Day 89- A cottage, two flat tires and no swim

Day 89 Thursday, August 5, 2010 Distance 99.25 km. Time 5 hr. 13 min. Total so far 6270.45 km. Dave woke me up this morning at 6 am. out of a nice dream. It was still warm and humid and hadn’t rained during the night. We headed from Meductic out to Hwy. 102 again. We must have passed 3 motels shortly after so if it had rained yesterday, we would have found accommodation in short order. On the river side of Hwy. 102, the houses are very big, rich looking ones and land with river frontage is for sale even though it slopes down drastically. On the other side of the road, there are a few houses and farms and quite a few are for sale. In about an hour, we arrived in Woodstock. The first part is Indian reservation and the road really deteriorated through that section. The only grocery store was way up a giant hill so we decided to wait until the next town. We got water at Tim Horton's and chatted with a few locals. We crossed the St. John River again to go over to Hwy. 105 and followed it along the river. The houses and farms this far down were poorer looking. These roads are way nicer to bicycle than Hwy. 2 because there is hardly any traffic. We arrived in Hartland, where the world’s longest covered bridge is located. There was an information center and the parking lot had 3 tour buses there. Dave went in and bought a NB. flag and I took photos of the bridge. There, at a picnic table, we met Ania and Kasia from Windsor, ON. They have bicycled from Victoria, BC and will go to Halifax. With them since Saskatchewan was James from Toronto. He started in Vancouver and will go to St. John’s NFL. They have had as many as 6 in their group because many cyclists join other ones for company. They have had good weather except in BC. They stopped in Sault Ste. Marie at Velorution and talked with Andre and camped by the store. I hope Velorution staff are still following our blog. We went to the grocery store and had a banana and chocolate milk and pressed on. It was very muggy and hot. In the morning, I captured a couple mailboxes and some shots of the river on the camera. After 3 hr. of riding, we passed the National headquarters of the McCain Company and then we reached Florenceville Bristol (many of these towns are amalgamated so they have joined names) Florenceville was named after Florence Nightingale. Between the smell of French fries past McCain’s and the 2 ladies at the next picnic table eating subs, I thought it was going to be hard to eat my peanut butter and cheese sandwich but to my surprise, Dave came out of the grocery store with a yogurt drink, orange juice, a salad, and cajun chicken and buns and butter tarts. It was a little feast. Yummy! It was getting hotter and humid. The road deteriorated and got very bumpy with patches of pavement here and there all over. I wanted a break so we stopped briefly to take a photo of a power dam but it was too hot to stop. At least when we are riding on the level or downhill, we make a little breeze. The sky was looking like a thunder storm could come at any time ( strange how frequently that happens). We saw a sign that said “campground 1km." Hooray, we’ll make it and setup before the rain. But when we got there, it was closed up so good that we couldn’t even get past the chains if we wanted to. The canopies and picnic tables would have been perfect. How discouraging. We found out later that it has been taken over by motorcyclists and it’s only open for them once in a while. At the next store, the man said we had 10 km. more for the next campsites so we chugged on. We came to the Robert E. Baird Memorial Park and the Buyan Restaurant and Lounge all in the same place. It was just outside the town limits of Perth- Andover. The owner was really nice. We came in all hot and sweaty. It was over 90 degrees in the shade and the sky looked like rain. I asked if he had some kind of canopy for us to go under to keep everything dry and he led us to a little building, all screened in, with a table and chairs, a couch and a rocking chair and a fold away bed and on the ceiling there was a fan. It’s where he rests during the day. He looked and talked just like Vinney, the wine tester, that we know back home. I took his picture with him sitting on his throne as he called it. Children were swimming in the pool and it sure looked inviting. First, since the rain didn’t happen, we set up and dried the tent and bicycle covers. We brought the bicycles into the little cottage and just as I was getting ready to head to the pool, I noticed that Silver’s front tire was flat. Now how many of you get flats when your bike is done for the day? It rook me a good while to change it and I only used the pool to check where the hole in the tube was. I cleaned the inside of the tire really good from both directions and put the bicycle back together. By that time, it was time to make supper. Great! After supper, I was about to lay my foam on the floor to make my bed when- you guessed it- I looked at Silver and the tire was flat again. Over she went again. I even had Dave check the tube in the pool and we could find no leak but I put on another one anyway. Now all 6 tubes that I own all have one patch from tiny little pin holes.Well, we finally got to bed on the floor but I didn’t sleep well because the light outside the bathroom was shining in my face all night and every time I had to go to the bathroom, I had to feel that front tire.

