On the road again!

Day 33 - Halifax to Deer Island, July 13, 2009

I'm on the road again! After two long weeks of being stuck without a working bike I'm finally on the road on my own bike again. Boy does it feel good.

Leaving Woot's place was a bit sad. In the two plus weeks I've spent there I had grown quite fond of being there in the Woot household. Maureen, Emma and David were amazing to be around. I really can't say it enough but they really saved me in a big time of need. The extreme generosity of housing someone they'd never met before for two weeks is astonishing. Everyone from the forum has been a godsend in helping out.

The general Halifax area was socked in with fog but it was relatively warm so the ride out was alright. I stopped for breakfast and fuel in Truro then headed out for some back roads to get to Parrsboro. With my amazing navigational skills I took the wrong back road and started heading back towards Halifax. It took me a little while to figure it out but after about 10 miles I turned around. On the way back to the main highway I had a "first" on the bike: I hit a bird for the first time. A little tiny bird flew directly into my path and all I saw was a flash of white. When I looked back it was laying in the road with, what I assume, a broken wing... I did not feel good about that.

On the way to Parrsboro there were pockets of rain breaking the lovely sunny afternoon. This rain had big drops that felt like hail, even with all of my gear on.

Driving around the Bay of Fundy was pretty cool. The entire way was filled with tidal flats and islands to look at. The sheer size of the tidal flats was pretty crazy, some of them were a mile wide or more (1.4km for you floppy headed Canucks). In Parrsboro, I walked across one of the tidal flats and there were tons of barnacles and mussels patiently waiting until the next high tide. I can only imagine the drastic change that the waterway here would see after seeing what happened at a river farther inland the other day.

On my way through New Brunswick I stopped at Magnetic Hill for an experience of a lifetime. I'll just say that I'm very glad the $5 entrance fee didn't apply to motorcycles...

I took the superslab from Muncton down through Saint John just to make up time. I wanted to get to Campobello before dark to set up camp and to catch the ferries. As I got into St. George I was welcomed by another bout of heavy rain that finally cleared just as I got to the Deer Island ferry. It was there that I found out that the connecting ferry to Campobello stopped running as I was getting on the ferry at St. George. It looks like I'll be staying on Deer Island tonight...

The ferry ride was really fun. It was a very weird sensation standing next to my bike and moving at the same time. I was smiling the entire time and taking pictures left and right, up until the rain started again. I put on more rain gear and hunkered down for the remainder of the ride. Once on the island I hunted down the only campground and set up camp.

The campground was eerily calm. There were very few people there and, with the exception of the occasional tent stake being pounded in, was dead quiet. The water was still and nothing was stirring. Once darkness set in the sky illuminated with stars that looked close enough to touch. Even I, knowing nothing about astronomy, was able to pick out a couple constellations.

Pictures