Tuesday we left the outskirts of Quebec city, and traveled all day till we arrived at the border of Quebec and Ontario. There we visited Lloyd Cross Equipment in the town of L’Orignal. We arrived just as it was starting to sprinkle, and after several detours (aka we got slightly lost). Dustin, Denver, and Devin had fun on the John Deere Gater and Honda four-wheeler while Dallas met with Lloyd.

Later that evening we had supper with Lloyd (huge helping of Lasagna and spaghetti), and then went out for ice-cream. L’Orignal is a farming community, and Lloyd took us to see a robotic milking parlor, in which the cows basically milked themselves when they wanted to, and all the humans had to do was make sure they where fed (well maybe calibrate something every once in a while).

Wednesday morning we woke early leaving around 7:15am. We had resolved not to go to Toronto and Niagara Falls, and decided to attempt to make it home that night. 12 hours and 625 miles later we where home, two days earlier then originally planned.

We where eager to get back and see friends back home. Denver also needs to finish up some work before he leaves again this Sunday on his bicycle trip across the United States, bikemovement.org.

It is good to be home!

We couldn’t beat the day for riding – Probably 65-70 degrees most of the day – not much wind, overcast some of the time and the roads were basically very good. We left 9am from Harve St. Pierre and arrived in Quebec City around 9 pm (565 miles). We added up the mileage that we have been along the St Lawrence Gulf Seaway either on Ferry’s or cycles.

In Newfoundland – over 575 miles

Labrador and Quebec – 1350 mile from Red Bay, Lab to Quebec City.

We had terrific views all day and it surprised us (100 miles east of Quebec City) of the beautiful farm land and gorgeous farmsteads. This is the area that we have sold some of our Steiner Ag processors into, so as we would go by these dairy farms with lots of marshmallow round bales, I would strain to look to see if I can see a bright red Bale Beaver in their barns. At this point nothing as turned up!

The many miles along the St Lawrence that we rode were all costal miles with beautiful bays, beaches and we could see the lower side of Quebec across the waters. We were surprised when we came to a big river where we had to use the Ferry to go across. (and with only one road to follow it didn’t give us much of a choice -probably about 1 mile across). We were tired of Ferry’s (#5) but this was a nice short one. Had around 50 cars and some big trucks on. Saw a dolphin in the bay.

We have picked up the pace on the cycles with a long day of biking. Our French hasn’t been good but we are able to figure out a few things and at least aren’t starving. Devin and I went to a McDonalds last night and he was happy to see something that he could point to and understand what he was getting. His pancakes in the morning (crapes) were not the type that he was expecting! And Denver and Dustin got their food mixed up – once Denver was ½ done eating “his egg Omelet” he realized he was eating Dustin’s Bagel (muffin) with scrambled egg!

Dallas

We woke up bright and early Saturday and headed for the boat docks. Having been warned not to be late, we arrived half an hour before the ship arrived. When the boat did arrive, we weren’t able to load our motorcycles for another two hours. So we boarded the boat, ate some breakfast aboard, and decided to catch some world cup soccer game while we waited, instead of standing outside in the cold, windy weather.

Watching the game onboard, we had a couple minutes of panic when we looked out the window and realized that the boat was moving, and our bikes not been put in containers and put onboard! Dad did remember then that they had to undock while a ferry boat came, so we returned to the dock about an hour later, and where able to load our bikes.

About 1pm we finally left. We where slated to leave at 12 midnight the night before, so we where 13 hours late (better than 16 hours they had predicted after the boat crane). With the wind, the boat ride was quite rocky. A few of us where feeling the effects of sea sickness.

Saturday was Canada Day (July 1), however we didn’t really see celebrations of any sort. On reason may have been that we where on a boat, but another reason may have been that we are in Quebec. From the impressions I’ve gotten, some of Quebec would prefer to be independent from Canada. Quebec by the way is almost all French from what we’ve seen.

Overall our 30 hour boat trip wasn’t terribly eventful. They had two TV’s so there was World Cup and movies. Dallas and Denver got some work done on the laptop (unfortunately there was no internet), Devin and Dustin where glad for the gameboy. We had our own cabin for the night, which was nice for sleeping in, and napping. We also stopped at several ports, but our hopes for finding internet at these ports where foiled when we realized they where all very remote ports beside tiny towns.

