Amazing how much difference good weather can make in your day, achieving 350 miles today in varying conditions, from Saint John, NB to Port Hastings on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Departed at 10am and checked in just before 8pm.
Lilly entertained Dave and I at breakfast. She's 10 years old, mature and precocious at the same time, and told us all about the area and the hotel. Her Mom works there and her Dad drives trucks in Alberta. ☹️
Getting ready to saddle up our mounts for the day. Today was going to be bittersweet. It looked like we would not have to face the rain again but Dave and I were going to part company later in the day.
We woke up to light fog which lasted for a few hours. We don't really have any choice of 4 lane or 2 lane roads. There's pretty much only one way to get where we need to be going. But the roads were in pretty good shape and traffic was light for the most part. We cruised around 65 to 75 MPH based on a 100 or 110 kilometer per hour (KPH) speed limit. All day long we multiple speed limits by .62 and then round up a few MPH!
We took a side trip to a spot that the Bay of Fundy is famous for. It's called Hopewell Cape. 
Too hot now with the sun out, Dave sheds his rain gear. He was sure last night and this morning that we would need our rain gear again today so he trussed up with everything he had at before leaving the hotel. 
We had to drive through Fundy National Park first and this most excellent Ranger gave us free passes which would also make us more attractive to women and generally more likable according to him. I gave my pass to Chastain. I figured he would have more luck if he had both passes!The park was beautiful and worth a visit on its own.
Alma, just outside the east portal to the park was a cool and unique little town.
And this is what the Bay of Fundy is famous for, 30 to 50 foot tides twice a day. We pulled up to Alma where we found these grounded fishing boats about 90 minutes before low tide. From the chart you can see low tide would be about 7 feet at 1:48 pm and high tide would be 37 feet at 7:49 this evening. A difference of 30 feet in 6 hours. 
Moving on to Cape Breton we find what are often called "flower pots". You can see the tide is going out leaving these huge stone columns standing exposed. The trees on top always stay dry from the sea water. 
We listened to a Ranger talk on the tides here. Because the Fundy Bay is about 265km long, and the tides occur just over every 6 hours based on the Moon's position to the Earth and Sun it forms a natural resonance frequency. In addition, the shape of the Bay and depth, from 700' at the mouth to 50' at its end acts as a funnel and as the tide comes in the huge volume "squishes up" higher and higher. Borh factors amplify the effect of the tides. Here's a link if you want more information onnthenBay of Fundy tides:
A solitary column stands in the distance, waiting for the next tidal surge. 
This is called Lovers Rock because it's two rocks leaning together and holding each other up. At a normal high tide of 35 feet the water would cover the people you see and on further to about half way up the rock. On full or new moon phases when the Moon, Earth and Sun are all lined up in a row the tides go another 20 feet higher to +50 feet!! Very cool. 
Now we've left New Brunswick and have entered Nova Scotia just to the south.
More 4 lane divided highway and nice long views of the rolling mountains.
Dave and I do the "bro hug" and say our good byes to each other as we now have to go our separate ways. He needs to turn back and head home and I have to go all the way east to see Newfoundland. Dave is one of my oldest friends and my oldest motorcycle riding buddy. We first road our Honda 550's to Colorado the summer after our Freshman year at Purdue in 1977. Forty years later we're still riding together, this time to Nova Scotia!!
Now it's just me and my shadow for the next two weeks.
I'm about to cross the Straight of Canso which separates the body of Nova Scotia from Cape Breton Island.
A short causeway and beidge and I'm on to Cape Breton Island. St. John's, Newfoundland awaits a ferry ride and 760 miles to the northeast. 
Home away from home for the night is the Skye Lodge for less than US$50 for the night. Comfy and clean with smoking fast wifi and right off of the Straight of Canso. 
Do these jeans make my ass look wet??? My motorcycle saddle is aging about as well as I am and has accumulated some minor wounds and scars from use over the last 33 years. These wounds allow rain water from rainy day rides like the last day or two to accumulate in the padding inside. Therefore, for days after a rainy ride water continuously weeps out on my bottom side. It's like an all day long "Summers Eve" douche!! I'm sure I'm going to get jungle rot down there.
I went out for a beer run after checking in to my motel for the night but struck out as everything in town seems to be closed by 9pm. But I did get at least a base hit, maybe even a double with this excellent sunset over Nova Scotia picture!'
No comments:
Post a Comment