Day 16. Newfoundland, I am here!

A day of riding and sailing to get to Newfoundland today. About a 90 mile sunny and warm ride into to North Sydney. Then a 115 mile crossing of the Cabot Straight departing at noon and arriving Port Aux Basque around 7:15pm. Then a 60 mile ride to the Midway Motel near Robinsons.  The riding app above says 667 miles because it was confused by all the steel in the ferry. Actual total mileage is closer to 265 miles. 

 Looks like a good day to start my final push to St. John's with following winds and clear skies. 

 Loading up my faithful bike and hitting the road around 7:30am, just as the fog was burning off. It was a quiet and comfortable room with blazing up and download internet speeds, always helpful for me posting to this blog.

 Beautiful road and scenery that I can actually see since there's no low lying clouds or foggy mist to peer through. 

 Most of the ride today is headed northeast along this beautiful Bras d'Or Lake.  Bras d' Or means Arm of Gold in French. It's a bit silvery now but I think it may refer to gold mining in the area. Cape Breton is almost cut in half by this body of water. 

 Further to the northeast nearing Sydney where I catch my ferry the Bras d'Or Lake opens up to the Cabot Straight that separates Newfoundland from Cape Breton. 

 The Sea Island Bridge gets me over to the south side of Bras d'Or Lake so I can get to the ferry terminal at North Sydney. It's been a beautiful 90 mile morning ride!  

 While they seem to be loading semi trucks continuously us motorcyclist get to lead the way ahead of the cars. It takes over 3 hours to load the ferry I was told. It's a big ass ferry. 

 And the long line of passenger vehicles. 

 I always get excited when ever I get to ride a ferry on a travel adventure.  Each boat is different and I never know what to expect. Plus if I'm either on my bicycle or my BMW traveling on a big, powered boat is a precious luxury. The weather at the northeast tip of Cape Breton Island is sunny and very warm, probably close to 80 degrees. 

These boys were from Delaware, Ted, Bill and Mike, all recently retired firemen. Last year they spent 6 weeks and road to Alaska!  That could be my last big motorcycle trip in a few years. It sounded like a great time. 

 

Off we go, 6 motorcycles into the bowels of the ship. I had a little drama when I bought my ticket. You are supposed to make a reservation beforehand so that when you pull up they just look you up, verify your identity and vehicle and off you go. I tried to do that last night using my phone but the site wouldn't let me make a one way reservation.  My fall back plan was to get there early and reserve in person.  The nice lady told me the cutoff for making reservations is 3 hours before departure and I was there only 2 hours early.  She said she could sell me a ticket for the midnight passage and if there was room I could get on this one!!  Oh well, she seemed to be optimistic since I was on a motorcycle. When they scanned my ticket they had to have me wait for personal approval from someone on the radio. I always say it's better to be lucky than good!!

 

 Inside the motorcycles are lined up towards the front of the ship. Then we are instructed to strap them down to hidden cleats in the floor.  I've got one strap tied to the left handle under my seat and 2 tied off to the top of my rear shock absorber on the right. Plus I left it in first gear. This strapping is a first for me, but it's also the longest crossing on a ferry I've ever made. I hope she's still upright when I return. 

 

 Sitting in a business class size seat facing the stern of the ferry I see the semi trucks lined up head to toe and side to side. My motorcycle is at least one level below them. 

 It's supposed to be about a 7 hour passage so maybe I'll get a chance to catch up on reading "Oil" by Upton Sinclair. I'm about 1/3 of the way through and I'm enjoying it but have only read that one day back in North Dakota when I was swinging on the hammock in the city garden. 

I've made it to the Canadian Province of Newfoundland and Labrador!!  Still some daylight left as the days are long up here and still 600 miles before I get to St. John's so I'm going to ride for a while.  The Newfies have their own time zone 30 minutes later than Atlantic time.  I'm now 3.5 hours ahead of Denver and 3.5 hours behind London, England, stuck in the middle for the next days!!

 The view from the visitor center back toward the port and the ferry I just left. It's already a different landscape than I've been in. 

 I'm a happy camper, exploring here has been my ambition for a couple of years now. 

About 60 miles up the Trans Canada Highway I pullover at the Midway Motel. It's slowly getting darker and I'm in moose country again. Both the lady at the Visitors center as well as Mary at the Irving gas station up the road suggested it as a hotel right off the highway and inexpensive. Mary said if the front office is closed when I get there I should go to Norm's house and tell him Mary sent me!!

 Norm was a piece of work, 58 yrs old and has been working here since 1974, before he graduated from high school!  It was run by his Dad at the time. His goldfish with no name is 11 years old and huge!  The bar/dining room don't get much use any more as traffic has dropped off but Norm was full of wit and grace. 

 He even gave my my own souvenir key fob for room number 8!!