The waves are lapping a mere ten feet in front of me. An occasional car is whipping by, the folks in the room next to ours are packing up, Eric is asleep, and I am finally able to find a few minutes to craft a blog entry.
I had heard a lot about Halifax. Since we will be staying in small coastal towns the rest of the trip I had wanted to explore the city last night. However, Eric felt strongly otherwise. Since arguments in the past have revolved around which routes to take or what places to stay, I quickly acquiesced. It's too early in the trip for disagreements.
Peggy's Cove is not a bad alternative. It is best known for Peggy's Point Lighthouse, a classic red and white lighthouse operated by the Canadien Coast Guard. We arrived at the
lighthouse as the sun was going down. Despite the many warning signs indicating that several people are swept of the rocks each year by waves, sometimes drowning, we perched ourselves out on the granite outcrop to view and photograph the spectacular sunset. Gorgeous.
We then hopped on our bikes to find a place to stay. A mile from the light we found the Sea Cliff motel. They had one room left for $105 plus tax. I say "plus tax" because everything is plus tax and it adds a sizable chunk to the total; in this case $221. It's a good way for the locals to pass their revenue burden on to their visitors.
At the recommendation of the hotel clerk, we had pizza and beer at the Rhubarb Restaurant just up the road. The pizza was decent, the beer was less so ( they claim to have a thriving craft beer industry up here but no evidence of it last night), but the proprietors were nice, engaging and offered a few ideas to keep us busy up on the Cabot trail.
The overnight ferry on Sunday from Portland to Yarmouth was easy, relaxing and restful. Calm seas, the buzz of the engine and a comfy mattress allowed for a great night sleep. A hot shower, an early morning walk around the ship and a sunrise breakfast was a
wonderful way to start the day.
The only downside to the evening was that the TV in the bar carries only five channels and NBC isn't one of them. The Patriots were on Sunday Night Football and I, and many others were crushed not to be able to watch them. Instead it was CNN carrying on about Ebola having reached American shores. The network needs to be careful. It's escalating coverage of this outbreak is starting to feel panicky.
I'm told the Pats won big. Phew! They needed that. The critics had been predicting the apocalypse all week. Time to back off guys. Tom Brady is the man.
Despite no Patriots game, I stayed for a beer (Shipyard IPA), commiserated with other disappointed fans, and then went to see the casino. The boat had few passengers. Only half a dozen of the 50 or so one armed bandits were occupied. One Black Jack table ($5 min., $100 max) was open. A married couple deliberated on their every move. A tipsy truck driver was hitting on the Russian card dealer. I hung around for awhile in case she needed someone to run interference. Not necessary. She knew exactly what she was doing as he continued to tip her a portion of each winning hand, the few that he had anyway.
It's been more than 45 years since I've been to Nova Scotia. When I was about ten, my parents and four youngest kids piled into our red VW bus, drove to Bar Harbor and took the "Blue Nose" ferry to Yarmouth. We ventured their to pick up my two eldest siblings who were spending a month at a camp in Cape Breton Island. My memories of the trip are vague. I remember camping with my mother, as always, slaving over a Coleman stove to prepare three daily meals (I appreciate her more with ever passing day). I remember attending some the Scottish games, the bagpipes at sunset and the Tartan caps my parents bought for each us. Beyond that, it was just another one of those fun summer family trips that have merged together in my mind.
It's not a very good time to leave work. Summer is over, the students are back and our teams are in high gear. Coaches and staff are working overtime. There's budget planning to be done, new initiatives to launch, HR issues to deal with, and so much more. That said, we've been taking these annual trips for five years. I can't stop now. I'll try to forget about work and enjoy the fresh air, autumn crisp and ruby splendor ahead.
Eric met my boat yesterday morning at the scheduled 9 a.m. arrival. One of the benefits of riding a motorcycle is that they allow you to get on and off the boat first. As soon as the ramp went down, I rolled out into the parking lot where Eric was just pulling up. Perfect timing. We pulled out the map, pointed to the eastern-most road and headed towards it.
To get to Peggy's Cove, we rode most of the day covering 250 miles, alternating between Rte. 3, the coastal "Lighthouse Route" and Highway 103. Rte 103 was indistinguishable from any small highway back home but the Lighthouse Route, oh my. Harbor after harbor of small peers, fishing vessels, lobstermen, rocky shores, red and amber trees and deep blue choppy waters. One town, Lunenberg, was so picturess, it seemed as if it was created for postcards.
Lunenberg has been deemed a World Heritage site. Though it was beautiful, neither Eric nor I thought it was worthy of that distinction, especially since it draws lots of tourists and is full of the many souvenir shops and uninteresting museums that comes with that.
Today we have another long day of riding. We hope to cover nearly 300 miles, mostly on small roads, in order to get to the head of the Cabot Trail. I reserved an Airbnb.com cabin on the northern coast for Wednesday night. In order to minimize the riding in the forecasted Wednesday rain, we want to make it as far as possible today.
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A quick update.
It's 11 a.m. and we've only made it about 15 miles. Eric has an oil leak. We've had to stop at Halifax Motorsports. The guy is seeing if he can tighten the non-BMW oil filter that Eric's local New Hampshire dealer put in last week. BMW customizes everything for better performance. The downside is that non-standard parts are difficult to find and costs much more. We are paying the price now. This is going to knock us back at least an hour.
We hope to get on the road soon. Have a great day.
-George
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Prospect Rd,Halifax,Canada
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