Horizons Unlimited
Maritime Canada
The 74th Crusaders hosted the Horizons Unlimited meeting at their club site looking out over Annapolis Basin.
On the first evening, some HU members went on a local ride to a winery where we were hosted to coffee and a great tour of the winery.
Gord rolled in from Tennessee...
Most of the attendees went on a day ride out to Digby neck. We had a great view of the coast, and a wonderful meal of Digby scallops...
I had made plans for the Digby ferry to St. John, New Brunswick. By 3 oclock on Saturday, the wind was fairly stable and I decided to pack up and head for Digby in order to make the morning ferry. Little did I know that we were in the eye of the hurricane, quite literally. About 30 minutes after I started the ride the winds came up. I had been diverted by fallen trees on the main road, and I had to ride a circuitous route to Digby. The winds increased to the point that I could not make more than 60 kph. At a number of points, the winds were so strong that I felt the front end of Blondy being lifted off the ground, and I completely lost any steerage. Somehow, I managed to make it to Digby and to the motel which I had booked. Even without power, it was a refuge in a very violent storm.
Arthurs' winds were so strong that the ferry was cancelled, and I decided that I would ride out of Nova Scotia and into New Brunswick and north to Quebec. I was able to have an oil change in Moncton, and for the most part by-passed Fredericton, which was in bad shape as a result of the high winds and power outages.
After the HU meeting and the wonderful experiences in the Maritimes, I decided that it was time to head back to western Canada. Over the next five days I rode westward, keeping to the TransCanada. Unfortunately, I missed a turn circling around the city of Montreal, and I ended up going through the middle of the city. I believe that it was there, in the middle of Montreal that I hit some construction and damaged my made-in-Quebec after market rear shock. As my ride west continued, I noticed that Blondie was getting lower and lower. By the time I reached my nephews' place in Calgary, I recognized that we had a problem.
Being a jet pilot, he recognized the problem and was able to haywire the broken shock in place and I made it over the TransCanada without issues, although I was clearly a lowrider. Unfortunately, Blondies' ride to the Maritimes ended on the height of the Coquehalla when her fuel pump gave up the ghost. Between BCAA and UHaul, I managed to get to Island BMW in Victoria within a few days. In addiiton to the shock and fuel pump issue, I was convinced that at 163,000 kilometers the valve chain had finally stretched beyond useful parameters. I was grateful that the Island BMW people were open to try a tricky technique of replacing the valve chain by using a masterlink process, rather than having to open up the engine completely. My nephew had read about this process on ADV rider forum, and we found that by using this method, many labour hours were saved. I was able to replace the seriously damaged Elka shock with the original BMW shock in order to get Blondy and myself back to Tahsis and finish off our ride to the Maritimes..
After my ride to South America, I became much more aware of the fact that I had not seen all of my own country, and I became determined to see as much of Canada as I could while I was able. I am very grateful to all of the Canadians whom I met on this ride. It is very true that the Maritime psyche and culture is very much different than what I am more familiar with. The folks on the east coast are very forthcoming, open, and friendly. I met wonderful people and heard great stories about the land the people.
My next big ride will be heading north to learn about our great Canadian north. I want to visit Yellowknife and experience the North West Territories...stay tuned..
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