I rode down the road to the convenience store, bought some frosted
flakes, a carton of milk, more reese cups, and some other food to get
me through the next day, then promptly collapsed into an unconscious
pile upon returning home.
The next morning, I was a bit late getting on the go, as the owners
wanted a picture of me with their kids and the unicycle. It was cool
though, it's always nice to be able to put a smile on someone's face,
or cause that look of wonder when kids stare up at you.
The day was absolutely beautiful for riding, just the slightest hint of
wind, sunny skies, and overhanging trees on the highway. I rode pretty
much the entire length of the Bras D'Or Lake that day, which was
beautifully calm, with a mysterious foggy bank far away on the other
side. Every so often, the trees on the side of the highway would break,
and I'd be riding with blowing grass on either side of me, the lake
glimmering out over some sandy beach I was pedaling my way towards,
then beside, then away from.
Road construction was a highlight along the way, to be sure. The guys
who are out in the weather fixing up the roads have seen a lot of
stuff, I'd imagine, but I was something new. The looks on the faces of
the heavy equipment operators were priceless.
A woman actually saw me riding down the Route 4, turned around, drove
home, then stopped on the side of the highway to cheer me on, kids in
tow. 'I had to have my kids see this!' she shouted as I rode by. After
a hard day's ride, stuff like this just keeps you going. Marathon
runners know what I'm talking about.
I stopped for lunch in Johnstown, a tiny village surrounded by fields
of grass and hilly hills, and had some lunch on the wharf there, made a
few phone calls home, and watched the caretaker of the church mow the
lawn. If idyllic is your thing, this place was it:
[image: http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/6407/dsc0028201gf7.jpg]
After some rest, I got up and kept riding, starting to run low on food
and water. Water was easy to come by, with all the houses in the area,
but there hadn't been a grocery store for about 65km now. I ran out of
steam in Chapel Island, about 60-65km traveled, and slept in St.
Peter's that night.
The sight of a grocery store to someone who hasn't seen one for days
and needs one desparately is amazing. Walking in, and just looking at
all the _food_, not junk food, but actual real honest to god food was
awesome. I bought a huge load of bananas and some other road food, then
headed to a local cafe for some food.
My hotel that night was a tiny room which barely had room for me and my
stuff (and I didn't have much stuff), which was nice. I curled up after
the now-regular games of solitaire with my souvenier cards from the
ferry, and slept like a log.
The next morning I got an awesome omelette and set off again, and came
upon one of the stranger experiences of the whole trip - I was given a
New Testament. It is a common occurence for people to slow down to my
speed and have a short chat, and take some pictures. On my way out of
St. Peter's, this older couple in a white minivan slows down next to
me, takes a few pictures, and speeds off down the road, stopping at a
gravel turn-around area. I figure they saw me leaving, and drove out to
get a few photos.
Well, as I was passing them in the gravel, they both got out of the
car, and while I was riding past the two of them, the guy holds
something out to me, and says:
Man: Take this, it'll help you on your way! Don't stop!
Dave: Thanks?
Man: It's a gift! From the Gideons!
I looked down at the object in my hand:
[image: http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/2273/dsc0032701ch8.jpg]
That kept me riding full steam pretty much to Port Hawkesbury, and I
took this picture along the way, in fact:
[image: http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/522/dsc0028901ya4.jpg]
A quick stop in the hospital in Evanston got me some water refills, and
that was great because it was really hot out. They even let me fill my
camelbak up from their water cooler. Great stuff. It was another 15km
into Port Hawkesbury, and from there a hopefully short jaunt across the
Canso Causeway to Aulds Cove, where I could get myself a bus to
Antigonish or Truro.
