CDN Miracle Miles

It is hard to believe that the journey has ended.  We left Moncton this morning in sunshine and warm temperatures.  We were not in a hurry to leave knowing this was the last day of the journey.  We stopped at the two local motorcycle shops to pick up some last purchases and then headed out on the open road.  We followed Hwy 1 all the way to the NS border.  At Amherst we turned off and headed towards the Bay of Fundy shores via Parrsboro.  The road was so picturesque with twists and turns along streams and lakes. 

 We stopped in Parrsboro for lunch at the Harbour View Restaurant right on the water.  It was a spectacular afternoon of weather and scenery.  We stopped shortly after that at Lower Five Islands to take some photos.  Did you know we have our own Perce Rock (Gaspe)?  After traveling across country it was an absolute pleasure to ride our own roads of twisties and scenery.  We followed Hwy 2 into Truro along the Bay of Fundy.  For those who don’t know, the Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world.  The tide was out so we saw a lot of red sandy beaches/mud flats along the route.

 At Truro we turned onto Hwy 102 for about 60kms and then turned off at Exit 7 (Enfield) to follow the route along the lakes that brings you into Dartmouth.  The sun was starting to set and the Waverley Road was another highlight after the long journey.

 This journey took us coast to coast.  For Dave, he traveled just over 17,000 km and was away for five weeks.  The first two weeks he spent traveling on his own across the country and visiting family in Vancouver and Victoria.  For myself, I traveled just over 8,500 km and was away for three weeks.  In all those kms it was really nice to be back in NS and travel our own roads.  We have an incredible province with great motorcycling roads and sites to see whether you like water, hills, mountains, farmland, valleys, twisties – we have it all right here.

Well we are on the final leg of the trip and it has been fantastic.  There are mixed emotions about the ending but we were glad to cross into Canada once again.  We left Bangor this morning in sunshine but the temperature was only in the 60s.  Hwy 9, the airline route, had a lot of new pavement and we only encountered construction twice.  We crossed the border with no problems, in fact it was simple and fast and absolutely no traffic.  But the traffic crossing into Calais, ME was really backed up at the border crossing.

We stopped for lunch at Dave’s Restaurant – see the pic….  The weather had really started to cloud over just before crossing the border but we never did see the rain.  Once again we seemed to arrive on roads where the rain had just fallen.  We did get a few sprinkles just outside Sussex.  We arrived at my sister’s place in Moncton just before 5pm.  We spent the evening walking around downtown Moncton and enjoyed a terrific meal at “The Keg”.

 Tomorrow we will be stopping at the motorcycle shops before leaving this area and then plan to follow a route through Parrsboro in heading home.  It has been a great three weeks and it is incredible when you think of the places we have visited. 

 Please stay tuned for the highlights and final comments on the trip.  Thank you for your support and comments along the route.

DAVE AGAIN:  After a busy day of shopping and touring around Conway, NH we were ready to hit the road again.  The weather was fantastic. Blue skies, no clouds and a very comfortable 75 F to start and it stayed like that the whole day. 

 We left Conway at about 0900 and proceeded down Hwy 302 a little bit and then we turned on to some back roads for about 30 kms.  We were soon into Maine, which was our 19^th state that we have driven through since we left Nelson, BC on July 31^st.  (For my total trip since July 19^th it has been 25 states and 5 provinces.)

 Maine must be having elections as all the roads we drove on have been recently paved.  We went all the way from Conway to Portland on back roads and secondary roads and the driving was fantastic.  We stopped in Buxton, Me. to check out a motorcycle store. We travelled on the Interstate for a little while before we spent the majority of the day on Hwy 1.  We stopped in Damariscotta, Me for lunch at this little restaurant and had an excellent meal.  After lunch, we continued on Hwy 1 through Rockland, Camden and Belfast and on to Bangor where we stopped for the night. 

 The driving was very relaxing.  We only did 379 kms today but most of the roads only had 35 and 45 mph speed limits. We went through a lot of little towns but it was a very slow and lazy day as we knew we had lots of time today.

 We will be entering Canada tomorrow and I can’t wait.  It will be nice to be back on home soil again.

