St. John’s, NL >> Argentia, NL (via coastal route) >> N. Sydney, NS 237 miles ridden/5.5 hours (+16-hour ferry)
Quite a line-up of bikes on tonight’s ferry; must be about a dozen. As I walked down the row toward the stairwell access, I passed Stephen and his dad; Stephen was the guy I met at the gas station outside of St. John’s who offered to lead me to the Honda dealership and told me how to get into town on surface streets. Looks like their trip to America has officially begun!
On the observation deck, I met Dave, a BMW rider from Colorado on his first two-week trip. He was joining a bunch of guys, friends of his brother-in-law – bankers and real estate brokers who rode BMWs and Honda ST1300s and were on a longer trip through Canada. We chatted for a while and he introduced me to his group like some sort of celebrity: “This guy just rode his bike from Alaska!” then we talked over dinner, which he insisted on paying for. He really gets what riding is all about and has so many plans; hopefully he’ll get more time off in the future to do them all. I pushed an Alaska trip hard; I hope he makes it.
Email:
I’m leaving St John’s today on the 7.30pm ferry and should be in N. Sydney, NS, tomorrow around 10am. From there, I’m going to the Hopewell Rocks (I may have to stay overnight depending on the tides and/or weather), then the Fundy Trail in/near St. Martin’s (probably spend a day exploring there), then through some cluster of islands near St. George to cross into Maine. I may spend a final night in Rockland, Portland or Portsmouth, depending on when I get near any of those towns, and figure I should be home in a week or so.
See you soon,
-GK