We arrived in Bangor on Wednesday June 18 expecting a few showers by the late afternoon. What we hadn’t planned on was the rain overnight AND the next morning. We don’t really mind riding in the rain but I think I mentioned this before- why do it if you don’t have to?! Considering we did not have to be at the ferry till 5:00 pm on the 20th, we opted for another night in Bangor. We stayed at the Holiday Inn close to the Bangor Airport and just off I-95 for the one night but at over $150 a night, we moved just down the road to the Econolodge for a cheaper room (a lot cheaper) and the room was just about as nice. The Odlin Road area is really convenient if you are visiting Bangor or passing through. We ate at the Ground Round restaurant within walking distance and I must say it was pretty good. From here it is an easy 90 miles to New Brunswick via ME 9. When I used to travel this route (and I have quite often), it was a great place to start a new day since Bangor to Baltimore was just about 700 or so miles. This made it two full days from the Newfoundland ferry in North Sydney, Nova Scotia (Bangor being halfway time-wise). Since the new highway in New Brunswick from St. Stephen to Moncton and further on into Nova Scotia via the Trans-Canada, the drive is getting easier all the time.
Thursday June 19 was worth the wait! We hit the road in the bright sunshine and headed further east along ME 9 towards Calais, ME and our crossing into Canada at St Stephen, New Brunswick (NB). We got to the border early and since New Brunswick is on Atlantic Time, we lost another hour. Our first stop was US Customs to pick-up the export documents I sent them a few weeks before. It was an easy process and we looped back around the border crossing complex and stopped at Canadian Customs to import the 1600. I’ve done this before and it can be easy, or it can be hard. All depends on who you get to do the paperwork. I was lucky this time! The Customs Officer was very helpful and made the process pretty painless. I had what I needed (be prepared and follow all the instructions on the internet for BOTH countries) and we were on our way pretty quickly. The border and custom’s facilities for Canada and the US at Calais/St Stephen are brand new facilities and MUCH easier than it used to be when the same crossing was just a really old and small bridge crossing the St Croix River. Customs were in small and antiquated facilities (at least in the US). Our goal for the day was only to get to Fundy National Park, about 50 miles from Moncton (or about 200 more miles from the border) and right on the Bay of Fundy. Since you never know how long the border crossing will take when importing a vehicle, we didn’t plan a really big day.
Our camp at Fundy National Park was pretty good except the biting flies were out in force. We found ourselves “bugged” quite a bit so we took off on the bike for a little sightseeing. The Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world and surge over 40 feet twice a day. That’s VERTICAL feet. It is pretty cool to see boats sitting on dry land tied to the dock and a few hours later, floating in the water in the same place! It really is amazing and something everyone should see. The water in the bay seemingly vanishes (and for the most part, does) and leaves the bottom clear, albeit muddy, to walk out on. We didn’t go for the mud walk but snooped around the visitor’s center and hit the post office to take care of some business. For a chance to see the tides really at work and experience a truly picturesque place, stop by Hopewell Rocks not too far west of Fundy National Park. We’ve been there a few times too. However, our choice was Alma, NB which is a quaint little town and is the hub for the park. Lots of good seafood restaurants are in town and for our visit, the lobsters were in! Soon though, we got chased back to our camp with the threat of some showers that really didn’t show up till much later. Having just about the whole campground to ourselves was a treat (with the exception of the flies….).
We got up early again (still) and found that during the night we had rain showers so most everything left out got wet. In the morning however, we could see some blue sky and that encouraged us since we had about 350 miles to go to the ferry. I decided to check my emails and that’s when the bad news struck- the RIV (Registrar of Imported Vehicles) sent me a message stating that I needed to prove the BMW was not the subject of any recalls and if so, that they had been fixed. Failure to do so means taking the bike out of Canada and not being able to register it where we live. I thought that was all taken care of at the border! I gave all those documents (that Mike at BMW of Las Vegas prepared) to the Customs guy. Not so, it’s not up to him apparently. It was decision time. I’ve been down this road before and it can be really tricky. FYI- US bikes are NOT in the BMW database in Canada so the dealer can not access your bike’s history. I find that all so strange since BMW bikes are found all over the world! The only thing they can do is order a letter from BMW of Canada stating that your recalls are clear. That letter costs $500 plus tax ($65) and can only be had through a dealer. Oh, and it takes about two weeks to get. Hum, good thing Atlantic Motorsports is in Moncton (on our way) AND I know where they are plus, they’ve ‘saved’ me before! We packed fast and headed to see them. Once you cross the border, the clock starts running (you have 30 days) and for us it was even shorter since we were going to be sailing back from Newfoundland in only a week.
