Saturday, September 1, 2007
Final Summary
Hello Again,
This was an awesome trip. We rode 2926 miles, and it would have been more if we went to L'Anse Meadows at the top of the Northern Peninsula. We originally planned to ride to L'Anse Meadows, but it rained for two days, so we stayed in the Gros Morne area instead. If you look at the picture of the Sally's Cove sign and you click on it the picture will become large so you can see that my bike is wet.
The weather was for the most part great. We had a day and a half of solid rain while in Newfoundland. According to all the "Newfies" we talked to, the whole month of August it rains there. Sue & I chalked it up as being part of the atmosphere. Then the only other rain we hit was the before mentioned quick shower coming through Mass.
Critters!!!! Oh we saw critters! I saw two moose, and Sue saw three. One of the moose I saw was a buck, huge!! with a big rack on his head. Quite spectacular!!!I'm sorry I didn't get any pictures of the moose. While riding the Cabot Trail we noticed a bunch of folks at an overlook, they all seemed to be looking toward the water, so we pulled in. The commotion was a school of whales swimming around a whale watching boat. I tried taking pictures but it was to far out for my camera. I did get some video of it though.
The food was another great part of the trip. We would try the local fare when available. As expected plenty of seafood. Lobster in Maine, scallops in Nova Scotia, and fresh cod and haddock in Newfoundland. While in Nova Scotia we stopped at a little road side dinner that had meat pie on the menu, so we tried it.It was very good!!!! For me though it was all about the chowdah. Whether it was clam chowdah or seafood chowdah, I ordered it everywhere we stopped to eat. Hell I was tempted to get it for breakfast. I think I mentioned before that the best chowdah was the seafood chowdah at the Best Western in North Sydney Nova Scotia. Tons of scallops!!!! YUMMMM!!!
The bikes ran flawlessly, except my bike had the rear brake rotor loosen up and rattle when hitting bumps, or ridding in dirt parking lots. We stopped at Hammonds Plains Service Center in Hammonds Plains Nova Scotia where Jim was nice enough to let me use his jack and some of his tools so I could work on my bike. I could not tighten the rotor but by taken the rear wheel off I realized that the rotor wasn't going anywhere, because the ABS hub held the rotor in place. Now that I'm home I will take the bike to the dealership and have them fix it.
The best thing about this trip was all the great people we met along the way. We met this couple from Ohio,named Cindy & Alan. They were driving their Mini Cooper around New England and Nova Scotia. Alan first approached me at a gas station in Maine. He was curious about my bike. He had not seen a BMW like mine before. He was an old beemerphile, I think he said he use to own a LT. We would end up running into these two like 4 or 5 times throughout Maine and Nova Scotia. They were genuinely nice people. Then there was the group of Cape Breton motorcyclists we met at the Tim Horton's right before the Canso Causeway heading over to Cape Breton.I had written about them before in this blog but it's worth mentioning again that these were great people. Then there was all the other people we met, like Jim the mechanic,and the two guys on Harley in Maine that gave us directions. Then the guy who owned and ran the small motorcycle museum in Wiltondale, Newfoundland. I'm sorry I can't remember his name. He was truly a motorcycle freak like myself. One of the bikes he had was a 1912 NSU.This bike was found hidden in a wall of an old building being torn down in St.Johns, Newfoundland. NSU was a German motorcycle maker, these bikes were not exported from Germany. The bike is in original condition, and it's in good condition.
The museum owner told an interesting story about the bike saying that maybe a ship captain brought it over, and then hid the bike when the first world war started.
Sue & I had a wonderful time, and would recommend this trip to everybody regardless if you are on a motorcycle or even in a car...God forbid. Thanks for reading along and writing your comments, we hoped you enjoyed the blog. Thanks again
Love Sue and Frank Q.
This was an awesome trip. We rode 2926 miles, and it would have been more if we went to L'Anse Meadows at the top of the Northern Peninsula. We originally planned to ride to L'Anse Meadows, but it rained for two days, so we stayed in the Gros Morne area instead. If you look at the picture of the Sally's Cove sign and you click on it the picture will become large so you can see that my bike is wet.
