July 12, 2017 Riviere Du Loup to Quebec City, 133 miles

We took our time leaving RDL for Quebec. Sooz found an ice cream shop she wanted to visit before we left and I reluctantly agreed...ot didn't take much convincing.  The drive was uneventful on a 4 laned divided highway similsr to I-75 following the south side of the St. Lawrence River. We stopped once to bundle up as the temp dropped to low 60s, high 50s with solid cloud cover.

We found our hotel in Quebec with no problem. It is in the Old Quebec part of town which is beautiful. I had to unload our bags and get to the BMW shop for an oil/filter change, and rear brake pads as it turns out.  I'm at the shop right now. Everything else including tires look good.  I should get out of here by 5pm and back to the hotel in 30 or 45 minutes with traffic. This is one of the nicest motorcycle shops I have ever seen.  It is large, clean, with lots of bikes and a well organized service area.

I was talking to a customer who was here for a Ducati demo ride.  He told me registration costs for a sport bike are about $1,200 and for a non sport bike about $600 ANNUALLY!  

We will lay low tonight and see our nephew tomorrow evening and Friday.  We head to Burlington, Vermont Saturday.

July 11, 2017 Riviere Du Loup, Quebec, 0 miles

Today was R & R.  We had a very French breakfast with the morning paper and walked around town for about 4 hours.  We sat on a nice park bench directly across from the Church of St. Patrick with a view of the St. Lawrence River.  We found a small art store where Susie picked up some water color painting supplies.  She started capturing some images and colors she may follow up with when we get home.

We bought some sandwiches and walked to the Waterfall Park (Parc des Chutes) right in the downtown area. The Loup River falls are impressive and are combined with a hydroelectric power plant. There was a picnic area nearby the falls for lunch.

This is a pretty upscale area with prices to match.  Meals seem especially pricey when combined with the 5% federal tax and 10% provincial tax. Tonight may be an ice cream dinner by the St. Lawrence River park. 

July 10, 2017 Campbellton, NB to Riviere Du Loup, Quebec, 192 miles

Very nice ride to Riviere Du Loup, Quebec today. The weather was perfect, sunny in the upper 60s, low 70s with very little wind.  We left Campbellton, NB and followed Route 132 along the Matapedia River for nearly 100 miles until it flowed into Matapedia Lake, of all things. It was beautiful with rolling hills, mixed forests, fishermen in canoes on the river and quaint towns along the way. Each town had its own church with an impressive steeple.

Leaving Campbellton we saw a number of covered bridges still in use.  I also saw my favorite traffic sign.

We picked up Route 20 following the southern bank of the Lawrence River for nearly another 100 miles.  There were large, active farms all along this road with views of the River.  Some of the fields had what looked like a yellow wildflower growing in large tracts.  The farm buildings were painted in a variety of muted tones of gray, yellow, taupe and other colors that Susie had to identify and tell me what they were.  Unusual colors for farm buildings. 

Riviere Du Loup is a small town on the banks of the Lawrence River with a well defined older downtown area. We are renting an AirBNB on the main drag and ate dinner sitting outside at a French restaurant.  Everything is in French; traffic signs,  menus, store fronts.  Sooz took French in high school and some of it is coming back.  Translation apps on smart phones are also helping.  The people have been very tolerant and patient with our limited French and been willing to practice their limited English. So we get by fine. 

We are staying here 2 nights before heading to see our nephew Connor Skehan in Quebec. It will be nice not packing up and riding tomorrow. A little rest will feel good.

The Mighty GS is running great. I did a quick check of total mileage ridden and I am right around 4,000 miles so far on this trip and at least another 2,000 to go before I get back to Gainesville.  That means I will need to have the oil and filter changed soon.  I found a BMW motorcycle shop in Quebec City close to where we are staying so I'll bring the bike there for service.  This is a first, I have never had to service a bike on a trip before.

By the way, I like my new handmade hooked rug style seat cover made by Joy from the farmers market in Summerside, PEI.

July 9, 2017 Summerside, PEI to Campbellton, NB, 258 miles

Nice ride to Campbellton, NB today through lots of woods and mostly 2 laned roads in good condition. We had a nice visit with one of New Brunswick's finest who stopped us and said we were doing 125 kph in a 100 kph zone.  I played the dumb American and he just gave me a warning. He was a nice guy. 

