Camping at the End of the Earth (or at least Nova Scotia)

After riding the length of U.S. 1 up the coast of Maine, I crossed into Canada and made a dash across New Brunswick. Actually, "dash" wouldn't exactly be correct - the province is really pretty big. I spent the night in the lovely town of Moncton, NB, then headed south into Nova Scotia the next morning.

I managed to make it to Sydney by late afternoon and then proceeded to get hopelessly lost on some backroads while looking for the campground where I had a reservation (one wrong turn actually had me turning right into someone's driveway while they stared at me from their front porch in bewilderment). I ended up just following the water until I came upon the little village of River Ryan and found the campground completely by accident. It was a cozy little private campground and the hosts gave me a nice spot right by the water.

Lobster Roll

Last year I tormented you all with pictures of great BBQ. Since New England isn't really a BBQ place, I bring you the local delicacy: the Lobster Roll.

This particular Lobster Roll was purchased from the On A Roll truck parked on the side of U.S. 1 just north of York. This was one of the best meals of my life - no exaggeration.

Feel free to drool.

On the Road Again

Whoo-hoo! It sure is nice to be back on the DL eating up miles. I am riding up the coast of Maine into Canada now. Last year, I rode as far west in North America as you can on paved roads without getting on a boat, and this year I'm aiming to ride as far east as possible, which will take me just outside of Sydney, Nova Scotia.

While I have ridden small chunks of the Maine coastline before, this time I aim to ride all of U.S. 1 up the coast - no I-95 for me!

Here's a little taste of the coast in the town of York. It is very charming, and the DL really completes the scenery for me.

One Year Later

My goodness, has it been a year already? Time sure flies.

The past year has seen me spending an inordinate amount of time staring off into space revisiting the trip last year. The first few weeks back were actually kind of tough - I couldn't get used to being in one place, even if that place was my own apartment. Once I went back to work, however, I got used to being back and my time on the road seemed like a dream. Occasionally I would go to this blog just to make sure that the trip had actually happened.

The company I went back to work for underwent a series of shakeups and restructurings starting a couple of months after I got back, and the ensuing instability made me start longing for the road again. Or perhaps it was just the gnawing feeling that I hadn't really finished the trip I went on last year. After all, I hadn't ridden the northeastern U.S. or the Atlantic provinces of Canada (don't get me started on Central America - I do want to ride down to the Panama Canal someday, but Mexico and most of the region are just too fucked up for a gringo to ride solo in my opinion).

By the time the one-year anniversary of the start of my trip rolled around, I was spending a lot of time looking at maps again, this time looking longingly at Nova Scotia. I eventually left my job for a variety of reasons, and my first day of unemployment was the one-year anniversary of my return to NYC. By then I had a rough idea of what I wanted to do: keep on riding the Americas.

Ride ON!