Today was not an exciting day for riding but it was for shopping.  We spent the entire day shopping in the area and playing tourist.  The first part of our day was at Whitehorse Gear visiting and made a few purchases.  The rest of the day we spent in the outlet stores and walking around the main street shops.  The unfortunate part is that we are on the motorcycles and are really restricted on how much we can purchase.  And we took no photos today…

The day’s temperature was in the low 80s which was extremely comfortable compared to the heat we have had in the previous couple of weeks.  We are on our way to Portland and Bangor tomorrow – to do some more shopping!!!!!

We hope to be back in the Halifax area on Friday or Saturday.  See you then….

DAVE AGAIN:  We woke up another gorgeous day and we are starting to think we are getting spoiled by the weather gods.  Before we got started we had breakfast at this little diner called the Village Diner.  It was right out of the 60’s and we had a great breakfast to start the day.

 After yesterday’s drive we wanted to make some time early so we hopped on the I-84 and then the I-87.  Before you knew it we already had 200 kms under our belts and were in Albany, which is the capital of New York state.  We turned onto Hwy 7 in Troy, NY and immediately got behind this huge wide load trailer (see pics) and thought we were in for a very slow time as there was no way to pass.  However, to our surprise, once we got out of the city and on the rural hwy he took off like a rocket.  The road was not too wide but it did not make any difference to this guy as he did the speed limit and more for the 30 or so kilometers that we were behind him.

 We then stopped for lunch at the Big Moose Deli (see pic) in Hoosick, NY which is right on the border with Vermont.  The rest of the drive was very enjoyable as the temperature was in the mid 80’s and the humidity was low.  With the late afternoon sun the wooded highways were shaded, which also helped with the sun.

 We then stopped in Concord, NH to check out a motorcycle store then it was off to North Conway where we shut things down for the night.  We did 610 kms today on a very enjoyable ride through great countryside.  It will be a rest day tomorrow and shopping in N.Conway.  Keep those comments coming.  We love to read them.  Till tomorrow…….

Our day started out just fantastic.  Ken lead us to the turnoff to get to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.  The bridge is a four lane 23 mile long bridge that also includes two one mile tunnels.  It is known as one of the seven Engineering Wonders of the Modern World.  The crossing was perfect with little wind and sunshine everywhere.  We saw several fishing boats as well as container ships all around. 

 Shortly after getting off the bridge we entered into Maryland and that’s where the day started to go downhill.  It was probably our longest  and most dreaded day but the beginning and the ends were fantastic.  Once we got into Maryland we followed Hwy 13 and ended up stopping several times at traffic lights.  The temperature rose from the low 80s into the low 90s and stayed in the 90s all day.  And the entire rest of the day we followed secondary highways to get to Hwy 209 which meant we traveled through towns and maneuvered stop light after stop light in the heat.  I think we stopped at 100 stop lights, in traffic and in the heat….  It wasn’t until 5:30 when we got to Hwy 209 that the day got better. 

 Hwy 209 is a two lane curvy road through the north part of Pennsylvania and then crosses into the state of New York. It follows alongside the Catskill Mountain range.  We rode through five different states today:  Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.  Tonight we are in Milford, PA which is right on the border of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 

 Tomorrow we are heading out for North Conway, NH and plan to stay in that area for a day to do some shopping.  And once again today we skirted around some rain clouds.  It was obvious on Hwy 209 that they had just had rain because the pavement was still wet.  We traveled 662 km today but it felt like 992………

We were up early this morning and went to Virginia Beach for brunch.  We had brunch at Pocahontas where the coffee cup never empties…  We left there and went for a walk on the boardwalk of Virginia Beach.  Dave couldn’t wait to dip his feet into the water and commented that it was really a lot warmer than the Atlantic in our area.  We all took the opportunity to dip our feet and get a bit wet.  There were a couple of people surfing and swimming.  We walked down the beach far enough to visit with King Neptune (see pic).

We then went for a drive around Virginia Beach and Ken and Judy showed us the sites.  We went to Fort Story and saw some naval ships and a US navy hovercraft coming in the harbour.  Then it was off to a rather large Motorcycle accessory store (CycleGear) to check out some stuff.  We went on to the naval base where we came across, of all things, a Tim Hortons!!!!!!!!  It was a welcome site as neither of us had seen a Timmies for a couple of weeks.  It was weird though, seeing a Timmies with a palm tree right outside it. (see pic).  We toured the base and saw huge aircraft carriers and various other ships.  I would tell you all about them but then I would have to kill you.  Security issues, sorry.

