I will really miss these people. A lot.
I hit the road and get onto route 2. It's nice and quiet due to the early start, there again there is no traffic here at the best of times. I want to try and make some progress as the forecast is for heavy thunderstorms anywhere south of the US border. Deep joy.
I blast along 2 east of Moncton then take route 1 to keep closer to the coast. If there's any breeze from the ocean it might just keep the inland rain heading my way at bay a little longer.
The run through Sussex county is ok though a little dull mainly due to the fact I'm not sightseeing today. I hit St John about 0830. This is a regular start/stop point for cruise ships but sadly there's none in the port today so I crack on along route 1 towards Calais.
River at Pocologan.
The border crossing at Calais takes about 15 minutes. The young lady asks the usual questions and for some reason calls all her colleagues to come look at the plate on the bike...and the giraffe. The passport is stamped and I'm away.
I stop in Calais for what will probably be my last look at Canada. The small lighthouse is in Canada, the bike in the US.
From Calais I take the airline road route 9 toward Brewster. Although I was told this is a truckers route there's little traffic on it today. It is however a nice route to ride. Through Alexander, Crawford, Wesley and Beddington until I need to gas up and find a little station come store in Amherst.
After fuelling up it's onward to Brewster. Despite the dull, but increasingly humid, weather this is a lovely stretch. The highway eventually gets a little busier toward Brewster and 1 then merges into I-95.
By this time I'm getting the shakes as my need for my noon Tim's fix is rapidly approaching. I can't remember if I stopped at Newport or Waterville but either way there was a Tim's and a soup combo for me 12 o'clock rations!
Sitting inside the restaurant you notice the small groups of bikers who use Tim's as a meeting place for posing and other activities. What I can't fathom is why anyone would want to ride one without a crash helmet. Undoubtedly it's not state law here. I still see no valid reason why a pesron would want to swop a head for a crushed melon. The 'freedom to choose' is a poor excuse when youre dead...
Although I don't want to move it's spitting with rain so off we go. It's 95 and 295 all the way south through Freeport, Yarmouth and Falmouth until I eventually come to Kitt and Portsmouth Harbour and the Piscatagua Bridge. I rode over her in 2006 twice. Never thought I would ever do it again. Like back home Portsmouth is an historical dockyard. I always wanted to visit which means I will have to come back again!
From Portsmouth it's a quick blast along 95 and into the state of Massachausetts. From Newburyport through Boxford, past Danvers and Peabody we come onto the dreaded 95 loop around Boston. For some reason I always torture myself and take this route knowing that life would be so much simpler if I took the 495 loop. However my brain remain in neutral and its 95 we go.
By now the weather is incredibly hot and humid and the increasingly heavy traffic isnt helping my circulation either. Slowly but surely I'm turning into a KFC.
It doesn't help when you arrive at rush hour either...
It takes forever to get south of the city and for the traffic to ease but ease it does. After the slow crawl around Boston its time to make up the miles. 95 isn't the most interesting place so its head down until we come to the outskirts of Pawtucket and the state line with Rhode Island.
From here its a straight run south and east toward my final destination. Auburn, Warwick and Nooseneck and then finally into Connecticut and hope is in sight. Through Hope Valley and onto New London where they even have a River Thames how cool is that!
One final push and I make it to my good friends Bri and Dee in Clinton. I have no idea what time I get there but I was knackered when I did! 680 miles.
Although I'm glad to be back with my buds here it signals the end of a fantastic 3 weeks in Canada. I will miss it a lot. Wide open spaces, unbelievable scenery and fabulous people, some of whom I can now count on as my friends. I miss them already. Trips like these are not just about the places you visit but the people you meet. I have met some wonderful people.
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