Saturday AM: I wake up early again after a good night's sleep, get the bike packed and head across the parking lot for breakfast. it is still very overcast and looking across the river I can see even thicker clouds and showers along the entire shore. After breakfast I move the bike down the hill to the bike queue and look for a place to read my book for a while (Oracle Bones, by Peter Hessler) a semi interesting take on putting modern China into a historical perspective.
A few more bikes join the queue: three blokes from the Boston area who have been on a long weekend ride around Quebec. Now they are heading to Bar Harbor,ME and then back to Boston area - nice fleet of bikes: a Suzuki V-Strom 1000, a purple Yamaha FJR, and a yellow BMW R1200GS. The V-Strom is packed with "supplemental gear" - GPS, radar detector and a handlebar mounted video camera being the most prominent. There is also a couple from across the river on a white Gold Wing returning from a two week trip around the US and Canada. We have a nice chat and share a coffee on the ferry. It has been said many times but bikers are a congenial bunch and the shared interest facilitates socializing. The ferry ride is uneventful. The river is very wide and beautiful and there is much interesting wildlife - a few more beluga whales, some seals, loons, etc. The ride takes a little more than an hour - it's still raining when we get back on shore, so after a gas stop, I decide to take the "interstate" to cover some ground quickly. The scenery is pretty if not noteworthy.
After about an hour I exit at Montmagny and take the back roads up over the hills toward the US-Canada border on US 201 south of St George. The rain has stopped and the gusty winds that usually signify the exit of a major weather system have taken over - it's fine by me. The road climbs out of the river valley and then goes - mostly straight south then west through forests where logging seems to be the only industry. I stop for lunch in a little neighborhood restaurant and press on. The border crossing in uneventful but there is a long wait while (I must say) a suspicious looking old van filled with people gets a thorough going over.
3 comments:
Bob, It doesn't look like they lash the bikes down??
Boo, Not for this trip across a river, but I think we will want to be ready to tie down when we go to Nova Scotia, as we will be on the ocean. Ferry may supplt them, I don't know.
Bob, this is Ken, the bloke with the FJR on the ferry. It was great meeting you. After the ferry, we headed to Bar Harbor. We were rewarded with perfect weather the next day at Arcadia National Park and Cadillac Mt.
Excellent blog!
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