Rule #1--If you are too dumb to know the area, and too whimsical to ride your plan, you'd best be checked into a hotel/motel/campground/igloo/teepee/camper/parent's house NLT 1600.

Really Dorothy, you are not in Kansas anymore, there isn't a Motel 6 on every corner.

So the say started off well, had a wonderful breakfast at the Hampton before heading out to get Dramamine for the ferry ride. Turns out, I probably didn't need any, because the bay is quite shielded and calm.

Next off to the ferry. The bikes que up in line 2, which is second to last to load, and second to last to unload. Once you get there, you need to take your reservation number in and get an actual ticket. The ferry was full, so make reservations a few days prior.

It was $90 for bike and rider. The deck hands are wonderful, and get you through the process. The ferry floor is wet and very, very slick. Stay off that front brake! The bikes are parked nose out/perpendicular to the nose of the boat. Park your bike in first gear, and if you have something to tie the front brake lever is good too. The ferry will supply ratchet straps. Tie point is the passenger peg on the right side, across the seat, to the tie point behind/left of the bike.



There is a lot to do to include travel agents from each port. While they gave me great info on camp sites, apparently, you need to call ahead to make sure they still exist. The ferry ride was pleasant, and even saw some porpoises!



Digby and Yarmouth are quaint towns, but nothing piqued my interest enough to stop after initial drive thorough. Although, hindsight, we should have bed down in Yarmouth.

RT 1 South/West is called the Evangeline Tour. There are at least a handful of really ornate, tall steepled churches from the 1700s.


I am not sure how it happens, but they are apparently mostly French speaking until Yarmouth. The road signs all use French spellings for Cities, while most maps are in English spellings. I thought that proper names were always the same, but clearly that is not the rule.

Regardless, RT1 is a very nice road meandering on the coastline.

I have to start with I have never seen so many porcupines outside a zoo than I did today. Okay, so what if they were road kill--there were 4! You could use them them to count every 100 miles. If they weren't so far apart, I'd say that someone was plinking/shooting porcupines out of season (is there a season??) and hucking them out the car window to dispose of the bodies!

The only thing that there were more of were than dead porcupines were toll booths. I think I have spent my day's hotel per diem paying to use a bridge, turnpike and expressway. Seriously, if anyone is doing the the route get thee and Ezpass now. I suppose it's better to get one huge bill, than stop every 20 feet and bleed a buck.

With the exception of border control (more later..), the traffic was non-existent and dreamy. Maine wins the "bestest" award for rest stops. Some had Wi-Fi, others were very quaint being smack on a very nice lake.

While we didn't stop much today in the states, the weather was outstanding, as were the cloud formations!




We also drove by a dozen or two of muscle-era old cars:


This sign makes it sound like you damn near hit a moose everywhere.


This is the best we could find...



Customs took F.O.R.E.V.E.R!!! It was horribly backed-up. Then finally we decided to go to different booths, and while I skated right through like greased lighting, Dana not so lucky.

After they found her other travel for work, she got the special privilege of a motorbike search! And she didn't even get a passport stamp for prosperity. Meanwhile, I decided to take some nice photos:



While it was only <200KM from customs in St John, we saw a nice sign which was very official looking: a lighthouse on a blue/white background. So we followed it for quite some time. After a very nice covered bridge, and very nice photo ops of the bay, it dawns on us that there is no lighthouse to be found



The sign is apparently a Canadian way for scenic by-way. Well, it was a nice ride, but really all this water and they can't give me a lighthouse?

And what would a ride report be without the obligatory dinner photo :



Staying a Hampton inn--it has a 80 ft indoor slide. The thing was a blast to ride and probably would be illegal in the US, and I am surprised nobody was bleeding, nor needing medical attention during my stay from it. Scotty, I think you need to upgrade you pool for next summer. Maybe something like an Amish barn raising, we can help you upgrade? At least you are used to wearing your MC crash gear in the pool, which decidedly will help you...

(Oh, and Scotty's slide won't come with the striped bikini--stop looking at her like that--she's 12!)



Tomorrow, catch the ferry to Digby