Tuesday, April 28, 2009

First Run of the Year - April 26th, 2009

Well, motorcycle season is finally here! The first run of the year was on Sunday, April 26th and it turned out to be a great day and the run was totally unplanned...usually the best kind! My traveling partner was my friend and colleague Luc and his Honda 1300!

Initially, we were to travel to a local high school for a Safe Grad breakfast and then return home...about 120km round trip. We departed Fredericton early in the am and made our first stop at the Mactaquac hydroelectric dam. The water is at flood levels at this time of year and we could not believe the water coming through the dam.

The next stop was for breakfast at a local high school. It was very good, pancakes, eggs, bacon, ham, toast & coffee...well worth the $5.00 admission and for a very good cause! After breakfast, we moved back to the bikes and looked up at the clearing sky. I said to Luc, let's go to St. Andrews, about an 85 km cruise from our current location! Being the easy going guy that Luc is, he simply responded "okay"!

The drive to St. Andrews was great, sunny, 15 degrees Celsius and lots of twisty roads! The best of all, early Sunday morning and no traffic to contend with! We took our time and it took about an hour to arrive at the seaside resort town of St. Andrews, also know as St. Andrews by the Sea.

Once in St. Andrews, we cruised the main street and parked the bikes at the St. Andrews Wharf. I was able to get a great shot off the wharf. We also saw a couple of scuba divers who had just been into the frigid Bay of Fundy Waters!

At that point and time, Luc and I thought it might be wise to call our wives to tell them we had a slight change in plans for our Sunday morning cruise! My wife is never surprised when I call, she just laughed and said ride safe!

Having no plan in mind, I asked Luc if he had ever been to Deer Island, his response was "no I have not". To make a long story short, we pointed the bikes in the direction of the Deer Island ferry and off we proceeded. About half an hour later, we arrived in L'Etete and had about a 5 minute wait for the ferry.

It takes 20-25 minutes to make the crossing to Deer Island. The weather was great and the crossing quite calm. Here is a pic of Luc on the ferry!


And here I am on the Deer Island Princess!


Once we arrived on the island, we proceeded to Lord's Cove to visit a friend of mine. My friend's property has a great view of the Lord's Cove wharf, very scenic! I took this pic from the property a couple of summers ago.



We stayed long enough to have a beer and then it was off to tour the island. There are some very scenic views, including the views from Richardson, Cumming's Cove, Chocolate Cove, Leonardville and Deer Island Point, click here for a map of the island. We stopped at Deer Island Point, where we had an excellent viewpoint of the community of Eastport, Maine.



From there, it was back to the ferry to cross back to the New Brunswick mainland. On the ferry ride back, we received a real treat, we saw a bald eagle sitting on a rock island. I was lucky that I was able to get a good picture as the boat was a rockin' and rollin'!



Once we arrived back on the mainland, it was time to find something to eat. We ventured to Pennfield to Comeau's Seafood Restaurant...this place is well know in the area. We had to wait about an hour, but it was worth it! I had scallops and fish while Luc opted for clams and scallops, food was very good!

We were still over 160km from home and it was about 6:00pm. We decided to hit the road and head for home through Saint John, NB. The drive was good, but the temperature was starting to cool off. We arrived back in Fredericton at 8:00pm, 11 hours after we departed, it was a great run with a total distance of 400+ KM.

Like the MasterCard commercial, cruising on the bike on a nice day...Priceless! Below is the route we covered on the first run of the year!