2024 Travel Article

“Long may your big jib draw!”

Doreen Oberg

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It is mid-July and I’m buoying myself up to complete the largest, extended bike trip I’ve ever been on with my husband to Newfoundland, Canada. We agree to first haul the 2022 Goldwing on our Aluma trailer the first stretch of the trip. The Telluride can pull us through the hottest and flattest parts of Arizona and New Mexico. I am 58. I’ll take it.

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Our itinerary spans five weeks from our hometown Sierra Vista, Arizona up through New Mexico, the Dakotas then Minnesota. We’ll set a course through upper U.S. and lower Canadian regions before the ferry ride at North Sydney, Nova Scotia. The next morning, we dock at Argentia, Newfoundland. I’m more nervous than excited. I tell Gary this regarding our upcoming visit to New-Found-Land. “It’s New-fin-lnd” my husband corrects me.

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“New foun land”. That’s what I said.

“No. It’s been found already. New’ fin-lnd all squished together but with emphasis on the first syllable.” 

I’ll keep practicing so I don’t screw up in front of a waitress. We pack for the car portion of the trip separately from the motorcycle portion. Gary stresses that we must pair down to necessities for the 2-up riding.  We have to make room for rain gear. There will be no getting out of that. Not up in the Maritimes.

July eleventh arrives and we’re off! As we move along Hwy 10 east past Willcox, AZ mother nature decides to serve up a serious dust storm and Gary and I are extremely glad we can roll up windows still. The blackened sky and swirling dust are not quite haboob worthy but not safe and definitely not something we want to mess with in the dark. Gaining a couple of hours tonight at Truth or Consequences, NM helps jump start our trip though.

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Day 1, from T or C, we head for Fort Collins, CO, then stay in Pierre, SD. We stop at a local saloon called Mad Mary’s Steakhouse in Pierre which has great food, drinks plus a fun cowboy vibe. After a night’s rest we push upwards to North Dakota before turning east on Hwy 83 to central Minnesota. At a convenience store we stop to gas up and grab waters and munchies. The young cashier appears friendly, maybe a bit bored on a weekday. My credit card is from Arizona which brings up comments about Death Valley and some of the most ridiculous high temperatures ever. I note Sierra Vista is further south where it isn't quite so hot, but we agree that some of those numbers are just…I’m searching for the right word, until we both blurt, "Stupid!”

 “Ohh, yah owe me a coke!” He says bobbing his head forward.

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But that distinctive, upstate rolling dialect lingers in my mind as I head back to the car and try to simulate it for my husband. 

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We push on towards Shevlin where good friends, Mona and Brian have agreed to keep our car and trailer. Gary added a top rack that sits on the wing’s back trunk for lighter stuff, gloves, passports and a pin lock lens insert. The insert works great in rain, these just don’t fog up and even though we only use it twice, when you need it, you need it. Another added feature to the trip, Gary has purchased vacation insurance. For peace of mind at a few extra dollars? I recommend it. 

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After leaving the car and trailer, our first motorcycle destination is Duluth, MN. Riding in a busy city is hectic and I don't move an inch while Gary navigates across long bridges with elevated lifts for ships. To help navigate Gary uses two GPS devices on our trip. In addition to the one already provided by Honda, stock, he adds a Siri’s weather overlay. This apparently was a little cumbersome to request as Honda isn’t readily selling it unless you ask and you have to ask, the right person to get it. But once it is added the weather feature works perfectly. Gary also attaches a portable Garmin to the bike which comes in handy several times reconfiguring optional routes.

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Day 6 Copper Harbor is next, and we recommend the Bella Vista Motel. It is also walking distance to the Harbour Haus restaurant. This is a planned pairing Gary sticks to throughout our trip, avoiding drinking alcohol then riding again. The restaurant, however, doesn’t know that and we are surprised when our waiter puts a stopper in our unemptied wine bottle and just hands us a to go bag. But I’ll take it!

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Day 7 onwards to Sault Saint Marie pronounced “soo - saint marie”. This lies on the edge of Canada and the U.S. You will be amazed if you stay at Long Ships Motel across from the locks. See the Equinox behind the motel in the photo? Incredible to watch these massive ships move through like giant parade floats. Apparently, a third lock is under construction.

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The U.S. Canadian border is not too much hassle. Canada prefers your passport, driver’s license and no guns, ammo or soil. Fortunately, we have none of the latter. We avoid Detroit and Chicago plus frenetic Montreal before re-entering the U.S. near Watertown, New York. Upper New York is peaceful and green. We pass by Fort Drum and Gary notes the locale of this Base next to Lake Ontario makes Fort Drum a frigid assignment in winter.

