Monday AM - off to Nova Scotia

[deilenberger]

Just a teaser for a calendar photos from this trip:

[deilenberger]

After a great dinner at the distillery last night, and a taste, a very small taste of some amazing single malt "scotch".. got a good nights sleep, good breakfast and was on the road before 9AM.

This was our Cabot Trail day. I had anticipated the trail taking two days - but it can be covered comfortably in one day. From Inverness to Baddeck is less then 200 miles. Some of the pavement is outstandingly good. A lot of the pavement is rough washboard. It gives the suspension a workout, and is a bit tiring. The scenery is spectacular in spots - as good as anything on the Pacific Coast Highway (Coast-1) in California. The road climbs and descends more then the PCH does - often going up and over a cliff top through a sequence of 13-14 degree grade hairpins (yup - not roads for a truck for sure..) They were some of the steepest roads I've ever been on, often with the hairpin facing out on a cliff face with a 1,000 drop if you miss the turn. It encourages some caution in the turns.

People on Nova Scotia, and CBI have been uniformly friendly and courteous. I haven't had one car invade a right of way. People patiently wait for you to pass - and usually wave as you do. There is NO litter. None. Not even a cigarette butt. I was impressed at the Tim Horton's we stopped at yesterday. There was a coffee cup laying in the parking lot. A young man was pulling out of the lot, saw the cup, stopped his car, walked over and picked it up and then walked it to a trash container. Amazing. I think it shows pride of place. It's certainly nothing I'd ever expect to see in NJ.

The ride was fun - but a bit tiring, despite not being too long. The rough pavement requires effort to ride. I was glad when we got to Baddeck and stopped for the Alexander Graham Bell museum (this had been recommended to me - dunno why - it appears to be focused on grade school kids - and cost $7.65/Can to get in.) Anyway - we found our motel right up the street - The Telegraph House - Bell stayed there while they were building his house, and had a telegraph office built into it to do his business from. Motel is clean, empty and inexpensive. Another winner - and walking distance to numerous places to eat/drink.

Tomorrow we're starting heading "back" - some of it retracing of the route we took here, but we're going to try to do the Kank in New Hampshire so the actual routing may be quite a bit different. It's been a hoot so far. Lots of nice people, great riding and good food. Hard to beat with a stick! And we have an extra day to play around on the way to the RA rally.. so some gap shooting in NH is going to be in order.

Today - 1,485 miles from my garage door (it's more impressive in km's)..

Oh - I'm on the motel porch. It's drizzling now. JohnM says he wants to always take trips with me because every time it was threatening rain so far - it waited until we JUST got parked for the night and could ignore it. I guess it's a knack.. Batting 1,000 so far!

I'll photobucket some photos if I can get a battery to charge for my camera..

Spot track: http://www.spotadventures.com/trip/view/?trip_id=215324

[mogu83]

Don,
Consider going back across Maine on Rt 2. That will put you into Gorham,NH, northern end of the Presidential Range. Go South on Rt16 and take a side trip up Mt.Washington no trip into that area is complete without picking up your 'This Bike Climbed Mt Washington' sticker. After the Mt Washington Toll road just continue south 35 miles to pick up the eastern end of the Kancamagus.
I know a way back west up around Rangley but it involves real back roads and some dirt, but lots of moose and other things that live in the woods. It's involved, e-mail if your interested.

[deilenberger]

Harry - will look at map and see how route looks. Meanwhile - today's adventures of two R12R's taking the long way to Vermont:

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We were pleasantly surprised last night with the dinner available at the Telegraph House Motel (and Inn.) in Baddack Lobster was $18 for about a 3 pound lobster (I didn't have it - Jim Fletcher did), I had a cajun Haddock steak - which was excellent. The other wanderers caught up with us - so four of us had dinner. After dinner - not much to do but turn in for the night. It had started raining just after we arrived - and continued until after I fell asleep.

