Day 31 to Miramichi
Wed 10 July 2024
Distance covered: 681km
The overnight ferry crossing to Nova Scotia was smooth and uneventful, though I didn't luck on a cabin and ended up sleeping on the floor in front of my reclining chair in my armored motorcycle pants, with my jacket as a pillow. The armor definitely help cushion the floor and I was actually slightly comfortable, enough to get six hours of fair sleep.
I felt the start of another hot day as I rolled off the ferry, already 22C and very humid. The remnants of Hurricane Beryl are coming through today and the next couple of days, which means messy rainy weather and I thought about contingency plans other than PEI and the Gaspé depending on how things play out weatherwise. Environment Canada issued a statement for Moncton and PEI that said "significant rainfall has been seen in the past with 20 to 50mm of rainfall and pooling water" starting this evening. Well OK, something to monitor.
Stopped in Antagonish because the GPS said there was a Starbucks there, and there it was on campus at St Francis Xavier University, why not? Folks in the lineup looked at my jacket and said "you must so hot!" because it was all of 26C out, bless their hearts, then I explained it was a mesh jacket and they went 'oooooh' and I elaborated by saying it wasn't the type of mesh jacket that Cher would wear. One of the students asked about the license plate and I said "that plate is from Calgary" and she appeared to believe me, then I felt bad and confessed my plate is really from California, and she squinted as if she didn't believe that.
Back on the very new Transcanada Highway--for the rest of the day, it was a freeway, two lanes in each direction, offramps and everything--and the miles flew by quickly.
Stopped at yet another UNESCO site (the original TripAdvisor seal of approvals) where an intact 300 million year old fossil forest is emerging from the cliffs as the massive Bay of Fundy tides tear off cliff chunks every day. Walked down to the foggy beach, saw a fossil a minute they were that common, including the imprint of a tree trunk--though there weren't any trees at the time, this was just a 30m high club moss "tree".
Back on the road, thinking thinking. thinking PEI adds another couple hours, plus it's a $20 toll--not worth IMHO for the micro-achievement of visiting the micro-province. Where to stay then? It's 3pm so I asked my body. Body responded with a terse "I'll put up with two more hours of riding", so I booked a room in Miramichi and scooted there for the night... and made sure that room had a decent bed when I checked in, though really anything will be better than last night's ferry floor.
Shower and sleep rounded out the day.