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Next, Franconia, New Hampshire where we catch sight of an Amish horse and carriage.  When we stop for a break in town, I purchase mini maple syrups knowing that any trinkets for Christmas gifts will have to be mailed back home. We find the USPS then after leaving town, I’m delighted when we surprise a little black bear running across the road.

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Day 12 Old Quebec City. Waiters and cashiers expect travelers and easily slip from French to English on a dime, or I should say Loonie. Money in Canada looks different, and a Loonie is their dollar identifiable by a loon on one side. Finding a credit card that calculates the difference of U.S. to Canadian money, without a transaction fee is our go to however. 

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Driving through the stone arch of Old Quebec is fascinating. I would encourage a couple days visit at least. You can walk up The Plains of Abraham and see the old fortress but beware the nineteen-foot drops - no guard railing. The British overcame the French during this significant battle in1759. Wander around Quebec City to sample wonderful food, desserts and espresso. Our hotel, The Champlain, is recommended, centrally located with motorcycle parking. Good luck finding any parking otherwise.

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Day 14 we stay at Auberge le Caribou hotel.  With an unblocked view of the Gaspe harbor. We watch fishing boats heading out that night, possibly not to return for days. These are working harbors indeed.

Day 15 we score a larger suite someone cancelled last minute at Carleton Sur Mer. The St Joseph’s Pub next door is a perfect place to unwind and view more of this portion of the Gaspe. We’re able to keep an eye on the Paris Olympics on TV overhead as well. Next morning onwards to Canda’s smallest province, Prince Edward Island and the town of Borden-Carleton. Travel to this town requires an eight-mile (12 kilometers) ride over Confederation Bridge.

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Once in PEI be sure to stop at Loan Oak Brewery for chowder and beer (sauv blanc for me). Absolutely excellent. Remember, PEI is also the home of L.M. Montgomery, the author of Anne of Green Gables. I greatly enjoy an organized walk-through of the author’s house. The house and grounds are expertly kept as they may have been in the early 1900’s.

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Day 16 and 17 Halifax is next and we stay at the Inn on the Lake. BMW friends Alan Coles and Anna Magyar suggest a visit to the Fairview Cemetery. When our eyebrows raise a bit they remind this is the resting place for those in the Titanic tragedy. Our GPS takes us directly to the site where dozens of rows of headstones show April 15, 1912. Some headstones are only identified as a number. We quietly take several photos. Afterwards we head to Peggy’s Cove, an idyllic sea town with a large lighthouse and a bagpiper for full effect. Following our friends’ advice we grab lunch at Rhubarb’s before heading back to the Inn on the Lake.  We relax once more at Finbar’s Irish pub in the hotel where I try cod au gratin again. It’s becoming a favorite!

Ingonish and the Sea Breeze motel are Days 18 - 22. This is the Cape Breton area. Lots of sea photos along this stretch of our trip. We enjoy a group of loungy sea lions at Green Cove and laugh as one in particular, seems to look right at Gary snapping his pic.

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Day 23 we arrive at North Sydney, Nova Scotia where a huge ferry will carry motorcycles, cars and semi-trucks across to Newfoundland. I watch ferry heists move all the truck containers into the lower levels, packed cheek to jowl. Tethering the wing on level 3 is much easier than imagined as this is a two-month-old ferry with brand new tie downs and brackets. The Ala’ suinu holds up to 1000 passengers plus their vehicles with aprox 140 cabins, a bar, a restaurant, coffee and gift shop. Rooms can be reserved for animals too.  We learn however that The Ala’suinu had initially been recalled for problems and apparently our trip was only its second voyage.  So now, I am terrified I’m going to die. We tethered the bike near a cement truck. I know those are heavy and can’t imagine our entire weight. But as it turns out sea is calm and our captain steers us from N. Sydney, across the Atlantic to Argentia, Newfoundland successfully. We follow its progress on our GPS, as Gary encourages one more drink!

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Day 24 - 26 after departing from Argentia next morning, we take the scenic Irish Loop. Midway we encounter road so rough we literally move to the other side. Gary googles a local news story where the St. Mary’s portion of the loop is considered dangerous and awaits reconstruction. Although rough for several miles, the landscape and water are starkly beautiful. We reconnect to Newfoundland’s TransCanada Hwy on our way to St. John’s. At the city limits our exit for the Murray Premise Hotel is blocked. We have unwittingly scheduled on one of St. John’s most busy weekends, The George Street Festival which offers multiple bars and pubs within a two-block stretch. The renovated Murray Premise Hotel, once a mercantile building, reserves our parking allowing us to explore the festival and the docks.

