On the Road Again

After a great weekend of riding and running we are off again on another adventure. This time the long awaited trip to the Gaspe Penninsula. This time we are joined by one a friend of ours from Newfoundland. Jerry came over on the boat on Saturday and arrived at our house on Saturday, just 10 minutes after we arrived home...great timing already!

We had a great night of BBQ and gab, followed by a little FaceTime with our friend Alf and then off to bed. Morning brought breakfast, final packing and then we were off. Terry, another friend and rider, rode with us for a ways. Instead of boring highway, he led us through some newly discovered back roads. We bid adieu and continued on our way with a quick stop at Mom's for tea and intro to our friend Jerry (Jerry meet Gerri was an easy intro). Thanks Mom for the tea and Dunster Donut holes!

We headed out route 11 to the Acadian Penninsula deciding that a trip to Miscou Island was in order. With only a gas stop the rest of the trip was basically uninterrupted....well until we got to the road out to the island....best riding road so far and we managed to get a couple of good fast turns in before we hit it....yup, tourist traffic! Damn slow, gawking, not paying attention to anything tourist traffic. I know the idea of travel is to explore and see sites, take photos and all that...I do the same, but PULL OVER if you want to see something...indulge yourself and leave the rest of us to enjoy our own...anyway..rant done! We continued along the route to the lighthouse, had our ice cream and explored for a bit...more to stretch our legs than anything.

 

We headed out to our final destination of the night...tired, sore from the 12 km run the day before followed by over 450 km of riding today. It was a great day followed by a beautiful scenic ride along the bay..the sun was preparing to set and was casting a beautiful silver shimmer across it. Off in the distant blue reflection we could see the coast of our destination for tomorrow...Gaspe...if you are as beautiful as they all say and lovely as we witnessed this evening, we will not be disappointed.

 

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WE'RE BACK!

 

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Have you ever seen the rain?

Song lyrics are very useful tools when trying to decide on a theme for the daily blog...this one seemed appropriate.

What I assumed had been Mother Nature's prediction actually turned out to be more of a "gift". That's what we called it yesterday morning as we were up early, packing up the camp site in preparation for heading back to NB....in the rain.

Camp came down pretty quick as we prepared ourselves the night before in the event it was raining. We headed out for breakfast at Denny's, checked the forecast and the map and found the quickest route with the least amount of traffic. Riding wasn't bad given the amount of rain. We took our time passing a lot of other bikes either stopped at road stops or heading the other way. We came through customs at the old St. Stephen border crossing quickly thanks to a very nice border guard and headed to Reta and Alberts for the night at their camp.

We arrived around 3 pm. Rain was heavier on the Canadian side and as we pulled into Reta and Albert's garage (Albert had the door open for us, bless his great big heart), the skies opened up. It rained so hard you couldn't see across the lake. We peeled off our rain gear and left them hanging in the garage and peeled the other layers off in the camp. We weren't here more than an hour and a half and their neighbour Brian stopped by to tell us the road was washed out at the top. A couple of culverts couldn't handle the rain. Not long after that we started getting reports about flooding in St. Stephen - downtown, Irving, traffic circle...the same route we had travelled earlier in the afternoon.

We had a great afternoon with drinks and laughter...hot home cooked meal, watching the rain across the lake (and sometimes we couldn't see it at all), entertained constantly by the huge family of hummingbirds dancing outside the window, vying for their spots on the feeders.

 

As we started out, we came upon the engineers, fixing the road. Tucker, the road supervisor was giving us updates........

 

Tucker - Top Dog & Supervisor

 

Then we realized what was taking so long.....he was sleeping on the job!

 

 

Thanks Reta and Albert for a great end to a fabulous holiday!

 

Perfect Hosts xoxo

 

Someone told me long ago

There's a calm before the storm,

I know 

It's been comin for some time.

 

Yes John, we are back to work on Monday.....but until then......the road at the top is fixed up and we are Free to Just Ride!

 

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Bread and Milk, Bread and Milk

Well we thought today's ride would be short....WRONG! Though the distance not far, the amount of traffic and small towns along scenic Route 1 made for a very long ride and day...we did not get a chance to explore or ride Acadia National Park or even Bar Harbour itself....we did, however get a beautiful campsite right on the water...there were lots of them! Most likely because of the "forecast"....yes that dirty word again....rain.

I am not sure why everyone is so messed up by a little rain, or even a lot of rain (outside of the heavy torrential stuff that causes destruction). What is so wrong with Mother Natures shower I ask.

We couldn't get over the amount of traffic leaving Bar Harbour as we arrived. One would think that there was an evacuation order in place. It did not make sense to us until we arrived and starting setting up our tent at 4:30 in the afternoon.....everyone else was packing up! I guess panic is not specific to snowstorms lol...I am sure most of you have seen the YouTube video Bread and Milk...if not check it out...it pretty much describes the mass exodus we saw today!

This is fortunate for us as we are not the "fair weather" types as I have previously indicated....because we get a most beautiful campsite..right on the water during peak season the same day we requested!

We have often remarked over this journey and many others about how fortunate we are to share the experiences and how things always seem to work out.....

You be the judge!

 

One of the other cool things we need to come back to explore will be this bridge and fort...it is a long slow drive/ride here but one I think most of you would enjoy!

 

We will let you know how we made out tomorrow, but I am not worried....it is just rain, not bread and milk! The question is...who do you think is right...the weatherman with his forecast of rain....or Mother Nature with her beautiful prediction for tomorrow....stay tuned!

