The CGB Book - Part 4 of 12 - Prince Edward Island/New Brunswick

If it was easy, anyone could do it!

The story of the 2013 Craig Gives Back-2-Back Cross-Canada Bicycle Tour

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NOVA SCOTIA > PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND > NEW

BRUNSWICK

DAY #14 – Saturday, August 17, 2013 – One day, one province.

Day#14: 149kms – Pictou, NS to Cape Tormentine, NB We were up early in the morning as we could not miss the first ferry crossing to from Caribou, NS to Wood Islands, PE which departs at 9:00am. We had a 10km bike ride to get there and we were lucky to be joined by three cyclists from Pictou, my friend John Tetreault, my dentist Ed

Hawkins and my physiotherapist Phillip Ruiz. Another beautiful day made me wonder if Bob was maybe good luck as we had not had rain since he joined me in North Sydney! Andrea and Laureen had packed the car and pretty much threw everything they thought might be of use should go in, so it was stuffed. They also packed their bikes on the bike rack and were hoping to get some cycling in as well. Andrea and Laureen would be going as far as Moncton before Bob and I would continue while they would return

home and to their jobs. We had asked Craig if he wanted to be in the support vehicle, but I don’t think sitting in a car for two days was very enticing, so he opted to stay behind and continue with his training and rehabbing his ankle. Our local newspaper, The Pictou Advocate had been a tremendous supporter of our tour and thanks to the paper’s editor, Steve Goodwin had run well over a dozen stories covering our events leading up to our departure. They were so supportive that Steve Goodwin himself was

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waiting at the ferry too. He was simply going to take the trip over and back so he could get our undivided attention for another story and we were more than happy to oblige! Taking any bike on a ferry is a bit exciting, or maybe it is just me that enjoys it. Typically the ferry staff knows the best locations to place the bikes and will direct you there. They also provide straps so you can secure it in place, otherwise it may fall over or slide around if the crossing is rough. When we arrive at the ferry terminal in Wood Islands we are welcomed by friends of my sister who are holding a “Welcome to PEI” sign. It is always wonderful to get encouragement so we stopped to thank the welcoming party. We would take the Trans Canada Highway from the ferry terminal straight to Charlottetown, a distance of just over 50kms and we were moving quickly today with all our gear being carried in our personal support vehicle. Andrea and Laureen would drive ahead, stop and unload their own bikes so they could bike back and meet us. They were not be able to keep up once they reached us and turned back to bike with us, as the road was fairly flat with only moderate hills and the Janus raced along like a back-to-back tandem recumbent thoroughbred. When we arrived at the Tim Horton’s in Charlottetown we were again greeted by a small crowd including a friend of Craig’s who is also blind and a tandem cyclist. Also there to meet us was Warren Spires from the Halifax CNIB office and it was good to see him again. A quick media interview and now we headed into downtown Charlottetown to get lunch and we knew exactly where we were going. Andrea and I spent six straight years developing our love of bicycle touring on Prince Edward Island, so we had some favourite haunts and one of them is the Gahan House on Sydney Street. At the time it was the only microbrewery on the island and also a restaurant, and both the beer and food is always excellent. They have a number of beers to offer, but I went with the one that Flat Stanley suggested, a nice dark Sydney Street Stout. Yummy! And then we were off again, but we would not be following the Trans Canada Highway to the Confederation Bridge to New Brunswick, as we would be taking the Confederation Trail. Having spent much time cycling Prince Edward Island, one of the most wonderful things is the Confederation Trail. It is the old rail bed that runs across the island for a length of 273.4kms and also there is a spur that runs into the city of Charlottetown and we would quickly be on it. The condition of the trail is one of the best in Canada as the government took over management of the trail and restricted access to it by keeping off all motorized vehicles. One thing to be wary of if you have a ten foot long back-to-back tandem recumbent is maneuvering through the gates which are at every road crossing. I had learned my lesson after the incident back in July when I almost killed Craig by dumping him and Janus into one of the metal gates, and now I always unclipped my cycling shoes and let my legs hang down as I steered through the gates while Bob pedaled. You have to follow an “S” route to maneuver through the gates and therefore must slow down and take your time passing through safely. We did not need any “incidents” today! We had approximately 60kms from Charlottetown to Borden and we sped along on the trail. Recumbents slow down on steep climbs, but on rail beds it is a maximum 2% grade and the gentle climbs and gradual declines were perfect for a recumbent and we traveled at speeds ranging from 20kms/hr to 40kms/hr. We were so quick we arrived at the Confederation Bridge to New Brunswick by late afternoon and decided to cross over today rather than camp on Prince Edward Island so we would have an easy day tomorrow.