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Visitors from away, are offered a chance to be screeched in as honorary Newfoundlers and Gary has signed me up for the ceremony at Christian’s Pub. I am nervous again. What does this entail? How much do you have to drink? What if I can’t stand rum?  And what is all this kissing a cod about?

Turns out twenty-nine other participants attend and the pub owner is funny, informative, and entertaining. Before all of us kiss a frozen (and completely sanitary) cod the pub owner names every single one of us by name (perfectly, no help) and we lift shot glasses to toast, “Long may your big jib draw”, meaning may you have many days of good fortune.

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Possibly one of my fav spots on this trip will be St. John’s. We had a lovely lobster meal at The Keg where you can look out the window and watch the cargo being unloaded straight off the docks. In fact, after dinner, we walk over for a closer look. There’s no guard rail, just stay out of the way of the busy loaders. Further down the opposite end, smaller boats are roped and knotted for the night and we talk with a fisherman briefly. You’re out thirty days he states, before you bring in the catch. He did this for nineteen years and is retired.

Then the city itself, Jellybean Rows are everywhere. Color patches of apartment buildings in red, green, pink, orange or jet black can be found in the skyline. There isn’t one row. They’re all over the city and so charming.

Days 26 we ride up to Signal Hill. Bit of history, Marconi in 1901, successfully received the first transatlantic communication in morse code here. It is an amazing piece of history and an amazing view of St. Johns. We snap several photos.

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At our hotel I realize firsthand there is a cultural language difference on the “Rock” as NFLN is often referred to. The hotel’s housekeeping assistant gives me another puzzled look until I finally draw a small square in the air with my fingers for “washcloth” and receive an "ohh" and head nod and new supply. At the Screech earlier this day I’ve been informed that local’s half Gaelic half English accent can be nigh indiscernible, and that one can gracefully give up with a shrug and friendly "ay b’y" to extract from a tricky conversation. Well, I find that, and a bit of charades seems to work too. We rest that evening preparing for our next destination, wait for it, Dildo, Newfoundland!

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Day 27 afternoon we arrive at Dildo Inn by the Bay which is absolutely one of the most charming B & B’s we’ve stayed at. The front room is beautiful with classy décor, comfy settees and coffee anytime you want. I wake up too early the next morning and sneak downstairs. My inner clock is off with the Maritime half hour difference added to all the other time changes already made. I carefully pour fresh brewed coffee into my cup and saucer then balance away from the pristine white tablecloth to head towards a soft leather sofa overlooking the harbor.

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I sit back and relax. The sun is just hitting the water. I sip and watch a small fishing boat heading straight to sea. Work even on a Saturday. I can't tell if the grey horizon is fog or just morning mist. A fluffy cat suddenly tears across the road below my window view with absolutely nothing chasing it. I take another sip. Very serene. Locals have other stories about colder months and inclement weather, but not today. 

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Day 28 we leave Dildo and ride north up to Twillingate the Iceberg viewing capitol of the world. However, not in August. There is a tasty beer called Iceberg and we do get a decent photo of that. Twillingate is smallish with roads and homes and stores nestled throughout waterways and jetties. The best view of the harbor is probably from the back of an old grocery store. I laugh as we park. Someone has put up a crochet version of “Waldo” sticking his head out the local store door. So, I snap a shot. I have been taking photos of absolutely everything this trip, containers, people’s feet, I don’t care. I’ll sort it out at home later!

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Day 29 - 30 We head west across to Rocky Harbor, our last destination on Newfoundland before navigating south towards Port Aux Basques and the ferry that will carry us back to North Sydney. This ferry ride will only be six hours long and is our turnaround towards home. I suddenly remember I have to work on Monday August nineteenth.

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Near Rocky Harbor is the under-crust exposure of the Tablelands. Although barren looking it literally is a geological phenomenon where the mantle has pushed through. Only a few places on earth display this.

At Rocky Harbor we also strongly recommend the Western Brook Pond Tour. This fiord thousands of years ago was cut off from the sea and is now a “pond”. To experience the jutting, craggy cliffs that rise straight up from the clear water take the boat tour. The tour guides are great, informative and we even see a couple of moose!

On the way back one crew member grabs his guitar and gives us a round of, “The Night Pat Murphy Died”.  I’ve heard this song a couple of times already in local bars and it is hilarious. The crewman does a great job standing and singing with a portable mic and a guitar as the boat pushes through a few white caps heading back to the landing.

