So, where’d I leave off…?  It’s been a while…  Right, Chicago.  Cool town, really cool town.  One of the few cities so far where I’d say I’d actually live in (as soon as they’re done with all the highway construction, total traffic nightmare!).  Fun city, good atmosphere, variety of neighborhoods, fresh water beaches, and great talent everywhere… What else can you ask for?  Good riding roads?  Yeah, I guess you could ask for that.  No place is perfect.

Just to prove I was there…

And the obligatory Downtown picture..

Here’s one of a rider caught in Chicago traffic…

Spent a week with my Dad between Chicago, Detroit and Holland, MI, on business trip.  Slept in respectable hotels, and ate at decent restaurants.  What a change!  Thanks Dad!

Meanwhile the cow got it’s 6000 mile physical at Chicago BMW.  She passed with flying colors.  New oil filters and else, all ready for another 6000 more miles.  It was weird being in a car all week…

So, after Dad left and I got the cow back, headed on practically an all nighter to just short of Toronto.  I was moody and just got in a groove and kept on riding.  Pretty cold, but the iPod was playing the right songs, and the rusty gears in my head kept grinding.  The road brings deep thoughts… most of them pointless and forgotten the following day, but deep nonetheless.  Several dead deer on the side of the road and several cups of coffee kept me alert!

In Cambridge, I got to my cousin Nick’s place.  Hadn’t seen him in a couple of years.  He has a baby daughter and with his wife Johanna, the three of them are doing great.  They let me have Mia’s room, so I got to sleep with teddy bears and pink ponies.  No, sorry, no pictures.  Also got to see Nick’s sister Paula, my other cousin, who I hadn’t seen in about 20 years, give or take.  Will get pictures with them on my way back through.  Never have the camera with me when I should.  Dohh!

Also, saw Dominique, my first girlfriend… when we were 5 years old!!  She moved away back then and hadn’t seen her since.  What a trip!  She had never been on a motorcycle, so we went on a nice ride.  At least I think she enjoyed it.  Did you?!  Looks like it…

Of course I am sticking to my strict schedule and projected course…not.  Decided that since I was so close (about 1000kms/600 miles) to Newfoundland, I’d go take a look.  Headed north out of Cambridge to Ottawa…

And Trois Riviers…

Camped just north of there.

Next day it was Quebec (city).  Wow!  What a cool place.  A little piece of Europe.  Just amazing.

You know it’s a great city when even the stoplights are cool!

View of Quebec on the ferry to Levis, east of Quebec.

Then east across New Brunswick, looked like things were starting to get interesting…

Saw a trail off to the right and followed it for a while…

Until…

How do you say “Bad Idea” in le French?

No I didn’t cross, but it would come back to haunt me....

Temporary shelter from the rain in New Brunswick.

And then Nova Scotia.

Great roads and great riding here.

Followed some trails…

What’s wrong with this picture? According to GPS I am sailing...

Another trail leading to a “beach”… 

Lighthouse at CapeD’or.  No idea why they would need a lighthouse here!

And then things went downhill.  Remember how I said not crossing the bridge would come back to haunt me?  Well after sitting at the bridge for 15 min. trying to figure out how to cross it without breaking our necks (cow’s too), I decided that it was a bad idea.  Then I rode for many miles thinking how I was getting old, as 10 years ago I wouldn’t have given it another thought and just done it.  So this led to following all sorts of trails and else all day long, which led me down to this beach…

Where I promptly got stuck…

And where the tide started coming up rather quickly…

Did I just say beach, or did I say deserted beach in the middle of nowhere?  Well, it was the latter…

The cow was stuck bad.  I removed all the cases, tires and duffel, carried it all up the beach, and begun trying to find a way to get out of there.  Digging didn’t work (when you’re in a whole, stop digging).  Sticks, rocks, brush under tires?  Nothing, no go.  Interesting fact about Nova Scotia:  the tides are massive, quick and drastic.  Yes, the water kept coming up.  You know those stories you hear about parents finding super human strength to lift a car off their trapped kid or something like that?  Well, I think my motivation came from not wanting to be a permanent “stupid tourist story” in Nova Scotia (“Hey Larry, remember that guy in 06 that got his bike stuck down there and the tide came up?  Yeah, you can still see the windshield coming out of the sand.  I tell you they just get dumber every year these tourists!!”).  So I resorted to lifting the rear out of the whole, pushing it for 10 feet until stuck again, lifting out of whole, pushing, stuck, lifting, pushing, stuck…you get the idea, for about 300 feet.

This is where I was stuck 1 hour earlier!!!

By the time I was almost completely out, I ran into these two guys drinking a few beers not far, they had seen me earlier and thought I was camping!!  At least they helped me carry the gear onto solid ground and helped with the last push. 

I was exhausted and ready to get out of there.  Rode out on the hard packed dirt road with a thin layer of gravel.  Wanna know how a 600 lb. bike on street tires handles on that surface?  Find a cow (preferably with mad cow disease) put some roller skates on it, and take it out to your favorite parking lot.  Jump on it and try to get it to go where you want.  All that just to say that I crashed, not fast, but hard.  Bike was mostly ok, but my knee, ankle and wrist are killing me.  Nothing broken, but sure as hell sore and swollen.  The riding pants with knee guards, the reinforced boots, and the jacket with elbow and shoulder guards just paid for themselves.  Three times at least. Same two guys from earlier helped me and the cow back on our feet.  Rode to a B&B about 45 miles down the road, took some advil, and got about to 3 hrs. of sleep.

Rode east across Nova Scotia today, where I caught the ferry from North Sydney to Port aux Basques, Newfoundland. 








Left at 9pm about an hour ago, should be there by 2 or 3 am.  Right now I’m tired, sore, bruised, beaten and battered.  Probably nothing a hot shower, beer and good sleep and rest won’t fix, but it’s not easy to lick your wounds on the road. 

And the next day...

Went to the hospital this morning.  Well, turns out I was wrong, it's gonna take more than the medicine above.  I am now in a cast, stuck in a motel in Port aux Baques, unable to walk or ride...  Guess the ankle was worst than I thought.

And a couple of days later...

The "accomodations"


The view.


And the view today (Sunday June 25, 2006).  At least something's improving!