A friend was asking what my trip was like today, and I couldn’t really say much because it was all pretty much a blur. I had packed a lot into 1 evening and 3 days so I figured I would sit down and trace over the trip again in my head and write it all down. This is a bit lengthy, and probably a boring read, but I figured someone out there might enjoy it, so here it is. Friday May 16, 2008 Well, with a slight delay due to inclement weather last weekend, I took to the road on Friday to begin my trip to the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton.
I had the Ferry booked for 5:30pm on Saturday, so I figured I would get a head start and run some kms on Friday evening. It was a little cool, with drizzle and fog with the promise of a few showers when I left St. John’s at 4:30. My plan was to stay in Gander Bay that evening and do the rest of the Island on Saturday. As I past through Whitbourne, the rain started. Hoping it was only going to be a quick shower, I kept on going out the highway all the while thinking that the “shower” would soon stop. I was wrong. I pulled into the Ultramar at Goobies for gas and the rain was pouring down from the heavens. A man and his wife walked by watching me struggle to get my soakened wet gloves back on. He looked at me and said “all guts”, and his wife said “F’ing nuts is more like it!” At this point, it was heading for 7:00, and I was tending to agree more with his wife than him. The rain stopped as I mounted up again and I figured the worst was past. I checked the weather radar before I left, and everything looked to be pretty clear as far as Central with the rain heading in from the east, so I figured I might be able to out run it. Pulled out of the Gas Station and continued on, only to have the rain start right back up again. On top of the rain, I was also dealing with the Victoria Day travelers who were all jockeying for pole position every chance they could. The ruts in the road were now rivers and it wasn’t letting up at all. I had to choose between riding in them, pushing water up like a river boat, or riding on the slick crown in the center. Neither option was very good, especially with my glasses soaked and my eyes filling up with the rain. I pulled into the Gas Station at Port Blandford with the hopes that the rain would slack off some. As I stood in the line up at the store, looking like a drowned rat, more of the same comments as at the previous stop came my way. One guy I was talking to had just driven in from Grand Falls, and said that it was miserable driving all the way from Gander. It was now 8 o’clock, I was a little chilly and soaked, so I admitted defeat and went to the nearest Motel to get a room and rest up for the night. Saturday May 17, 2008 I awoke at 7 am and took a quick peek out through the blinds.
Today seemed a little more promising than last night. The roads were still wet, and the sky was overcast, but it looked like it was trying to clear up. I headed out at 7:30 and went as far as Grand Falls where I decided to stop for breakfast. After I had myself and my bike fueled up, it was time to hit the road again. Just as I got up to cruising speed, I see a bunch of debris all over the highway. I slowed down as I approached to see what looked to be about 200 2x4’s scattered everywhere, and a man standing on the shoulder of the road scratching his head looking at his empty trailer. It’s a good thing I wasn’t another two minutes ahead of schedule, or my trip could have ended right then and there. As much as I would have liked to stop and give the guy a hand, I had a Ferry to catch, and kept on going. The only other road hazard I was to see was a small moose crossing my path, but he was well ahead of me, and I just slowed down and hoped it would be my last moose sighting for the trip. The roads were now mainly dry and pretty much deserted, so I picked up the pace a bit. As I approached a gas station with about 150 kms on the trip meter and only another 60kms to Deerlake, I figured I would keep on going. I was getting around 200kms before reserve in town, so the highway should be much better than that right? Wrong again. Apparently traveling at 120 – 130km/h will only get me 175 kms before reserve. I made it to the Deerlake Irving and put a little over 15.5 liters in my 16 liter tank. A bit too close for my comfort. Heading out through the Humber Valley it started to get a little nicer with the clouds breaking up a bit and I saw the first of the four bikes I saw on the whole way across the island. I was going to stop in Corner Brook for gas because I hadn’t been past there on the highway before and didn’t know if there would be another gas station. I didn’t stop however, and when I got as far as Stephenville, I started to wonder if I would see another gas station. I decided to take a run down there for gas. Taking an hour out for Stephenville would still put me in PAB at 4. I arrived at the PAB Terminal as planned at 4PM. The lady at the check-in said the boat should be in by 4:30 and I proceeded through where the traffic director also confirmed that it wouldn’t be too long of a wait.