The weather was for the most part great. We had a day and a half of solid rain while in Newfoundland. According to all the "Newfies" we talked to, the whole month of August it rains there. Sue & I chalked it up as being part of the atmosphere. Then the only other rain we hit was the before mentioned quick shower coming through Mass.
Critters!!!! Oh we saw critters! I saw two moose, and Sue saw three. One of the moose I saw was a buck, huge!! with a big rack on his head. Quite spectacular!!!I'm sorry I didn't get any pictures of the moose. While riding the Cabot Trail we noticed a bunch of folks at an overlook, they all seemed to be looking toward the water, so we pulled in. The commotion was a school of whales swimming around a whale watching boat. I tried taking pictures but it was to far out for my camera. I did get some video of it though.
The food was another great part of the trip. We would try the local fare when available. As expected plenty of seafood. Lobster in Maine, scallops in Nova Scotia, and fresh cod and haddock in Newfoundland. While in Nova Scotia we stopped at a little road side dinner that had meat pie on the menu, so we tried it.It was very good!!!! For me though it was all about the chowdah. Whether it was clam chowdah or seafood chowdah, I ordered it everywhere we stopped to eat. Hell I was tempted to get it for breakfast. I think I mentioned before that the best chowdah was the seafood chowdah at the Best Western in North Sydney Nova Scotia. Tons of scallops!!!! YUMMMM!!!
The bikes ran flawlessly, except my bike had the rear brake rotor loosen up and rattle when hitting bumps, or ridding in dirt parking lots. We stopped at Hammonds Plains Service Center in Hammonds Plains Nova Scotia where Jim was nice enough to let me use his jack and some of his tools so I could work on my bike. I could not tighten the rotor but by taken the rear wheel off I realized that the rotor wasn't going anywhere, because the ABS hub held the rotor in place. Now that I'm home I will take the bike to the dealership and have them fix it.
The best thing about this trip was all the great people we met along the way. We met this couple from Ohio,named Cindy & Alan. They were driving their Mini Cooper around New England and Nova Scotia. Alan first approached me at a gas station in Maine. He was curious about my bike. He had not seen a BMW like mine before. He was an old beemerphile, I think he said he use to own a LT. We would end up running into these two like 4 or 5 times throughout Maine and Nova Scotia. They were genuinely nice people. Then there was the group of Cape Breton motorcyclists we met at the Tim Horton's right before the Canso Causeway heading over to Cape Breton.I had written about them before in this blog but it's worth mentioning again that these were great people. Then there was all the other people we met, like Jim the mechanic,and the two guys on Harley in Maine that gave us directions. Then the guy who owned and ran the small motorcycle museum in Wiltondale, Newfoundland. I'm sorry I can't remember his name. He was truly a motorcycle freak like myself. One of the bikes he had was a 1912 NSU.This bike was found hidden in a wall of an old building being torn down in St.Johns, Newfoundland. NSU was a German motorcycle maker, these bikes were not exported from Germany. The bike is in original condition, and it's in good condition.
The museum owner told an interesting story about the bike saying that maybe a ship captain brought it over, and then hid the bike when the first world war started.
Sue & I had a wonderful time, and would recommend this trip to everybody regardless if you are on a motorcycle or even in a car...God forbid. Thanks for reading along and writing your comments, we hoped you enjoyed the blog. Thanks again
Love Sue and Frank Q.
We're Home!
Hi All,
Sue & I are home,actually we got home last night around 7:30pm.
We rode home from Bangor Maine. On the way we stopped in Hampton New Hampshire, at the Old Salt for lunch. Great clam chowdah!!
We hit some rain going through Mass. but not much, just enough to make the bikes dirty.
The trip was great, but it's nice to be home.
Sue & I are home,actually we got home last night around 7:30pm.
We rode home from Bangor Maine. On the way we stopped in Hampton New Hampshire, at the Old Salt for lunch. Great clam chowdah!!
We hit some rain going through Mass. but not much, just enough to make the bikes dirty.
The trip was great, but it's nice to be home.
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