Well the 25th finally came and went. Terry and I have been discussing this Big land adventure for over a year and finally we hit the road this past Sunday. We left from Terry's house with our good Buddy Greg Hemmings catching everything on video for our web series we are producing. He gave us the bullet proof executive crash course and videography and we were off.
I was surprised at how choked up I was to leave my family. It was hard to see their faces in the rear view mirrors as we pulled out of the driveway and on eventually to Labrador.
Our Itinerary for the day was to make it to North Sydney and jump on the 11:30 ferry to Port Au Basque Newfoundland. We also planned to visit out adventure rider guru Dwight Burdett and get some last minute advice on the Trans lab as well as sample some of wife, Angele's cooking. What we didn't plan for was a motorcycle rally in Shediac (Dwight and Angeles's home town) that slowed us down to a stall. When we finally arrived at the Burdett's we scoffed down a few burgers, Dwight gave us some succinct advice. "On the loose stuff give it gas. On the looser stuff give it more gas and if you feel like your going to loose it give it even more gas". Sage advice but I doubt I have the orbs in my neither region to actually do it. The last thing he said before we left was, "Have fun and if you get killed it was nice knowing you". Ugh.
After our meeting with the Master we mounted the bikes and wheeled out of town. The ride that followed was pure purgatory.
The drive from Moncton to Sydney is both very long and very boring (beautiful in the fall when you have time on your hands but not when you are racing to catch a ferry). Add in the fact that we left Dwights late and had to do the last hour in the Sydney Highlands in the dark. The Sydney Highlands are the terrorist training ground for moose. They hide in the woods of the narrow highway and spring out on motorist. This was ever present in our minds as we sped to the ferry. When we finally pulled into the ferry terminal with half an hour to spare we could finally relax (I should say I could finally relax, Terry cruised along totally relaxed with one hand as I death gripped the bars. In fact when we stopped in the ferry line up my baby fingers were numb and I couldn't turn my head - I know lightweight).
We loaded onto the ferry at 9:45 promptly and being on motorcycles we were loaded first. When we parked in the belly of the ferry we had to put various straps on the bikes to keep them from tipping over. As I was putting the tie downs on El Diablo a fellow biker suggested I use rope. When I enquired why I should use rope over the beefy steel hooked nylon tie down, he said so I don't scratch the paint. I wondered if he really was listening when we said we were doing the Trans Lab.
The ferry was very nice but had a slight Miami Vice feel to it. Terry and I missed the cafeteria but managed to get some chilli and a couple beers. Terry also scored a private state room with port holes and a queen bed, while I slept in a room similar to the kennels that house passengers pets. Sleep came rapidly after the hell day.
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