After this, I headed back to the house to pack up my stuff. In NB students get half days on Wednesday’s, so the kids’ grandma was already at the house to greet them when I got back. We chatted for a bit as I packed up my stuff. When I went to put my cook stuff in my pannier though, I realized that my chilli powder had opened and was all over everything! At least my cook stuff is separated from my clothes and sleeping bag, but I had chilli all over my stove, pot, pan, tupperware, cooking oil, etc. So that took awhile to clean up.
Finally I was ready to go, but since I had taken so much longer to get ready, I was already hungry for lunch. I decided to stop at the Picaroons microbrewery for lunch on my way out of town. They’re located right on the St John river beside a passenger/bike bridge (an old railroad bridge). It was really lovely to sit by the water with a beer as I had lunch. When I was getting ready to leave, a couple guys asked me about my trip and so we started chatting for a bit, and they were super friendly!
Once I finally got on the road, I was heading along the old trans-Canada highway (the new one runs almost parallel but is bigger), which goes right along the along the Saint John river which was nice. But I was no more than half an hour outside of the city when another tire blew! This one I have no idea how it happened—I had checked my tire pressure just before leaving Fredericton, and I hadn’t hit any potholes. I crossed the road onto an apiary’s field and started changing it. One of the guys who worked there came out to see if he could help and chatted with me for a bit as I changed it. At least at this point I’m getting pretty quick, as this is my 8th flat! And I was happy to have my new pump to get the psi up high enough. This flat just totally put me in a bad mood for like an hour afterwards, which was frustrating.
With my new tube in though, I kept going. It was really flat along the water, with some pretty views. And since the new transcanada runs parallel so close by, there were few cars on the road I was on. After a couple hours though, the road I was on turned into a dead end! I could see on my map that on the other side of the river the road continued, but they weren’t connected. At this point, I had a river on one side of me and the trans-Canada on the other, so I didn’t really have a choice—I’d have to go on the trans-Canada to cross the bridge. At least it was only 2 lanes, and not nearly as terrifying as the 401 would be, but passing by the ‘no bikes’ sign as I entered onto the bridge while being passed by transport trucks was still a little unnerving. But also, why tell bikes they’re not allowed on a bridge when there’s literally no other option to cross?? As I crossed over the bridge, I could see the old bridge that connected the road I had been on to the other side. The bridge was no longer attached to the shore though.
Once I was in the other side, I wasn’t far from Mill Cove, just about 12 km. When I arrived at the campground, the loveliest, friendliest woman greeted me and registered me. As I was setting up my tent, a couple on a motorcycle came by to the site across from me. They were from Lansing, Michigan (I have a couple friends that live there), and were really friendly (and incredulous that I fit all my stuff just on my bike).
While I was preparing dinner, I met another American couple from Pittsburgh—who knew so many Americans like to go camping in New Brunswick? They didn’t invite me to join them when I asked to borrow a can opener like the last 2 times, but nevertheless I did get into my can of chickpeas!
Tomorrow, onwards to the Bay of Fundy!
Total distance: 68 km
Total elevation: 205 m
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