Susie had noticed several people stopped on the side of the road and were looking for something in the grass. She asked the nice policeman about that and he said they were picking wild strawberries which she immediately started doing and found quite a few.  These Canadians really are nice people.

We tried another Donair for dinner and it was pretty good.  Kind of like a gyro with sweet sauce.

Susie saw a deer on the side of the road and luckily he stayed there. I never saw it.

July 8, 2017 Summerside, PEI, 0 miles

Had a nice day in Summerside being tourists and getting some good walking in. The weather was fabulous, sunny and warm. We went to the local indoor farmer's market held every Saturday even in the winter.  Below are some pictures showing vendors from whom we bought soap, a gormet grilled cheese sandwich, homemade blueberry pie and a handmade hooked rug seat cover for The Mighty GS.  I can't wait to use it tomorrow.

I had a great lunch of fish and chips.  In Newfoundland they use cod for fish and chips but here they use haddock.  Cod is used in Newfoundland due to the cold water there but cod develops worms in the warmer waters further south around PEI so they use haddock. 

We are at peak tourist season for this area and there is hardly any traffic or crowds.  Strange. 

PEI has a 15% sales tax on everything and the locals don't like it.  Also, it will cost us about $36 Canadian when we cross the bridge leaving PEI, and that's for a motorcycle. Cars cost more and trucks cost even more.  Locals don't like that either.

The exchange rate is really good for Americans. I wwnt to an ATM where I took out $200 Canadian and it only cost me $167 US including a $3 service fee.  Great time to come to Canada!

Update: I meant to mention our visit to the Fox Museum in Summerside. I added a picture below of the high school aged boy that gave a knowledgeable and fun description of the importance of fox pelts to the PEI economy. There was a well protected monopoly by one of the locals until the relative of one of the monopolists opened up the market by distributing pairs of foxes so other breeders could start their own businesses. At the peak of the monopoly market one fox pelt was selling for $25,000.  The same quality pelt sold for less than $10 after the monopoly was broken.

July 7, 2017 Baddeck, NS to Summerside, Prince Edward Island, 335 miles

Today was a long day; 335 miles and over 8 hours of riding.  Luckily we broke it up mid-morning by stopping at The Dancing Goat just off the Cabot Trail. It is an amazing bakery and sandwich shop.  One of Suzie's friends recommended it and it did not disappoint.  One of the pictures below shows our breakfast of champions, coffee and mint, coconut cream pie and an egg, bacon breakfast combo on fresh bread.  We also had them make a couple of sandwiches for the road.

We rode the Cabot and Ceilidh trails through thick forests which were close to the edge of the roads.  When we approached the coastal area and the scenery opened up the views were spectacular.  Wide open expanses of rocky shorelines for as far as you could see.  The pictures don't do it justice.

As we approached the 8-mile long Confederation Bridge to PEI I was getting a little nervous. The winds were still strong and gusts felt at least 20-30 mph.  I told Sooz to wrap her arms around my waist and hang on when we rode onto the bridge.  But as it turned out, the winds were at our backs and it was so quiet I could hear the valves on The Mighty GS tapping away.  The ride over the bridge was uneventful and even relaxing.  Checking in to our hotel in Summerside was another story but it worked out and we were even comp'd complete breakfasts for our inconvenience, after I asked of course.

July 6, 2017 Port Aux Basque, NL to Baddeck, NS, 30 miles and a ferry

The weather was gorgeous as we boarded the ferry from Port Aux Basque to North Sydney, NS.  We spoke with several other bikers as we waited to ride the bikes on the ferry and strap them down. A couple of Harley riders from Ottawa and a fellow GS rider from Quebec. This was a 6 hour ferry ride and we had reserved seats in a very comfortable deck with front row seats to the windows at the rear of the ship.   Very comfortable seating and the sun coming in the windows put us to sleep pretty quickly.

It was an uneventful cruise and the seas were fairly calm. However, I can get seasick in a bathtub so I took some recommended medicine to help fight seasickness and I did fine.

After disembarking we had a short ride to our motel in Baddeck, NS.  The motel is called St. Ann's and is right on the shores of a bay with a beautiful view.  We also had the best meal so far on our trip at the Cedar House Restaurant and Bakery.  Sooz ordered a piece of strawberry rhubarb pie with our meal that was excellent.  I left with a half dozen peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. 

I haven't had much luck uploading pictures but will try again.

Tomorrow we are off to Prince Edward Island.