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Now you are not allowed to bicycle across the Confederation Bridge, but there is a dedicated passenger van which pulls a bicycle trailer and you are taken from the tourist centre in Borden over to the tourist centre in Cape Tormentine, NB. The van driver had never seen a bicycle like ours before and we had to determine how to best secure it on the bicycle trailer. We ended up placing it on the trailer diagonally and even then it ran the full length of trailer. We secured it with at least a dozen bungee cords and then we were off, with Bob and I in the van with the driver and the girls chasing in the car. As we neared the New Brunswick side of the bridge the van operator offered us bug spray, which I thought was friendly, but a bit odd. We had bug spray stored in our bags, however we had no idea it would be so bad. There were clouds of mosquitoes which I assumed were produced in the billions in the swamps surrounding us. We moved as quickly as possible to get moving and were soon on to road to a private campground located right on the Northumberland Strait. It was a beautiful evening and luckily we were a good distance from the marshes, no sign of any biting insects! With the change in strategy to not take our meals and cooking supplies on the bike, we were trying to eat up all our inventory of freeze dried meals. The main course turned out great, but the blueberry grunt was a challenge to cook on the single burner stove. The stove unfortunately had but one setting “high”, and it made it a challenge not to burn dessert, but when you are hungry you will eat just about anything. It had been a long and busy day and we ended up eating in the dark on a beautiful evening on right on the Northumberland Straight. Earlier this morning we had only completed one Province so far and that of course was Newfoundland, but by the end of today we have finished Nova Scotia and also Prince Edward Island which we did in less than one day. So three provinces complete and only seven left to go! We enjoyed the setting sun while we listened to music from a wedding reception at a house adjacent to the campground. Since the campground had no trees, the music carried across the lawn of the campground and we fell asleep in our tents listening to dance standards such as “The Bird Dance” and “Locomotion”. My wife works for Central Home Improvements and at their annual Christmas party they always have the same DJ and it is virtually the same music every year and so the wedding celebration reminded me of Christmas.

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DAY #15 – Sunday, August 18, 2013 – Bob, where’s our support vehicle?

Day#15: 104kms – Cape Tormentine, NB to Moncton, NB We awoke from our tents to another beautiful morning. It was quiet except for hundreds of seagulls that filled the campground. I could only assume there had been easy pickings for free meals left behind by campers. Also sometime through the night the wedding reception must have ended as there was no more music coming from across the large lawn. Today was a relatively easy day with just over 100kms to go to reach the reception at the Moncton YMCA at 3:0pm. We would take our time and even stop at MacArthur’s Nursery who has been my employer for nearly fourteen years before I started at Sobeys. My sister Esther was working there now and the staff had been following CraigGivesBack on Facebook almost since the site was created back in January. I like to have a shower first thing every morning so you can at least “start” the day feeling and smelling “fresh”. While I went for a shower Andrea got the stove started and prepared to cook pancakes for all four of us. We would have had coffee, however even though the girls had tossed everything in the car except for the kitchen sink, they forgot to include coffee. Bob loves his coffee, but I knew where we could stop and get some on the way to Moncton and not too far from the campground. When the first pancakes were ready it was not good. They were cooked on the outside, but inside uncooked and heavy…very heavy. When I returned from the shower, I took over cooking the pancakes as it is not the easiest thing to do with our little jet plane engine of a stove as I mentioned before. We saved the pancakes that Andrea had cooked for the seagulls. When we

