I slithered (there is no better way to describe the last 3 kilometers) my way to the top of County Line rd. It had been a very long time since I had ridden anything with knobby tires, on slimy, shiny, bright red mud.
ISLAND clay clung to my tires like several old girlfriends from bygone years. The bike has a wheelbase typical of a golf cart, short and steep, and the universal tires, although good in dry conditions or pavement, clog up easily in this goop.
SNOW from a few days before, still hung on in well shaded spots like County Line rd where we wound our way through the trees. I was actually pretty glad to see pavement and open fields beyond. PEI is criss-crossed with such clay roads. It's virtually impossible to get lost. You may stray a little, but a few miles in pretty much any direction, will find you a paved road.
THE soil is still red, that hasn't changed although much else has. Perhaps the biggest change is the 14 km bridge that spans Northumberland Strait separating the Island from New Brunswick at one end and Nova Scotia, the other.
AT the junction with route 20, I headed for the coast. Adams Pond was just a kilometer away to my right and the ocean dead ahead. Cold wind blew through the minutest gaps in my clothing. Acceptably warm at my place in Spring Valley, here... next to the Gulf of St Lawrence, it screamed at me from the Vicinity of Labrador and caused me to shiver in my underwear.
THERE was absolutely no one about. A line of empty cabins for rent, awaited the new season of tourists from Ontario, Holland, the USA and from as far off as Japan. The Japanese are rabid "Anne Shirley" fans, I remembered tour guiding many a Yamaha employee from the Island of the Rising Sun during my Freedom Cycle days.
THE world wide recession has affected the once strong tourist economy greatly the last few years. Americans, feeling the effects of plummeting home values, huge debt, job losses and a dollar that once held a significant advantage over our own, stayed away in droves.
Everywhere I have traveled the last few years, I have been haunted by the global fiasco that greedy, careless, multi m(B)illionaire Bankers and Insurance industry people, created for our fragile economy. How is it that billions, maybe trillions have been spent of taxpayers money, to finance these ruthless asses with bail outs, pay outs, and bonus'... you have to wonder... how it is that no one, has gone to prison over this...
EVEN though it was a beautiful sunny day, the north wind promised me cold temperatures, never hitting the forecast 10C during my afternoon riding around my new soon to be stomping grounds.
The beach was totally deserted, not a vehicle, not a dog nor human in sight. I rode the high tide mark, my skinny little tires hardly leaving a visible mark. In an hour even that tiny footprint would vanish as the tide surged in, white caps running towards the shore.
REMINDS me of one of my many Dr N. Thusiasm's...
"Life's a Beach, best build your sandcastles while the tide is out... it's gonna come back in soon enough."
I have built many sand castles in my life... moral.
Live while you are alive. When the fat lady sings, she's all over!
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