.  We always travel the posted speed limits through construction areas and keep an eye out.  The signage is generally really good and reduced speed signage is out well in advance of work.  Then this happened…….we were chatting about the trip and what we had to cover in distances…we saw a sign indicating there was work ahead but no signage for reduced speed, flag person, possible stop……and all of a sudden there was a man waving a stop sign, just over the crest of a hill out of sight.  We crammed on the brakes (luckily we have ABS and bikes do stop fast), checked our mirrors…..and then this happened….two more vehicles behind us!  We heard the first vehicle, pulling a trailer, squeal their brakes but we were already doing “get the hell out of the way maneuvers’ just in case he didn’t get stopped, and the van behind him took to the shoulder.  Everyone was ok, but holy crap I am sure glad we talk about these type of situations often and always check our mirrors and apply our hazard lights when we know there is heavy traffic behind us (until at least the next couple of vehicles get stopped).  It could have saved us today…Worst part is when we brought it to the flag person’s attention, he insisted the signs were there….I don’t think 4 drivers could be that wrong, especially given that we pay close attention to these kind of areas.

So, even though the roads were ok and the weather was kinda bla, there seemed to be enough excitement to keep us going.  We had one more pit stop to make before we got to Ignace for the night and not taking any chances we stopped at the first gas station before Ignace which was about 80 kms outside of the town….an Esso, in the middle of no where.  Generally one of us stays with the bikes and we take turns going in to use the washroom, just so we don’t have to drag all our crap with us.  While Larry was inside, I heard a huge commotion on the other side of building…kids screaming and crying, men shouting, dog barking and a woman running with her little one….I was like sheesh!  It sounded almost like a fight (domestic or otherwise) or a dog that was threatening a child or something…..then I laughed and said maybe it’s a bear (we have been seeing bear and moose signage everywhere along Northern Ontario, mostly in advertising).  Larry comes out and I see him stop to talk to the woman and child who seemed very upset and then looked over to where the truckers were all shouting.  He starts walking over to the bikes and I asked him what was going on…..a bear, walking up the front walkway when the little one was coming out of the store with her Mom.  We figured they had scared it away or at least turned it around.  I went in to use the washroom and met a man coming in laughing saying, you need some bear bangers lol…apparently he was still hanging around out behind the propane tanks…all of this of course on the other side of the building.  We didn’t see him but everyone seemed to have calmed down a bit.  I walked over to Larry and the bikes…Larry was suited up and I just had to get my rain jacket and helmet on.  I turned on the communications, turned around….and then this happened…..the freakin bear was about 100 feet from us!….and he wasn’t a little bear so no I did not stop long enough to take a picture but picture this…two adults in high vis green hopping on the bikes so fast that I am sure the bear didn’t even get a whiff of us.

The best thing that happened all day though, was finding the Lone Pine…a cute little family motel, down on Agimak Lake in Ignace.  Two kilometres off the highway, and even though it is still raining, it is peaceful with a great view out of the patio doors. We were both thrilled to find this place and were just admiring the beautiful view…..then this happened!  We saw loons, real loons (not the kind back home) with babies!  I haven’t seen a loon in years and I can only hope, as we leave our patio door open tonight that we will hear their beautiful song before we leave tomorrow morning….I love loons!

Tomorrow we are hoping to head out early….rain is still in the forecast and we have about 300 kms to reach the Manitoba border.  How we feel tomorrow will determine where we stop but we are thinking it could be Portage la Prairie or Brandon….depending on how many gas stations, Tim Hortons or washrooms we can find along the way!  We apologize for the lack of pictures especially of some of the beautiful vistas, waterfalls and bears but we do not have any on-board photographers this time which limits what we capture…..but I do have some of the loons even if they are far, far away!

Not the bear at the gas station…this is Teddy!

LOONS!

