Putting the Fun in Fundy

So Saint John, New Brunswick is basically the Hyattsville of Canadia.

Despite that, Eric and I were hell bent for cocktails last night, and managed to find them. Just getting up now. And we're on Atlantic time which makes it even an hour later.

The day yesterday was light, and for the most part, typical. Bad roads with tar snakes. Traffic. But it eventually opened up into a 4 lane and E and I locked on the throttles at well over the posted limit, and never let up until Saint John. And that 50 kilometers was some of the most fun, most satisfying riding yet.

Here's the deal. Canadia makes me want to speed. I can't explain it. It just does. And in all the time we've spent in Canadia, I have literally seen 2 police cars, and those were in downtown Montreal. So you add the two together, and you feel free to do what you want. And after days of getting caught in detours and hitting traffic, it felt really really really good to be on an open highway, with no one around, locked in at 15-20 over the speed limit, and just eating up distance like it's your job and you're really good at it.

Coming over the border, I got pulled into secondary. Full background check. Total search of everything on my bike (including flipping for my papers) had to talk to 4 different customs/immigration officers. Easily a 30 minute diversion. Meanwhile, E got the lane with the cute border agent and she winked and blew him a kiss as she waved him through.

From there, it was weird. We cut through town, found our road, and settled in. But in the course of the next 25 kilometers, the temp dropped from 31 degrees C at the border to 22 and foggy. No change in elevation. Just a weird shift. Probably because of the bay. Pulled off the road to put on jackets. Pulled off 15 minutes later to put on cover pants. And soon enough, we rolled into a cold, foggy, dumpy Saint John.

Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to be here. But seriously, this place is the abandoned steel towns of Pennsylvania, Canadia style.

Random notes:

• Eric nailed himself in the crotch with an errant Gatorade, much to Canada's disapproval
• I saw a theater called "Lord Beaverbum's Theater" and am now convinced my name needs to have both "Lord" and "Beaverbum" in it somewhere.
• I bought highway pegs for my bike yesterday, and had to return them 20 minutes later because they wouldn't work.
• I love the new "13" decals on my bags. And they sufficiently confuse people, I believe.