After visiting Shawn at Atlantic Motorsports and talking through the situation (I’ve had to do this once before with him about a 2000 R1100RT I had), we decided that we would not spend the money and take our chances with the documents we had. I figured the border agent did not send anything to the RIV and I found out eventually that I was right. We got to Moncton around 9:00 am and had plenty of time to get to the ferry so we just headed off and were chased the whole day by rain clouds. We only got slightly wet on our way to North Sydney, Nova Scotia.
I have driven across Newfoundland quite a few times. The 600 miles from the ferry landing in Port aux Basques to St. John’s is no longer fun to drive. Most folks don’t realize just how big the island of Newfoundland is. Consequently, we cherish the North Sydney to Argentia ferry now even though it is longer (16 hours vs. 6 hours) but lands you in Newfoundland within 1 ½ hours’ drive to St. John’s. We arrived about 3 hours before sailing time (be sure to do that) and loading began shortly thereafter. We always get a cabin and make the most of our ‘cruise’ across the Cabot Strait. After tying our GTL down for the crossing, we settled into our cabin after a few beers and dinner at the buffet. The crossing was pretty good (smooth) and as we peeked out of our cabin window in the morning, we could see our arrival at Argentia (an American naval base during WWII) was socked in with clouds. We suited up and took our time getting off the ferry but were home in short order. Nice.
On Monday, June 23 we stopped by the BMW dealer in St John’s (Avalon Motorrad) to inquire about that expensive letter again just in case what I was about to send the RIV would not do the trick. To make a long story short, between help from Mike at BMW of Las Vegas again and the printout from the database in the US I brought with me, I received a confirmation back from the RIV within a few hours that all was fine and I could get the bike inspected, titled and licensed in Newfoundland. What a weight taken off! By Tuesday afternoon, we were completely clear of all that and to ‘celebrate’ we took a ride out to Cape Spear (the eastern-most point in North America) to see the two pretty big icebergs at the entrance to St. John’s harbor and the other four floating around in the ocean just offshore! The northern and eastern coasts of Newfoundland are some of the only places you can see icebergs (and it being relatively easy to get to). It is hard to believe but icebergs make the climate much cooler. You’d be surprised. It was only 55 degrees out at the cape and the wind was up quite a bit! This part of the world is considered iceberg alley and remember- it was only 400 miles southeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland that the Titanic struck one in April 1912.
We already had our reservation for Saturday, June 28 to sail back from Argentia on the same schedule (5:00 pm sailing, arriving North Sydney, NS around 7:00 or 8:00 in the morning). In between our coming to Newfoundland and our departure, we visited family and friends and took it easy. It was a nice visit, albeit cool, but we were anxious to get back to our ‘exploring’. Our departure from Argentia was uneventful though we met a nice couple from Germany who had rented an RV in Halifax and were spending 3 weeks in Atlantic Canada. He was happy to see we owned a BMW! The crossing was as smooth as they come in the North Atlantic and we arrived late in North Sydney at about 10:30 in the morning. No worries, it was a beautiful sunny and warm day, just what we needed! We headed straight away to Louisbourg National Historical Site in Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, a short 50 miles.
Louisbourg is the site of a French fort from the 1700’s when the French ruled this part of Canada and one of the best preserved colonial forts in North America. The park offers a shuttle bus to the fort itself and you can walk around the grounds and take in some of the exhibits of what life was like back then. Rein actors can show you metal working, leather crafting, bread making and a whole host of other activities that kept the fort and its personnel running. You can have lunch at the restaurant and enjoy typical fare from the period. Cannons are fired periodically and personnel throughout the fort help you understand what life was like. Be sure that when you approach the guard at the entrance to the fort you tell him you’re French!
