Day 10, the finally

 Day 10, the last day of my trip from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Happy Valley
Goose Bay, Labrador and back.  This day came a little earlier than I had
expected.  Originally I was to catch the ferry to Cartwright out of Goose
Bay and continue on through Newfoundland, but unfortunately the ferry wasn't
running yet due to ice and I had to turn around and come back.  We made the
trip back to Baie Comeau in less time than the ride out, and I lucked into
the ferry in order to get across to Matane, Quebec and down into New
Brunswick, now I just had to ride home.



I figured if I got up at 5:00am I could make it home by noon, but when 5am
hit I decided that getting in at 1pm was just as good.  Turns out that when
6am came around I decided that getting in at 2pm wouldn't be all that bad
either, so at 7am I finally dragged myself out of bed, checked out and hit
the road.



My first stop was the gas station to top up, I hadn't filled up since Baie
Comeau and was running on the backup tank at that point.  I took a couple
shots of Quebec from the gas station, great roads just over the river, and I
was finally looking at some sunny riding.



http://tinyurl.com/knq8db

http://tinyurl.com/ktevat



I hit the road and was glad to be riding in the bright sunlight for a
change. About an hour out of Campbellton I was passed by a red Honda Civic,
and within a few minutes of him passing me he slowed down to a stop in the
middle of the road.  I was too busy cursing him out for passing and then
slowing to a stop to notice why he was stopping.  It wasn't until I had come
to a complete stop behind him that I noticed a huge moose step out onto the
road in front of him.  For all the talk of moose, and having not seen one
the entire trip, I really wasn't expecting one on my last day.  I'm glad
this guy noticed or I would have cruised right by.  Chances are I would have
been passed by the time the moose stepped out, but it was still cool to see
one.  Man are those things huge.



I think it was in Bathurst when I decided to stop for something to eat at
Tim Horton's.  It was sunny but wasn't real warm, I was still dressed in my
winter riding gear and the coffee and soup helped warm me up a bit.  The
rest of the trip was pretty much highway, running along at a modest 55mph.
I had a nice talk with an elderly lady at a gas stop who told me all about
her old BMW that she had toured extensively on, and still had since she
couldn't part with it for sentimental reasons.  She finished up by talking a
couple pictures of the bike before I hit the road again.



I knew I wasn't ready to end the trip when I hit Nova Scotia and opted for
the road through the Wentworth Valley rather than taking the toll road.
It's a much nicer ride but as with any road replaced with a faster bypass,
it's starting to be neglected.  The rest of the ride home was pretty
uneventful, the bike ran strong, the traffic wasn't bad and it was highway
the rest of the way.  I got home at around 2:30pm, it was a Saturday and the
wife and kids were home.  The bike was filthy, I was filthy and tired, and
at the same time I felt that I could have just kept on riding.
Unfortunately, as with so many of us, work, family and other
responsibilities often outweigh our immediate desires.



Well, that's my trip.  Obviously hitting familiar roads on the way back
through Nova Scotia didn't lend itself to much picture taking, and while I
would have loved to have taken a picture of the moose, the camera was packed
and not easily accessible at the time.  I hope you all enjoyed the ride
report, and if you actually read through the whole thing then you have much
more patience than I do.



So the question remains, after having ridden the bike from Halifax, Nova
Scotia to Goose Bay, Labrador and back, about 4000kms, much of which was on
dirt roads, what's next?  If all goes well with planning and financing, I'm
hoping that this will be my next challenge, which will make the trip up
north seem like a morning commute:



http://budapestbamako.org/en/index



Follow my own planning for the 2011 running of this race at the following
site (which is in it's infancy):



http://www.ah115.com/html/B2B.html



That's all folks, grab another drink on my tab and thanks for sticking
around this long, and if you missed something and want to go back and look
for it, you can find the ride report with thumbnails at:
http://www.ah115.com/html/TLH500.html


--
Tud
SENS BS#111 LFS#32 FLF MISFIT Vermort AH#115
http://ah115.com
Sisyphus rides a Triumph

 Tud wrote:

<snip>


No matter how anti-climactic (except for the moose), this finale is a
fitting end to a written journey that took longer than the actual trek
[ahem]. Thanks for taking me along and the effort put into the reports.

I would imagine most any machine would have suffered traveling across
the tundra, but now you are somewhat the authority on design mods
necessary for such a trek on a Ural.

Well done...thanks again and ...I'm still envious.


--
JMark

 JMark wrote...

Hehe, what can I say, I'm no wordsmith.  Thanks a lot for following along
though.  The last day or two on a trip like this always seem to be a bit
anti-climatic.  Familiar highway roads don't offer a lot of inspiration.

--
Tud
SENS BS#111 LFS#32 FLF MISFIT Vermort AH#115
http://ah115.com
Sisyphus rides a Triumph

 Tud wrote:


<snips>

Tud, that's gotta be one of the best ride alongs (or anything else)
that I've read in here in the past couple of years. Something about
mucking your way along 4k+ of un-predictable roads makes it much more
exciting for us folx following you along while we ride our office
chairs.

Thanks for writing that up and thanks for the great pics.

Welcome back and I'll be looking forward to the 2011 B2B run.

Beer's on my tab 'til you pass out.

Jimbo
AH #63

 Jimbo wrote...


Thanks Jimbo, that means a lot given the talent of some of the writers in
here.


ME TOO!  I've got about 6 months to decide what vehicle I'm going to do this
with, which isn't a long time.  With work, school and now these logistics to
work out I'll be busy hell over the next year.


Sweeeet.

--
Tud
SENS BS#111 LFS#32 FLF MISFIT Vermort AH#115
http://ah115.com
Sisyphus rides a Triumph