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We pack to leave Rocky Harbor, ride through a scenic byway called Codroy - huge green hills emerging at the highway’s edge with pretty homes dotted all about – towards Port Aux Basques and the Blue Puttees ferry. This ride is less scary; I didn’t die the first time so I bet I can handle six hours this time. After landing again in North Sydney we find out Hurricane Debbie is making an appearance. The Garmin becomes essential as we skip a few destinations and recalculate different highways to avoid her.

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We ride back through New Brunswick, cross the Canadian Border at Calais, Maine then Skowhegen, Montpelier, then an overnight in Canada again at Cornwall, skirting around Ottawa the next day towards Pembroke then through Deep River, Ontario.  We grab a last purchase of Tim Hortons outside Sault St. Marie and the U.S as we prepare to follow the lower edge of Lake Superior. Tim Hortons is the main coffee shop named after an NHL hockey player. These monopolize all of Canada, so I finally get the rhythm of ordering down: one large coffee, one shot vanilla, one cream, two sugars a blueberry donut and my large mocha.

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Day 31 – 34 we notice that the water of Lake Superior is very high. All the rivers we’ve seen have been very full so we’re grateful to have skipped most of Debbie’s wrath. We drop slightly down to Ishpeming then pass Wakefield where I accidentally take one of my best spontaneous photos. This inlet town off of Sunday Lake has a huge carved Totem on a landing and as I snap my shot the white bubble top of a lamppost happens to be right in front of the mouth. Later I laugh realizing it looks like the totem is blowing bubbles. I inwardly apologize to the totem’s carver, Toth, but I am keeping this one as the Canadians say, “For certain!”

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From Wakefield we push hard to Minnesota. On the way I start seeing large white birds in nearby ponds or rivers. I’ve brushed them off as Canadian Geese, but finally take a closer look. Swans! Didn’t know we had them in the U.S. and a whole bunch of dirty colored little baby swans to boot. I am so glad I made the effort to go on this trip. Little surprises have been as rewarding as panoramas. We’ve seen sea lions, bear, moose, eagles (huge nests in tall power polls in Canada), swans and we also pass several flocks of wild turkeys, with babies.  As we greet our friends in Minnesota though we are eager to hook the bike back on the trailer and push towards home.

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Days 35 – 38 we drop down through Nebraska then a portion of Kansas. I have never been to Kansas. A brief rainstorm streaks our window view with rain, but our GPS shows we’re headed for sun soon.  Kansas, it turns out has some of the largest beef processing plants I’ve ever seen. As we head further south we encounter miles and miles of cattle pens, warehouses, trucks and trains. I put my feet up on the dash of the Telluride finally and ask Gary to wake me up when it’s not flat. He wakes me up at Dodge City, our next hotel stay. Apparently, Wyatt Earp left Dodge City to move over to our neighborhood in Tombstone, AZ around 1879. Food at the Cowboy Capitol Saloon and Grill across from the Holiday Inn Exress is delicious but we head to bed early ready to get through bits of Oklahoma and Texas tomorrow.

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The Next day dry wind and tumbleweeds are everywhere as we press past Tutumcari, NM a tiny town that appears half abandoned.  We pass by White Sands National Park; we’ve explored this before – marvelous but not on our agenda today. As we drive around White Sands Missile Range it is interesting to see the Garmin completely blacked out except for the highway. Need to know says the military.  Our final stay at El Encanto Hotel Las Cruces is comfortable with a beautiful view of the craggy Organ Mountains from the seventh floor of our room. We visit The Pecan Bar and Grill across the street looking forward to the green chili stew that is so delicious. Then next morning we wake up, skip breakfast hit I 10 again to get home to our kitty cat and what do we find in Sierra Vista? Our AC has gone out! So, despite loving being home, we throw blankets and mattresses into the garage with the split mini ac and end up sleeping beside our Goldwing!

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Funny memories drift back, however, as I lay in the cool garage surrounded by our mattresses, the cat and the bikes.  I think back to Newfoundland and The Maritimes and all we’ve just experienced, riding across inlets and learning about causeways vs coves, and channels vs harbors and seeing at least seven different lighthouses. 

I remember a waitress in Newfoundland telling us about the most interesting thing she had seen in their area for 2024. It was a young male moose which swam across the small channel for the first time and in so doing, made the Twillingate news.  Well, he’s probably in search of a girlfriend I imagine.

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So, along that line, here’s the question. How long does it take for a new moose to get a girlfriend? Sounds like a joke. I neither have the answer nor the punchline but if you're thinking what I'm thinking?  OH, ya ohh me a Coke!

 

Article by Doreen J Oberg 2024

Photos by Gary and Doreen Oberg 2024