OUR ADVENTURE TO NOVA SCOTIA
Reprinted from PA Chapter “A” Newsletter
Written by Deniese Myers
We left on our adventure on May 26th, Carl and Meredith on their trike with trailer in tow and John and myself on our 1800cc Goldwings. The Nor’easter had just hit Massachusetts two days ago, but that did not stop us from heading northeast. The sky was sunny but it didn’t take long till the clouds rolled in and then the light rain, but we made it to Brattleboro Vermont without incident. The next day we continued to Bar Harbor Maine, stopping on top of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. It was foggy and cold on top of the mountain but the view was great as you descended the mountain looking out onto Bar Harbor.
The next day we headed out early to get the Cat Ferry over to Yarmouth N.S. While waiting to board the ferry we met a nice man named Dale, who was riding his ST1100 Honda all the way from Eugene Oregon. After being loaded on the ferry we had breakfast with Dale and discussed the itinerary of our trip. It took three hours to cross the ocean, with the speed clocked at 44mph, as per Carl’s GPS. This ferry really rolls and I was having motion sickness along with a lot of other passengers. As we got into port all was well, we separated from Dale and then we went on our way to Peggy’s Cove. The lighthouse and cove area is beautiful but we could not stay long because darkness was upon us and a warm bed awaited in Dartmouth for the night. Sunday we continued northeast still with cloudy weather and temps in the 50’s. We crossed the Canso Causeway and settled down for the night in Port Hastings. That night after coming back from dinner we noticed a familiar motorcycle at the Hotel. It was Dale! We eagerly knocked on his door and had a long talk about our next destinations, so the next morning we all met at breakfast and headed up the Cabot Trail to Cape Breton. Finally after four days of clouds, drizzle, and temps 40-50’s we had sunshine.
We made many stops along Cabot Trail to take pictures and even saw some pilot whales. We stopped at Flora’s gift shop in Cheticamp; it’s a shopper’s paradise. Our riding that day stopped at Pleasant Bay where we saw some more whales and also a beautiful sunset. The next day took us to the Cape St. Lawrence where we got to see all of the lobster boats come in and unload their catch. Each boat had between 200-500 lbs. of lobsters on board. The locals were very friendly and the manager of the Co-op showed us all around the building including the 235 lb. halibut that was caught the day before. We then headed south to Baddeck. Our dinner stop was at the Lobster Galley where we had our full lobster dinner, bibs and all. Dale and I “ate the whole thing”.
Then it was on the road again to Truro, where we watched the famous tidal bore roll in at 9pm. We saw it again the next morning at 9am. This is when we parted with Dale. He headed back to Yarmouth and we headed into New Brunswick. We visited the Hopewell Rocks; this is where the Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world of up to 35 feet at high tide. Carl did have some alternator trouble along the way but he planned ahead and had a spare along so it only delayed us 45 minutes. He changed the alternator in record pace due to the nasty bugs that were nibbling at him.
The last day of our trip, while heading home, was long and hot and somewhere in New Jersey we got separated from Carl & Meredith, but Miss Q led them home and John’s Pandora led John & myself home without delay. In all we traveled 2,800 miles and it left us with many beautiful memories and a new friend from Oregon.