Day 88- Do two pings make a pong?

Day 88 Wednesday, August 4, 2010 Distance 89.37 km. Time 4 hr. 49 min. Total so far 6171.20 km. We left the Knight’s Motel only because it wasn’t raining and the forecast said it would rain all day. By 9 am. nothing had happened so away we went. This time we followed the bicycle paths through Fredericton. The first part was cinder. Then we had a brand new paved portion and going out of town it became narrower and cinder again. It’s so nice not to have to worry about traffic behind you. We worked our way to Hwy. 102 which follows along the St John River. Our first break along a guardrail had a beautiful display of Mother Nature’s wild carrots as I call them. They smelled so nice. Just before the second hour break, ping, and Blackie had broken a spoke in the back again. We were near a campground and it was threatening rain but decided to change it by a picnic table by the road that said “World’s Longest Picnic Table.” We crossed a bridge ( there are a lot of them in this part of NB ). We had to ride on busy Hwy. 2 for a short distance before going back to Hwy. 102. There , walking their bicycles up a long steep hill, we met Clayton, 48, the dad, with daughters Danishae, 13 and Grace, 10 soon to be 11. Hooray for those girls. They have come all the way from Cornwall, ON and are going to PEI. They have been on the road for a month now. They took bicycle paths most of the way from Cornwall to the far side of Quebec. Last night, they stayed at Nackawic ( big axe) which we passed by shortly after. Three cheers for them!!! We had to go back to Hwy. 2 one more time and what a bummer but I shifted my weight way over to one side of my bike to alleviate my sore bottom and I heard a ping. I always listen to my bicycle and sure enough there was a broken spoke on the back. Over she went and off came the wheel and then the tire and tube. We do not have a tool to loosen the back cogs and I also have a plastic ring to keep the chain from falling in the spokes so we had to bend the spoke completely out of shape to get it in. After the wheel was back on the bike , Dave had quite a time, tightening and loosening spokes to stop the rim from rubbing on the brake pads. Now I need a bicycle shop to change that spoke again and true the wheel. All of this was done under a very dark sky. After we started riding we finally got showered on by a sun shower. We could only keep the gear on for 10 min. and it had to come off again for the heat. We turned back on Hwy. 102 and rode to Meductic where we stopped at the store for some goodies and found out there was a town park. It was right down by the river and although it said no camping, we thought they wouldn’t mind our little setup . No one came to chase us away. The park had 3 nice canopies with tables and we set up at the very farthest away from the parking lot. I washed a little from a dock by the river, had supper and slept pretty well as it was quiet and also quite warm.

Day 87- The St. John River and Fredericton

Day 87 Tuesday, August 3, 2010 Distance 78.97 km. Time 4 hr. 15 min. Total so far 6081.83 km. It was very quiet in Lakeside campground this morning. Much to my chagrin, I discovered that Silver had a flat tire on the front. She must have been all deflated after our bad day yesterday. Ha Ha. I repaired it all by myself and put it back on. Last night, a young bicycler came in late and Dave talked to him briefly. He flew to Vancouver and has gone across Canada and is heading to St. John’s, NFL. He lives in Nova Scotia. He was still asleep in his little one man tent so I didn’t get to meet him. We took Hwy 112 for a while and then Hwy 2 and crossed the Jemseg River and went to Hwy. 102 which runs along the very wide, beautiful St. John River. It rained for about half an hour so we donned our gear and got wet but rode in the drizzly rain. We rode through Gagetown, where we would have visited Adam who is in the military but Dave didn't do the contact work through Emily and it was early in the day. We had seen many military vehicles going away from there on the main road. About 10 km. outside Fredericton, we stopped at the 3 hr. mark by a closed building to have our lunch. Soon after that, my lunch got all shaken up inside me, as we had to go about 2 km. over pavement that had been stripped and was all notchy. I had to slow right down. I thought the bicycle would almost fall apart. It really hurt my neck and arms. On the outskirts of Fredericton we found a cheap motel. How come a lot of them are run by folks from India. Cheap for us is in the 50-60 dollar range before taxes. We asked how far it was to the nearest grocery store by bike and they said 10 min. We unpacked but took our rain gear as it was still overcast and headed toward the Princess Margaret Bridge which is closed for construction right now. Well, it took 25 min. to get to Sobey’s and we’re pretty good bicycle riders. Dave did the shopping and I watched the bicycles and when he was done, he tried to find a less busy route back to the motel. No rest for me as I was way behind with blogs. I did manage to do a few before bedtime. The weather report says rain, rain and more rain.