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did toss it over to a small crowd of gulls they checked it over, but at first avoided it until one brave gull gobbled it down. We joked that with the weight of the pancake brick in his gut he is no longer light enough to take flight until it worked its way through his digestive system. I’m sure he was fine and had eaten much worse than Andrea’s cooking…maybe! A great thing about a support crew is Bob and I can depart as soon as we are ready and the crew looks after dismantling and cleaning up campsite. We first dismantled and packed the two tents and then we told the girls we would meet them down the highway at the gas station coffee shop, and we were off. Bob and I are making good time, but we just needed a coffee each to perk us up. As we approach the gas station we were hoping to meet the girls, as they had passed us not too long ago after packing up the campsite. I did see the car in the parking lot, so Bob got out his iPhone. If there is one thing that Bob is good at is operating his iPhone while cycling. He does not have to steer, he only has to pedal so other than keeping himself from bouncing off the bike if we hit a pot hole, he can do what he pleases with hands. He was quick to send a text off to Laureen to find out where they had gone to and we quickly find out they are in Shediac, NB or about 50kms ahead of us, so there would be no coffee. Lack of caffeine was making us grumpy, but the terrain was relatively flat and that made us happy. Meanwhile Andrea and Laureen were having fun together doing tourist things in Shediac. They were disappointed they had missed being able to watch the Parlee Beach Duathlon which happened that morning, but found other things to do and took along Flat Stanley for some photo opportunities. Eventually they took pity on us as we had put all our extra gear including our wallets in the car to save weight on our bike. They stopped at Tim Horton’s and headed back towards us to deliver the cups of brewed heaven and we were very happy to finally have our first coffee of the day! Not too long after we had arrived safely at MacArthur’s Nursery to say hello to my sister and the staff. MacArthur’s has one of if not the widest selection of “Crocks” in Atlantic Canada and we were each allowed to select a complimentary pair! Stanley picked out a pair, but we did not feel right taking them as we knew he would never use them as they were not flat! Now we were off to the Moncton YMCA and one thing I love about the city of Moncton is that it is relatively flat! We arrived to our second largest reception and only to our “home coming” back in Pictou County had more people. Global News was here with their cameras and we had to do a few laps of the parking lot so they could get the footage they were looking for the evening news. Next we head inside the YMCA along with a crowd of friends, well wishers and representatives from the YMCA and CNIB. Again there was a microphone and cake! I always get to speak, but spend so much time talking to each person that came out to see us, that I missed out on the cake once again. It was great to arrive in Moncton as I have many relatives living here and they were there to welcome us and we would join them again later in the evening for supper. Before we left we were fortunate to meet one of our most loyal Facebook followers, Charlotte Flewelling! She had liked and commented on virtually every single picture or comment we had posted on our Facebook site, and almost was not able to make to the reception as she had just had surgery days before we arrived. If everyone had Charlotte’s energy and determination what a wonderful world this would be! She said we were inspiring her to start getting more active and was training to run her first 5km race. She was inspiring us too! We were also to pick up a new passenger and friend for Flat Stanley today. A client of the CNIB had made her own flat character. He was seeing impaired and therefore came with his own white cane. His name is Seeing Impaired Flat Charlie, but we just called him Blind Charlie. It may not have been completely politically correct, however it was much easier to say! Just like

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Flat Stanley, Charlie was to join us in our adventures and on our way back home we were to return him so he could go on other adventures. Also just like Flat Stanley this guy was unfortunately not going to help us pedal either! Who would have ever thought that Pictou, a small town in Atlantic Canada would be known for its incredible Thai restaurant? Well a hidden gem for years in the town was Tak’s Thai Food that started as a take-out kiosk on the waterfront and turned into a full service restaurant. Tak’s talent at cooking fresh tasty food is well known through the county and Andrea and I had enjoyed her cooking many times. The food was so wonderful that I would resolve to try something different every time we went, but would always end up ordering the same curry dish as I loved it so much! Well as we know would happen eventually, the seasonal business of a tourist town is hard to manage financially and the big city called to Tak. She moved to Moncton the previous winter and found a vacant Chinese restaurant that she completely renovated including authentic artwork shipped direct from Thailand. Every time I have seen Tak she is smiling, and she is also incredibly hard working. She is a terrific host and the nearly twenty of us very much enjoyed the food and atmosphere at her restaurant. She even treated everyone to a serving of Thai Fried Bananas and ice cream. Now back to my sister Esther’s house to spend the balance of the evening with Esther, her husband Will, their children Stephanie and Alex and my mother Eleanor who also lives in Moncton. We did not do as much biking as usual today, however it had been a very bush day and when I finally did go to bed I was quickly sound asleep. DAY #16 – Monday, August 19, 2013 – We’re fast, but we’re not that fast!

