Day Final - Planes, trains, and automobiles....

...oh, and boats and motorcycles too!

We both were awake early, keen to get the day started and to ensure we kept our appointment with Chantal at PROCAM.  The packing was essentially all done last night so all we needed to do was wake up, have breakfast and get the 'Wing and our rental car all of a 3 minute drive to our appointment.

Chantal arrived as promised, and after a brief scare in which it looked like the door had jammed or been double locked we were in.  This is the lovely lady, a biker herself, who gave up part of her statutory holiday to help us get home.

Safe travels on your own trip to New Orleans this weekend!

The bike is sleeping warm and dry in a nice warehouse tonight and they will prepare it for shipping later in the week.

From there it was on to Dorval where we dropped off our rental car and were ridiculously early for our flight.  So early we got to watch a non-stop to Vancouver depart that we never thought we would have time to catch.  But thanks to WestJet our connections to Toronto and on to Vancouver went off without a hitch.

We celebrated with wine and WestJet's gourmet sandwiches on the plane, and before we knew it we were landing in Vancouver.  Resisting the urge to kiss the ground we hightailed it for the Canada Line and Seabus and then a cab home.

Of course, it was raining!

It's great to be back, this odyssey seems a little overwhelming as we look back on it, but it's done.  We got there and back safely, saw so many sights, met so many great people, have so much better grasp of our nation's regions and geography  it will take weeks or more to process.  It was an adventure!

Look forward to catching up with you all!

The and LZB

Day Final - Bike with......

..... shipper. PROCAM. 

Next stop, Dorval airport!

Day Thirty One - We make preparations...

..... and see Montreal.

Planning is front and centre now. We want to be in Vancouver tomorrow night and there will be nothing undone from our end to stop that from happening!  From here it is up to ProCam to get the Goldwing back and Westjet to return us to where we started.

After breakfast today we cabbed out to Pierre Elliott Trudeau (Dorval) airport to see how to get there and also to rent a car.  The car took us into downtown today and will pick up LZB at the shippers sans bike tomorrow morning on our way to the airport.

Getting into downtown was surprisingly easy, even uneventful, and we were soon parked.  And look what we found in the lot!  This T-Rex is 14 years old if you can believe it.

It has a Kawasaki 1100 engine although you can now get them with a 1600 BMW.  Pretty cool!  Scott, you need one of these!

From there we went to the Tourist office, past a war memorial to Canadians who fought alongside the British in South Africa - who knew?

And from there we walked, along St. Catherine's with its shops, past the festival being set up for St. Jean Baptiste Day tomorrow, down and through old Montreal where we enjoyed both coffee and lunch.

And finally up to the Latin Quarter to see what that was all about.  Downtown Montreal has a lot going for it, but also a lot of pan handlers and street people.  You see them in every city but here there seem to be more than the usual. (And yes, we are worse in Vancouver, but in a more concentrated area)

You will recall that we missed the blessing of the bikes yesterday in Colebrook.  So we decided to have our own little ceremony tonight and pour the last of our trusty Jack Daniels on the windshield of the 'Wing to wish it a safe and quick return home.

We've packed as much as we can, now its time to hit the sack and get ready for a big day tomorrow.

Day Thirty - Live Free or Die......

..... Is it possible to do both (or nearly) on the same day?

First of all, it seems incredible to be typing Day 30.  We always said we would be away 4 weeks or so, but neither of us really knew what that meant.  We are in Laval now, the place where they have GUARANTEED they can ship our bike from - and they had better be right because we can think of no other reason why we would possibly want to spend 2 nights here!

Well, maybe one reason, The wanted a room with a bath and so I picked a room with a whirlpool.  Little did we know!

This thing will easily hold 6, so if any of you want to come out this way for St. Jean Baptiste day we can entertain you!

Now for the real entertainment of the day.  We left beautiful, sleepy, peaceful Bethel this morning after what was undoubtedly the best breakfast of our trip made by Fred, the owner of the Chapman Inn.  Fred, you are an artist with omelettes, french toast, muffins and probably much more.

We rode up north by northwest through northern Maine and into New Hampshire.  On the way we passed through Dixville Notch with this beautiful resort.  