Go Big or Go Home Tour - Day 14 - Perspectives

Well today didn’t start out as planned but really none of the days really start out that way.  We woke to a heavy blanket of smoke. Luckily we had planned for an early start so this worked in our favour.  We had a good haul ahead of us this early in the trip, so we got up at 6 a.m. (without an alarm clock), packed up most of our stuff, headed down for a quick breakfast and then started to load.  Because of the smoke and heavy haze, Larry was wearing one of our N95 masks just to be on the safe side…the index was about at a 9 which is high risk.  The good news was that we knew we would be riding out of it..or at least we were pretty sure we would.

We were on the road by 8:30, and stopped about 75 kms in to gas up.  The haze was starting to lift.  Once we got all our “business” out of the way we headed out again.  This was the last gas station for 150 kms which is also a nice way of saying  “no places to stop”.  Before leaving I snapped a picture of the sun doing it’s best to shine through the smokey haze.  At least here we could see a bit of it…in the Soo it was nothing but smokey soup!  

By the time we got to the gas station on the other side, we needed gas, a washroom, something to nibble on but what we didn’t need was sunshine, cause it was right there waiting.  This beautiful orb followed us the rest of the day, even though the temps got to 14 and 15 a couple of places…we didn’t care.

Today we were treated to a few new perspectives….one perspective is the thing everyone experiences from time to time….directional travel…you travel a road in one direction but when you travel it in the other, the scenery is generally quite different.  We experienced much of that today.  When we travelled this road in 2016, we were headed east.  What we could see riding in that direction was different than what we see riding west.  

Secondly, in 2016 we got off the 17 at Wawa and took an alternative route that took us past the Soo, so a lot of this road is actually new to us.  Several times today we uttered “look what we missed!”  At the time we had chosen the alternate route to avoid traffic, the rain and quite honestly we hoped the OPP (didn’t happen, they drive ALL the roads). If you go back to 2016 blogs you will find the Wawa stop and remaining commentary…I think we did over 700 kms in the rain, 2 hours of it without any place to stop.

Another big perspective, and one we will blame on both weather and choices, is the experience.  We have often said we wouldn’t want to do the Northern Ontario route again and quite frankly we didn’t have much good to say about that experience.  I am happy we took a second chance on it.  It has actually become one of our most enjoyable routes so far….now maybe that perspective is influenced by all the riding on the 4 - O - somethings, I don’t know….but it is a lesson on always giving things a second chance.  There is nothing to be lost and so much to be gained.

We arrived in Terrace Bay around 3:30 in the afternoon and booked into our room.  Cute place, conveniently located right on the highway at an Essa gas station.  On the outside it is very modern and on the inside it reminds you of a cute little log cabine.  Shortly after we got into our room, our friend John rode in to the parking lot!  We missed John in Montreal as he was riding back from Vancouver on his Triumph.  As previously mentioned, he was suppose to take another route but smoke pushed his trip to overlap ours….even the fact that we were on similar routes was fortunate as he had planned to be back in Quebec sooner and we had originally planned to have left weeks earlier.  It is a great opportunity to meet up with friends along the way and even greater when they are on the same adventure, just going in the opposite direction.  We had a great dinner together sharing stories, thoughts and ideas from previous trips and information on the routes that were yet to be taken.  As always, it is good to get someone else’s perspective!

Tomorrow Ignace is our final over night stop in Ontario!  Oh and Teddy was happy to come out from under his protective cover to enjoy a little sunshine too!

Go Big or Go Home Tour - Day 13 - Go or No Go!

Well the day didn’t start out quite as we expected but exactly as planned….we woke up this morning with an air quality forecast in Sault Ste Marie (herein referred to as the Soo).  The original forecast had been 5 but had changed to 10+ overnight…..we had some decisions to make….not the first time we have had to make decisions about altering our plans due to unknown or impacting conditions. We have become old hats at it in fact.  Today we had to weigh the possibility that the air quality index could change again and in looking at the weather there was a good chance that the forecasted rain could change everything for the better….at worst we could always turn around and that was the only plan B we were going with…

Decision made to go forward so we quickly loaded the bikes to get down to the ferry landing before 7:30 am.  We made the quick trip around the corner, checked in and since we had a little time to wait Larry went up to a local coffee shop to grab us a breakfast sandwich.  While he was gone another couple pulled up on their bikes to line up for the crossing….they were from England and had freighted their bikes over, quit their jobs, sold their house and anything they didn’t want to keep to spend the summer travelling across Canada!  Nice couple, they had picked up their bikes in Halifax.  

