Shirley some drinks for anyone around on the weekend and bored enough to
read on.
Well it's Day 9 and we're down to just my pictures, since this is the day I
parted ways with the rest of the crew and wouldn't get another chance to
download Derek and Shelley's photos.
The view from the Manic 5 wasn't too bad this morning, clouds, but no rain
on the forecast, so it's all good.
http://tinyurl.com/kvj4ah
There was no more dirt roads left to ride. The 211kms back to Baie Comeau
was twisty, but paved. This is a good thing considering all the things I've
already removed from the bike and strapped to the back. This shot gives you
a good indication of how dirty things were on that last day of dirt riding.
http://tinyurl.com/nm6k6o
I'm beginning to see why people are so surprised when they ask what year it
is and I tell them it's an '06.
http://tinyurl.com/n7lwsm
I did a quick job of washing out the air filter (actually, if I think back
on it, it might have been Derek that washed it out for me). You can still
see some of the mud from the day before, that stuff was coating the oil air
filter when I took it out to replace it the day before.
http://tinyurl.com/mqyl8n
Fred's bike was pristine when I first met him about a week earlier at the
Tim Horton's in Baie Comeau, but now it wasn't looking much better than my
badly neglected beast.
http://tinyurl.com/mn9f8o
Derek's bike after many days on the dirt roads.
http://tinyurl.com/nlgqvg
Fred packing up before we head out from the Manic 5 motel for Baie Comeau.
http://tinyurl.com/mhcm9j
It was nice to be back on paved roads (although I'm itching to get back onto
roads that are a little more adventurous as I type this), and I don't think
we stopped much on the way to Baie Comeau. About the only time I stopped
was at 186km out of the Manic 5 damn, pretty close to Baie Comeau. I didn't
stop for a mechanical problem, to look at the scenery, or for a bio break,
but rather to take a quick picture of a milestone with the bike. It passed
the 30,000km mark on route 389 between Baie Comeau and Manic 5.
http://tinyurl.com/kut7a5
I was a little ahead of Derek and Shelley while taking the picture when I
heard what was becoming a familiar sound coming up the road.
http://tinyurl.com/mkz2jk
http://tinyurl.com/nedc25
If you look closely you can see that Derek lost a bungie cord and Shelley is
holding onto the gas can on the side of the hack. At this point we were
about 15-20 minutes from Baie Comeau where we stopped at the first gas
station and we all topped off. I suggested that everyone head down the
street to the Tim Horton's while I run down to the ferry and book a spot on
the 5:00pm ferry heading to Matane, Quebec. I got there at around 2:00pm
but was told there were no reservations available and that I could park my
bike in the line and wait. Not wanting to miss the ferry, I decided to rush
back to Tim Horton's, say my goodbyes and then head back and wait at the
ferry terminal and hope that I could get on. Our goodbyes were all to quick
given the ride to Goose Bay and back that we had just done together, but I
didn't want to drop back in the line and have to wait until the next day for
a ferry.
On the way back to the ferry I was driving through the quaint little
downtown part of Baie Comeau when the car in front of me jammed on it's
brakes in order to avoid some large rodent that was scurrying across the
road. I hit the brakes and the weight of the sidecar, combined with sand
all over the road, caused the bike to veer left and into the on coming
traffic's lane. No one was coming in the other direction, which was a very
good thing, and my front wheel was beside the car that stopped by the time
that I came to a complete stop. It was a good lesson in always being aware
of the road conditions, like sand on asphalt.
I made it to the ferry terminal and parked in the lane that I was told to
park in when I had stopped off earlier. Turns out I was put in a different
line as the cars and trucks that were waiting without reservations, so I
ended up being at the front of that line, and the only vehicle in it at all.
I had to wait for a couple hours for the ferry so I snapped a couple shots
while waiting, and yeah, the bike draws a crowd even when waiting for a
ferry.
http://tinyurl.com/lo54c3
A view from one of the boats from my picnic table.
http://tinyurl.com/lghfhf
The ferry, with it's nose open.
http://tinyurl.com/luhp53
A view of the shore from the ferry, which I managed to get on, and was the
last vehicle loaded.
http://tinyurl.com/le2ah5
I got off the ferry in Matane at about 7:30pm and knew what route I needed
to take to get home. The sun was still up but getting low on the horizon so
I decided I'd take the road I needed straight out of town from the ferry
terminal and would stop at the first motel I saw, and if I didn't see one
I'd keep going and stop in Campbellton, New Brunswick. I got off the ferry
behind a transport truck and started following him out of town. As it turns
out there were no motels along this road until about 30 minutes out (which I
didn't feel like stopping at), and I knew it would be dark long before I
made the approximately 200km trip to Campbellton. This part of Quebec/New
Brunswick is notorious for Moose, and riding at night was not something I
was looking forward to, but I tucked myself in behind the truck and decided
to make the ride to Campbellton. I figured that if I was behind the truck
I'd be a little safer from hitting a moose. The ride was pretty nice, great
roads, twisty and smooth, and the truck wasn't hard to keep up with on these
roads. This worked well for about an hour, which is about when the sun was
gone and things started to get dark. Still, with the truck in front of me I
wasn't too concerned.
And then it started to rain. It wasn't raining hard, but with the truck
kicking up spray from the road I had to back off quite a bit and soon the
truck was out of site on the twisty roads and my moose blocker was gone.
The rain at night is much worse than the rain we hit in the daytime because
the water on the faceshield at night makes star burst patterns and it gets
very hard to see through. I found myself constantly wiping off the shield
while trying to keep an eye out for any dark shapes about to step out on the
road. It was probably the combination of these distractions that caused me
to drive by the turnoff for Campbellton. I had seen a sign saying it was
something like 15km, and when I hit 20 I decided to turn around and take
another look for the turnoff for the bridge. I found it on my way back and
rolled into Campbellton at around 11:00pm and hit the first hotel I found,
checked in, pulled up to the room and called it a night. I typically don't
have a problem riding in the dark, but the rain combined with the threat of
moose made it a much more interesting ride.
I was on my own now and just had one day left on the road. The thought of
being alone on the road was appealing, the fact that I only had one day left
was much less so.
--
Tud
SENS BS#111 LFS#32 FLF MISFIT Vermort AH#115
http://ah115.com
Sisyphus rides a Triumph
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>read on.