Work up much refreshed this AM, and we had a nice breakfast at the bakery across the main street. Packed up - and the two other (Jim and Roger) took off for exploring more of CBI. JohnM and I decided to start heading back west, and had a goal of Moncton New Brunswick. Moncton is about 265 miles west of Baddeck. Once off CBI, we took CA-104 (part of the TransCanadian Highway) for most of the way.. with a stop at Anitgonish for some Ibprofen (I ran out..) where John and I managed to get seperated. It took until Amherst (about 100 miles) for us to get back together - then only due to my learning to send a "text" message.

What a PITA.. (although sort of added adventure.) We now have a rule for getting lost. Last place we saw each other - go there.

The interesting thing crossing 104 - there was this wind. Mostly a headwind, but sometimes turning into a quartering wind and sometimes a blast from the side - and it was running 30-50 knots according to the weather (and I'd confirm it since flags were standing straight out..) The R12R does amazing well even under those conditions, and most of the time I was able to maintain 110kmph (about 70mph), despite some trucks getting blown onto the shoulder of the road. One of the wind tricks that works is to put your windward knee out. It creates a vacuum behind it that responds to the force of the wind, and tends to pull the bike in the direction of the wind. Once you learn this - the wind becomes a lot less of a factor. Strangely - going faster usually also helps - has to do with the force vectors working on the bike - the more the forward vector is (speed) the more force it exerts keeping the bike going straight.

Anyway - aside from running through a few sudden squalls - with some fierce rain for 5-10 minutes - it was actually a rather pleasant ride once I put my heated gear on. When the wind was a headwind - there was a windchill factor that was unreal, so the ambient temp of around 68F became actually quite chilly.

I'll admit is was also pleasant to get off the bike. Found John in Amherst (last town in Nova Scotia) - and we did the last 50km to Moncton without loosing each other.

Another good day. Forgot to check the odometer for total trip miles - but I think it's about 1700+ right now. Moncton is a really rather nice town/city. Has what appears to be a vibrant downtown, and some nice in-town hotels. We scored a room at a deal at the Crowne Plaza.. got what has to be the biggest hotel room I've ever had (aside from one in Brighton UK - but that one was just ridiculous)

Riding on tomorrow to the US.. and into Maine..

BTW - several R12R's were spotted touring Cape Breton Island yesterday. Both the granite/silver variety. Anyone from the group here? We waved..

[deilenberger]

You can get used to riding in the Maritime provinces of Canada. Imagine a place to ride where cage drivers respect you. Imagine a place to ride with dedicated motorcycle parking - almost at every stop. Imagine a place where the people seem genuinely interested in what you're riding and where.

Thats the Maritime Provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick).. I can't remember when I had as much fun riding. Bike are not only accepted - they are a normal part of day to day life here - and it's a delight to ride in the Maritimes. If you haven't done it - I really recommend it. If you have - none of this is news to you.

Today started out overcast in Moncton New Brunswick, but about 30 miles outside of town the skies started to clear, and we had perfect riding weather for yet another day. I started out with my heated liner on - then turned it off - and finally a I re-entered the US, took it off and packed it away.

The route we were taking was a mid-Maine route - we didn't want to go back through St. John, and didn't want to wander north to the beginning of I-95, so we took route 2 and 4 across Canada after heading west on 104, coming across the border at a small border station. JohnM and I got seperated at the turnoff of 104 - and ended up not meeting for several hundred miles. It ended up being a > 400 mile day... I had been fortunate enough to meet a few other riders right after I turned off 104, and tagged along behind them all the way down to Bangor ME. We went through the border crossing together - an altogether pleasant experience actually.. no fuss, no bother. Then it was off on Maine Rt 6 - a windy twisty hilly nice 2 lane road across Maine until we got on I-95.

The culture shock was the immediate realization that we were no longer considered normal people. Bikes are a bother and annoyance to many in the US - and the respect and friendly attitude we'd seen above the border almost instantly disappeared. One older woman did take the time to warn me about moose on Rt 6 when I stopped to check for cell messages from John... which was nice, but aside from that - it's back to remembering whatever idiot thing they can do - they likely will.. and bikes are a target for cage drivers.

