Day 27 vroom vrooooooom

vrooooooom we rolled thru Montreal city and Ottawa. Big oops when I set up Google lady this morning, I didn't add route 30 to it and she took us straight thru the city!  I saw the sign for route 30 and I knew we were doomed, thankfully it was Sunday and the traffic wasn't backed up..  we went thru the tunnel and we both said "oh f**k"!!  I had a cramp from holding my handle bar so tight, I was definitely scared!

We did it and then we were eventually riding on Ontario highway 417 into Ottawa which was easier than Montreal.  We were lucky we were heading WEST as the traffic coming into the city from the east was bumper to bumper and that was only 2 pm on this Sunday afternoon.  Everyone returning to the city.  The weather was sunny, not too hot with two thunder showers throughout the day.

We are back to riding hard, no more touring, we stopped for the might in Pembroke Ontario, grabbing a couple cool beverages to celebrate the great day.

Day 26 Quebec

The kilometers went rolling by thru New Brunswick and into Quebec to Montmagny, same place we stayed on day 10!  The strong winds tossed us around for the 700 kilometers, the cumulus clouds dropped rain down on us, not enough to get us wet for long, we were dry ten minutes later.
The northern part of New Brunswick was beautiful with rolling hills, tree plantations, fields of crops and farms.  The Saint John river was huge but nothing compared to the St Lawrence River that we get glimpses of from the free way.

Day 23 and Mile zero!!!!

We made it to st Johns Newfoundland after 8500 klms of riding across this great big vast country we call Canada!!  It has been an amazing journey thru mountains, prairie fields, huge bridges, Forrest's and beaches.  People of every race, speaking languages we can't figure out but so friendly. LOVE it 😀

The city is an interesting port with containers lined up for shipping, supply ships waiting the next mission and fish boats Delivering their catch.  It is old brick buildings or tall narrow buildings painted in bright colors Jelly Bean row houses.  For lunch we went to Yellow Belly brew pub for lunch, yummy pizza and a turkey burger.

George Street is 2 blocks long with bars and restaurants, there is an outdoor stage ready for tonight's concerts at 8 tonight.  We went to Christian's bar to get screeched in, it was so fun! we kissed the frozen cod, ate Bologna and had a shot of rum.

It was the last night if George Street festival and we bought tickets for the evening music event.  They had an outdoor stage set up with a two blocks of bars closed off.  You had to have a ticket to enter, it was a huge beer garden, dancing and singing in the street.  Shanneyganock was the feature band, so amazing, the energy of the audience was unbelievable.  The fans sang along to all the songs, young and old they had a beer in hand, clapping and singing.

Day 24 and 25 Cape and Argentia

Cape Spear is the most eastern point in North America other than Greenland.  We rode out to the cape it was 20 minutes from downtown St John's following a two lane curving road.  It was hard believe that beyond the shore was Europe!
We had to back track 80 klm to the turn off to Argentia, we stopped at Placentia for lunch where Harold's Hotel served up Jiggs dinner.  Boiled carrot, potato, turnip, salted beef, turkey and yellow pea pudding.  I enjoyed it for brunch!  We were in line at the ferry 4 hours early followed by 53 other bikes.  We all drove on, tied the bikes down and scrambled to find a chair to sleep in for the 16 hour trip to North Sydney.  It takes at least an hour for them to load the vehicles and freight, unloading takes even longer.  They need lessons!!!
We road out of North Sydney heading WEST on the TransCanada highway, ending our day 460 klms in Moncton.  Al finally got to eat the lobster dinner😀

Day 22 Stephenville to Clarenville

We slept in but only if you used Nfld time, another time change and we lost an hour.  Packed up and ready to go and Al's bike wouldn't start, his battery was dead.  We did a quick change in the parking lot thankfully the other bikers had the wrench we needed. Whoops forgot that one at home!
Off towards Gander under grey clouded sky, it was cool enough all day to plug in the heated gloves and coat.  After 200 klms we stopped for gas and breakfast, in rolled the other BC bikers Al met on the ferry. They are on their Harley going coast to coast just like us, really nice people.
We detoured thru Norris Arm to see where Thelma lived, it was a cute little community. The scenery is similar to the Yukon with lots of ocean and lake views.  My motorcycle skills were tested with the winds and huge ruts in the pavement. Only 180 klms to mile zero!!

Day 21 Ferry to Nfld

Excited for the final roads east and the ferry to Nfld we were on the road to North Sydney arriving way before the required time.  Als bike groaned when he started it so he walked over to Canadian tire for a new battery to install later. No problem boarding the bikes we were parked in the car lanes behind each other. We had to tie them down before heading upstairs to the passenger lounge where we grabbed comfortable high back adjustable chairs at the window ready for 5 hours on the water.

Al met new friends while I read an entire book between watching the scenery go by.  Docking in Port au Basque was uneventful but shockingly beautiful,  I was amazed it looked exactly like the brochures.  30 motorcycles and a couple transport trucks were first off on a curving TransCanada hwy, the gusts of wind kept our minds on task.  The 164 klm drive to Stephenville went quickly, getting there before darkness!  Dave and Sherry from the ferry met us in the dining room for dinner; we were all hungry as we had not eaten since breakfast.

Day 20 Sydney Nova Scotia

On the road early this morning hoping to enjoy the cooler temperatures, heading into the beautiful sunshine.  Travelling on highway 104, then 4 and 247.  The Google lady was having trouble finding a signal so consequently we took a wrong turn and ended up down a rough windy road and we came out at a world class surfing beach;
We left there and it turned to gravel so we back tracked back to 247 for a few kilometers, when we saw a sign back to highway 4 we took the fork in the road and went for it.  Haha we thought the other road was rough but this one was full of back jarring craters and bumps!  We did see the first deer in the Atlantic provinces, a whitetail doe.  We have seen lots of road kill which have been porcupine, stinky skunks, and huge raccoons, lately a couple rabbits.
We got to our room about 1 and headed for a walking tour of the town, found a pub serving ice cold beer and a great lunch.  Gas is cheap at 96 cents but 4 litres of milk is $6.19.
Upon leaving the Irish pub after dinner we followed the sounds of a band playing and found an outdoor concert where we listened to music from the 70s and some Cape Breton jigs!  Great ending to our day!