New England and Eastern Canada

Return to RV Travels Return to Main Below is an interactive map which outlines our journey. Please feel free to scroll around, zoom, and comment! View New England and Eastern Canada in a larger map Click Here for a static map Please look at our Photo Albums by clicking on the links (or Photos) below! New York - Sarah's House Finally, after months of sorting stuff, getting our houses ready, taking care of businesses, preparing the camper, and procrastination, Kim and I, with my daughters Michelle (17) and Nicole (15), headed out in the RV with Boyd and the Bike on board. Our first stop was the home of a friend of mine from High School whom I hadn't seen since then, Sarah (Van Laer) Hanson. We had just recently gotten back in contact when she Facebooked me out of the blue a few months earlier. She and her husband Harry have a beautiful 365 acre farm in Stone Ridge, New York, and we had a wonderful visit. It's always great to re-connect with friends from the past, and this time was no exception, One of the highlights was giving Sarah her first motorcycle ride to the town of Woodstock. The girls followed behind, and we had fun day exploring the Hippie-town! We also spent a fun day rumaging through the antiques that Sarah's mother-in-law left them. What a treasure trove! Boston - Ken's House The second stop on the trip once again was to visit an old friend. This time it was Ken Woods, a good buddy from College. Ken, in typical fashion, thought that when I said I had a "Big Rig", assumed it would fit through the tight streets of an old New England Town. Well, in the end it did, but only after applying some KY (and a chainsaw to some trees). If one of a hundred cars had been an inch more in the wrong direction, I'd still be there! Anyway, we had a great visit with Ken and his wife, and enjoyed Newburyport immensly. Obviously, great seafood, and a beautiful historic old town. Also took the girls to a day trip to Boston for some oysters (and the Boston Beer Works, of course). Portland Our next stop was Portland Maine, where we stayed for a week just outside of town at Wasamki Springs. Nice campground, with a big swimming lake in the middle. We liked the downtown area (old port district), but were not very impressed with the many brewpubs we tried (Stay away from Sea Dog!!). We did like the Brunswick Beach Bar in Old Orchard, where Boyd was his usual hit, of course. Also spent a nice day at the beach. Bar Harbor Bar Harbor was one of our favorite places, and although we only planned to spend a week there, we ended up staying two. Unfortunately, the girls had to fly home after only a few days there, but we managed to get a couple of nice hikes in before I drove them all the way back to Portland to catch their flight. Boyd quickly became the main attraction at the campground, and was a regular sight-seeing stop on the shuttle-bus route! The day after the girls left, Rex and Jodi pulled in next to us at the campground. We had a great time with them riding around the area and eating lobsters (among other things). Really liked the Atlantic Brewing Company and the BBQ place attached. We definitely recommend Bar Harbor, and look forward to returning there. Acadia NP is beautiful, and we spent many great days hiking and riding bicycles on the Carriage Trails there. The surrounding area is also great for motorcycling, and the town itself is a very nice (if somewhat touristy) place to shop and dine. New Brunswick Well, it was finally time to head into Canada, so after furiously finishing up as much of the Liquor and 30-year-old wine we had dumped in the trailer from our houses as we could (not to mention a few other things), we crossed the border. The guard was just about to let us through, when in passing he asked if we had any pets. When he realized that Boyd was aboard, we got pulled over, searched, and had to fill out a bunch of paperwork. Not too bad, all in all. The first stop was Moncton (and the Pumphouse Brewery). We met a lot of nice people there, including Don and Diane, and enjoyed the stay. Took a great ride out to Hopewell Rocks, where they experience one of the largest tide differentials in the world (46 feet!). You can literally walk on the ocean floor at low tide, and the rock formations are magnificent. Don't be late getting back, however, or you may be swimming! We also met our friends Gail and Lenny at Hopewell, with their friends Paula and Jack. At one point we were right in the predicted path of Hurricane Earl, and we kept debating whether to try and escape, but couldn't decide whether to go east or west. In the end, we stayed put, and the hurricane veered east towards Halifax, and all we got was a light rain. Almost disapointing! Nova Scotia The next destination was Nova Scotia. We made our first stop at the Jost Winery. As it turned out, they had a film crew there doing a documentary on the Canadian Wine Industry, and they had a ball filming Boyd helping serve wine to the customers. Stay tuned to channel 5 this fall to see the results! Finally made it up to Baddeck, a beautiful little town half way up the penninsula, to a campground owned by a very nice German couple We stayed there about a week, making day trips to Sydney, Louisbourg, and the Cabot Trail. Beautiful, unpopulated, landscape everywhere! The