Well, I stopped in Port Hawkesbury to get some food at the Dominion (my
God what a huge store that was at the time - temptation galore for my
poor stomach). I headed out and presumably towards the Causeway, by now
cursing the headwind with all my remaining might. When it let up, I was
beyond happy. I kept on riding, passing a pretty neat wind generation
tower:
[image: http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/5214/dsc0029801qy5.jpg]
After a couple of km, sailing along with the wind at my back, the
traffic had severely let up, and I was in the end faced with a chain
link fence. This was definitely not the route across the Causeway. Some
cursing and about an hour later, I'd retraced my steps to the road to
the true mainland. There was no road shoulder for much of the route
through Port Hawkesbury to Aulds Cove, just across the Causeway. I got
honked at a few times, and I also got incredibly tired, but after some
serious effort, I pushed myself to this sign:
[image: http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/5268/dsc0030501ey7.jpg]
For posterity and the record, I rode the whole thing without getting
off, proving something to someone I'm sure. There wasn't much shoulder
to work with there either.
Aulds Cove was luckily just after the Causeway, and I walked in with
the unicycle, and was immediately greeted by an incredibly curious and
friendly staff. I asked them about the bus, and they mentioned
something about it stopping there occasionally, but that they did not
sell tickets. I needed to make up another day on my trip desperately,
since I wanted to make the end of the Halifax Buskers' festival, so I
really did need to get on this bus. I got some food in their
restaurant, and they were kind enough to let me keep my unicycle in the
back room while I ate.
As it turned out, one of the managers there, named Gordie, lived very
close to Antigonish. He offered (incredibly kindly) to drive me to the
bus stop at St. Francis Xavier, the university there, where I would be
guaranteed to get myself a bus to Truro for that evening. Awesome! We
had a great conversation in the car, and I am eternally thankful for
his kindness.
At St. F. X. , I rode around for a little bit to make myself feel less
guilty for spending so long in a car that day, and enjoyed the
beautiful architecture. Very nice place indeed. To my surprise, there
was actually improv (another hobby of mine - I am one of the organizers
of the Newfoundland Improv Games each year) going on in the basement
pub type deal. I chilled out there and enjoyed the show while I waited
for my bus, a very nice treat.
The bus took me to Truro in a few short hours, and Fran picked me up
from the bus station:
[image: http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/1795/dsc0030701qj0.jpg]
Fran and Al are long-time friends of my parents, and quite good ones.
They were all too happy to have me, and it was wonderful to have them
attempt to feed me everything in their fridge, plus the use of their
shower and spare bed was great as well. The intense sunburn I'd picked
up over the past few days (Great idea, Dave, wear your only pair of
shorts for the only few days of the summer when there's no sunscreen
for 50 miles and it's bright and sunny all day every day and you
haven't worn them yet.. You get the point. Red lobster legs were my
fate - and they also gave me some aloe cream for them as well. Much
appreciated, let me tell you.
The next morning they fed me - eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, and more, gave
me a hat, took some pictures, and I was off again just like that. They
gave me a bit of a head start from Truro (and I was grateful for it
later in the day when I was dropping from exhaustion by the halifax
airport), and I was off. I can't thank you guys enough, it was great to
see you again for sure.
The ride from Truro to Halifax was incredibly pleasant. It was bright
and sunny the whole day, I had a huge shoulder of road to cruise down,
little headwind, if any, and it was either flat or slightly downhill. I
could not have asked for better. The miles just floated by, and I
passed town after town just motoring my way down to Halifax. At some
point I managed to get mentioned on the radio (some crazy guy on a huge
wheel on the highway!), and got into Halifax not quite where I was
expecting, but a quick call to my friend and one final push, around the
harbour and I was cruising towards home for the next few days.
I stayed with a good friend of mine, Nick Goldberg, and his pretty
awesome cat (well, roomate's cat):
[image: http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/7742/dsc0031801pk2.jpg]
I also saw some crazy buskers, got crazy drunk as is the custom with
teenage celebrations of this magnitude, and flew home a few days later.
It was a great trip, and definitely something that will stay with me
for a long time. I hope this write-up wasn't too long, but I didn't
want to leave anything out. And if you got lazy, there were pictures.
Thanks for reading,
-Dave
--
flyer
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