Day Fourteen - Halifax All Day (sort of)

Friday, August 20, 2010

Greetings faithful friends, family, and arm-chair travelers,

Today was a layover day in Halifax, Nova Scotia, so we did what any good tourist would do, we went for a motorcycle ride. We headed east along the southern seashore in a dense fog that Jack promised would burn off by 10:30, and true to his word, it did. Thanks Jack. The coastline is an interesting collection of lobster pots, dry docked lobster boats, craggy rocks, bays, inlets, small harbors, bridges over rust colored rivers, streams, creeks and brooks running to the sea.

We stopped in Sheet Harbor for gas and inquired as to a lunch spot. We got a recommendation to continue on for 115 kilometers to Sherborne, where I had a soup and sandwich for $6.00 and a generous piece of homemade carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, "to die for," as they say.

Departing Sherborne north bound toward New Glascow, NS, we elected to take a secondary road that led us through a picturesque valley of small farms with hay bales in large rolls, turned brown by the afternoon sun, contrasting on fields of green grass, and multi-colored green forests surrounded by mid-summer wild flowers of yellow and purple. Interestingly, a small community on our route was actually called, "The Garden of Eden." We didn't see Adam or Eve, but we weren't going to take any chances either, so we didn't eat any apples along the way. It was a pretty ride but it was a terrible road full of pot holes, cracks, bumps, and patches everywhere. After one particularly nasty bump, Bill's bike spontaneously quit running and he unceremoniously coasted to the side of the road. Jack diagnosed his problem as a blown ignition fuse and replaced same, which immediately blew again; there was short circuit somewhere. Our task was to find it. We were sixty miles from nowhere. We popped the seat off and Jack and I began to trace the wiring. We found a main wire harness pinched between the seat and the motorcycle frame. Apparently, when Bill's posterior slammed down on the seat after that last bump, the seat crushed the wires, shorted out the ignition and blew the fuse. Now, I'm not saying that it was Bill's few extra pounds that caused the problem, I'll let you draw your own conclusions. Anyway, we re-positioned the wire harness, replaced the fuse, installed the fuse box, side cover and the seat, and we on our way again in 15 minutes.

We made an interesting observation since we entered the north country, that is the lack of any wild animal sightings, no moose, no caribou, no deer, no elk, no lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Sorry, I got kind of carried away. You can disregard the part about the lions and tigers. The only wild animals we've seen in days are road-kill raccoons, dozens of them. Everyone warned us about errant moose crossing the highway, but we haven't seen a one.

We ended our Busman's Holiday ride today with a stop at Privateers Harley Davidson in Halifax, NS,where some of the chaps filled up their last remaining saddlebag space with new T shirts. I refrained; I'm already out of space!

Before I forget, again, we want to send a special shout out to our good friends, Tim and Sylvia and Scott, (and you too Sherill) who intended to accompany us on this adventure, but were not able to due to various circumstances. We miss you alot and we'll look forward to the next one!

Lane asked Steve for his camera tonight so we could download his photos to add to ours on our portable hard rive, like we do each night; unfortunately, Steve accidentally deleted all of the photos he took today (including one of the menu at lunch???) so, you're stuck with only a sampling of ours. Steve uploads all of his photos everyday to his personal blog, if you are interested at http://Sreckon.blogspot.com/.

Showers are forecast tomorrow for our ride to Digby, NS, where we'll catch the ferry to St. John, NS, across the Bay of Fundy, the following morning. Then, it's only a short ride to Maine, USA. Now, whatever did I do with my passport?

Be well and take care.