weather was becomming uncooperative, so after visiting the Alexander Graham Bell museum (you've got to love seeing the phone with phone number "5"!) we decided to move on. Prince Edward Island (PEI) PEI is a beautiful, rural island. We took the ferry over (its free going TO the island) and drove to Charlottetown. We found a great campsite right across the bay from the city, and the views (and especially the sunsets) never failed to impress. Became frequent patrons of the Gahan House (big surprise), a brewpub I had enjoyed the last time I was here. Made a couple of all-day trips around the island to explore the rustic beauty. Finally headed out over one of the longest bridges in the world, the Confederation Bridge (NOT free). Quebec After PEI we decided to head straight up to Quebec. We debated rounding the Gaspe penninsula as I had done once before, but the weather was a bit iffy so we cut across and camped in Matane. The next day we took the Harley up the coast to see the beautiful towns along the way. Had lunch in Ste-Anne-des-Monts at my favorite Pub there (that's another story), then kept on for a bit. When we finally decided we had gone far enough, we thought it might be a good idea to head inland and return through the countryside (and by-pass the construction we had encountered on the coast). The paved road slowly got narrower, finally becoming a well-groomed dirt road with plenty of traffic, so we pressed on. The traffic diminished, the road got rougher, but the map seemed to show that it would turn back in to pavement soon. Not so. The road became gravel, eventually turning into a dry creek bed, and finally a moose trail. The sun was clearly planning to set behind the mountain, and Kim was not amused when I joked that we were about to run out of gas. We pressed on, and eventually came upon a jeep with a pair of moose hunters who flagged us down. They were clearly unhappy (not to mention incredulous) at the sight (and presumably the sound) of a Harley with two "Englishers" on their hunting ground. They admonished us to get off immediately or be arrested. I tried to hide my amusement as I asked the quickest way home (as if I wasn't trying to get the hell out of there!). They waved us on, and soon we came out just where I had anticipated when the adventure began, at "The Gite" (refer to "other story" above). We stopped and had a beer, glad that that trip was over, and then rode the remaining 80 miles back to the rig in the dark. As soon as we hit the pavement again, we saw our first moose, crossing the road directly in front of us. I had to squeeze the brakes hard to keep from passing under this monster! Unfortunately, the camera's battery died before the dirt, so we have no pictures. The next day we drove down the St Lawrence to Riviere-du-Loup, where we stayed across from the Christmas Castle for a couple of days. We then continued on to Quebec City, where we stayed at the KOA across the river from the city, once again in the "English Section". Kim had pointed out in Riviere-du-Loup that it was odd that there were no French people (or anyone else) anywhere near our campsite. In Quebec it was even more pronounced - we were out in the back 40 with no one (other than a small rig from Ontario) within hundreds of yards of us. The frenchies were all right up near the clubhouse! Quebec was a beautiful, old, and historic city, but it was a bit too touristy and pricy for our taste, so after a couple of days exploring, we decided to press on to Montreal. Montreal Montreal was definitely our kind of town! We had a blast there, and not just because of the outstanding brewpub industry there. We visited at least seven (and we didn't see them all), and each one was completely unique and excellent! We made good friends with many of the brewers, and tasted some outstanding brews. We also had the famous Montreal Meat sandwiches at Schwartzes, and attended a Canadiens Hocky Game (in the pouring rain). Although we were only there a short time, we will definitely be going back eventually. Ontario I wanted to get to Toronto to visit my good friend Danny, another high school friend, but one I have seen several times in the past few years. We parked the RV at a campground (basically in storage), and stayed for several days at Danny's house. It was a really fun time, and we enjoyed ourselves with Danny, Sol, and their friends. We did manage to see a few brewpubs before we left. Our last stop in Canada was to attend the famous Oktoberfest in Kitchner. We had made reservations a month earlier, and were staying at one of the main venues. The event itself was fun, but frankly disapointing. Not very German at all! Coors beer in plastic cups, and a band not even reminiscent of the hofbrauhaus. Maybe I'm just spoiled from being at the real thing several times. We did make some new friends, and reunited with some we had met in Bar Harbor. It was finally time to head home, and Niagra Falls was a must stop. We went straight across to the U.S. side because I wanted to get the Boyd situation resolved). After we smuggled him back in, we stopped to check out the falls. On the way out of Buffalo we managed to find a vertically challenged overpass, and we lost our AC unit. Other than that, it was a smooth ride home. 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