Tag archives for St. Mary’s

Day 2: St. Mary’s to Gander

By Chris Published July 18, 2012

Dad giving the thumbs up as we left St. Mary’s

Breakfast at The Claddagh Inn was dynamite, and they sent us on our way with plenty of Energy to attack the highway back toward the Trans Canada Highway, or the T.C.H. as it’s written on signs here.

As we left St. Mary’s, it was overcast for the most part, and we again went into a little bit of fog… luckily this time it was only for a few minutes, unlike the long stretch we had yesterday.

We caught a little rain!

Unfortunately the decent weather didn’t last long as we had rain on and off along the T.C.H. on the way up to Gander, NL. My rain suit kept me dry, but still it’s not the ideal riding conditions.

While in the Hotel Gander, I was a little surprised to have someone ask, “Are you Chris?” Their daughter in Winnipeg had been following along the ride, and mentioned that we were going to be in Gander tonight. As chance would have it, they were having dinner at the same hotel, and recognized our shirts! Thanks for the cash donation that will be added to the total soon!

We also tried to find a place to get us “screeched in,” but unfortunately we weren’t able to find anything… tomorrow night in Corner Brook is going to be our last chance… hopefully we can get it done before we leave the rock!

Unfortunately the weather limited my photo taking to ZERO today. Hopefully tomorrow is nicer and we can get some decent shots to show you! The video is still rolling though (the above stills are pulled from the video), but I’m having a hard time getting them edited here on the road. I think I’ll have to tweak a few things in iMovie as importing one single file to edit shouldn’t take 45 minutes.

Here are the points of interest from today’s ride:

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Day 1: St. John’s to St. Mary’s

By Chris Published July 17, 2012

After 10 hours of airport and flight time, we made it to St. John’s, NL at midnight last night… very bagged, but we had a few good experiences along the way that didn’t make the flying portion of the trip that bad.

First, we were lucky enough to meet Ron MacLean of Hockey Night in Canada in Calgary. He took my card with the ride details, and was very sincere when he wished us good luck on the ride.

Second, we were served by Julie (from Montreal) on AC118 from Calgary to St. John’s, and she was a gem! Thanks for the free beers, food, and ear buds!

Picking up the motorcycles at Mile 1 HD in Mt. Pearl, NL

We picked up the motorcycles at Mile 1 Harley Davidson in Mt. Pearl this morning at about 10am, and we were treated like gold. I’d like to thank the service department at Mile 1 for setting up the bikes, and getting them ready to go for the trip. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to clean the bikes before the trip, but whatever I know what it looks like clean, and we’ll eventually hit a car wash.

Terry Fox and Monst at his and our starting point

At Noon we met with Zita of the St. John’s chapter of the MS Society of Canada, and also with media from the St. John’s Telegram. There were quite a few people there to take pictures and see the new Terry Fox monument, and I was able to spread the word about my ride to quite a few people. Thanks for the great send off!

What’s that in Terry Fox’s hand you ask? That little fella is named “MONST”, and he means a lot to my sister. When she was in the hospital for over a month last year, her good friend “Dweeb” gave her this little guy and she named him Monst. Unfortunately my sister couldn’t join us for this ride, so in her place she sent Monst… stay tuned for pictures of Monst as he makes his way across Canada!

Cape Spear – The easternmost point in North America

Upon leaving St. John’s we headed straight for Cape Spear, the easternmost point in North America. There was lots to see, but the sky was ready to open up so we just threw our rain gear on and continued on our way.

The ride south on the Irish Loop was dynamite, and the scenery was something that I’ve never seen before! One of the small towns that we went through almost saw the end of this ride though, as some guy obviously didn’t see me and nearly smoked me as he veered onto our side of the road… stand by for the video of that.

As we traversed along the south side of the Irish Loop we drove into the clouds, at least that’s what we called them, and we were pretty much blinded for 45km… luckily there was a car traveling in front of us so I had some taillights to follow. That was the worst visibility that I’ve ever riden or driven in, and I’m glad it’s over. My GPS was indicating that we were riding right along the side of the ocean, but with visibility of approximately 20ft, we had no idea what the scenery around us was like. Hopefully I never have to experience that again!

Right now we’re sitting in the Claddagh Inn in St. Mary’s, enjoying a delicious pint of Fighting Irish Red Ale after a delicious dinner of crab legs. This B&B is fantastic, and I recommend it to anyone that is visiting Newfoundland. PS, Pat recommends that you don’t get a beer tap in your own house. I don’t see the problem, but apparently it is haha

Here are the points of interest from Today’s ride:

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