Today's quiz ( and possibly the final quiz of our trip) - what is Dixville Notch famous for?  (Hint- possibly only a political junkie like LZB would know this!)

New Hampshire - the live free or die state - and just as LZB said on the radio that he didnt't think we had a hope of getting a latte out here we hit the town of Colebrook and the Moose Muck cafe and...... the Creators of Chaos!

At first we were a little apprehensive about this tough looking motorcycle gang, but their kids seemed friendly and before long the matriarch Barbara engaged us in conversation.  By the way, we were enjoying a wonderful latte!

Their full name is the SANBAR Creators of Chaos and it turned out that Sanbar comes from Sandy and Barbara, the leaders of the pack!  Grandparents, parents, children and many awesome sounding motorcycles.  It turns out there is to be a blessing of the bikes in Colebrook tomorrow at 'the Shrine'. The roads coming into town were increasingly packed with bikers arriving by the minute.

Barbara can be seen above in the blue denim shirt.

They are a wonderful family and they certainly seem to embody the motto of the State!

From there we finished off New Hampshire, got into Vermont for just enough time to get into 3rd. gear and lo and behold, we were at the Canadian border.  Pretty soon the rain started again and it got increasingly worse as we headed down the Autoroute into Montreal.  As for the nearly die part, I really don't want to talk about the drivers  here.  Neither of us can understand what suicidal urge compels them to drive as they do.  Perhaps lemmings would understand it?

You all know what care The takes in life with her diet and exercise program.  Here is today's bill of fare for her.  French toast for breakfast, a mid-morning latte, skip lunch, Jack Daniels on ice on arrival at the hotel, then white wine when the bar opened.  Finally back ribs with veg for supper before a scary cab ride back to the hotel. What have I done to you The?

And so here we are, less than 2km from the bike shipper who has promised to come in on the public holiday of the year here at 8 am to take possession of the ' Wing. We have flights booked on Westjet for noon and so should be back in Vancouver Monday afternoon.

It's time.

 

Day Twenty Nine - Down memory lane.....

...... with a twist!

Tonight's blog is really for the Fukawi  - specifically those who tried to get to the Maritimes and ended up touring New England some years back.

We set out from St. Andrews NB this morning headed for St. Stephen/Calais ME.  We toured into St. Stephen and made straight for the bridge.  I had forgotten how short it was and how close the two countries are across the river.  The US Customs guy couldn't have been nicer and within seconds we were on our way.  Calais hasn't changed a bit!

The day's ride was a wonderful contrast to most of our time in the Maritimes. Gone were the TCH and 4 lane super highways.  We spent the day riding beautiful back roads which were partly familiar to me. Through Bangor ME, and on to Bethel, scene of one of the most hilarious Fukawi nights ever. 

 Sadly, the Victoria Inn has fallen even further into disrepair and neither The nor I felt like staying there.

  We're in the Chapman Inn at the top of town and our host, Fred, couldn't be more accommodating.  He even let us use his washer and dryer - which we sorely needed!

Dinner was at 22 Broad and was just first class.

  Also guys, how come we never found the pub at the foot of Main St.?  Outstanding Guinness!

Hmm. Are we starting to drink a lot?

So the whole day was a replay of part of a Fukawi ride.  The twist?  We became the first Fukawi to cross that bridge on a motorbike!

Montreal tomorrow - and the end of our ride?  I wonder (but feel pretty confident).

Day Twenty Eight - The Bay of Fundy.....

..... and a familiar place.  Yes, we're back in New Brunswick, but only just, as we are nearly out of it agaiin!  We're in St. Andrews, a beautiful heritage town just a little south of St. Stephen which the Fukawi will remember well - the border crossing where our hopes of an Atlantic Canada ride were finally dashed!  Andy walked over the bridge to try and get permission to enter Canada as we didn't dare get the bikes impounded!

Anyway, it is a beautiful spot and we saw some lovely Fundy scenery on the way in.

Turns out that when the British and the US went to war in 1812, the locals on both sides decided they really had more in common than they had differences.  These guns and the blockhouse were built to defend against the US just the other side of the bay, but were not used as the locals on both sides declared a truce.

We did collect a few signs that our friend's ancestors have been here for a while.

Apparently the first summer hotel registered in Canada

Yep, that sounds like Andy!

