Dirt_Dad
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Note: I had people on three different forums assist me with the planning and execution of this trip. So if you happen to be a member of all three of those forums (yamahasupertenere, ridetherock, stromtroper), this is an identical repeat of the trip report.
In early May a ride to Newfoundland was not something I had ever considered. But in Mid-May while attending the Romeny Cycle Adventure Ride I mentioned to DCStrom (Trevor) my plan to return to Nova Scotia again this year. My wife and I had prematurely been chased out of Nova Scotia last year by Hurricane Irene, which is a different story all together. Trevor recommended going to Newfoundland. This suggestion started my investigation into the possibility.
I contacted Blacklab (Barry), certainly as a resident of Maine and a fan of riding in Canada he must have been there. He spoke very highly of Newfoundland, but had never been there. He did suggest the Newfoundland based forum, ridetherock.com.
The task of planning a ride to a place I knew nothing about seemed a bit overwhelming and I found my head spinning from all the info. Then I was contact by Sean, a member of a couple of forums that I was using to do my research. He's one of the two Super Tenere owners on "The Rock" and he really helped me focus in on what was important and what wasn't.
Research complete, two weeks taken off from work and we're ready to go. This is a very different kind of trip for us. Normally we have a general idea of where we're going, but no firm plans, reservations or expectations on where we will be on any given day. This trip requires us to have pre-booked ferry tickets to Newfoundland. I had contacted the ferry company and they said sometimes during the summer it could take them a week to accommodate a person that just shows up without a ticket. I can't take the chance so tickets are purchased. With that, I know were we're going to be on certain dates, so accommodations are also arranged for 4 of the 6 nights. I had also contacted the Tourism people up there and they said it could be difficult to find a hotel at the last minute since we were arriving at peak season. We have never launched on a trip with so many places we had pre-booked. This is bugging me, but it had to be done to make the trip work during our allotted time.
Day 1:
Up at 3:50am, drove an hour to work to put in a 5 hr half day. Back home and on the bikes by 1:00pm. Temp for ride ranged from 97 to 111 F. Mostly we only saw 111 degrees while sitting for an hour moving just 3 miles due to road construction. Here's a picture of I-81 where we spend a lot of quality time. As you can see from my little OAT gauge the photo was taken at a cool spot of only 106.8 degrees. It was miserable.
Weather wise this would turn out to be the low point of the trip. Still managed to ride over 300 miles that day, and spend the evening visiting with family in Johnson City, NY. We were completely shot. Back at the hotel my daughter calls to say a massive storm has knocked out power and brought down a tree blocking out road and her boyfriend's way home. She said it was a very scary storm. For the next week I would hear about the storm on the news wherever we were, it was ugly.
Glad I changed my mind at the last minute and went with mesh. I had planned on bringing a mid-weight jacket for the cooler temps in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland...it would have killed me.
Day 2:
Nothing worthwhile happened today. The commitment to make it to the ferry in northern Nova Scotia means we need to slog through the miles. We end the day somewhere in New Hampshire. It was much hotter than expected and we end the day tired and cranky.
Day 3:
Slog, slog, slog...I'm really starting to hate knowing we have to be somewhere, on some date. This is not my kind of riding. Barry tries to give me some perspective and tells me to think of this first and last part of the trip and just what you have to do to get to Newfoundland. True, we'll try. The day ends just outside of Bar Harbor, ME. Where we meet up with Barry and Tom, long time friends from stromtrooper. Tom had recommended a hotel he frequently uses when in town. Nice place, right by the water.
It's a great night catching up with Barry, and finally meeting Tom for the first time in person. I've been talking to Tom for years, seems long overdue. Barry generously provides pizza and beer and we enjoy hangar flying and map pointing into the evening.
Day 4:
Acadia National Park, near Bar Harbor. The sun is up early here, which wakes both Sherri and I much earlier than anticipated. I think we were on the bikes before 6:30am today. We have almost 3 ride days before needing to be at the ferry. Let's enjoy being here.
I do love this place. One of the prettiest parks in this system
We head back to the motel to pack up. Tom meets us and says we left just 5 minutes before him and he'd been trying to track us down all morning. We say goodbye as Tom leaves for the long ride back to Boston.
Finally having breakfast around 10:30 that morning. Our daughter calls to tell us she was just in a car accident. Someone had rear-ended her and her boyfriend as they were slowing for a red light. Not a small accident, the car that hit them flipped upside down, they ended up off the road and a third car hit the car that hit her. A big accident. She assured us she and her boyfriend were fine. They were shaken, but felt pretty good and her boyfriend's parents were on the way. Sherri gives me the look of, "we're never going away again." I know that look, she gave it to me last year when riding through Nova Scotia when our daughter was evacuated from her college due to the hurricane and she tapped someone at a stop sign when she thought they had already pulled away. So what should we do, go home, or cross the border into Canada...?
I gave her a call again after leaving the restaurant. She convinces me she's fine, in control and will stay at the boyfriend's parents house for at least one night. That worked out well during the hurricane last year, so we stay on track and stop in St John, NB for the night.