Day#16: 106kms – Moncton, NB to Waterborough, NB

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We awake to another gorgeous day and it was another not overly challenging day, with just over 100kms to go to reach Mohawk Camping in Waterborough, NB. Warren Spires from the CNIB who had met us at the reception in Charlottetown also showed up in Moncton and was travelling to be there for the reception in Fredericton. He knew our Janus was a heavy bike and offered to take some of our gear and drop it off at the campground we would stay at tonight. He had meetings in the morning in Moncton before he left for Fredericton, so I made it our challenge to get to our campsite before Warren. We said goodbye to our better halves, Andrea and Laureen and we were off again. It was pretty much an uneventful ride, however on the Trans Canada Highway in New Brunswick they do have the dreaded rumble strip. There is also a good wide paved shoulder, so we had no problems on the highway. We did stop at a weigh station for trucks as we got near Peticodiac. The staff had no issue weighing our bike and we stood it up without any bags on it. I had never weighed it before so I was curious, but the staff at the weigh station said their scale is more suited to transport trucks as it can be out by 50kg. So all we learned is Janus weighed somewhere between 30kg and 130kg. I could have guessed that, but it was good for a break from the road and they gave us a printout of our result. We were off again and did not stop again until we reached our turn off from the Trans Canada Highway onto a secondary road which would take us directly to our campground. Just off the turnoff was a busy Irving Service Station with a restaurant. It was earlier than we would normally eat, but we were both very hungry and we could always eat a granola bar if we got hungry again later. We leaned Janus up against the outside of the building and went inside to the busy restaurant. You can’t go wrong with a hot turkey sandwich covered with gravy and vegetables and fries on the side, except if you are Bob who passed on the vegetables. The great news was they had fountain pop and the refills were free. Did I mention we were thirsty in addition to being hungry? We were plenty full and bloated by the time we departed for the campground. So inside the restaurant we are sitting at the counter eating our most excellent meals when a gentleman from the United States sits down next to us. He talked loudly on his cell phone and that is how we came to learn he was from the United States, and also that he purchased scrap metal. He had driven from Halifax today and was on his way back home in the United States. He looks at us and then exclaimed how impressed he was with us and we sure biked a long way today! He had seen the feature Global News did on our arrival at the YMCA in Moncton and he had assumed it was taped in Halifax. I sure wish we could bike that far in one day, but even downhill with a wind on our backs we would never make that distance in one day! We were off to our campsite. We had only just arrived and Warren pulled in behind us. We only beat him by minutes, but we did still beat him. We thanked him for dropping our gear off and went inside to pay for our campsite, but they were not taking our money today. It did not happen every time we stayed at a motel or campground, but it did occasionally happen and we were always grateful as we were concerned about keeping our costs for the trip under our budget. It is one of the reasons I always take the time to explain what we are doing and leave them with one of our business cards. Sometimes we have paid and then when we leave in the morning we are given a donation to help with lodging at our next stop. People are so awesome when given the chance. We setup camp and Bob crawled into his tent to grab a nap and I headed down to the lake. I had been buying ice every evening when I am able, and spend as much as an hour icing my

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ankle and then I would use the portable TENS unit. I did this every evening since we left Pictou and it was working as my ankle was getting stronger and less painful every day. I would re-tape my ankle every three or four days either when the smell of sweaty tape got too gross or it had slipped down my calf and was no longer supporting my ankle. So I thought it would be good for my ankle and legs to wade around in the cool lake water so I put on my new Crocks we were given in Moncton and headed down. This is Grand Lake, the largest lake in New Brunswick and it had been a windy day so the water was pretty murky, stirred up by the brisk winds. Now I do not like swimming in cold water and I don’t like walking in my bare feet in water when I cannot see the bottom, but I felt my legs needed the therapy. I bravely stepped out into the water and nervously edged myself out to over my knees. Then something brushed against my leg. Could have been a fish, eel or it could have been a small stone tossed by the waves washing into the shore, but it did not matter as I was quickly out of water and headed back to my tent. I had ice back at the campsite, so who needed a lake! Our metabolic rates were working in overdrive with all the daily physical activity, so as suspected we became hungry again in the evening regardless we were completely stuffed only a couple of hours prior. My mother is a wonderful baker and gave us some peanut butter cookies for the trip from Moncton. They almost lasted one night!

