Day43 - Just Rollin'

I woke up very tired, to the sound of a baby crying in the room next to me. The very same child that had been crying the night before. Breakfast was a pretty weak buffet, but it was included in the price of the hotel - so I choked down what I could and after a slow pack was rolling by 11:20.


The winds weren't terribly strong, but it was a head/head cross. The interior of NB is extremely hilly. Some of them are moderate rolling hills. Others, steep and nasty. Others made me wonder if I was back in BC - they were LONG, not terribly steep (5-6%), and did I mention long? I was feeling decent. Not completely flat, but not peppy either. It was a fairly long day (especially given what time I'd started) and I wanted to move quickly but conserve as much energy as possible. The wind and hills weren't helping...


I passed the most awesome mailbox in the history of the free world, and stopped to take a picture. Some people across the street yelled at me in French, but I couldn't understand them. As I move farther from Quebec and deeper into NB, the French gets harder and harder to understand.


More rolling, and more people yelling at me from a lawn. I waived, and they yelled more - urgently. So I circled back to see what was up and a lady came down and addressed me in French. I didn't understand a damned thing she said. A couple of older guys from back up where they were all sitting yelled something unintelligible. She switched to English. They had guests from Ontario over and were roasting corn on the cob - and wondered if I wanted some. The guys up on the lawn had been yelling "ble d'inde", which aparently is French for corn on the cob. Corn sounded pretty awesome, but I had ~55k to go, less than an hour of daylight, and a lot of hills in front of me. I went up to chat with them anyhow, as they seemed so friendly and curious. A bunch of them took pictures of/with me, and they offerred me wine as well. I laughed and told them if I had wine I'd end up under one of their trees. In retrospect I'm sure they would have been happy to feed me and let me camp there - if not even offered me a bed. Sometimes "touring" still escapes me. :p They warned me about a big hill, the dangers of moose, and I was on my way.


The daylight was fading and I was getting cold. I stopped to put on my rain jacket and turn on my rear flashers. The headlight was already on. I hit the big hill that they had warned me about, and was surprised to find myself feathering my brakes. Normally I wouldn't touch them on a decent like this, but I was really tired, pretty cold, and not 100% confident about my "sharpness". Better safe than sorry. After the descent there's a long section of false flat that really sucks the life out of you, and then it's about an aeon into town. I rolled into town well after full darkness had hit, ever thankful for my super awesome headlight and dynohub. I've not made a tonne of use of this thing, but it's been well worth the cost and weight of the system.


I also saw another moose! It was standing near the side of the road, and I passed it at ~10m. I stopped a little farther than that (just in case) for a picture, and then continued on my way.


Once in town I spotted an area where I could stealth camp if I had to, but I really didn't want to camp tonight. I was cold, tired, and in need of warmth and comfort. There were four coaches parked outside the Quality Inn. Not a good sign. I rolled on and stopped at a gas station for chocolate milk, and to see what my options were. Quality Inn, Super 8, and a HoJo. Cool. I rolled to the HoJo and they were completely full. Damn. On to the Super8, which was also full. The guy working there wasn't terribly friendly or helpful, and told me that I should have made a reservation. "It's high season - you should have reserved. Everyone in town is completely sold out. There's nothing left. You need to reserve in advance." Yes, thanks for that buddy. Time for the pathetic cyclist angle. I pointed to the next town on my map and asked how far it was, and if there were hotels there. "About 15min, but they might be full as well - we've been turning people away for a long time now". "Hmmmm... 15min on the highway is 1, maybe 1.5hrs for me. Do you have a number for them?" He was surprised to learn that I had come by bicycle (all the way from Vancouver!) and all of a sudden got very helpful. He called the hotel in the next town and they were sold out. So he called a few other places that "he was keeping as backup" and they were also sold out. Then he told me: "There's a lighthouse..." "a lighthouse?" "Yes. They have a room there. Sometimes they'll let you sleep there." "Okay..." "A friend of mine used to work there. You have an inflatable bed? If you have nowhere else to go, come back here. You can sleep in one of the meeting rooms - somewhere inside." Score another one for the pathetic cyclist routine! Apparently (at least in NB), being on a bike makes one a target for sympathy. I'll take it. :D


The lighthouse turned out to be a hostel, (attached to the lighthouse), and I got a bed in a dorm for $25. But they had hot showers, internet access, laundry (though it was too late for me to care about that), and a kitchen. The room was also quite empty - just another guy and his 1yr old daughter in a crib. (mom was in the women's dorm, but baby was in the men's because it was pretty much empty).



Stats:


Total Elapsed Time: 10:40

Actual Ride Time: 9:50

Total Distance: 206.88 km

Avg Speed: 21.0 kph

Max Speed: 71.9 kph



My hostel - "The Lighthouse"

Moose #2:

The greatest mailbox ever!