29 July

Woke up at 0400 today but waited until 0530 to get up, didn’t want to wake up my sister-in-law Jean too early. I felt I was pushing it getting up at 0530 and waking her. Got up anxious to be riding vs driving, so I packed up and hit the road. It was muggy while packing but I opted for the leather coat for the ride which was a good idea cuz once on the road it got very cool…but that great riding cool. Got about 120 miles and Mother Nature decided it was time for me to ops check my new rain gear. The Gortex Pat recommend from Bass Pro is awesome, thx Pat! About 30 minutes later I needed gas and the gas station I pulled in to only had 87 octane…on all the pumps. When I asked about Hi Test gas I got a look like I said something bad about his mother?!?!?! Got back on the road and the weather seemed to immediately clear. Since I skipped breakfast I pulled over at a Denny’s somewhere just north of Augusta ME. Wow, this Denny’s was the equivalent of a Wal-Mart in Crestucky! What a cast of characters, I thought Disneyland was back in Orlando. It was slam packed but I got a seat at the bar and sat next to this kid who kept staring as though he was looking at an alien…first time off the farm boy? I guess in his defense, I was still wearing all my rain gear too include my boot rain covers so I definitely didn’t look like the rest of the crowd (and that’s a good thing). After stuffing down a Grand Slamwhich I hit the road again. It’s a beautiful ride and once you get north of Bangor the speed limit is 75 so that means you can go 85 right? I got the Canadian border on no time and waited my turn to pass through. When I got to the booth I was addressed in French and why he seemed surprised to get an answer back in French was weird. So he says do you know your license plate number? I said no, thinking who the hell remembers their license plate number? Well I was told to turn off the bike and read my plate to him, and then he came back with a thousand questions. This kid looked like he was 12 and I’m thinking he’s new and loves this new power trip. So I played his silly game and finally got though. The ride to Fredericton was great until I nearly got pinched off the road and the peg on my highway bar actually hit one of the plastic 55 gal barrels they use for dividers…that was fun. Got to the hotel, got some food and took the bike to a car wash, rain can certainly make you bike look like crap real fast. So tomorrow it’s off to North Sydney Nova Scotia to catch the 2230 ferry and will get to Port aux Basques Newfoundland at 0700 on Sunday. So the next post will be a day or two.