Nova Scotia - part 1

So the Cache Rally is over, and its time for the next ride.

Howard and I make the 500 mile dash from Gardiner to my house where we both catch some ZZZs overnight, then he heads for home (Flagstaff, another 500 mile day) and I depart for Nova Scotia.

NS has been on my bucket list for quite some time...and now I'm going to check it off! 

I will ride to Montreal and Bev will fly there and join me.

Somewhere in Canada I realize I'm not in Kansas anymore...

But first I need to get out of Dodge...  I cross Wyoming and stop at Martins Cove. Martins Cove is where in November of 1856 the members of The Martin handcart company hunkered down during a bitter winter storm. Of the original (estimated) 500 members 145 died either in the cove storm or on the way to Utah.

In the picture is a replica of the handcarts that the pioneers pushed and pulled across the plains.

I ask and receive permission to ride some goat roads in the area. One of the docents there told me to keep my eyes open for pioneer signatures in the rocks....

...and I found several, here is just one example.

 On my way again, I pass through tiny Mills, Wyoming......

...and I Dino if I'm still in the Cowboy State until I see this Buck-A-Roosauras...

When I reach Aberdeen, South Dakota, I  get on Expedia to look for a room....but Expedia tells me all the hotels are full...what??

There must be a glitch, so I phone Bev to see if she can find one. What she finds out is that all the rooms for over a 100 miles are full of construction workers...thanks to the gang buster economy.

She was able to find a room a little over 100 miles down the road but the address she gives me leads me to this cemetery....

Whether a joke or a warning, she wouldn't say...

It took some time, but I finally found the hotel.

The next day I stop in at the Split Rock Lighthouse on the north shore of Lake Superior.

One of the most popular lighthouses The Split rock hosts an annual remembrance each November 10 for the Edmund Fitzgerald and other lost seamen. 

Lake Superior, da nort shore, eh.

And into Canada..

 I didn't notice when I snapped this shot that the right fork seal was leaking. I'm hoping I can find some sort of solution soon.

 More in part 2

Nova Scotia - part 2

While in Riviere-du-Loup we take a scenic ride on a 20 mph coastal road. The road meanders past some beautiful houses and this church.

Then we stop so Bev can smell the roses....errr...I mean lilacs!

Back in town we change the oil on the bike and then are on our way again.

In an effort to fix the fork seal leak we visit a couple motorcycle stores. None had what we were looking for a 'seal saver', but at this store we ran into these kids on their scooters.

They were animated and vibrant....and a real pleasure to chat with. I speak zero French, but they had enough English that we communicated quite well.

A sticker on the young mans scooter.....

We then continued on and after a while made a snack break. This guy pulled into the same store and seeing me admiring his machine he kindly took the time to talk with me about it. When the spray arms are fully extended they have a span of 95 feet! He told me they have two sprayers that are even larger!

At a gas stop..

We finally make it to Shediac where we spend the night in this cabin.

While in town for dinner Bev makes a friend...

....a BIG friend!

We make a lunch stop along the way....they serve breakfast all day so I get the X men's breakfast...

There it is...the fish cake is at 1:00 by the orange... It was pretty good, the green tomato chow is at 7:00 and was VERY good! All in all a great lunch!

A couple hundred miles later and we're in Nova Scotia.

Staying here...

Tomorrow we will ride the Cabot Trail.

More in part 3

Nova Scotia - part 3

Left from Cape Brenton towards the causeway to exit the Cape.  Both headlight bulbs burned out so we made a stop at the Canadian Tire store to change the bulbs. 

Back on the road with blazing lights through the fog.

We had hard rain all the way to our next stop.

Our destination, the Black Duck B&B Inn had an amazing view.  The owner, Gloria, let us put all the wet clothing in front of the wood burning stove for the night.  Due to the all day of rain it really needed a good drying.  We were cold so she heated us some cranberry herbal tea and some biscuits.  It really warmed us up. 

In the morning, we left Port Dufferin and made our way to Digby for our last night in Nova Scotia.

  

The next day we boarded the Bay Ferry for our journey over to New Brunswick.  It was a nice ride.  The boat had an escalator and several levels for vehicles and people.   

Ken boarding the boat.

While on the ship, there was a display of several ocean birds.  This was pretty cool.  At noon, they did a presentation on whales.  We saw several porpoises in the ocean.   

We made it to New Brunswick.  

St. John's is where we landed.  The GPS took us to the freeway to head to our next location which was St. Andrews.

Pink Cadillac and trailer on the way to St. Andrews.

We went downtown for dinner.  It is a small island with shops and whale watching trips.

We stayed at Tara Manor for the night.  

A decommissioned lighthouse on the bay.

Cool hotel in town.

Very pink house in St. Andrews.

 (maybe where the owner of the pink Cadillac lives...)

We left St. Andrews and headed to St. Stephen where we fueled up and headed across the boarder into Maine.  

Many nice churches along the way.  In New Brunswick and in Maine.

The coastal road from the boarder to Bangor was our route.  This is where we stopped for lunch.

We didn't see the frightened man in the window before we went in for lunch.  

He must not have had the same waitress that we had.  We had a great meal and excellent service.

More beautiful churches. 

More in part - 4