Tuesday, July 17, 2012

We have signal, All your corners are belong to me.

Day 11, Tuesday July 17th.

Last night I was just doing some planning things, looking at various routes to take, etc.  I decided to check when the ferry was leaving Argentia.  CRAP! it leaves only every second day!  I thought there were 2 ferries per day, but that isn't the case with the Argentia to North Sydney.  Guess I should plan my trips better.  Meh, who am I kidding, I can't plan worth crap.

I booked a crossing for the Thursday crossing.  I was booking online (cell only) and was trying to get a berth as it's a 14-15 hour crossing and it would be nice to get some sleep overnight as it leaves at 4pm.  The cell reservation 'hung up' and tried again 2 minutes later.  All berths were now booked.  crap.  Guess I'll be sleeping in a chair.

I got up today and decided that breakfast wasn't a great idea.  I had eaten a LOT of protein in the last few days and just didn't feel hungry.  I felt off today as I knew I was in for more rain.  Looking outside proved that point.  My boots were not completely dry, even though I tried every trick in the book like putting towels to soak up some water and leaving the hair dryer in each boot for hours.

Some pics from last night:
giving myself a hot foot.

It's working!

On with today's show...

I rode out of the Mount Peyton hotel towards St John's.
It rained lightly, yet relentlessly.  A saving grace was that my visor wasn't fogging up and I could see. I noticed a moose detection system leaving town.  Pretty neat, I guess they have sensors at 9 feet or something and when they get triggered, a sign flashes 'moose on road'.  
I noticed a Tim's and an Irving gas station/ restaurant.  I figured I might as well eat something to start off the day instead of just coffee as my feet were already soaked within minutes of being on the road.  So much for the drying job.

I left Beast out in the rain to clean up a bit.  Dirty bitch.

I ordered breakfast.  Combo #2.  This is what I got.  

I'll be honest, I only ordered it because it had fried bologna. It was ok, but didn't come with homefries or anything.

I went to fuel up and then it happened.  I injured myself,  I've been putting the bike on the center stand the same way since I got a center stand and something in  my wrist went 'POP' and 'SNAP' as it twisted the wrong way.  The pain was pretty severe and could't do anything with my RIGHT hand.  This is an issue as the right hand is the MOST important part for riding a motorcycle.  I need it for my constant throttle and for my front brakes (rear brakes are hardly ever used on most motorcycles)

After fuelling up I headed east some more in the rain with a damaged wrist.  I had difficulty throttling and using the front brake was out of the question.  If this doesn't heal quickly, I'm in for a hellish ride home.

The bike was having a hard time with all the hills, seems I couldn't keep the speed limit (100kph) even wide open throttle.  I think there must be something wrong or i'm severly overloaded.

All day the low lying clouds hugged the tops of the surrounding hills and visibility was very poor.  Even if I wanted to take pictures, there was nothing to take pictures of.

The rains finally did dry up enough that I could get the camera out for a few shots. 
Shitty pics, I know... you try taking pictures with your good hand and controlling a beast of burden with prevailing winds pushing you all over the road with a band hand. Not fun.

After 300km, my tank ran dry and switched it to the reserve.  I must have been running hard for it to run dry that fast.  I had just passed all the gas stations and wasn't expecting one in a long time.  I noticed a little sign for the Osprey Motel and gas station.  I took a little detour and found it.  I took this time to take out the Garmin battery again as it was on the fritz.  Again, this was due to water on the battery contacts.  Maybe I'll duct tape it and see if that helps.

As the gas station/motel also had a restaurant, in I went in search of food.

The restaurant had a very cottage like feel to it, situated across the street from a lake.  I took a basic burger and fries and it was pretty good and not very expensive.  less than $10 for the meal...

Finally got to Mount Pearl, right outside of St John's and hit up a Tims for a coffee.  Odd, they have Wifi at Tims here.  Nice.  I started looking for a place to sleep tonight and to my dismay, all the hotels/motels in the area which had online booking showed no available rooms for the next two nights.  cripes.

I put my faith into my Garmin GPS to help me find someplace nearby and affordable.  The first place listed didn't exist where it said it should be.  The second place I hit had a room.  This motel is not exactly high on the star system.  I would give it 1/2 star.  It's clean, It has a functional washroom and even soap and shampoo.  The wifi signal doesn't work in the room.  Bummer, then again what do you expect for $90 a night?  The other motels/hotels in the area started at $150 and up.  expensive town.

After resting for a bit, I decided to check out the Signal Hill National Historic Site.
Riding through town, I can see the appeal to this town.  Some of the architecture is pretty awesome, with some old style housing of different color thrown in.  It's got a nice vibe to it.  A kind of slummy low class vibe, but nice.

Got to the hill and the last Corner to complete the four corners of Canada and the USA was finally done.
All your corner are belong to me.

It's worth a visit for sure.  I didn't bother with the interpretive center/ visitor center as I had read much about this before and also had visited the sister site in Nova Scotia in 2008.

I took pictures out towards the Atlantic and in towards the city(ies).  I'm not sure where Mount Pearl ends and St John's begins.

Signal Hill photo frenzy

There are a ton of trails to walk if one was so inclined. I am not inclined due to back issues and soggy bootfeet.

Leaving there I went to pick up some supplies and a tensor bandage.  I'm hoping that the pressure will help with some of the pain and stop the swelling. It's not a lot of swelling, but enough that I have troubles putting my glove on... Both gloves actually because I can't pinch with my thumb and forefinger or pull up a zipper with any finger.  Extreme pain.  

Went to another Tims to see what my next course of action should be. Food.  It always comes back to food.
I rode around looking for something interesting and nothing seemed to pop up.  All chain restaurants (McDicks, Burger King, KFC, Mary Browns, Subway) and what seemed to be a lot of chinese buffets.
I noticed something called Klondike Jakes and headed in.
I'd say it's pretty close to a Montana's but without a great menu offering.

I ordered the Prime Rib Panini and fries.  

uh oh, here she comes

It wasn't bad but I supposed I expected better.
The bread was still all soft even though it had grill marks.  The beef was very well done and dry.  This came with a wine dipping sauce which was pretty good but I don't like wine based sauces and I prefer Au Jus. The fries were a little underdone.  I'd give it a 6/10 and that's being generous.

I got back to my chamber of sorrows at the motel. For ice, you need to get a bucket from the Bar downstairs as they have no ice machines.  This place is... unique.  I asked the bartender if it's always been a motel because the layout is odd to me.  He said it has been in his family for 42 years and has always been a motel since then.   I don't think they renovated in 42 years.  Don't get me wrong; the rooms are clean, the people polite, modern with some wifi, but the mismatched furniture and odds and ends everywhere really throws it off a bit.  You can tell it's a family run business.

Took the ice and put my remaining 3 beer in the bucket.  Maybe if there's any ice left over I'll put it on my wrist.  The wifi worked outside behind the motel and sat there at the picnic tables for a while until the rains came back and forced me indoors to continue typing up.
I put the tensor bandage on and it seems to have helped a bit.  Not sure what I popped in my wrist but it felt deep in there.
See what I meant about the mismatched furniture?
It's a fairly small room as I'm standing at the door.

Tomorrow, Cape Spear and south to catch my Thursday Ferry.

  

1 comment:

  1. Try balled up newspaper in your wet boots. Change every hour or so.

    ReplyDelete