We left Louisbourg and continued east to take in another park and one of the best east coast motorcycle roads. We’ve driven the Cape Breton road a few times before. It was great to arrive at Cape Breton Highlands National Park in plenty of time to get settled into our campsite at Ingonish Beach and take a walk down to the beach. Although the campsite was a little buggy, we didn’t have many other neighbors of the two legged variety. Cape Breton Highlands NP has some pretty spectacular scenery as you drive around the Cape on the (part) park road and (part) Provincial road. Not only is the scenery from your bike great but the park has plenty of trails that lead inland as well as ones that cover the coastal areas. We gained access to the highlands via the Englishtown Ferry that takes all of about 5 minutes to make its crossing. Just off the Trans Canada Highway, the ferry saves quite a bit of driving if you are headed east from Sydney, NS. We only stayed in the park one night and by Sunday, June 29th, we were headed to Baddeck, NS, the birthplace of British (at the time) aviation. On the way we got to see a bull moose along the road and experience a piece of road much worse than the road we negotiated in Maine. It was relatively short but the road from Tarbotvale through the St Ann’s region and onto the Trans Canada again is pretty bad. Try to avoid this stretch if you can or drive REAL slow like we did!
We got to Baddeck early and our stop was the Alexander Graham Bell National Historical Site. Bell was the inventor of the telephone, among other things. The visitor’s center was laid out pretty nice with the majority of the exhibits dedicated to Bell and the rest to the aviation history of the area, of which Bell was also a contributor. Pretty cool stuff. As for the aviation part, the Silver Dart was the first British flying machine and it was on the (frozen) Bras d’Or Lake at Baddeck, that it took flight. Also in the museum are early hydrofoil and other aviation related devices. It was a really interesting place to visit. We’d been by here quite a few times since one of our favorite restaurants is in Baddeck, the Bell Buoy, and we always stop there to and from the ferry. As this trip has come to be, this time, we took the time to visit a spot we’ve passed numerous times. We’re happy to have made the stop THIS time! However, we didn’t stay too long since we knew we wanted to get to Prince Edward Island relatively early since we had never been there before and didn’t know what to expect.
We cut off the Trans Canada at New Glasgow, NS and headed north to the ferry at Caribou. We arrived just as they were loading the ferry for the short 75 minute ferry cruise across the Northumberland Strait. We were pleasantly surprised that there is no charge for either the ferry or the drive across the Confederation Bridge into Prince Edward Island. The only charge is when you leave by either route. Before we knew it, we were at the Wood Islands ferry terminal and we continued on the Trans Canada towards Charlottetown, PEI. Prince Edward Island is really not that big. About 300 kilometers (180 miles) from stem to stern and a beam of roughly 50-75 (30-50 miles) kilometers (that’s length and width for you non-nautical types), it is really easy to get around! We decided to stay at the Lord Selkirk Provincial Park, only about 35 miles from The Capital of Charlottetown. This was a nice park right on the water. Attached are a 9-hole golf course and a pool. It really was appealing at first and then we found the menace lying in the grass- mosquitoes, plenty of mosquitoes! We heard that they have gotten really bad since the bat population got a disease that has reduced their number. Probably White Nose like in the States. Anyway, if not for the onshore sea breeze, it would have been intolerable. We set up camp and enjoyed the afternoon by the ocean and the evening sunset. It was a great way to finish up our June travels.
June by the numbers went like this: total miles traveled were 3,490 (not counting the 350 R/T miles on the boat) for about 22 days of driving. We spent about 18 days lounging around in Baltimore and St John’s. That’s an average of 158 miles a day, about the same as May. Since January 1 at the onset of our National Parks Tour, we have clocked 19,226 miles. We are feeling like the GTL is part of us, and we part of it now! We visited 34 new national sites (both US and Canada) for a total of 160 so far. We also logged 8 new states (including 4 Canadian Provinces) for a total of 28. We’re qualified!
Our gas mileage remains pretty good at 40.5 mpg overall according to the onboard computer. As for gas cost, in June we spent $377 in gas, slightly more than May. However, once we were in Canada the cost shot up to around $1.47 per liter or about $5.88 a gallon for midgrade (supreme was always higher than $1.52 or so a liter). We tried to limit our speed to 100 kph to stretch the gas as best we could. So, if you hate paying the $3.50 or so in the US, stop complaining! I have! It was somewhat shocking to put over $33 of gas in the bike.
It was be good to get back to traveling again. Motorcycling, but travel in general really clears your head. It also gave us a chance to visit Prince Edward Island and see some pretty nice countryside there. Even though we had been to a number of the spots before, getting back out there gave us the chance to see other special places. We’re already in July continuing to visit new places that hold secrets yet to be discovered by us. We’ll be back soon with our next installment of our National Parks Tour! Stay tuned! Greg & Cynthia.