Oh, and we met the couple from Missouri riding this trike.  Nice folks up here enjoying what Canada has to offer.  Shawn, you might really like this one!

Tomorrow first thing we are heading in to Maine.  Fukawi guys note we may stay at the Victoria Inn in Bethel!  What could possibly go wrong?

Finally, a sign that the lobsters are getting angry at this constant abuse.

Day Twenty Seven - We were that close! ......

We decided on Halifax because we were assured we could ship the bike from here.  The first outfit proved way too problematic and we couldn't risk flying out of here and trusting the bike would follow.  No problem, Harley Davidson was certain they could ship the bike, just twice as much money!

Well, I set off there this morning to part company with our faithful steed. My heart started to sink when I  got there and found that Travis, the guy we had made the arrangements with had called in sick!  Nevertheless, they were very helpful, we got the shipping crate down and the bike on the stand

Only to find out the Goldwing was about 2 inches too long!!  No amount of whining worked, they wouldn't accept it and thus we became the first bike in history that they couldn't ship!  :-(

Believe me (LZB) I have researched every shipping option I can find in this super port.  I know somebody here can do it but we can't find out who. 

We have a Plan B but I'll get to that later.

Meanwhile, we decided to say screw it and enjoy a tour of the south shore down to Lunenburg. For a variety of reasons we rented a car and had the day of all days.  This is quite simply one of the most beautiful areas we have seen in all of Canada.  Every turn in the road is postcard perfect.  Peggy's Cove, Chester, Hubbards, unbelievable Mahone Bay, and finally Lunenburg - a World Heritage Site.

Here are just some pictures

And a couple of my favorites, first lobster rolls for lunch!

And this is for you Don

We capped this day off with the best restaurant meal of the entire trip at Chives Bistro here in Halifax - simply outstanding!

This was the day you picture your trip to be all about.

Now for Plan B.  Just when you thought (and we did too) that we were done, we're not.  We're going to ride across Southern New Brunswick, Maine, and northern Vermont up to Montreal where a shipping company is going to open up specially for us on Monday, St, Jean Baptiste Day, at 8am.  Any bets on whether this one will work?  

Stay tuned!

Day Twenty Six - the search for the Canadian summer.....

.......is over!  We finally found it in Halifax. On a day that threatened rain and even lightning in fact we enjoyed warm sunshine and blue skies.

But I'm getting head of myself, let's go back to this morning, no, let's go back to last night.  Waiting at the ferry last night we not only caught up with our healing touch lady motorcyclist, a marvel of efficient load balancing:

But we also met Dave, a South African, who is running across Canada no less, pushing a 43kg buggy carrying all his gear.  He is doing this to raise awareness of the plight of rhinoceri and polar bears.  Unfortunately his entry visa was delayed and he only started from Cape Spear 19 days ago.  This puts him into BC just at the onset of winter given that he is averaging about 50 km a day.  Good luck Dave, we hope to see you in Vancouver. www.vidamago.org

By the way, one of the above is dressed correctly for the weather, hint, Dave it's not you.

We were the only bike coming over to NFLD but there were plenty coming back.  These are a group of hardcore adventure bikers from the US that had come on a circle route through Labrador.  Pretty amazing machines!

The night ferry ride worked out pretty well until....... all the heads (toilets) lost suction!  They would fill but not empty - boy, you would not want to be on that cleaning crew this morning!

Things started out wet and foggy as usual but the day soon brightened up.  Ironically one of the best of our trip which is very sad as it is probably the last.  The conditions and the forecast argued against bothering with the Cabot Trail so we just hightailed it to Halifax.  Our tolerance for bad weather is at an end.

LZB has been trying to arrange shipping for the bike from here and things were looking good. However, it turns out the shipping agency has quite a few rules, not least of which is that the fuel tank must be drained.  We arranged for that, but then when re-contacted the shipper couldn't get the bike picked up for maybe 5 business days, they weren't sure.  In any event, long after we will be gone.  Then it turns out we can't ship any stuff back inside the compartments on the bike - in other words they are a PITA!  So we have asked Harley Davidson to ship it.  They will do it (for twice as much money!) if it fits in one of their crates.  We'll find out tomorrow morning!

