A mari usque ad mare

One of the highlights of the trip: les fous de basan on isle Bonaventure

Jane at the Gaspé site where Jacques Cartier planted a wooden cross in 1534

Riding off the ferry at Forestville after crossing from Rimouski.

Last Thursady, August 4th at around 2:50 in the afternoon, I rode my motorcycle into my garage at home; and with that the Summer 2011 Eastern Tour was finally over. But most importantly I had achieved my goal of riding from coast to coast accross Canada. I have now had the opportunity to ride through all ten provinces and to experience the beauty, diversity and magnificence of this amazing country Canada, which I'm so proud to call my home and native land.

Jane and I had a wonderful time with Jean and Jacques in Québec City. The weather was lovely as we walked around the Citadelle, the river and the old city which was full of tourists. Our last day riding took us along route 138, le chemin du Roy, through many small picturesrique towns and villages between Québec and Trois Rivières. It was really nice having Jane with me from Charlottetown to home. While I know she was not always comfotable behind me, she was always positive and her chatter through the headset, often about the flowers she was admiring, was very nice to hear. While she couldn't see it, it made me smile.

Here are some statistics from this year's ride:

9,356 kilometres

414.1 litres of gas

1 litre of motor oil

31 days

4 States

6 Provinces

3 time zones

21 different lodgings (plus 1 room on a ship)

7 ferries

hundreds of pictures

And along the way many meetings with some interesting characters with whom I sometimes shared meals and stories and who are now part of my thousands of memories of this trip.

It was a remarkable experience. I hope you enjoyed the ride.

Percé - Gaspé - Rimouski

Well we made it to Percé mostly through the rain. Jane actually said she liked riding in the rain beacause she could hear the rain pelting on her helmet. The truth is that it's not that bedm, except fro the feet, when you're well covered in rain gear, and the smells of the ocen and the shoreside fields seem to be accentuate by the humidity in the air. We arrived in Percé around six and went to our room at the Les trois soeurs motel which had a great view of the Rocher through the early evening fog. We had a great dinner at Chez Matilde, a fine dining establishment next door to, and associated with the motel. I had the fisherman's platter, and no simple platter it was consisting of delicious cod, cod cheeks, salmon, sole, trout, scallops, big and small shrimp, crab, a half lobster, rice, vegetables, roasted tomato, tartar sauce, and drawn butter. Jane had a bouillabaisse that was topped with a fist-sized lobster law.

When we awoke Sunday the weather looked more promising. Indeed one of the charming chambermaids said she had done a sun dance that morning and she promised that the sun would come out in 15 minutes. While she missed the timing somewhat, she was right about the woutcome. The sun did come out and we had a great visit to Rocher percé and l'Ile Bonaventure where we followed the 45 minute walking trail accross the island from the where the boats land on the island to the colony of gannets, or their much more interesting french name: Fous de Bassan. The trail is amazing, and wait awaits at the end is nothing short of spectacular. On approaching the site where thousands of birds guard the 5-foot diameter space around their individual nests, which consist of a few twigs and some other small scaps of vegetation and feathers, you begin to hear their squawking. The sound rises to the point that it's hard to have a conversation with anyone when you're right next to the colony in the roofed (you can imagine why) specially-constructed viewing galleries. The site which is a world-recognozed landmark is well maintained by Parks Canada that provides guides on the boats and on site to explain the history of the island and details on the flora and fauna found there. The visit to the colony is the highlight of the whole trip.

We walked around Percé, had a nice pasta dinner Chez Real, and retired early - after all these are retirement rides.

Yesterday we rode the xxxk from Percé to Rimouski, passing through Gaspé where we had a small breakfast and the greatest cup of coffee on the trip, and visisted the site where Jacques Cartier planted a cross in 1534. While the forecast was for rain, we only experienced one brief shower before lunch which we stopped for at the same restaurant in Ste-Anne-des-Monts I had been to on my last motorcycle trip to the Gaspé. The ride along the Gaspé peninsula is really magnificent. The vistas are amazing and the ditches and fields are full of blooms including the fireweed which Jane through her running commentary, interupted by her OHs! WOWs! and OH WOWs! informs me are bigger than she's seen anywhere. As I said at lunch, you ain't lived until you've driven around the Gaspé, all 800k-plus of it.

Today we taake the ferry accross the St-lawrence to Forestville and go down the north shore to Québec City, our last stop before the ride home.