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DAY #17 – Tuesday, August 20, 2013 – What’s a fat tire bike!

Day#17: 91kms – Waterborough, NB to Mactaquac, NB We’re up and we are on the bike early. As we do not have any cooking gear or food other than granola bars and jujubes, we need to find a place to get some breakfast. Breakfast is an easy meal to get right and we never had a bad breakfast yet on this trip. Something about eggs, bacon, French toast, pancakes and coffee that you just cannot mess it up, especially bacon. When you are on a biking tour you eat when you can, what you like and what you want, as you are going to burn it off and you will wake up the next morning starving again! We found a great little restaurant that also served as a convenience store out in the middle of nowhere. Great breakfast again and we planned our day as we ate. We had almost 70kms to get to Fredericton to a reception that had been arranged at Simm’s Home Hardware. It was a family owned store and their son was a cyclist and was planning on joining up with us and would lead us into the city of Fredericton. We took the old highway #105 and the very high bridge at Jemseg. I do not like heights, so I kept my eyes on the road ahead of me and avoided looking left or right, at least until we were off the bridge. We were then cycling next to the Saint John River and the road was very flat and we were travelling very fast with a wind on our back. The sky was overcast when we started out in the morning and soon changed to a light mist and ultimately a steady rain, so we stopped and put on our raingear before we were completely soaked.

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We were again back on the bike and moving quickly when a pickup truck pulled over ahead of us and on the back was a road bike. One thing I always enjoy is an escort whenever we have to work our way through a network of city streets, as I can just relax and enjoy the ride no longer pressured to watch street signs making sure we took the right exits. The other great thing was that this pickup truck was headed back to the same Home Hardware store that we were headed to and when he offered to take any extra gear we quickly took him up on his offer. We kept only the basics including our rain gear. We were now off again on our way to Fredericton. First we had to cross the Saint John River from Maugerville over to Oromocto and again I kept my eyes straight ahead as it was a long way down to the water on either side of the bridge. When the road sloped down we would quickly catch and pass our escort and then he would pass us on the uphills. We were going fast and were ahead of schedule so we stopped at the Fredericton Airport while he phoned ahead to let them know of our progress. Then we were back on the bikes to an Irving Gas Station which would be our rally point to meet up with our City of Fredericton police escort. The sun had emerged from the clouds, the rain had ceased and it had quickly warmed up and now Bob and I were feeling the heat in our raingear. We had no place to put it as we had put all our panniers on the back of the truck which was now waiting for us at our destination. By chance Brian Spragg, a friend whom I knew from work had been watching for us to arrive today and showed up while we were waiting at the gas station. He and his son had been hoping to meet up with us and would follow us in their car to the Home Hardware. He offered to take our raingear and I made him promise not to let me forget to get it back from him. We were off again, but this time with a police escort through the streets of Fredericton. We were welcomed to the Home Hardware with a barbeque and a musician played and sang. A large group of children from the Fredericton YMCA who were holding a large banner they had made themselves and they made one last minute change. They had added Bob’s name by taping a large section of the banner below, and Bob was very impressed as for the first time everyone did not call him Craig when they met him. It was a terrific turnout and for me a bit of a homecoming. I had spent the summer of 1984 working here as a summer student working in the numerous parks around the city. I unfortunately worked on a tree removal crew and we had the sad job of removing massive Elm trees that had died due to Dutch Elm disease. At the same time I met many wonderful people in the city and enjoyed my first ever canoe trips that summer, including one in the State of Maine lasting nearly two weeks. It is a very nice city. Again there was a microphone and as usual Bob and I spoke to the crowd spreading the word of what was now “Team Craig” as it was no longer a team of just Craig and I, as it was Bob too and included everyone else that had helped us along the way. That list got longer every day! Also here as promised was Warren Spires from the CNIB and after the reception we would head west and he would return back to Halifax. We would not be seeing him again until we arrived home in November. Others who spoke included the Mayor of Fredericton and also the CEO of the Fredericton YMCA who was close friends with the owners of the Riverside Resort & Conference Centre, and when we told her our plan was to camp at Mactaquac Provincial Park, she told us not to go anywhere while she made a call. When she came back she told us we were to stay at the resort at no charge. What could we say except thank you!