The day's ride ended up being longer then I expected. I'd planned on getting off at Bangor ME - about 300 miles from the start. When I stopped at Bangor, I had two cell messages waiting. One from work (annoying..) and one from JohnM who had passed through about a hour before me - and was heading to Lewiston ME.. another 96 miles. So.. I ended up deserting my new found friends - and heading back on I-95 for another 90 minutes or so.

Wasn't an IB-1000 - but for a mix of highway and backroads - wasn't too shabby either.

Finally caught up with John at Auburn ME - at a Hilton Garden. Nice dump, but don't know what the tarrif is yet. I think I'll stay ignorant until tomorrow AM. Tomorrow we're headed into New Hampshire to cross off a bucket-list item for John - the "Kanc".. I'll report back on how this works out. Met a nice couple on HD's - had dinner with them at a local brew-pub (beer was OK - food was another culture shock thing - not terribly good, and you could tell no one really cared if it was good. Get it on the plate and out of the kitchen sort of food.)

More tomorrow - total miles since I left the garage - about 2,160 or so.. and I really want to turn around and head back to Nova Scotia.

[deilenberger]

Today's Spot Track: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/face ... udlq3k35Dr

[deilenberger]

The Kangamangus highway has become sort of a motorcycling legend. It appears to be the thing to say "I rode the Kank.." I wasn't awfully impressed actually. Some nice scenery. Lots of bumpy surface road. Some nice twisties, but often with washboard surface right in the middle of the turn. One hairpin (marked 20MPH.. even I went through it about twice that..)

On a scale of 1-10, probably a decent 5 or 6. If they fixed the pavement - it would rise to a 7. If it wasn't full of traffic - that might help also. And if I was awake for it - mebbe it would be better.

New Hampshire roads aren't anything to write home about. The best was equal to the worst we saw in Nova Scotia.. and the worst was lots worse. Frost heaves don't appear to be getting fixed - must be a budgetary thing since they look like they could use the employment.

We crossed out of NH into VT - and the roads immediately improved and the driving skills immediately got worse. They don't do the usual NJ "rolling stop" here - they simply go full tilt right through the stop signs (and lights.) Usually in Suburus. Green subies. Looking like leftover hippies from the 60's. It's called the "Green Mountain State".. it's more like the Green Subie Hippie State so far. Today was an easy day - few hundred miles - which was a good thing since I only had about 5 hours sleep last night (had something on my mind - resolved - sorta - now...)

I think I'm up for a nap. Might download some pics later - or not..

On to Bennington VT tomorrow, do some laundry, wait for the rest of my local club to arrive, and go to the national RA rally.

Spot track: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/face ... udlq3k35Dr

[deilenberger]

The most scenic spot in the world - Peggy's Cove in Nova Scotia:





Along the Cabot Trail..



It's really THAT great!

[deilenberger]

We dropped in at a wedding..



Cabot Trail:





Leaving Cape Breton Island (wahhh!)



About to leave Canada. This huge railway station is in a tiny town (Mc Adam), more or less in the wilderness. It was one of the main points of entry to Canada from the US at one time, but the trains no longer run here:

[deilenberger]

In New Hampshire..

[deilenberger]

Me:


Riding Partners:




From the deck of the Quarterdeck Villas..



Waterfront St. John, NS:

[deilenberger]

Last night a big storm rolled through at about 11PM.. nicely pushing out some warm and humid air, and replacing it with clear and cool, dry air. Nice..

Depending on if you believe my odometer, or my GPS - it appears I've gone something like 2,450 (GPS thinks about 2,500 - it counted the ferry ride I think) miles to get to a spot 245 miles from home. I think that qualifies as taking the scenic route. It's been a bunch of fun.

