Home Sweet Elverson

Had a nice - however quick - visit with friends Jen and Phil in Albany - and have finally arrived back home today. 

660 total ride miles

13 total ride days

2400 total drive miles

24 total days

Would like to give a shout out to all our CouchSurfing and WarmShower hosts - thanks so much for your hospitality along our journey.  

Thanks everyone for following our ride!

Can't wait for the next one -- who's in?? :)

Atlantic Vision

We hit the pavement with all kinds of confidence yesterday - last ride - 28 miles - down to the coast -- piece of cake.  Piece of foggy windy hilly cake.  On the way to the top of Windy Cloudy Mountain - I gave serious consideration to just stop in my tracks and stick a thumb out.  If it wasn't for my tenacious nephew I probably would have done just that - but Nick plodded on, resigned to getting to that ferry. 

Once there, we bought our passage and took some much needed showers at the terminal before boarding. Then we waited - to board, to eat, to watch The Toothfairy, to cross the open water, to hunker down and sleep, and finally to disembark -- roughly 21 hours.

12mile ride back to Jacque's house where we were welcomed with warm smiles.  A quick deconstruct of our gear and Nick, Brit and I were off -- heading towards Bangor Maine and maybe beyond -- eventually stopping in Clifton Park NY for a quick visit with friends before the final push back to PA. 

No Whammies! No Whammies!

flat - flat - flat - flat - flat

That's right I had 5 f!£#ing flats today. Not funny. 

We had a 60 mile ride today that was harder than either of us wanted. Going from the coast heading west, not only meant elevation gain - but headwinds the whole way. Not funny. 

Gonna sleep like a baby - in a tent w/ a sleep pad that doesn't stay inflated. Right after I patch a few tubes. Not funny. 

St John's & Torbay

We arrived on Monday to St John's NL - our first final destination. We arranged a stay with Mayo - a CouchSurfing host in town.  He was also currently hosting another fellow from England who was basically hitching across the upper northern hemisphere - Russia, China & Canada -- has been at it for 12 months!

Nicholas, who is a big soccer fan was delighted to hear that they already had plans to head out to a pub and watch the World Cup finals -- but neither of us were delighted that it was a 30min walk - considering our 55 mile ride into town. But it was nice to be out of the - at this point - dreaded bike shorts and walk around. 

It was a pub by the local university and turned out to be standing room only by the time we got there -- worked for us though.  Game was good in my book - all theatrics aside - and Nick seemed psyched just to be catching the final after missing some games leading up to it. 

Tuesday we explored the downtown a bit and took a walk up to Signal Hill - a historic lookout over the bay at St John's - the location of the final battle in the Seven Years War.

After grabbing a bite to eat at a pub downtown, we hopped on the bikes for a quick 8 miles uphill to Torbay to stay with our current hosts - Chris & Paul.

Today, Chris was kind enough to lend us her Yaris to drive around and see some coastal sights - one of which was Cape Spear - the most easterly point in North America.

Last night Paul (the other one) grilled up some steaks for us to dine on - so tonight was our turn. Oh shit. Neither of us can cook worth a squirt - this is the kind of pressure that puts me into panic mode. What could I possibly make that anyone would like? Tortillas with peanut butter and jam? No. Lasagna? No, don't know how.  Philly Cheese Steaks? No way I'm finding Steak-Ums up here! What to make???  [lightbulb]  Oh snap - I'll make my favorite Bucca di Beppo dish - Chicken Carbonara! I've made it before - just gotta find that website again.  Thanks Google!

Success!! The Carbonara was a hit - all that brain sweating for naught. Phew.

Tomorrow we head backwards - to Whitbourne where we met our German riding buddy -- and then Thursday south to Argentia where we will board the ferry back to Nova Scotia. It leaves at 5:00pm and arrives at 9:45am Friday!!! Ho jeez. 

St John's, Newfoundland Canada

Made it. 

everyone sounds like Brad Pitt

Pikeys! This is best way I can think of to describe how Newfies (Newfoundlanders) talk -- now you have to have seen Snatch - and if you haven't seen it, it's a brilliant British comedy with Jason Statham and Brad Pitt - in it, Brad plays an Irish gypsy called a pikey - and you can't understand a word coming out of his mouth. This is how some of the locals talk - exactly. If you've seen the movie you know what I mean - if you haven't, shame on you - go watch it!!

Today we got up around 7:00 CST - taking full advantage of pillows not being comprised of clothing in a sack. Breakfast and on the road by 7:30 PST.  We pedal pounded out 60 more miles - probably the most scenic thus far!!

We were pimpin some wifi at a Visitor Info Center - letting the sun lower a bit before setting up tents in the nearby grass - when a solo touring cyclist pulled up. Crazy - we haven't really seen anyone on bikes all the way across -- getting sideways looks all the time. His name is Simon - from Germany - fresh out of high school, he's been touring for just over 10 weeks - starting in British Columbia - totaling 8,300km = 5,160mi!!!  Tomorrow is his last ride day - ending in St John's.  Not sure we can keep up, but we might try to head out with him in the morning. 

Bad news - the icebergs have been moved out of the harbor in St. John's!!! WTF!! They towed them out so they weren't in the way of boats or something -- super lame - don't they know we're coming?!?  Might have to initiate plan B - park the bikes and rent a car to find is some bergs. 

Rest days are overrated.

Got close and personal with a moose today - well, not so personal - he was on the other side of a walkway railing at the campground - but he did approach as close as 15ft! I snapped a few shots - and so did some of the locals working - claiming they've never seen one that close.  Lucky me!!

60 mile ride day -- knew it was going to start out hilly - and it did. Ended hilly too. Nice day to ride - mostly cloudy and ended in some minor precipitation - and fog of all things.

Decided to crash at a nice trucker motel for the night :)

2 more days till we see icebergs!!!