 

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KKP

Today's blog will be a short one...no pics just a little riding tour through K and K with a stop in P...

Kittery - a first for both of us today..stop for lunch at Weathervane with a fabulous lobster roll (so fresh) and made to order onion rings..yummmmmm. Not in the mood to shop but would definitely consider a trip back...with the car :)

Kennebunkport - summer home to the Bushes and Kennedy's. Amazing! Absolutely amazing and I can't wait to take some time to just park and explore....and the homes....historic homes.......this was an absolutely beautiful place....absolutely!

Portland.....this is where we ended our day...tomorrow we are off to do more coastal riding along Route 1 with Bar Harbour as our destination.

TTFN kiddies!

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Faith, Hope and Rain...

What started out to be the worst day of the trip actually turned into one of the best ever....

We went to bed the night before, not really knowing our plans for the next day....the forecast was not good! We woke up in the morning with rain teeming down...now for the decision....go or no go?

Well there was no doubt in either of our minds...we don't do these trips as "fair weather" riders...we have come prepared so we will soldier on. We decide we will head for Concord, NH, a nice easy ride, not real far but will get us closer to the coast. We decided a couple of days ago that the coast of Maine would be a great area to explore.

So, we pack up our stuff, get out on our rain suits to load the bikes and voila!.......rain has stopped! Forecast is for heavy rain all day along the way......well, all I can say is that when I invoke the "weather witch" things happen lol.

We left Saratoga Springs after a quick breakfast and headed out in search of Route 7. By the end of the day we had crossed 3 states, rode some wicked roads and enjoyed one of the best rides on our trip...better still, we got no rain!

Beautiful farmlands, twisty winding roads up and down the Green Mountains and just before we crossed from New York into Vermont we came across this incredible shop. It captured our eye and our imagination, not to mention it just really tickled our fancy. We stopped to take pictures and we ended up staying for lunch and wandering around the shop...the Big Moose Deli and Country Store. Worth the ride/drive through there!...and here is why...

Strange people hang out here!

Strange and funny people hang out here! Some celebrities obviously have heard of the place!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strange yet familiar animals all wearing the same coats.

 

Strange little men with a lot of Bear Friends!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Real party animals!... And they make a wicked wraps and from all accounts their pulled pork is unbelievable!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So it just goes to show, you can't always count on the weatherman...sometimes you just have to go on Faith and Hope....and a little Weather Witch along for the ride helps too!

We ended our ride in Concord, New Hampshire. After getting the laundry done (bag of clothes were getting kinda ripe), we got a recommendation for a restaurant just down the road. The evening was so nice we walked down. The restaurant was called The Common Man. The food was amazing (Larry fell in love with the ribs and ended up taking some home). What was really cool is that this chain of restaurants is still family owned and managed. They find old properties with a ton of character, like grist mills and such and restore them using all the nice characteristics. One of their restaurants has a large room inside a boiler lol...I wouldn't ask what's for supper. The attention to detail is pretty amazing...even a visit to the washroom is an event itself...instead of piped in music, you can listen to Grandmother telling jokes like..."my sister was so addicted to line dancing she had to go into the two step program"...another great supper, another great evening and another really great day despite the forecast.

TTFN

 

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Twists, turns and can't see straight!

This morning we left Lackawana Station, our beloved hotel in the middle of downtown Scranton. They always treat us well so it hard not to want to visit again and again...here are a couple of pics that really show how they left the building almost exactly as it was and "created" this open dining room and banquet area around it.

This first pic shows what used to be the exit to the train tracks complete with clock.....the area at the back is now used for larger banquets. You can see a peek of the stain glass that was original to the train station. Other pics and links in blog from 2011.

This next pic shows where the restaurant is located. This morning they had a group function so they used bamboo trees to separate the two areas...beautiful terrazzo floor with tile inlay...all original! You can see more of the stain glass as well as the beautiful fixtures which are also original!

 

 

Below is the front entrance, you just turn right to the ticket office which is now the front desk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We headed out after breakfast to Route 30 to re-run the roads around the Pepacton Reservoir from our 2011 trip as well. Route to get there was awesome! Lots of twists and turns but we had to be careful as this area was also hit hard with a lot of washouts from the rainstorms a month or more ago. Some of the roads have just been repaired. Route 30 was just as exciting as when we last visited but not at all what we remembered lol.

As we continued on past the reservoir we came upon the little community of Margeritaville. We were so excited that we had to pull over and take my picture...lol. All I can say is two things. We stopped in Margaretville for lunch and I had to pee REALLY bad! Lunch was fabulous with a real honest to goodness Italian salami sandwich on rye...mmmmmm with a salad. As we left town, we could see things much clearer.... (:

We headed out stopping for gas, meeting up with a couple of guys from Nashville Tennessee riding Victory Visions...Ken, an engineer was born and raised near Deals Gap. He said that in his younger days that road was not nice and pretty beat up. They described it as "THAT annoying road they had to go through to get anywhere". He and Victor were riding the roads until Ken's wife could join them in Manchester in a couple of days...really great guys!

We headed for Sarasota Springs for the night, ready to explore this quaint city however we were disappointed to find out that the track season just opened AND BonJovi playing tonight had taken up most of the rooms...Hilton graciously offered us a huge discount from $459 for the night to $299 with CAA...I think not...so we headed north and found a beautiful roadside motel at a much better and more reasonable rate....beautiful little property!

Tomorrow's forecast for rain so it could be New Hampshire or Maine depending on how that works out....TTFN

 

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