Day42 - Leaving Quebec

I was a bit confused this morning because the clock in my room was set incorrectly when I checked in, and in my fatigued state last night I set it to PST (my blackberry doesn't pick up local time from the transmitter - "World Edition" indeed).  On the road and rolling by 10:00, yesterday's brief respite from the wind proved to be just that - brief.  I slowly chugged along thinking: "Soon I'm going to make a 90 degree turn, which will turn this head/cross into a tail/cross".  Apparently someone in the weather department didn't get the memo as to how these things are supposed to work.  The wind stayed in my face, but rather than the more or less flat path that I had been following along the St Lawrence I was now faced with hills.  The same sort of relentless rolling hills that I had the pleasure of battling all through Southern Ontario.  I think that the rest of the trip will be more or like this, so I guess I'd better get used to it already. 

Nothing terribly exciting to report about the majority of the ride.  Climbing into a headwind, descending into a headwind, occasional blasts of side or tailwind when the road turned a bit; but for the most part it was a "grinder day".  I stopped at a rest stop for some chips (I must say, the Province of Quebec does a really nice job with these), at a depanneur for some Powerade, and at a bar later for ice cream. 

I crossed the border into New Brunswick with very little fanfare, and the rolling seemed to get steeper.  Some of the hills in Quebec were a fair size - 5 or so steps.  So far all of the ones I've found in NB haven't been overly large, but they have often been quite steep. 

Some kid who appeared to be learning to drive in a home-built muscle car scared me enough to take refuge in a driveway while she spun all over the road for a bit, and an old man with similar throttle control problems put me on alert for a little while.  But all in all, a halfway decent day on the road.  Pat's right about the women here, though...  quite the contrast from Quebec!

I ended up in Edmunston - a mill town (that smells like a mill town) that's apparently having some sort of big festival this weekend.  All of the hotels in town were booked up.  The gal at the check-in desk (the only attractive woman I've seen since entering NB) told me that there should be hotels in Grand Falls - "only about 40min down the highway".  Then she took note of what I was wearing, and asked if I was on a bicycle.  Yes.  From where?  Vancouver.  She was pretty shocked at that (a common reaction) and called over to her coworker that I had ridden here from Vancouver.  He told her to give me a room, and when she said that there weren't any, he hit a few keys on the computer and one magically appeared.  He grinned at me and said "we usually keep a few in reserve just in case there are mix ups - or if we feel sorry for someone like you".  She was happy to give me the gov't rate, and I'm thankfully on the side of the building facing away from the area where the grandstand/stage is set up for this weekend's festivities.  It's loud enough to be heard for a ~12 block radius, but there's nothing to reflect the sound back from the North - so it's nice and quiet in my room.  :D  Well - except for the crying baby next door.  Can't win 'em all...

In the movie "Leaving Las Vegas", Nicolas Cage goes to Las Vegas to drink himself to death.  I sort of attempted that in QC with food; but it appears upon having left that fine city, that it was good food that has died.  Dinner tonight was a "less than interesting" affair.  Probably the most boring meal I've eaten since leaving Vancouver - including camp meals and just chocolate milk when I'm too tired to bother with finding real food.  This place was recommended by the front desk, and in addition to the usual menu, purportedly has "the best Chinese food in town".  It seems that nearly all of the restaurants in town append with "and Chinese".  I can't imagine what sort of logic spawned such a movement, but even though it's been six weeks I'm not hard up enough to try it just yet (though strangely enough, I was daydreaming of laksa and curry maifun earlier today...).  That turned out to be a good thing - another couple ordered from the Chinese menu and got massive plates of deep fried hell.  I swear I'd do better at "Golden Panda" or whatever at the local mall...  They seemed to enjoy it however, and in between bites the man boasted loudly to the restaurant about how important he was, etc etc, under the guise of talking to (at) hs wife.  They appeared to be having a fine time.  I ordered the grilled chicken and got a gigantic grilled chicken breast, with a leaf of iceberg and two sad looking tomato slices, and some mashed potatoes (my selection).  My fault - I was thinking of "roasted chicken" as that's what's on all the menus in Quebec.  I'll see if the hotel restaurant makes a decent breakfast tomorrow and then I'm out of here.



Stats:

Total Elapsed Time: 8:40
Actual Ride Time: 7:52
Total Distance: 160.48 km
Avg Speed: 20.3 kph
Max Speed: 61.1 kph



Pretty much the only cool thing I saw all day.  Cutting the grass is a boring chore, even with a riding mower.  Many people alleviate the boredom by riding with a beer in hand.  This guy took a somewhat different tack, which I think is awesome.  Unknown father, I salute you.