It is a beautiful area around Norfolk/Virginia Beach.  Many old colonial houses mixed with new construction.  We went to the General Douglas MacArthur Museum and did a tour.  It was extremely informative.  It was then off to supper at A.W. Shucks which is a seafood restaurant and the meals were excellent. 

Tomorrow we are off across the Cheasapeake Bay bridge and tunnel and up to New Jersey and New York heading for New Hampshire.  Keep peeled on the blog for more adventures.  Talk to you soon.   Oh, I forgot to mention that we traveled in Ken and Judy’s car all day…

DAVE AGAIN:  We woke up to Day 15 with RAIN, yes rain. So we went to breakfast and by the time we got packed, it had stopped.  We headed off on Hwy 58 east that we followed all the way to Norfolk, Virginia.

About 20 minutes into the ride we had heavy drizzle and fog and we had to don our rain jackets.  Nancy was leading and the fog was so thick at times that I could barely see her or her motorcycle.  We had to be careful as we were on an extremely curvy road with poor visibility.  We drove past a warning sign that showed a bear and I thought to myself that is all we would need is to come around a corner in the fog and see a bear in the middle of the road. The one good thing about this fog was the temperature was only 70-74F which was nice for a change. 

The rest of the drive was uneventful except for all the police cars we saw.  We had been warned about them in the area, and the warnings were valid (see pic). 

We met our friend Ken at the Cracker Barrel in Emporia Va., for lunch then proceeded to his place in Norfolk.  Ken’s wife Judy was there to meet us with a couple of Margaritas which were great.  Ken is a Captain(N) in the Canadian Navy on assignment here with NATO.  We had supper with them and their friends Ted and Tammy then looked at some of our pictures and video of the trip.  It was getting late so we retired for the evening. We are planning on touring Norfolk and Virginia Beach tomorrow. 

We did 500 kms today.  Talk to you later.  Take care.

We left Robbinsville this morning in the fog and were happy that we took the time last evening to ride the “Tail of the Dragon”.  Before leaving we chatted with several other bikers who had ridden the “Dragon” last night.  Peter, from Calgary, was traveling with a side car attached to his Goldwing with two full size poodle dogs as passengers. 

 The fog didn’t last long and the further east we headed the sun was shining and temperatures remained in the 80s for the entire day, which was a welcomed relief from the extreme heat we have been experiencing.  We traveled east from Robbinsville on Hwy 143, Hwy 28, Hwy 70 which connected with I-40.  At Asheville, we followed the Town Mtn. Road Scenic Hwy (Hwy 694).  What an incredible road and the homes built on the cliffs were massive.  We connected with the Blue Ridge Parkway at the end of Hwy 694 and followed the Parkway for approx. 220 km.  The Parkway follows the top of the Appalachian Mountains for most of the 469 miles with incredible scenery, luscious greenery, sweeping turns, meadows, views that will take your breath away but all of this can be seen at speeds between 35-45 mph.  I don’t think there is a half mile of straight road, you are always on a turn…..  There are no services on the road but there are lots of lookouts – every turn seems to have a scenic lookout.  Through much of the road the sides were lined with rhododendrons, absolutely incredible.  I can only imagine what those roads and forests look like in the spring in bloom. 

 One of the pics is a motorcycle with a side car and a trailer.  The trailer was carrying a wheelchair with a headrest.  There was a passenger in the sidecar but we’re not sure who owns the wheelchair.  They passed us at speeds faster than what we were doing and we were following the speed limit!  There were several motorcycle groups and other motorcycles that were on the Parkway today.   

 We left the Parkway just near Boone, NC and followed Hwy 221 and 58 through to Hillsville, VA.  I don’t think there is a straight road in NC, after having traveled these roads over the last two days we didn’t find any!.  We thought that Hwy 221 would allow us to do faster speeds than 45 mph on the Parkway but 221 was so curvy and twisty you had no choice but to keep at the slow speeds. 

