SNM Tour Day #53
Poured all night long, stopped just before we got up - a good sign. We left La Belle Province this am and headed into NB. Nice hilly run under a dramatic cloudy sunrise. Cycled across the border (where is the "real" New Brunswick sign?), through Edmundston and Grand Falls and eventually into the little village of Perth-Andover, now almost a half day ahead of schedule. They are forecasting a bit of rain in a few days so we figured we would get in extra mileage when we could.
The weather was unseasonably warm, well above 20 degrees, and the day varied from cloudy to sunny, from calm to very gusty. The terrain was quite hilly with very long ascents and descents; I got a good work out today getting in over 150 kms.
So what's NEW.........?
- A new province - that's BC,AB,SK,MB,ON,QC done! woohoo!!
- A fantastic highway - a consistent beautiful large paved shoulder (pot hole and rut free) as soon as we crossed the border - gotta love it!
- a new provincial flag, and a lot more NB licence plates
- more and more Fall colours in the foliage
- A noticeable surge of encouragement from so many drivers - cars and trucks alike. It is exceedingly strange, but as soon as we crossed the border it all started (again).
So what's NOT NEW....?
- Still a huge French influence seen (everywhere), can't tell we actually left Quebec from signs and town names etc.
- Saw another black bra on the road side (if you recall, we had seen one back in BC - some things seemingly never change)
- a lot of litter in the ditches of the highway, again. Seeing more water, pop and juice containers and once again seeing beer cans and bottles (the Quebecois apparently drink their beer and keep the containers as there were the fewest to see on the Quebec highways, as well Quebec probably had the cleanest ditches of all the provinces so far - now if they could just fix their actual roads!)
Tour Day Sponsor - Lorraine and Colin Cook. Thanks so very much for your kind support and generosity!
Random Quotes of the Day
Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another
Gilbert Keith Chesterton
There's only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self
Aldous Huxley
A new wound makes all the old ones ache again
Mignon McLaughlin
Chantal and Dan said same thing, where is the sign.....good for you for even finding one....funny hey? They loved Quebec and were maybe treated the very best there....all free nights....and they just ate them up. But our good buds all live there too. Is the landscaping of this part of our great nation not just truly spectacular! You do not need to travel abroad to be mesmerized! We found too that the East was as friendly as the Heart of the Continent, good old home sweet home, friendly Manitoba. Can not believe you are there and racking in 150 klm a day still.....and running, wow. Rainy days back here so SAD is kicking in for some folks. Sure appreciate you bringing this to people's kitchen tables to be able to talk about it openly and freely of how depression affects all and yet look at you, it is manageable as well. Proud of all your noble efforts and vision! xox
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