We loaded on time, tied down the bikes and headed up on the deck. The day started to clear and we were looking forward to a beautiful drive through Manatoulin to Espanol which is where we connected with the TCH 17.  Beautiful ride through, unfortunately not enough time to stop so we will keep that for another time…what was really funny were all the signs and folks telling us to watch out for the turtles!  No joke!  The only thing we saw more than turtles were OPP cars!  

We stopped at Tim Hortons and had a bowl of chilli…yes Paula, Larry even made a joke about whether they had it or not and had to concede his error….I think he’s going to message you to make sure you know you were right, or more importantly he was wrong lol.

For a day that started out so uncertain, the weather was amazing and the smoke issues did not present…even better was that we had some amazing DDs….designated decoys.  Those folks who risk driving faster than the 90 km/hr speed limit.  They generally pass us and we stay a healthy distance behind while maintaining the pace….so to say that we arrived sooner than we expected would be an understatement however we did have 4 km of rain downpour on us just 30 kms from our destination….we had a good chuckle about that…I told Larry if his old ass didn’t need that last bum break we would have arrived dry but then he would not have met up with his new friend Jonathan….Jonathan Seagull!

Poor Teddy was riding under cover because of the weather and air concerns.  He was happy to peek out on our stops.

We saw lots of waterfalls, valleys,  mountains, turtles and OPP…the first three were beautiful, the 4th was lumpy and quick to pull in his head while we made our way around what we thought was a “rock”……and the last..well as long as we see them and they don’t see us, we are good!

Tomorrow we will be riding our longest distance thus far…a healthy 500 kms.  We plan to stop in Terrace Bay where we will meet up with John who is travelling in the opposite direction from Vancouver.  The circumstances that we had to evaluate this morning are the very same decisions he had to make for today….his original route was going north-east at Nippigon which would mean that we might miss each other.  Not all plan Bs are bad plans…sometimes they are the best ones!

Go Big or Go Home Tour - Day 12 - On the Road AGAIN!

So Sundays always seem to be a good day to get out of big cities and today was no different.  After a relaxing day yesterday, we were up and getting ready to hit the road at 10 a.m. with an escort to get us out of the city.  It has been an amazing week here and we really enjoyed seeing all our friends and spending some time doing things we haven’t done in a while or for the first time.

I have been monitoring the smoke air quality, especially through Northern Ontario and it appears that we may have picked the right time to make our way through.  As long as the weather and fires cooperate we should be good.  

Today we rode as far as Tobermory which is at the very top of the Bruce Peninsula.  Tomorrow we are taking the Chi-Cheemaun Ferry to Manitoulin Island.  I am really looking forward to travelling across Lake Huron and the island as I hear it is really beautiful!

It was a great ride today even with the little bit of traffic on the 427 to the 401 to the 410….I mean every busy road begins with a 4….hard not to feel like a bunch of golfers are driving things at you but in this case it is cars and trucks!  Once we hit the 10, we gassed up, said good bye to Alf once again and set out.  A stop at Kettle Restaurant at lunch was a great reprise from the heat and humidity and the salads we had were really good!  

Our thoughts today have been about our good friend Terry.  Jeremie, his Son-In-Law, was finishing the last day of a 4 day bike ride in NB in support of Cancer research and everywhere we looked we saw Terry’s name.  He is not far from our thoughts when doing these trips.