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Now before we headed out of Fredericton, I wanted to take advantage of having some extra time by taking Janus to a local bike shop for a quick checkup. One issue that I was having was that the rear hydraulic brakes was losing pressure as there appeared to be an oil leak. Savage’s Bike Shop was just three or four blocks down the street so I told Bob where I was headed and left him to enjoy the barbeque while I took Janus and headed down the street. Once again I did not get to have any cake! Savage’s Bike Shop is actually well known as one of the oldest family owned bike shops in North America, started way back in 1897. Lucky for me the third generation owner was on hand and he ensured that Janus got priority and he also did the work himself. I did have to wait as they had to finish the bike they were currently working on, so Warren Spires who had followed me invited me next door for a coffee. Bob had finished back at the barbeque and was looking to meet up again so I let him know where we were. Bob is legally blind, but is able to get around on his own without assistance, so long as he has an idea where he is going. When I told Bob we were in the coffee shop on the same side of the street as the bike shop, I did not know there were actually two coffee shops. Bob went into first one he came to, which was not the one we were at. He looked around searching for us, ultimately asking an employee for assistance who told him there was another coffee shop further down the street. He then continued down the street to meet us as and we had been wondering what was taking him so long. We said goodbye to Warren and he wished us luck for the rest of our tour. We headed back to the bike shop where they had just started working on our bike. One of the bikes that caught my eye was a Surly Pugsley which is an odd looking bicycle that has tires the size of a motorcycle. I had seen them on the internet, but never first hand. One of the employees owned this one and welcomed me to take it for a ride. Since we were still waiting for Janus, I took him up on his offer and headed outside to the street. All I can say is my first ride on a fat tire bike was definitely different. The tires have so much traction you feel like you could ride over anything. I had always had an interest in this type of bike, but now I was even more intrigued. Meantime our bike was repaired and was ready for the road. The owner was not positive he had cured the problem for good, but everything was working perfectly now and he would accept no money for the work. Fredericton was being very good to us! I am happy to report we never had an issue with our brakes for the remainder of the trip. When I struggled in Newfoundland my wife and sisters worked out a plan to help me get this darn bicycle across Canada and both Bob and I were excited that my older sister Jennie, who lived in Ottawa, ON was on her way to Fredericton the same time we had approached the city from the opposite direction. She was planning to serve as our support vehicle from Fredericton to the Province of Quebec to help us get over the hills of Northern New Brunswick and the Gaspe Peninsula. My sister Jennie’s in-laws also live in the Fredericton area, and everyone arrived at the resort to have supper together that evening. We had a great meal, sharing lots of stories from our travels and were happy that my sister had arrived and we would be spending the next few days with her. I have awesome sisters who have always been there to help whenever needed. I am a lucky brother for sure. Each day my ankle was getting stronger and I stopped worrying about what lay far ahead and began to relax and enjoy each day for what it offered. If I did end up making it all the way to Victoria, BC it would be wonderful, but even if I failed I was still going to enjoy every day and every moment. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I was not going to squander it!

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DAY #18 – Wednesday, August 21, 2013 – Bob likes dogs, but do dogs like Bob?

Day#18: 123kms – Mactaquac, NB to Florenceville, NB We were so excited that we had a support vehicle again! What items do we remove from the bike and transport with Jennie? Everything we can, that’s what! We carried four bottles of water, our repair kit and an emergency kit that included some food, some clothing and of course our wallets as it is important to carry ID when you are at risk of being flattened by a motor vehicle. It is also important to have in case your support vehicle disappears and you need a coffee in the morning! Just saying…it has happened before. When we set out that morning we did not actually have an overly aggressive target, so I was looking at how we could get some extra kilometers in today so tomorrow would not be such a challenge. I do not know who made this schedule, but we were supposed to do less than 100kms today and over 180kms tomorrow. We would see how the day unfolded and decide what extra distance we could cover before dark would force us to stop. We would spend the entire day pedaling parallel to the beautiful Saint John River. The terrain was rolling with some good climbs providing some beautiful vistas, but the climbs although long were not steep. There had been much work done on the Trans Canada Highway through New Brunswick and steep inclines had been reduced to make it easier for truck traffic and we did not mind at all! We also had a good wide paved shoulder to the right of the rumble strip, so we felt safe and could enjoy the ride stress free. Jennie was the most dedicated support crew ever! Way better than our wives who left us penniless and coffee-less on the side of the highway! Jennie would drive ahead a few kilometers and wait for us to go pass, taking pictures of us and giving us encouragement. Occasionally she