Checked into the Knotty Pine Motel in Bennington (where things haven't changed much since the 60's - except for the addition of WiFi and some minimalist air-conditioning.) Then went to the RA Rally site and got our door-prize tickets in, wrist-bands on, said hello to a lot of people, had some not very good icecream (I didn't notice until after I ordered it - it was made in NY, not VT.. Ben and Jerry wouldn't be happy.)

Next off to do a load of laundry and look to replenish my electrolytes (charley-horse has come to visit.. big hint I've been drinking too much water and not enough minerals..) Luckily - the nearby laundrymat is also a deli, so Gateraid should be available. If I'm really lucky I'll find a few bananas.

Waiting on the rest of the club to arrive... have to get the solar cover off the pool when we get back and start kicking back. See what dinner plans we can come up with.

Saw John from MA and his R12R - and Harry Costello is here..

More later - off for laundry duty..

[Coyote Crazy]

Hi Don,
Thanks for sharing all the photos. I really enjoyed them, think I went back through them at least 3 times!!
Wish you the best, safe and continued enjoyment of your ride.
Rick

[Pino]

Thanks for the pics.

[deilenberger]

Thanks. There will be more to come when I get home. At the motel in Bennington VT today. VT drivers are absolutely awful.. there have no idea they're in control of the vehicle.. it's sort of drift around aimlessly without any idea that anyone else exists.

The RA rally isn't a lot. It's on the grounds of a defunct racetrack that looks like it's ready for demolition. Apparently they got the site REALLY cheaply. Has lots of paved parking. That's the good thing. Apparently the tent area is also paved about 1" below the grass. There are 11 or so vendors, 5 of them are selling Gerbing heated gear, two are selling Powerlet stuff, and Twisted Throttle is here. Takes about 10 minutes to see all the vendors. I've visited the site twice and that's it for me. Managed to misplace my door prize tickets so no big reason to go back. A few R12R's here, including one custom paint one that really was pretty neat - took pics will post when I get home.

I'll be heading out early in the AM - about a 5 hour ride home, then a wedding to attend tomorrow.

The trip has been a huge amount of fun. Got to meet nice people, get engaged, ride some awesome roads, convince myself that Coast-to-Coast-to-Coast is in my plans for next year. Saw a bunch of old friends (did our annual group lunch of the original IBMWR mailing list members.. it's a long time tradition, held wherever we can get most of us together.)

Ride'm if you got'm..

[MJB]

So Don

With all your windsheilds....what is it 50 now ...which one are you using?

[deilenberger]

So Don

With all your windsheilds....what is it 50 now ...which one are you using?

Michael, I'm using the 18" Cee-Bailey. It worked just fine on the entire trip. Provided decent bug coverage (only a few massacreed themselves on my faceshield), it worked ok in rain and very heavy crosswinds, and didn't cause any turbulence or excessive noise.

The big difference - it's tilted back more then with the stock mount. I have a modified stock mount. You can achieve the same with the blocks of plastic one of the members here was making and selling (very reasonably..)

That's for someone 5'7" tall (5'8" on a tall day), 27" inseam, and a Sargent modified low seat (about the same height as the stock low seat once broken in..) YMMV in regards to the height, depending on your dimensions and bike setup (no barbacks on mine.. made me sit too upright.) The shield was NEVER an issue on the entire trip, so I'm happy with it. The 20" one will likely go on for winter use.

Now seats - that's another story. I'm still on that quest... (I have 3 in the garage at the moment..)

[firedfromthecircus]

Excellent read.
Thanks for sharing your trip, and loving the photos.

[AncientMariner]

Don,

Your trip sounds great. Thanks for sharing the pix so far.

I'm sorry we didn't hook up at the RA Rally. I spent part of Friday afternoon looking for you and your pan stripped roadster, but to no avail. Are you by any chance coming back up next weekend for the Damn Yankees Rally: almost no paved parking, real grass camping, church lady pies. If not some other time at some other venue.

Bruce

[redwing]

A Cuban Cigar... I'm pee green with envy...

Glad your trip went well. And you still have more coast.