Halifax is a great looking city.  It has grown tremendously and seems to be prospering.  We had a walk on the waterfront tonight followed by a super fish dinner.  And no winter clothes! What freedom!

Oh well, 'Morris is another dog'. South Africans will get that if they think for a minute.

Day Twenty Five - Off The Rock

Blah, blah - rain gear on - Blah, blah- hit the Trans Canada - Blah, blah - stopped for gas and breakkie at Eddy's Restaurant- ooh!  - met an interesting lady who at 60plus wanders the highways of North America on her motorbike - Blah, blah- had lunch - ooh! - The saw our first moose(s) of the entire trip - Blah, blah - rode to the ferry - ooh - NFlD put on a great display of sunshine for the last 50 Kim of our time here. 

Plan to sleep on the ferry tonight!

Day Twenty Four - Part Two

'I'ze the by that builds the boats, and I'ze the by that sails'er, I'ze the by that catches the fish.....'  Oops, sorry, been here quite a while now - you caught me singing a shanty!

Well, the last thing I want to do is moan about the weather, we're sure you are all pretty fed up with hearing about it by now.  So just a brief comment on today  - WTF! An overturned car, a trailer that just passed us losing a wheel, wicked winds from every direction AT ONCE, throw in a spot of rain, maybe even hail and that was a LONG short day.

There are no pictures, the only stop was to hurriedly pull on rain gear again after our beautiful start.

We are obviously wimps, we know it - but we are wimps who have really learned to appreciate a stiff drink at the end of the day.

We're in Gander tonight, and we have a long day's ride tomorrow to make it to the 11:45pm ferry sailing back to Nova Scotia.  Hoping for good weather so we can do the Cabot Trail, but if we don't get it we're probably going to make a run for Halifax.  Battling the elements has started to lose it's fascination.

Thx to our friends (sincerely, not in jest) for sending us pictures of nice swimming pools and Mediterranean beaches - we look forward to rejoining that world!

OK, one picture, we passed on eating here tonight!

Day Twenty Four - What is wrong with this place!!!

We actually started out from St. John's today in bright sunshine and (comparatively) warmer weather!  Poor fools us, we should have known it couldn't last!

Severe Thunderstorm watch

Issued at Sunday, 16 June, 2013 3:00 PM

Severe thunderstorms have the potential to produce heavy downpours, gusty winds and hail this afternoon. This is an alert to the potential development of severe thunderstorms with large hail and damaging winds. Monitor weather conditions..listen for updated statements. If threatening weather approaches take immediate safety precautions.

Severe thunderstorms over Central Newfoundland have already produced heavy downpours, hail and strong winds and are expected to maintain their intensity as they move northeastward this afternoon.

We got the motherload!  More later.

Day Twenty Three - A day to enjoy St. John's

Lar Jesus Boy, we're we tired after yesterday!  Had a good sleep in this morning and then went up to the visitor information office.  They had some great ideas but in the end we just decided on a long walk out to Quidi Vidi Village, an old area of St. John's.

On the way we passed through some nice old neighborhoods with the typical down east homes of SJ.

The mailboxes are pretty cute!

St. John's harbour looking towards Signal Hill

You can see they have real coastguard ships here, this is one of about 3 in the harbour.

And guess what?  Turns out we hadn't quite run out of road yet.  We waited out the rain showers and in the early evening rode out to Cape Spear - the most easterly point IN NORTH AMERICA (if you don't count where the Aleutians cross the international date line (and we don't!).

We have some pictures of both of us here on our camera, but nobody was there to take pictures on our iPhones of the two of us so you'll just have to imagine in the other one of us until we get back and can download them.

So that is it, from here we are already heading back west.

And now, for the winner (and only entrant!) of our contest who guessed 7,500 km for the trip and hedged his bet by suggesting that if we got lost perhaps it might be 8,250.  In fact it was (drum roll)

And that's not because we got lost.  We didn't slavishly follow any route, but the mapping software had told us it would be 8,346km to St. John's. we must have taken a 79km shortcut somewhere!

Scott, here is your prize - you'll just have to imagine which one is yours and which one ours!

We start back tomorrow.  At least 2 days riding to get off the rock again, maybe 3 depending on what we do.  Fingers crossed for some sun!