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would have the back door of the vehicle open and would have lunch and snacks ready for us. We lamented that we would only have her around for just three days before she had to return to Ottawa. No matter how we pleaded Jennie had to return home as soon as we reached the Province of Quebec, so we resolved that we would eventually have to haul our own stuff once again. Oh, well we would enjoy it while it lasted. We had one reception to stop at today and that was at Stewart’s Home Hardware in Woodstock at 3:00pm, and as has been our habit since Cape Breton, we were right on time when we arrived. We actually arrived in Woodstock ahead of schedule so we took a break down the street using the opportunity to get some food and re-hydrate before we arrived at the barbeque and were interviewed by the local paper. It was a small, but enthusiastic crowd! According to the schedule we were actually supposed to backtrack a few kilometers to stay at a campground on the outskirts of Woodstock, however I do not like to bike east when I am heading west. It was not even 4:00pm yet so we could get more riding in and make tomorrow an easier day. We asked our new friends at Home Hardware what route they would recommend and they suggested rather than go back up to the Trans Canada to take the scenic route along the banks of the Saint John River. We took their advice and headed off to Hartland and once there we would decide our best option for a campground. The road was scenic and for the most part fairly flat except for a couple very, very steep inclines. One we were able to power our way up, but the second was almost like hitting a wall. We gained as much momentum as possible towards the climb and had our legs spinning like electric food mixers when I pulled so hard one of my cycling shoes came out of the pedal and we lost our speed. We got off and walked up the rest of the hill as it was just too steep to get started again! There was no paved shoulder on the road, but we were not worried as traffic was sparse and no one seemed to be in a hurry, no one except one person that is. Even before Bob could yell a warning to me, a car sped by us without slowing down or moving over to give sufficient room to pass us. I just felt the passenger’s side mirror narrowly miss my elbow as the car flew by. Near death experiences get your adrenaline flowing and heart rate up, so I gave a couple whoops to expel excess energy. How crazy that after travelling so many kilometers that our trip almost ended here on a quiet country road in rural New Brunswick. You may be wondering how it worked with a legally blind person on the back, and I can tell you with Bob on the back we had the safest bike in Canada. Bob has virtually no vision in his right eye and only tunnel vision in his left eye, but even with the tunnel vision he is able to see traffic approaching from the rear since he was facing that direction. I not only had my two rear view mirrors, but another eye on the back of the bike. Bob would also wave his arm and get the attention of drivers if it looked like they were not slowing down or aware that we were on the road. We had very few close calls and this one in New Brunswick ended up being the closest of the eighty-five day trip. We met Jennie at the tourist bureau in Hartland right next to the longest covered bridge in the world. We also met a couple other cyclists crossing Canada, however they had opted for the easier route of cycling west to east. Bob and I like to challenge ourselves! We found out that the nearest campground was a long way off of our route, which was not cool with Bob and I as it was now getting late and we did not need extra kilometers added to tomorrow’s already long distance. We decided we would head to a motel located in Florenceville, but to ensure no more close calls on the road we opted to take the old railway trail which ran parallel to the road and would take us right into Florenceville.

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We did gradually learn that when someone told you “it is all downhill from here” it only applies to the aging process and never to an actual road and when someone tells you a trail is in good shape, well they likely mean from the seat of a four wheeler! The trail was not terrible, but for most of the distance from Hartland to Florenceville it was a challenge on the bike and I thought of going back on the road, but we were in no rush and did not have far to go so we stuck with it. The one great thing about the trail was it was almost perfectly flat as it ran along the Saint John River sometimes almost right through backyards of local residents. In one such backyard and I never should of opened my mouth, but we all say things we regret later, so I say “Wow, that is a big dog house!” Next thing we know a very large brown dog is running on the trail and quickly gaining on us. Again adrenaline has us pedaling like madmen to put distance between us and the teeth with legs, but the dog continues to gain and is now inches from Bob’s feet. Two good things that day were that one, I am on the front of the bike and the dog has to go through Bob to get to me and two, Bob has experience with this type of situation and took one of his water bottles and gave the dog a squirt of water square in the face. The dog stopped immediately, turned and retreated home. We laughed nervously and continued to our final destination for the day. Lucky for us the motel was not located near the river, which is sarcasm of course. We had a nice ending to our day of climbing a steep and long climb up from the river, but it was either that or camp in the wilderness and I would not do that to our dedicated support crew! We got checked into the motel and then we needed to get some supper. Jennie had planned on camping all four nights that she would be with us and had packed accordingly. This included a plan to cook meals and we had to eat up some of the supplies before they spoiled. We all headed down into the town of Florenceville and found a picnic table beside a parking lot behind a building across the road from the river. It was not private or scenic, but it was a beautiful evening and we had a great meal together.