I parked the bike and took off all my gear and began pacing around the parking lot waiting for the boat. 4:30 came and went. No boat. 5:00, no boat. 5:30, still no sign of a boat. I was getting a little hungry again at this time, so I went up to the terminal and bought a $5 stale sandwich and watched the last half of the “Wild Hogs” movie they were playing in there. The boat was finally ready for loading at 7:30. Kind of pissed me off, because had I known, I could have stayed home on Friday and saved the price of a room that night. Hindsight is a wonderfully useless thing. Sleep on the Ferry was impossible due to the rough seas and loud movies playing all night just outside my sleeper. We docked in North Sydney at 3:00 in the morning to wet pavement but no rain at least. I made a quick stop at the gates to say hello to my parents who were waiting to get on the same Ferry to head back to Newfoundland, and then off to the Hotel. It was just a short 5 minute ride to the Hotel that my buddy Steve, who was traveling from New Brunswick, had booked for us. Staying true to the Namesake that forum member Ruben had given me a couple of years ago, I arrived at the hotel about 3:30. Thirty minutes for a five minute ride, not too bad I guess. Thankfully there was a couple of beers waiting for me in the fridge there. We drank the beers and shot the breeze till 5 in the morning. I looked out the window and noticed that it was starting to get light out, and the birds were all starting to sing. At this time we figured we had better try and get some sleep if we were going to have any chance of hitting the trail before noon. Sunday May 18, 2008 We got up at 8:00 to overcast skies and cool temps once again. Neither of us were in much of a rush to get moving, but we figured we better go now or never. After we got cleaned up and checked out of the hotel, we headed over to a restaurant around 9:30. They didn’t open till 10, but the lady said we were welcome to come in and sit down if we wanted to wait. Steve had trailered his bike from Fredericton and it was still on the trailer at this point. It’s actually his wife’s bike that he took with him. It’s a KTM 640 dual purpose rig, nice bike but not really suitable for a 6 hour run on the highway, especially at this time of the year.
He asked the Owner if it would be alright if he left his car and trailer there for the day while we did the trail. She said it would be no problem, so we off loaded his bike and geared up while we waited for the place to open. After a fine feed of eggs, bacon, home fries, and thick homemade toast, I felt good to go. It was the first real food I had eaten since Friday afternoon. Most of my meals up to that point consisted of granola bars and Gatorade. We started for the Cabot Trail by 11:00. First place we went was to a cable ferry in Englishtown which put us in about 20km past the start of the trail.
After that, it was just cruising around the curvy trail for a couple of hours with scattered brief stops at various lookouts.
Being from Newfoundland, and not used to seeing the hills covered with deciduous trees, I kept thinking a forest fire must have swept over the land. The buds are just ready to break open in most areas and should be all green in another week. The trail has to be spectacular in the fall.
I don’t know what year, but I’ll definitely be making the trek again at that time of the year and staying in the park for a night or two. By 3:00 we had been up and down over Old Smokey (a couple of times actually just for fun), through various small communities, and went off the trail as far North in Cape Breton as the pavement would let us.
At that point, we headed for Cheticamp, a quiet little Acadian town I think, and had some lunch.
With the bellies full, and the day nearing its end, it was full steam ahead for Baddeck. It had warmed up considerably by now, and the winds had completely died off.
After seeing nothing but coastline all day, it was a nice change of scenery to be traveling through the countryside. I think it was around 7:00pm when we got back to Steve’s car. Loaded up his bike, said see ya, and I headed back to the Ferry. Thankfully, there weren’t any delays at the ferry this time around. I loaded aboard at 9:30, it was scheduled to leave at 11:30. I went up and had a beer in the bar and was in bed by 10:30. The next thing I remember is waking up to the announcement asking the passengers to return to their vehicles at 7:30AM. Monday May 19, 2008 Monday was all about getting home. I was kind of rushed getting off the boat, so I road up out of the fog as far as the Tourist Info Center and pulled in to get geared up. It looked as though it was going to be a great day on the road, and it certainly was.
I was officially on the road by 8, and other then breakfast at the Big Stop in Deerlake, I only stopped for gas and a quick stretch and was home before 6. While gassing up on Deerlake, I also saw another Moose grazing on the side of the highway. I snapped a couple of pics and was going to shoot some video of him, but I hit the on/off switch by mistake instead. Myself and a few others watched in disbelief as a car towing a trailer barreled through doing about 110 missing the moose by only a few feet. His brake lights never flashed once, so I doubt he even knows how close he was to hitting this thing. The moose was dancing around in the median when he heard the noise of the car and started to head straight for it. If it wasn’t for the guardrail there, they would have undoubtedly connected in the worst kind of way.
All in all, it was a great weekend, and a much needed recharge for the soul. I was pretty comfortable on the stock seat for the whole trip with the exception of the last couple hundred kilometers. My last gas stop was in Clarenville, and I was planning on heading straight through. Leg cramps got the best of me however, and I had to pull off the road in Holyrood for a quick stretch. And that’s all Folks!
MIKE
SNAG COMMENT: Now that is a great story! Thanks a million MIKE! If you have a story you want to share, by all means get a hold of me as I'd love to share your story with everyone else! You can reach me HERE