Next up, Day 5. Yes, it's going to take me several days to finish this report...and much longer for the video.
In early May a ride to Newfoundland was not something I had ever considered. But in Mid-May while attending the Romeny Cycle Adventure Ride I mentioned to DCStrom (Trevor) my plan to return to Nova Scotia again this year. My wife and I had prematurely been chased out of Nova Scotia last year by Hurricane Irene, which is a different story all together. Trevor recommended going to Newfoundland. This suggestion started my investigation into the possibility.
I contacted Blacklab (Barry), certainly as a resident of Maine and a fan of riding in Canada he must have been there. He spoke very highly of Newfoundland, but had never been there. He did suggest the Newfoundland based forum, ridetherock.com.
The task of planning a ride to a place I knew nothing about seemed a bit overwhelming and I found my head spinning from all the info. Then I was contact by Sean, a member of a couple of forums that I was using to do my research. He's one of the two Super Tenere owners on "The Rock" and he really helped me focus in on what was important and what wasn't.
Research complete, two weeks taken off from work and we're ready to go. This is a very different kind of trip for us. Normally we have a general idea of where we're going, but no firm plans, reservations or expectations on where we will be on any given day. This trip requires us to have pre-booked ferry tickets to Newfoundland. I had contacted the ferry company and they said sometimes during the summer it could take them a week to accommodate a person that just shows up without a ticket. I can't take the chance so tickets are purchased. With that, I know were we're going to be on certain dates, so accommodations are also arranged for 4 of the 6 nights. I had also contacted the Tourism people up there and they said it could be difficult to find a hotel at the last minute since we were arriving at peak season. We have never launched on a trip with so many places we had pre-booked. This is bugging me, but it had to be done to make the trip work during our allotted time.
Day 1:
Up at 3:50am, drove an hour to work to put in a 5 hr half day. Back home and on the bikes by 1:00pm. Temp for ride ranged from 97 to 111 F. Mostly we only saw 111 degrees while sitting for an hour moving just 3 miles due to road construction. Here's a picture of I-81 where we spend a lot of quality time. As you can see from my little OAT gauge the photo was taken at a cool spot of only 106.8 degrees. It was miserable.
Weather wise this would turn out to be the low point of the trip. Still managed to ride over 300 miles that day, and spend the evening visiting with family in Johnson City, NY. We were completely shot. Back at the hotel my daughter calls to say a massive storm has knocked out power and brought down a tree blocking out road and her boyfriend's way home. She said it was a very scary storm. For the next week I would hear about the storm on the news wherever we were, it was ugly.
Glad I changed my mind at the last minute and went with mesh. I had planned on bringing a mid-weight jacket for the cooler temps in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland...it would have killed me.
Day 2:
Nothing worthwhile happened today. The commitment to make it to the ferry in northern Nova Scotia means we need to slog through the miles. We end the day somewhere in New Hampshire. It was much hotter than expected and we end the day tired and cranky.
Day 3:
Slog, slog, slog...I'm really starting to hate knowing we have to be somewhere, on some date. This is not my kind of riding. Barry tries to give me some perspective and tells me to think of this first and last part of the trip and just what you have to do to get to Newfoundland. True, we'll try. The day ends just outside of Bar Harbor, ME. Where we meet up with Barry and Tom, long time friends from stromtrooper. Tom had recommended a hotel he frequently uses when in town. Nice place, right by the water.
It's a great night catching up with Barry, and finally meeting Tom for the first time in person. I've been talking to Tom for years, seems long overdue. Barry generously provides pizza and beer and we enjoy hangar flying and map pointing into the evening.
Day 4:
Acadia National Park, near Bar Harbor. The sun is up early here, which wakes both Sherri and I much earlier than anticipated. I think we were on the bikes before 6:30am today. We have almost 3 ride days before needing to be at the ferry. Let's enjoy being here.
I do love this place. One of the prettiest parks in this system
We head back to the motel to pack up. Tom meets us and says we left just 5 minutes before him and he'd been trying to track us down all morning. We say goodbye as Tom leaves for the long ride back to Boston.
Finally having breakfast around 10:30 that morning. Our daughter calls to tell us she was just in a car accident. Someone had rear-ended her and her boyfriend as they were slowing for a red light. Not a small accident, the car that hit them flipped upside down, they ended up off the road and a third car hit the car that hit her. A big accident. She assured us she and her boyfriend were fine. They were shaken, but felt pretty good and her boyfriend's parents were on the way. Sherri gives me the look of, "we're never going away again." I know that look, she gave it to me last year when riding through Nova Scotia when our daughter was evacuated from her college due to the hurricane and she tapped someone at a stop sign when she thought they had already pulled away. So what should we do, go home, or cross the border into Canada...?
I gave her a call again after leaving the restaurant. She convinces me she's fine, in control and will stay at the boyfriend's parents house for at least one night. That worked out well during the hurricane last year, so we stay on track and stop in St John, NB for the night.
Next up, Day 5. Yes, it's going to take me several days to finish this report...and much longer for the video.