We had a chat with the girls tonight and they told us they are also dealing with smoke impacted air quality.  Environment Canada had them at a 5 today.  Sault Ste Marie, which is our final stop tomorrow night, had an air quality index of 10+ due to the smoke today.  They were forecasted to have an index of 7….rain we had today should ease that and the forecast for tomorrow is looking like a 4 with a 3 forecasted for Tuesday.  We have been in touch with another friend who is leaving Winnipeg tomorrow and who we plan to meet up with part way through the “woods”.  

So much to still look forward to…although 12 days on the road, it seems like we are just getting started…..again!

Go Big or Go Home Tour - Day 7-11 - Enjoying off time

Tuesday to Saturday were downtime, relax time and get to see all our special peeps time.

Tuesday and Wednesday we really just relaxed, reorganized some things and took advantage of some time with our friends that we were staying with.  This may or may not have included wine.

Thursday, we headed in by subway to have lunch with all of the special people I have had the privilege of working with for the last 20+ years.  I was surprised and honoured by how many people came to the office  and enjoyed every hug and every conversation.  Would love to have had more time and I am really want to make an effort to get up here more often…when we left the office we headed by subway to downtown to meet up with Jeremy and his parents.  We had a nice chat, a little drink and then headed back to our home base on the subway again…it is sometimes hard enough to walk around the city so taking the bikes wasn’t really an option.

Friday, was laundry day and getting everything ready to pack since we would be spending the next day in Niagara-On-The-Lake.  Larry had never been there and I was excited to finally get him there.  We left in the morning, stopped at a few wineries along the way and headed to the Main St for lunch.  It turned out to be a beautiful day and we even got a side trip to the Falls…a drive by actually (the crowds were unreal).

Tonight we spent the rest of the time, packing all our stuff and getting ready to head out.  Tomorrow morning we head for Tobermory where we will stay the night and catch the ferry to Manatoulin Island on Monday…but that is for another blog….

Cheers until then!

Go Big or Go Home Tour - Day 6 - The Big Smoke

We had a great nights sleep which was good….we had 4-5 hours of riding today if we were going to make it to the Big Smoke, which is what we were going to attempt to do.

After a nice breakfast, we packed and loaded the bikes ready to hit the Big 401 again.  This time we put together our route, right down to getting to our stop for the night.

After spending almost a couple of hours on the 401, we moved off the speedway to Route 62 at Belleville heading for the TCH 7.  At the intersection of 62/7 we stopped for lunch and a bum break.

As we hit the TCH 7, Larry and I both noted we would be hitting some milestones….his came first, just as we started up the 7…..139,000 kms on his bike.  Mine came a little later when I hit the 100,000 km mark…there was much celebration!  We are marking these milestones on a big trip we have been planning for a very long time.   Let’s just say we like to travel by bike on our vacations…now that we are both retired, we can really rack up the mileage.

TCH 7 to 115 and 115 to 407….the rest of the ride was pretty good for highway riding….as we got closer to the Big Smoke, the traffic also got thicker.  Fortunately we have travelled together a lot, we have a great communication system and we are not nervous riders.  When in high traffic situations, it is good to be vigilant and this can be pretty exhausting by the end of the ride, especially in unfamiliar territory.  We did hit some stop and go traffic but we were not long before we found our way to our stop for the night.  We are here for the next couple of nights.  Looking forward to seeing all my work peeps on Thursday and there is a good chance there might also be an anniversary celebration with a wine tour…..my favourite way to celebrate.

Teddy still loves that he is riding without having to be undercover.  We are happy to have a few dry days, although the bikes….they are in need of a really deep clean…that may come tomorrow.

Go Big or Go Home Tour - Day 5 - Happy Fathers Day!

Firstly, to all the special Dads I know…..Happy Fathers Day and thank you for being the special people that you are.