The boat made good time, and ended up arriving at 7pm instead of 9pm as predicted. When we arrived we where greeted with an amazing sunset. What made it so amazing was that it was raining slightly, and the sun was just dipping below the cloud level in the west, and there was a brilliant double rainbow in the east. We drove for 2 hours, stopping a couple times for pictures, but finally found ourselves a hotel.

Denver

Last night before we went to bed, Denver opened the window a little (it had screen on it) and upon waking up we had over 100 black gnats on the inside of the screen. Thank goodness they all stayed on the screen. The lady had a little vacuum and Devin sucked them all up. As we loaded our moto’s we were attached by these black gnats. (like mosquitoes attack) They were horrible! And had to deal with them every time we stopped. They say they stay away when it’s windy. As much trouble as we’ve been having with the wind, we where beginning to think the wind was preferred over these little biting devils.

We spend a couple of hours at the museum. The harbor is best know where the Basque galleon, believed to be called the San Juan, was discovered and is the most preserved shipwreck of the North Caribbean. It was interesting to see how the speared the whales and then made their blubber into oil. The could get 40 to 50 barrels out of one whale.

Red bay, Labrador is as far East as we are going and as we turned our bike Westward to start our journey home ( we needed to back track to the ferry about 60 miles) the fog descended on us and the bay. We only had about 60 miles to go so it was a slow travel and the road wasn’t that great either. We crossed a couple of bridges that had wooden floors. One needed some repair because you could actually drop your tire down into the groves to the next layer of wood below. We eventually hit rain and needed to stop and get our rain suits on.

We had pizza for lunch and then stopped by the same place we had yesterday at the little church welcome center and to use the internet.

We have had to change our plans because the ferry that we were to get at 12 midnight appears to be leaving around 12 noon on Saturday. So we got a hotel in Quebec at Motel 138. It is about 5 minute from the ferry. We have a number to call and it appears that we will need to go around 7 am in the morning. They will call us to let us know for sure.

We are in fog heaven tonight – and it is rainy pretty hard. We watched a couple of soccer game of the world cup between Italy and Ukraine and Argentina and Germany. We have a lot of time to kill, and with us crossing into Quebec we change our clocks 1-1/2 hours, so we gain even more time.

We woke up with the excitement of a sunny day.  We got in line at the ferry at 9:30am to head to Quebec.  We were the last to board and until we had the cycles tied down the ship was starting to move. It was amazing on how many semi’s, campers and cars could go into the ferry.  The ferry had nice places to rest and eat. It was 1-1/2 hours long.  It was a rougher ride then we had and I was glad it wasn’t very long.  Devin enjoyed seeing people walk!  He about fell over a couple times. 

After leaving the ferry, we stopped for gas the lady mentioned she had heard on the radio that the ferry we were taking was going to be 16 hours late.  So, we turned around (1-2 miles) and went back to the ferry terminal.  They said the Ferry had some crane problems but it was fixed and was sailing again. Anyhow our plans will change if we have to wait an extra 16 hrs.

Leaving Blanc-Sablon we stopped at the first welcome center – it was a cute like church that was converted to a welcome center.  The young guy was a joy to talk to.  They had wireless internet and computers so we ended up staying for over 1 hour.

The road to Red Bay had the most gorgeous scenery of our trip (that is only my opinion – Dallas) The water was so clear and views were spectacular and the sun was shinning.  It was only about 55 mile trip so we cruise around 40-50mph on the curvy roads.  The roads are pretty rough, but you do know that you are on the right one because it is the only road.

Red Bay, Labrador  is our farthest most Eastern point that we will go.  It is where the road turns to gravel. (It almost feels like we have reached the North Pole! – we have accomplished the final point) I drove a couple of miles on the gravel road tonight and it sure isn’t any road you want to take a motorcycle on.  Red Bay is noted for the Whalers.  Whalers from the Basque region of Spain and France hunted and processed oil around the 1540’s.

Our Bed and Breakfast is on the shores of the bay with a lovely view outside the window.