 All the roads that we have traveled whether main or secondary have been good roads.  Much of the Blue Ridge Parkway has been repaved in the last year and although we were warned about gravel on the road, the pavement was clean. Also as can be seen in the pics there were lots of tunnels (at least 6 or 7) that were fun to go through. As again today we managed to skirt around the rain clouds.  Just before arriving at Hillsville we got a downpour for about one minute then the sun shone again.  We traveled 475 km today from Robbinsville, NC to Hillsville, VA.

 Tomorrow we head out for Norfolk, VA.  We’ll be meeting friends in Emporia and then follow them into Norfolk.  We’ll spend the next couple of days visiting and touring the Norfolk area. 

 NOTE FOR PAUL:  Dave’s GPS stop working today due to a faulty connection.  He had to follow me for the last 100kms of the day.

DAVE AGAIN:  Well enough of the Hoot n Nanny Country Stuff.  It is Day 13 and time to leave Nashville.  Although I am not into country music, I must say I enjoyed my time in Music City, as it is called.  After breakfast we loaded the bikes and were off. It was hot and muggy again and we decided to try and see if we could get into the Opryland Resort, but much to our disappointment the Resort was closed and will not reopen until November 2010, due to the May flood.

 So off we went into the East, down the I-40.  We were supposed to be on it for about 150 kms, but after 50 or so I got bored and stopped and conferred with Nancy to take an alternate route down some more secondary routes.  She agreed, apprehensively, so off we went and within 10 minutes we were on a really really secondary road which I knew was wrong.  (Paul is probably laughing right now as he knows of my GPS expertise from our trip 2 years ago.)  So I used a line from a good friend of mine (Marc Rothwell) and said to Nancy, “Don’t worry, I’m a navigator by trade.”  Funny thing though, she didn’t have a comforting look on her face.  Soon we were back on track and going down Hwy 268 through some beautiful countryside, which lead to Hwy 96 then on to Hwy 70.  This took us through Smithville (see pic) which I grew quite attached to. 

Once we got to Crossville, it was on to Hwy 68 and the road was very twisty through rolling hills and in a lot of cases the road was cut right through a rock hill as if it was a quarry.  The scenery was beautiful as we crossed hills and valleys while we steadily climbed into the mountains crossing many rivers with dams, locks and even nuclear powerplants (see pics).  Once we got to Tellico Plains, we entered North Carolina and the Eastern time zone.  This was also the start of the Cherohala Skyway.  It is a 55 mile stretch of highway through the Joyce Kilmer/Slickrock Wilderness Area of the Great Smoky Mountains.  Once again the views and scenery were gorgeous and the road turned in long sweeping curves as it wound its way up and down the mountains.  We must thank Ed Snow for suggesting this route.  It was well worth the drive.  Thanks Ed! 

 At the end of the Cherohala was the town of Robbinsville where we are staying for the night.  Once we unloaded the bikes, and with the weather holding out, we decided to tackle Deal’s Gap.  Now Deal’s Gap is an 11 mile stretch of road which has 318 turns.  We started out around 5 with very little traffic and great weather.  I lead as we started to the north and was going relatively fast (but safe).  To my surprise as I came around a tight right hand corner a state trooper had 3 young crotch rocketers pulled over giving them tickets.  This section of road is called the Tail of the Dragon and is all curves with no straight sections longer than 100 feet.  Once we finished we turned around and did it again for the return trip.  This time Nancy took the lead with me following, videoing her going around the hairpin turns.  When we got back to the start we stopped at a souvenir store to buy a t-shirt to celebrate our feat. It was a great day and it cooled off towards the end.  We completed about 550 kms today.  A great day of motorcycling.  This really has been a super trip so far.  Many people only dream of doing one of these trips like Pike’s Peak or Going to the Sun Hwy or Independence Pass but we have done them all and more in one long trip.  And best of all we get to share it all with you.   We really hope you have enjoyed the narration and the pics on the blog. 

 It is off in the direction of Norfolk, Virginia tomorrow so standby for more adventures and pics.  See you then.

From Nancy to the CDN gals: the Tail of the Dragon was really great but I have to say that Hwy #1 in California from Leggett would be my first choice.  It was difficult to get a lot of photos today thru the Dragon due to the number of turns and having to keep both hands on the handlebars – and there was no way I was letting go.   Dave did get some good video, similar to your’s from CA Dar…..