Day 6: We Didn't Know Hwy 1 Could Be So Complicated

We left at 8am, like usual from our hotel. We had a nice hotel so we decided we should savor the moment via photograph...






We jetted off onto Hwy 1 headed for Canada. It turned out that the "coastal" road was a flop. There wasn't much coastline at all to see and when we did get a tiny glimpse, it wasn't the picturesque view we imagined. The Hwy was incredibly inconsistent with nice stretches and very rough ones. Honestly it was a boring ride.

But alas! The boredom ceased!


There was so much that went on that it was hard to mentally document in the exact order of the occurrences, but I'll do my best to hit the highlights.

The main problem we encountered was a nail in Smoke's tire. Noticing the problem we immediately pulled over into an optometrist's office to took out the plugging kit and got to work. As if this wasn't enough of a pain, Smoke's handle broke from the plugging tool. Luckily we had another kit. Smoke wasn't too sure if the tire would hold up so we all kept a close eye for any drops in tire pressure.

We went through several construction/work zones on Hwy 1 that were frustrating to say the least. Bone in particular didn't like riding in the dirt because it made his bike get dirty. He has the cleanest BMW GS on the planet.

Toward the end of the day we decided to try and take a detour to maybe see some scenery. While seeing something besides nothingness and boredom didn't happen, we did stop for a beef jerky break and Bone needed to stretch his legs. Yes, he was hopping/skipping through the field. It gave me a funny feeling in my stomach. Maybe it was because I wasn't sure if it was okay to laugh or not. The difference between laughing with someone and laughing at them is a thin line. Also, it's rude to point at someone with mental disabilities. I just felt confused. Okay, I'm still laughing, I admit it.




It seemed like when we started to get into upper Maine the temperature changed instantly, like we hit a wall of cold air. From then on the temperature was about sixty degrees and very chilly.

We made it into Canada and started hotel hunting in New Brunswick. Our leader found an Inn on his GPS so we follow it. We're rode along down an unpromising backroad off the interstate and we saw Fred u-turn. None of us knew why so we just went rode down the road. We come to a house that has a little sign letting us know we've found the "inn." It's really more of a bed & breakfast place with just a couple of rooms. So obviously, a no go.

Remember, still no Fred.

Everyone took off and I noticed Bone's bike wouldn't start. I hopped off my bike and we tried to figure out what was wrong. Turned out it was the starter, awesome! I had to push him off, hop back on my bike and catch up with the rest of the group.

The group came to a gas station we passed before the road with the house/motel/inn. Fred was standing beside his bike and looked nothing short of pissed. He vented some of his fury upon Smoke and then obviously felt better. They made up if you're wondering...

Smoke's tire was starting to deflate again, so he had to fix it, AGAIN. I think it will be good to go for the rest of the trip now, however. Two tire fixes in one day is never fun.

So we filled up for $5.60 a gallon and talked about what we needed to do and where to stay. Keep in mind that everyone was starting to get frustrated and just wanted to find somewhere to tuck in and get out of the cold. 3 of us were on the right side of the gas station and 3 of us on the left, with Beaver's bike still sitting at the gas pump.

Someone had to take the lead, but no one wanted to. Bone pointed at Boog, and Boog gave a slow but stern head shake, meaning "Hell no."

We kept staring at each other across the gas station. BOOM! Fred dropped his bike! It was in neutral and when he mounted he accidentally put the bike in first gear and it jumped forward and over it went. No major damage, it just gave us another incident report for the day.

We made it to Sussex and found a hotel.

Here's some pics from the day that didn't make their way into the blog because I didn't want to make the post too long telling each story.

***I've been having tense issues in the writing. I try to see them but I can't get them all. I'm not sure what makes me change tense in the middle of writing when I'm tired but I do...I apologize.