New Brunswick / Nouveau Brunswick

DL 650 Suzuki V Strom

Most people don't know it but NB is the only CDN province that is actually bilingual!



WAAAAY Back, when the Woolly Mammoth fed the natives, and just slightly younger, my Kamloops buddy, Ron was still in diapers eating Gerbers and going vroom vroom through drooling lips... mother nature was doing its thing to transform the planet.  It took God/nature eons to create the Earth as we see it today. 

Being a history buff, I enjoy watching documentaries, going to museums, and I am in absolute awe, anytime I open my eyes! 

Had did this all happen?!

Another happy Lobster fisherman

Sure, we (not as in 'me') as in Mother Earth went through its acid choking, belching volcanic, tearing continents apart, smashing them back together, dinosaurs that would eat you crush you, collisions with asteroid days that would knock us around on our orbit, ice ages as recently as12-20,000 years ago... and all to get to this stage, timing all that upheaval to give an unworthy guy like me, some place to ride my bike giving back to those dino fossils.

We had to send Liz home... there are only 36,000 pounds of lobster left in here.

Really, am I the luckiest bastard to have ever lived or what!  :)

Take for example a month or so ago.  Niece Liz has landed at our humble abode in PEI, we're over near St John visiting the new house/baby etc and the subject of a wedding comes up in the conversation. 

Hopewell Rocks NB at high tide

Seems Lisa, and Rick with of course Prince William (he's not a real prince, so this is my royal disclaimer... I don't want any of them to sue me for false pretenses)  are flying to British (where the real Princes live) Columbia for somebody's wedding.  As I am petting Jagger (I just call him "Mick" but he's not the real Mick Jagger so don't sue me) the big black furry creature at my feet licking my outstretched hand I ask non nonchalantly...  

"So, who's looking after the house and feeding/walking Jagger and providing Jaxie with a hand to perforate with pin sharp teeth and claws, while you're gone?"

Without waiting for an answer, I say "You know I could ride a bike over and look after the furry part of the family while you're away..." 

Of course, how can they turn me down, right!  In the bargain, I get some of the most amazing and little known terrain to ride on the planet... and I get like real high speed internet!!!

Nuff Said, everybody's head goes through the confirmation nod and we're in.

After Liz personally sent several fisher-persons (?) kid to college for a year, cleaned out virtually all see food within a 50 km radius, I place her on her long flight home to Leduc.

Back in the day, while operating my motorcycles business, I rarely had time to go scooting off the Island, with the exception the Nationals at Shubie near Halifax.

These days, since I've retired, I still don't seem to have much in the way of spare time.  Just this past weekend I planned, sketched and executed an exciting multi purpose make over in my office! 

I have several street legal bikes that would be suitable for such a trip.  I could ride my Triumph Thunderbird which does have a little windshield and leather saddlebags topped by a Givi trunk, suitable for the look of the bike.  It has plenty of power, gets good fuel mileage and I love feeling the pulsations of the triple cylinder mill.  And it's rare.  I get lots of comments about the bike.  Hard to believe for us Gringos over on this side of that ditch known as the Atlantic Ocean, that it was Triumphs best selling model for years.  Only the factory fire in '02 that literally melted the T Bird production line insured it's demise.  In my humble opinion, it is a much nicer looking bike than the New T Bird cruiser.

Pretty and works great too, sounds awesome

Then I have my XT 600, a bike that has seen much varied terrain including a trip to Cabo via the back roads from PHX back in '98.  Unlike PEI which has clay roads, NB has real ground Appalachian gravel covered roadways.  Except for the highway portion, much of which I could manage on tiny ency weensy triple digit back back roads, it would be fine.  I have soft luggage and after all... how much gear did I need?

My trusty XT 600A

Scooters are great 90 mpg

Then of course I have a road going scooter.  My SYM 300 Citicom is just fine on the secondary road system prevalent on the mainland.  It's light and nimble, has built in storage under the seat and in the trunk, and with 21 bhp, I'd have no problem maintaining the 100 kph speeds I'd encounter on the faster sections.  It also delivers around 85-95 mpg!  The 10 L tank would only have to be filled occasionally.

Ultimately I chose to ride my Suzuki DL 650 best known as the baby V Strom.  The bike has fabulous sport touring credentials and can manage a smooth gravel road.  At well over 500 pounds I would leave the sinewy hidden gems (like Trev and I did last year on the 600) for another trip with one of my XT's.  With spacious factory mounted but QD saddlebags and trunk, which btw is HUGE! A 23 L fuel tank, six speed box and mid 70 mpg capability, it made the logical choice.

I had 8 days and planned several day rides from their home in Rothesay.  I would walk Mick in the morning and again in the evening... in the meanwhile I had no particular place to go and no particular time to be there.

Stay tuned for more of this!!!