Dallas

Today we had the worse motorcycle weather to date on this trip. We had rain, fog, cold, and wind. Did I mention wind? If we would have had a VENTRAC slope indicator, I think it would have registered 5-7 degrees while we where trying to offset the wind going down a straight road! The guys say that hail would have been the only thing that would have been worse. The crazy part was that you weren’t always sure which way the wind was going to take you. Fortunately, we only had to ride about 95 miles in total so it was doable but hopefully we won’t repeat a day like that again. (Need to ask Devin how it felt to fall asleep when we were in this type of weather conditions???)

Despite the weather, there where several highlights of the day, starting with the spotting of two moose. But we where in a hurry to get to the boat docks on time, so no photos this time. We enjoyed our 3 hour boat trip down Ice Berg Alley, even though it rain almost all the time and the fog made things hard to see. We saw a few humpback whales and one of them was within 150 feet of our boat! They would come up 3-6 times and spout off and then the last time they would arch and their tail would come out of the water as they dove down again to feed. They were stunning – we snapped several photos (a few turned out).

Leaving the whales behind, we continued on to the iceberg. It was huge, estimated to be 100 x 300 feet sticking out of the water. Even the with the fog, it was a majestic. They said the one that the Titanic had hit was smaller then this one. They estimated that it would take 2 months for this iceberg to melt as it floats south. We observed a variety of bird life, include a flock that resting on the iceberg.

After waiting for a break in the rain, we where back on the road. We arrived at Dockside motel cold, wet, and frozen. The motel is connected to Ferry Terminal at St Barbes. We are pretty good at drying up our shoes and clothes with the room heater. (It feels like a sauna at times!) In the morning we will be taking the Ferry to Labrador.

Dallas (edited by Denver)

This morning we slept in a little longer than most of the other mornings. Dustin and Devin had gotten some eggs and bread last evening, so Dad fried them for our breakfast. It was a perfectly clear morning, but we are finding that sometimes the weather changes by the hour. The sky threatened to rain, but then cleared up again as we neared Salmon River. Salmon River was a place where the salmon went upstream through underwater caves, and you could see where they came out on the other side. We hiked 4 miles of boarded walkway, and watched the salmon and a few fly fishers. Back on our bikes, we drove about 80mi and stopped to eat lunch at “The Catch of the Day”.

A good portion of the afternoon, we visited L’anse Aux Meadows where they say the Viking arrived a 1000 years ago. The Norse were the first Europeans to arrive in North America. During the 11^th century they established a settlement at the Northern Peninsula, which served as a base for their exploration of the Gulf area. Today it is a National Park of Canada and it has some of the original layouts of the buildings. They also made a number of buildings of how they would have thought it would have looked. The walls were 6’ thick from the peat mause of the meadow land. It was beautiful along the water edge with an ice berg out in the distance.

After visiting the Viking settlement, we stopped at a public library where we could use the internet. Around 5, we headed to our accommodations for the night at Tickler Inn. Upon arriving, we could already see the fantastic view that they had of the ocean. Situated right at the edge of the water, this house is the oldest house standing house in the area. It was built around 1890 by our host’s great grandfather.

This is the first place that has served us supper, but it wasn’t served until 7:30, so we had time to explore. The pictures that we took don’t do justice to what we saw. We could walk down on the coast, but the best part was walking up the cliff/mountain next to it. Being on the ground you couldn’t tell at all what was above the cliff, but once we got to the top, it just seemed to keep going.

Our hosts (David and Barb) gave us an amazing meal beginning with homemade bread and some very good carrot soup. After the soup, we had a meal of trout, beats, broccoli, and 7 grain rice. I think most of us thought that we were done, but David brought in some rhubarb meringue pie with coffee and tea.

Dustin (edited by Denver)

It was a foggy morning, when we hit the road again. We made our way back through the Gros Morne National Park and returned to Woody Point for breakfast. And then it happened. Eight miles after refueling and getting back on the Viking Trail, a moose darted down the embankment in front of Dallas and Devin on the lead motorcycle.

We quickly pulled off to the side of the road, changed to our zoom lense, and ran over to embankment. She was still there, tamely munching on grass about 40 yards away. Yesterday I told a souvenir shop lady, that we wanted a refund if we went through Canada without seeing a moose. I guess they can keep their money now. #2 moose was down the road about another 40 miles. He wasn’t as friendly as the other….we were only able to get a couple of photos of her before she took off into the trees.