We decided we would make haste and head out of Quebec today rather than Monday, given the Grand Prix in Montreal and avoid the Monday morning work traffic.  Today was uneventful and not really any photos.  We took all the side roads out of Chambly with the intention of staying on Highway 2 which runs parallel to the 401.  The ride through communities getting to the Quebec/Ontario border was much longer than we anticipated but a nice ride none the less.  One special encounter near the Quebec Hydro Dam was the seagull farm….since we didn’t stop to take pictures, I have decided to provide you with a written “visual” description that may also rely on the imagination…not just to picture it but….well you will understand in a minute.

We rode by the dam which was huge and the water churning was really something to see…as we come around the corner, there was the dam on the left, chainlink fence on the right and beyond that a field which appeared to be growing seagulls….I mean, there had to be thousands of those suckers, on the fence, on the rocks and so help me so many of them in the field it looked like they were planted there.  The urge to stop and take a photo was quickly abandoned due to the aroma of the seagull community….let me just say there was no burning trash, but one would wish there was.

We continued up through highway 2 which wasn’t as “scenic” as we hoped and 10 km/hr slower than the 401….since it didn’t appear to be really busy, we gave it a go.  We ran pretty smoothly through there but for a 100 km/hr speed limit with serious fines for exceeding, we were the slowest traffic at 120 km/hr…lots of DD (designated decoys).

We decided to put down stakes in Brockville, given we were both tired and it was coming on stupid o’clock…that time when we know to get off the road due to fatigue and attention span.  With Mexi’s only 300m away, we decided a short walk, a quick supper and an early night would suite our fancy just fine….so that’s what we did!

Tomorrow we continue our route West….haven’t decided if 401 or alternate route is the way but I expect how much rest we get tonight will be the determining factor.

Night Dad!

Go Big or Go Home Tour - Day 4 - Locked Up

Don’t worry MaryAnn, WE didn’t get locked up!

We had a wonderful afternoon exploring Chambly with Gilles and Nicole.  We grabbed a quick bite and a walk through the area on our way to see the canal locks.  As we arrived there was actually a boat going through from the top into the basin below.  Was really cool to see how the water emptied from one lock into the next to fill up enough to open the large wooden doors and allow the boat to power through to the next lock.  Considering that these were built hundreds of years ago, it is pretty amazing manual technology.  In the video I hope you can see just how fast the water goes down in the locks….this boat had to navigate about 5 locks I think to get down to the lake….pretty amazing!  And you can travel a long distance between lakes by using the canal systems.

We also drove along the oldest part of the community with huge stone mansions, some of these houses dating back to the 1800’s.  These are close to the Forte Chambly which still stands as well.

Guylaine joined us for supper at Gilles and Nicole’s and we enjoyed an amazing evening of laughter and stories (I was instructing them on what to believe or not believe when Larry was story telling).  The meal and wine were second only to the company.  Unfortunately I forgot to get a photo of all of us but managed to remember to get one this morning before we parted company with Gilles and Nicole.

Thank you all so much for hosting us and for all of your amazing company on our first stop!….on to the next!

Go Big or Go Home Tour - Day 3 - Short Ride, Long Day

Not all ride days are the same or can be measured equally.  With the first two days of riding we completed over 400 kms each day, the 3rd day was only 261….Weather and directional challenges can make a 261 km ride seem like a much longer day that the 400+ day.

We started out a bit late partly waiting for one of those “breaks” in the rain.  Day 3 with rain gear!  Although we had similar type of conditions for the morning we had a few more stops than usual to ensure we were on the right track and as we got closer we wanted to have a more detailed route to Gilles and Nicole’s house.

We followed the 139 South for the first part of the morning, looking for the 104 that would take us to Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu which was our final destination.  We enjoyed riding through all small, beautiful communities and we are still surprised by how many large and seemingly successful farms they have here in this part of Quebec.  There are a lot of large farms!  

As we approached what we knew was going to be a change of routes (104) we hit some construction….and that is where we got to see more of Quebec than we had originally planned!  We always say we are never lost, just finding new roads to explore.  We knew that at the end of Route 104 we had to turn left and at that point we would be in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and ready to begin our more “detailed” route….when we reached the sign 104 FIN, it didn’t seem like we were in the right place….I mean it was a lovely little town with decorated mannequins everywhere….but nothing beyond that we were at the end of 104 seemed familiar with what we were looking for.  Low and behold we had been travelling East and not West, so around we go, through the streets full of mannequins, headed West….we can now say with full confidence we have travelled Quebec route 104 from end to end.