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DAY #19 – Thursday, August 22, 2013 – And for our next feat, death by truck!

Day#19: 152kms – Florenceville, NB to Edmundston, NB We had been able to cover almost an additional 30kms yesterday and that will make today so much easier than it otherwise would have been. Regardless, today’s total distance of over 150kms would still be the second longest distance I have covered in one day on the trip, and the longest day of the trip for Bob. I had been regularly treating my ankle each evening and re-taping it every few days. I could tape it by myself, but could be a challenge trying to keep the lengths of tape from sticking to itself when I was trying to stick it on my leg. Luckily, today we had a support crew! We knocked on the door to Jennie’s to ensure she was not going to sleep in and after we enjoyed our complimentary breakfast, I got her to tape up my ankle. Now we were ready to hit the road and the first challenge was to cross the river and climb up out of the river valley to the Trans Canada Highway. No problem for us and when we crossed the long bridge across the Saint John River, Jennie stayed behind us with her four way flashers on to keep vehicles from passing until we could cross.

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We followed our similar pattern with Jennie driving ahead and waiting on the side of the road for us with snacks and water. It was a beautiful day and the scenery was so beautiful. We made good time and stopped at a truck stop in Grand Falls for lunch. We did have one tense moment in the morning climbing up out of Florenceville when we had to cross on a bridge that was undergoing construction. There were two lanes, however one lane was closed for the construction and the construction crew had setup concrete barriers down the middle between the lanes. There was not much of a paved shoulder for bicycles and the concrete barriers took even more space away. It was not a short bridge nor was it an excessively long bridge, so when I saw there was a long break in traffic coming from behind we started across. We were however, going up an incline and before too long I could see a large truck getting larger and larger in my rear view mirror until it was right behind us and not slowing down. We were as close to the railing on the right of the bridge as possible and still I did not think there would be room for the truck to pass, however he did not even slow down. I thought we were going to die, but we did not so we just kept pedaling. I had to let a couple whoops out to release some of the energy brought on by a surge of adrenaline caused by our second near death experience in two days. Who knew New Brunswick was such a dangerous place! We pedaled and pedaled and pedaled and finally in the evening reached the provincial campground in Edmundston. We were now only a few kilometers from the border with the province of Quebec. We checked in to pay for a campsite, but when we gave them one of our business cards and explained what we were doing they refused to charge us for a site. They even gave us something much more valuable…”good advice”! When we said we were headed into Quebec tomorrow they asked if we were going to be taking “La Route Verte” and I had been expecting to be on it inside the Province of Quebec, but had no idea it started in New Brunswick. Even better it ran right through the park we were camping in and followed the road until the border with Quebec until it eventually veered off on its own course through the wilderness. We picked out our campsite and setup all three tens and then cooked supper. With Jennie still having good supplies on hand supper was good and filling. Poor old Bob was tired after such a long time on the bike today that as soon as he finished eating he immediately headed off to his tent. Jennie and I cleaned up after supper and then it started to rain so before long we were all fast asleep in our tents looking forward to Quebec and La Route Verte.

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Top left: Day #14 – Janus secured to Prince Edward Island ferry, Top Right: Day #14 – Reception in Charlottetown, Middle left: Day #15 – Picking out Crocks in Moncton, Middle right: Day #16 – Saying goodbye to Andrea and Laureen, Bottom left: Day #17 – Reception in Fredericton, Bottom right: Day #18 – Cycling along the beautiful Saint John River