We didn’t have very far to go today, so we took our time along the way. Our first major stop was at Lobster Cove. There we took pictures by the lighthouse, and visited the rocky beach. There where several protruding stones, going out quite a ways. I enjoyed jumping from rock to rock to see how far out I could go.

After regrouping, we continued along, and stopped at an old shipwreck from the 1920’s. The hull of the boat has since deteriorated, but leftover metal structures where still protruding from the water.

Further down the road, the fog returned as we pulled into some seaside natural bridges. The cavities underneath the rock where impressive. Dustin and Denver climbed to the top, and where surprised to see a soft grassy top on the rocks

Around 4, we stopped at the fiddlers café, for a late lunch/supper Dustin and Denver had the moose burgers. The last 40 minute stretch to the cottage we are staying at, the fog turned to a bit of rain. We were eager to arrive and change out of our wet clothing. It looked like the rest of the evening would be foggy and rainy, but it appears like the sun has just come out, and looks to be a nice evening.

Denver

We woke up to a sunny day.   I don’t think any of us were disappointed to leave our Midway motel.  It was cold and damp outside and we turned up the heater in our little room to help dry our wet clothes – so we had a very humid room along with 4 guys in it. 

What a beautiful day to ride (165 miles)! Roads are wonderful and the scenery is beautiful. We stopped to take pictures of a beaver dam. Later Denver saw our first “moose”. After turning around, and getting the camera out, the “moose” ended up being a bush. So we are still on the lookout for moose.

As we turned onto the Viking Trail (Rt 340), we stopped by an Insectarium with 30% of the insects being live.  We enjoyed it so much we ended up staying 1-1/2 hours. Before any of our female readers get grossed out by that fact, they had a beautiful live butterfly pavilion with butterflies from all over the world! So that was beautiful. The Insect museum was built in a renovated old round barn with 3 stories of insect displays.

Our cottage in Trout River NFL is on the south side of the Gros Morne National Park.  We stopped by Woody Point in Bonny bay and had lunch/supper. As we ate along the wharf we discovered an abundance of  marine life.  The water was so clear that you could see the schools of fish, star fish, jelly, crabs, flounder fish, plant life,

etc. A Marine Station was also located there.   As we hit the road to Trout River, we ran through the Tablelands.  These are high mountains that are barren and yes there was snow on some them.  They say this is where the continents collided, pushing these rocks, originally beneath the ocean, to their present position on land?  It is amazing to have the meadow land on one side of the road and then pure rock and cliffs on the other side.

Trout River, NFL is along the bay of the Gulf of St. Lawrence with the trout river pond (about 25 kil long) that is 1 mile from the Gulf (fresh water).  It is a fishing, lobster village.  The little grocery store, I could picture the setting of around 1930 or a store out in a far away village in Bolivia.  Not much on the shelves. Our cottage is very nice – we were able to wash clothes, and are all thrilled to have clean underwear once again.

Dallas (additions by Denver)

We headed to the ferry at 7:30am (slept about 1 block away). There wasn’t much of a line at the toll booth and with motorcycles they left us go to the front of the lined up vehicles. We boarded at 8 am and once we tied them down we went up to level 5 and made our home for the next 7 hours. It was a smooth trip – with overcast most of the way. We weren’t able to see any large fish of the sea but it was neat to see the light house as we left Northern Sydney, NS and arriving at Port Aux Basques, NF. The boat had entertainment (NF music) , movies, food and wireless internet. We were well taken care of with some good places to take naps. It was surprising to see Devin and Dustin both sleeping.

Upon arriving at Port Aux Basques, we rode about 75 miles (a gorgeous ride) to our Midway motel at Robinson, NF. They informed us to be careful with moose ( we do hope to see a few) It was foggy and the road was wet.(the only road in NF) It was 17 C so it was a little cooler then normal. Both Dustin and Denver had wet pants/shoes from knees down. Devin and I don’t get near as much water on us as the smaller cycles do. The motel is basic – with 2 channels on the TV – no channel changing tonight! The motel is in the middle of nowhere. They say that there is a place 15 minutes to the north that serves breakfast, so we’ll try that in the morning. We had bought a few things at a grocery store for supper. Peanut butter and crackers do pretty good.

Dallas/Devin