As we finally arrived in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu we were surprised by a few things….how many 3 and 4 way stops, but also how the community seems very active and young…there are a lot of walking/running trails along the canal, coffee shops, artisan galleries and people.  It seemed like a very busy, active, summer community.  Indeed, as Gilles explained to us, where he lives used to be a campground.  It all seemed very New England summer home type of area and apparently that is what it once was.  It reminded us of the Hero Islands which, coincidentally, are located just south of here across the border in Vermont.  We have driven through there a couple of times on other trips.

Now that we had successfully navigated the right end of the 104, we easily found our way to our final destination.  The rain, which was forecasted, held off, however the humidity which took it’s place as we navigated the stop and go of stop signs and people, was almost suffocating even in our breathable rain gear.  We were happy to finally land, and strip off all of the layers, take a shower and feel human again.  While Nicole had to be out of town for the night, she made sure we had a lovely dinner (lasagna and Caesar Salad - one of my favs) and we caught up with Gilles on his recent travels and some of his trips that are planned…I am not sure but I think I heard he and Larry making plans for another….

We are here for a couple of nights and then continuing our journey across the way.  The folks back home have moved in…..and I got a pic of one smiling puppy, who apparently was confused as to why we were not there to greet her!  Didn’t take her long though to settle in just like she was staying with us!

Go Big or Go Home Tour - Day 2 - Ground Hog Day

Ground Hog day is described as “a situation in which a series of unwelcome or tedious events appear to be recurring in exactly the same way”…..

Today was full of Ground Hog Day moments..

Weather - same as the day before.  On/off showers, one 2 minute downpour, sun….the only difference was a bit of fog we encountered as we left the highway in Quebec.

Reminders - As we ride, we will often ask each other to “remind” us of something we need to do when we stop ie change the time on the clocks, adjust mirrors or adjust suspension for all of the extra weight….2 seconds after we left a stop, I would look at the time (didn’t change it), and then realize we didn’t adjust mirrors or suspension either…….4 times we stopped before one of us finally remembered (I won’t say who finally remembered but it wasn’t Larry)

Scenery - as we rode the back country it reminded us of our rides through Vermont.  Amazing farms and forests, the roads were amazing as well.  So happy we took the biway and not the highway.

One non-Ground Hog moment was remembering how great it is to travel together on our bikes and how much we enjoy all that it entails….even the rain is part of this wonderful experience.

Enough about slack memory and repetitive weather….

We left Edmundston with our bikes better balanced, crossing into Quebec around 10:30 AT (9:30 ET).  We continued along the highway for a bit enjoying the beautiful valleys and water views.  We swung off the highway to follow Route 132 along the beautiful St. Lawrence.  Although it was a bit windy along the water, it was also breathtakingly beautiful.  Roads winding around farms on one side and the St. Lawrence on the other.

We moved through Levis which was quite busy and happy to finally get to the interchange that would take us to the 116 which brought us to Victoriaville for the evening. 

We had a stop at a cafe in Kamouraska called Chez Casgrain and shared a small lunch of couscous and asparagus focaccia and coffee……for supper we ate in the Restaurant Laurier in the hotel….fabulous meal and great selection of wine.

All in all a great day.  Tomorrow we are staying with my “work” husband Gilles and his lovely partner Nicole for the weekend.  Looking forward to the weekend, although every day is like a weekend now.

I would definitely recommend exploring Quebec by getting off the highway…so many villages along the way, so much art and little cafes…the food is amazing and the people are gracious.  This is our first time in this part of Quebec but we have explored many other areas and enjoyed them equally… 

Some photos from today including the rather attractive rainwear over top our riding gear…Cheers.