We woke up early as usual, and we were ready to roll at 7:30 a.m. We already had a game plan for today. It is going to take us two days to get to the Cabot Trail in Cape Brenton, and riding some of the back roads in Maine are nice, but are tedious. Maine is more populated than you think, and even though they have vast wooded areas, it seem most of the population in these parts are close to the highway, meaning lots of small towns, small industries, and dealing with truckers hauling timber and goods. So in our routing today, we opted to do a hybrid approach. Some interstate, some back roads, and have bail points on our route.

When we left Bangor Maine at 7:30, it was overcast, a May Gray/June Gloom type of morning with a slight fog. We had an hour jaunt up north on Interstate 95 till we got to the town of Lincoln and we did our exit off the interstate and my hives stated to dissipate along with the fog. Topped off with gas in Lincoln and headed east on some back roads that Google had routed us on. We start heading deeper into Maine’s wilderness and there are fewer and fewer houses around, and the roads are good, then horrible. It was like I was mountain biking on some spots, picking my line on the payment to miss the cracks and bumps and swells. We finally get to a border crossing in Vanceboro U.S. for Canada into St. Croix, New Brunswick. Before crossing, we stop for gas at a small gas and general store place for water/snacks. These are some of the nicest people in these small towns, we chat it up with the owners and workers as we take a break, and they notice we are a long way from home. We even had a local guy who told great comical tales living in this area.

After Rick rebooted his phone to update his cell service to work in Canada, we got going. We turn the corner and there is a gate. We wait and the gate opens. I think this is easy, no questions. But there is another gate and building ahead and there we are questioned, but more because the agent is bored and curious about us because he doesn’t get that many people crossing here. We then start heading east again and the roads start out great, but as we continue east past town and into wooded areas, the road quickly returns to chop and I turn into mountain bike mode. The road does eventually get better, but it was tiring so it was time to use a bail point and hope on the highway.

The highway here though isn’t as crowded and jammed as is in the states, so it is very pleasurable to ride with the bike. Not many cars or trucks to pass and you have the road to yourself at times. We make good time once on the highway and click off some miles east till about 4 p.m. when we like to start looking get a place, especially since we have been riding on a clear day and 94 degree heat.

We pick the town of Moncton first but decided against it and we had some energy to go to the next town about 60 miles, which was Amherst. Now the weather cooled down dramatically on this leg of the ride and as we approached Amherst, the temp was now 72 degrees and the wind was constantly blowing across our path. This is an obvious windy area as land masses skinny down here and there is water on both sides,

When we exit there, I notice quite a few bikers around. We pick a hotel and it turns out there is only one room left at the Comfort Inn, and it has a King with a sofa bed. We find out there is a biker rally in town this weekend, the Biker Bash. The manager tells us the other hotels in town are booked up also. Neither of us wanted a sofa bed, so it was off to the next town, about 1 1/2 hour away, but before we left, I reserved a room at the Best Western in Truro, NS.

It was an enjoyable knowing we have a place in the next town and we take our time and pull into Truro at the Best Western, where we greeted with a smile, service, has an attached bar and restaurant, and we are given a couple of 50% of draft beer coupons too boot. Lucky for me Rick used all his tokens up and I get a two for the price of one.

After checking in, cleaning up, and I have my two beers, turns out we go across the street for dinner at a funky local bar with attached pizza joint. I try a local area dish called a Donair and get the large, and Rick orders a large Pizza cause I want a couple of slices too.

Never heard of a Donair and I like to try new things while on the road. This was similar to a gyro, but with another type of seasoned meat, and the wrap was not a pita, more like a pizza dough. It was topped with onions, lettuce, tomatoes, some type of melted cheese, I asked for jalapenos, and all this was topped off with some type of sweet sauce. I loved it but I could only eat half of it, along with a couple of Rick’s pizza. I texted my friend Larry a couple of questions about this area and he laughed about a Donair, called it a diet plate. He evidently knew about this dish.,

Rick and I talked about the day, headed back to the room, where I tried to catch up on the blog and Rick mapped out tomorrows route.

Cabot Tour 2023-07-07 ride video