Below are entries to catch you up:
Monday
On Monday morning BMRPop and BurgMa headed to the Suzuki dealer in Bangor to get oil changes while Czookie headed to a locksmith to fix the broken off key in her GIVI case. Lucky for her, the locksmith had a variety of nice customers to keep her entertained while she waited for the shop to open. She arrived at the Suzuki dealer just as the Burgman was getting out of the service bay, and the dealer was able to promptly give the Wee strom an oil change. A service unique to this dealer is the "shampoo and blow dry" each bike gets after service. We were amused by the leaf blower they use to dry the bikes!
It was also amusing to us that country music is soooo popular here in Bangor. Our hotel lobby had it playing as did the motorcycle place. In fact, the parts person was thrilled we were from Nashville and wanted to know how many cowboy boots and hats we each owned, and did we know any country music stars.
We discussed our choices for routes to Madawaska with the Suzuki sales and service persons. Our mapping had us using Rt 1, as bloggers had warned of the logging trucks on Rt 11. However the saleperson said Rt 11 would be fine ad even checked with a friend who had driven it recently. We were guaranteed to see 6 - 12 moose!! We were very excited.
Route 11 was fantastic. In fact, they should close that road to everything but motorcycles; it was that much fun!! Yes, there were numerous timberloaded trucks but most were headed in the opposite direction and, for the most part, the road was in fairly good shape. We climbed up mountains and enjoyed the vistas, and then whooped as we roller coastered down the hills, making our stomachs tumble. A lot of the times we were the only travellers on the road, temporarily picking up a local car or two as would pass through a quaint little town with its token white church building. Disappointingly we only saw one moose; it was wading in a marshy area and hardly visible form the road. From Rt 11 we took Rt 1 from Fort Kent (the other terminus of Rt 1) into Madawaska. It curves right along the St. John's River with picturesque green hills of Canada on the other side. We all cheered and pumped our fists in the air as we entered Madawaska, and immediately set to completing our obligatory picture taking and other 4 corner's tasks.
Woohoo! Corner number two is done!
For dinner we sampled some local fare (pontine and ployes), and retired early, set on leaving super early the next morning to cross the Canada border --looking for more moose!
Tuesday
Leaving Madawaska Tuesday morning we had some time to make up. After a quick breakfast at Martin's, we were on the road and crossed the narrow bridge into Canada border by 7:10. BMRPop was first and while remaining on his bike and with his helmet still on, spent a few minutes talking to the customs agent. She then waved him on. I followed. The customs agent took my passport and then asked if "I had the same story as him", pointing at BMRPop who was parked a few yards ahead of me. Wow --was this a trick question? I had no idea what BMRPop had said. Should I say "yes", or should I ask "what exactly did the BMRPop tell you?" I decided to keep it simple and just say yes. The agent handed back my passport and waved me through. We heard from Czookie later that the agent had waved her through with just a showing of her birth certificate.
A quick tour of Edmundston and we were hunting for Canada Rt 2 and I was trying to remember my French lessons from 40 years ago. Realizing that we had taken a wrong turn, Czookie and I did a Uturn while BMRPop took a scenic ride around the block. Now we were out of sight of each other, and dependent upon the AutoComm system to reconnect us. A quick exchange of landmarks and we were back in synch. Edmundston is a quaint and scenic village but the papermill smell is offputting.
The trip on Rt 2 was very scenic with light to moderate traffic and a lot of construction. This is snow mobile and ATV country. There were trails with rest areas parallel to Rt 2 and a lot of snowmobile and ATV crossing signs. There were also a plethora of Moose Crossing signs but at days end we had not seen a single moose.
Just as we approached the Rt20 (the Interprovince road to Quebec City and Montreal, the rain started, Czookie lead nearly all day and she wisely pulled off into a Tim Horton's, the Canadian equivalent of Starbucks. We broke out the rain gear and everyone was warm and dry through 40 minutes of moderate rain. Communication with people in the provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec is in French which I forbade BMRPop from speaking as his accent is so poor. At our next stop we were able to buy gas, coffee and some lunch without much trouble, just alot of smiling and Oui, Oui, Merci, Merci. BMRPop took a picture of one of the several Spyders we saw on the road.
We called it quits when we reached Gananoque, a
resort town on the St. Lawrence. A one mile walk to a leisurely dinner (with a pitcher of beer) on a terrace overlooking the river was a great end to a long day. The local weathr report called for rain for the next day. The GPS indicates 1800+ km to Omaha - that means 2 whole days of 550 miles each to make our service appts on Friday.
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