The Loop Of Kent County Day 1 of 1 - Baie-Sainte-Anne, Canada
Baie-Sainte-Anne, Canada
The Barkbuster Storm Handguards arrived as expected, AFTER the Cabot Trail trip. The Hand guards were a takeoff from a wrecked Versys. They were a little scuffed on the ends, but the storm plastic bits can be found cheaply. They are the VPS style full alloy wrap around type that will certainly protect the levers during a fall. But, the end weights and bolts were missing. Good deal for $28 bucks plus $20 shipping. Install went well. But they contact the windscreen at full lock.
New riding gear on the way. But more importantly, new boots. Finding the right boots has been an issue since I started riding Buzz at the end of July. My sport bike shoes were nice and flexible and easy to feel and move the shifter and rear brake. I could point my toes to touch the ground on the high Versys seat, and then walk comfortably around in them, but were as waterproof as an old pair of wool socks... and had such a soft soul that it was actually painful to stand on the pegs. My motocross boots are fantastically water resistant, they offered huge protection, but they were like wearing two casts and they contacted my shin guards. I think I found the happy medium. (Alpinstars Tech 2) I hope these find me fast.
Well, it's 10:00am and its time to go. The chain is lubed. The oil is good, and I have half a tank of petrol. The plan today is to loop across Miramichi, then follow the Rt 134, all the way to Cocagne.
The ride started with some excitement. The plan was to head to Rt 126 via Killam Dr. and Homestead road. I wasn't paying attention, and drove straight past the exit on Wheeler. So I decided to take Mountain Rd. up through Lutes MT instead. I was in the hammer lane on Mountain Rd. when a minivan turned left out of Glad Tidings and almost literally pushed me into the other lane. I drove past the woman driving and she never even as much as waved in apology. I stay in that lane past the Trans-Canada Highway where a half tone pickup truck pulled out of Tim Hortons right in front of me. I locked the rear wheel and grabbed a whole bunch of front break. The driver, with coffee cup in hand, just stopped with his whole truck in my lane. Buzz did manage to stop in time, but I stalled the engine during my panic stop. The driver gave me the finger, then spun his tires and took off. I got the license plate number. I started up the bike and drove into Magnetic Hill to decompress. In the last 45 seconds, I could have been seriously injured or worse. I remembered why I took my leave of motorcycling 3 years ago. It was situations like this. I consider myself a very defensive driver. Yes, I exceed the speed limit, but never within a kilometer of another human being. So, I had to make a decision of whether to call it quits for the day of soldier on. I chose the latter.
So passing Lyons Country Store I settled into a comfortable pace. I use to work in the Coal Branch area, so I am quite familiar with this bit of road. It was nice to see what has changed, and what has not. For example I was very impressed with the new Rogersville Fire Department. The road past Rogersville is brand new, perfect pavement. I rolled into Miramichi about 11:45.
I swung the Versys into a parking spot in front of city hall. I walked across the town square and grabbed a coffee at Tim Hortons and took a seat near the Lord Beaverbrook Bust. Apparently, the slab of concrete that makes up this memorial is mixed with his ashes. So I sat there and enjoyed my coffee. Lord Beaverbrook (AKA Max Aiken) is from here. From what I understand, he named himself after a river near here that has long since dried up. I love all this history **** so I was looking forward to the Beaverbrook House visit that I programmed into my GPS. I was more than a little ticked off to find that it was closed for the season. So I walked around and snapped a few pics.
The next programmed coordinates were for a store named Pro-Nature that my co-workers have been talking about. The flyer has this 50 liter waterproof dufflebag that has my interest. It was on sale for $40, but was now up to the regular price of $80. I played dumb with the girl at the cash, explaining that I rode my motorcycle all the way up from Riverview, almost getting killed twice, so she gave it to me for the sale price. During the Cabot Trail trip Medic Joe gave me his cargo net that I strapped to the rear seat. I like it so much I bought one the day after we got back. So this served me well carrying the duffel bag home.
It was time to start making for the coast. I jumped onto Wellington St. and headed east. I didn't get very far. I found this Island called Middle Island. This was quite interesting. This is were a huge number of Irish arrived to this country escaping the Great Irish Famine during 1845-1852. This was interesting. Pics taken. I continued east to the coast. I ran Rt 117 all the was past Baie Sante-Anne. This was a great part of the drive. I had to pull over to open the vents in my jacket because my now southerly direction down the coast was with the wind direction. I pulled into a town called Pointe Sapin. I drove once again right out onto the wharf to watch some of the fishermen heading out to get their traps. It was very nice here. Not far down Rt 117 was Kouchibouguac National Park. Like most parks Buzz has been through this was a great ride. All the roads were, federally, well groomed and financed. I headed toward the beach and drove right down to the water's edge. Very peacefull. I sat down to eat my pepperoni stick and watch the birds along the water.
Rt 134 was now my southerly route leaving the park this took me through St. Louis De Kent, then Richibucto. I was stopped dead in my tracks just after driving through Rexton. The road was barricaded and there were a total of six police cars blocking the road. In each cruiser there were up to 2 RCMP officers that looked to be playing Angry Birds on their phones. This forced a 180 and a short drive down New Brunswick's most dangerous Highways, Hwy 11. I took the Rexton exit and witnessed the blockade from the other side. There were a few people wearing black hats walking around what looked to be tree limbs dragged across Rt 134. I don't really understand the anti-industry stance these people have. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion. But how are they allowed to block traffic? And why are there CBC trucks all over the place filming dozens of publicly paid officers staring at their phones? Why are arrests not made, and roads re-opened? I don't get it.
I continued beyond my interruption down the Rt 134 southbound. I went through St. Anne De Kent to Rt 475. This will take me along the coast toward the big Bouctouche dune. Before reaching the dune I noticed a whole bunch of giant windmills out at sea. This did not make a whole lot of sense to me, so I pulled over to access Google Earth on my iPhone. I turns out to be the wind farm at Cedar Dunes Provincial Park in PEI. This is of course the opposite end of PEI that Medic Joe and I crossed last week. I arrived at the dune and was completely disappointed. I came down here in the early 90s and was able to lock my old hubs on the Jeep and drive the 10km out to the tip of the dune, where you had the place to yourself. Now it is all closed off to humans. There are fences up, and walkways built, but it is apparent that the dune is closed off to people.
I finished off my ride today by Turning south in Bouctouche down the 134, all the way to the bridge in Cocagne. I stopped here and looked across the bay to Cocagne Cape, were I was in a riding trip in September. Highway 15 took me home to that dreadful traffic at 5:00pm through Moncton.
Ride done...
So what worked, what didn't? Once again Buzz just ate up the miles. No complaints. I have changed and tweaked so many things that I can honestly say everything is as it should be. The only complaint of the day is that my feet were freezing... that's it, and new footwear is on the way.
On to the next ride.