To George, and Clara and Craig and Everyone

George, I do have a Jumpstop on Silver and I have asked the mechanics to look at it. In Pictou, the fellow said the knobby on it must be broken but he didn't say he had any to replace it. I think it has turned out of its original place. I don't know how much work or money it would take to put on a new one. I don't think they had any.



Clara and Craig, We are so sorry to have missed you in PEI. I think that maybe you were gone for the long weekend. I tried to look up a phone number in Victoria for your mother, but could find none using your last name. Please email us.


To everyone who has sent emails and photos, Thank you so much. I don't have time to answer but appreciate all the news and photos although I really don't like Hotmails new picture system.
Thank you for all your prayers and encouragements.

Day 86- Not going fast enough -hurt feelings

Day 86 Monday, August 2, 2010 Distance 102.09 km. Time 5 hr. 12 min. Total so far 6002.86 km. We left the Stonehurst campground at 8 am. Although it was cool again this morning, the Gear 1 hill to get to the front gate warmed us up quickly. In the morning we took Hwy. 112. It was still very bumpy and the wind was on our back BUT I wasn’t going fast enough for Dave’s liking and he made a comment that hurt my feelings ( I am a very emotional female and it doesn’t take much to turn me on or off about something). I was doing the best I could. For the rest of he day he was ahead and I pouted, still going as fast as I could which was 20 km. per hour. I then decided not to take any pictures for today so as not to go slower. I just can’t go as fast as Dave any more. We passed farmland and bush land and were riding fairly flat up on a ridge. After 3 hours, I couldn’t see Dave and I needed a break and lunch so I stopped at Canaan Pentecostal Church in some shade and had an apple, a date square and a granola bar. Later, I passed Dave waiting at the bottom of a hill. I hardly saw him as I whizzed past. We finally came to Hwy. 10 and in the heat of the day, stopped at a visitor center to get water. Shortly after, we turned to Hwy. 105 and kept going past some spots (where I would have taken photos) until we reached Lakeside campground which was pretty empty today after the holiday. I was EXHAUSTED and just don’t want to push day after day doing over 100 km. That is not fun anymore. We set up the tent in the DIRT and slept the rest of the afternoon. I woke at 6 pm., had a shower, made supper, typed a blog on Microsoft Word and went to bed.

Day 85- Is it August already?

Day 85 Sunday, August 1, 2010 Distance 90.31 km. Time 4 hr. 32 min. Total so far 5900.77 km. Our spot by the Irving on the Northumberland Strait was so quiet that we slept in until 6:30 am. It cooled off during the night and I started off in a sweater and leg warmers. After one hour the sun was warm enough to take them all off. Hwy. 955 was very bumpy but not busy at all. We passed by a lot of marshy areas. These are called the Shemogue Marsh. We came to Hwy. 15 and stopped for a break at a small gas station in Shemogue. Here we chatted with Roger, a horse rancher, very talkative and spirited Reg, who is a fisherman of all the different kinds of fish, and Brian, who is a carpenter. Reg called us cannibals because we eat meat. I practised my French a little with Roger who didn’t know much English. The wind was on our backs and the road was flat so we made good distance. The traffic into Moncton on Hwy 2 was heavy and the highway became divided with a rumble strip but a very wide and adequate shoulder for us. We had a break along the guardrail and later went off that Hwy to Hwy 112 and had our lunch break at a gas station-restaurant. We tried the internet while we were there but couldn’t get it. We had to climb a big hill for quite a ways and didn’t think we would ever come to the campground we were told about. Finally after thinking we would stealth camp instead, we reached Stonehurst Campground and had to go down a steep hill. I was glad to be in this campground because we had to do laundry. I wear my shorts for three days and then change to my other pair so after 6 days, especially if it has been very hot, it is time to do a load. They had nice grass for us and the campground was very full because it is a long weekend. I showered, did laundry, did a blog and by that time it was dark and time to sleep. Some of the little children were crying because they get overtired and don’t settle down good.