Michigan to Boston

So it has been a while. A lot has happened. I have jumped in Lake Superior a couple of times, surfed Nova Scotia, drank whiskey on Valhalla, swam in the North Atlantic, and engaged in all around ridiculousness.

Duluth is a cool city. I had a really good time there. The buildings were old, and I really like old buildings. Lake Superior is almost the sea. I took a cool boat ride around the harbour. It was touristy bullshit, but it was cool. It was good to see my friend Tim. He and his lady friend really did me a service by putting me up for as long as he did. I stayed there for four days or so. The beer that they brew in the old Fitgers building is awesome, and I had a few pints there. Replaced the crappy tent I came across the mountains in with a new REI product. It seems pretty sweet.

The ride to Michigan was alright, and Marquette seemed like a decent town. I went on this cool shipwreck tour in a glass bottom boat and that was awesome. The fireworks display on the fourth was pretty cool, epically since I had not seen fireworks in a long time, although it was raining. One strange thing about the town was the surf shop. The guy at Casualties was super cool and told me where the 'local' spots were, and gave me the report. There was no swell coming, but he was helpful and that is not always the case with surfers. The morning I left Marquette the weather was shit. Pissing rain and a headwind, but it got better after that.

I rode to Sudbury, Ontario and got on the train, bound for Nova Scotia. I would have liked to stay in Toronto and see some old friends of mine, but my old surfing buddy was leaving Antigonish soon, and if I wanted to catch some waves with him I had to get there soon. My friend Joel busted my balls pretty hard about it, as he should have, but Toronto will still be there, and I still have a bike.

The train ride was uneventful. I read some stuff. It was alright.

Antigonish is awesome. I want to go back. I had a truly awesome time there seeing Rosa and Hugh. Hugh and I went out and caught some crappy swell, but it was awesome. I missed the surf while I was in the mountains and the flats. Surfing is good, even when it is bad. Went to the 'Fisherman's Picnic' on Cape Breton in Inverness which rocked ass. Camped on the beach with Rosa and her future husband, got hassled by the cops (just a little), and drank with the work crew till they shut down the beer tent. Good times.
Was going to take the train down to Yarmouth and head over to Bar Harbor, Maine on the Cat ferry. The only problem with that plan was that they quit running it a month or so before. Good thing I sorted that out, because if I had headed to Yarmouth and found out after 4 days of riding that there was no ferry I would be in a foul damn mood. As it turned out I would be in a foul one anyway.

Rosa took me back to Truro, and I got on the train for Moncton, NB. The train ride was fairly uneventful, but when I went to retrieve some money from the Scotiabank ATM, it destroyed my card. This created serious chaos for me. I finally got a new card, but not until I got to Bar Harbor. It was not a fun week.

Had to replace the wheel of the bike. In Bangor I took the bike to one of the local bike shops to have the rear wheel replaced and the damn rim was cracked through every third spoke hole. There was no rim in the whole city that was appropriate for my hub, so I had to bike to Bar Harbor to get the rim replaced.

My friend David met me in Bangor and has been riding with me. It has been good I think. He has slowed my pace to what I thought was that of a snail, but I think that is a good thing. I would have missed a lot of stuff if he had not slowed me down. Cool places like:

VINALHAVEN, MAINE
God that place was sweet. If it got consistent surf I would not be in Boston right now, I would be looking for work. It is a small island off the coast of Maine, near Rockford. The island is mostly a working community, some summer people but a permanent population of about 1500, and the people are just awesome. Welcoming and generous. We were taken on this crazy lobster boat ride (the Valhalla) in the White Islands with lots of beer and whiskey. The ocean was bloody cold without a suit, but it was lots of fun to jump in it. After the crazy boat ride there was a big party where we all ate pork and drank more beer. It was truly awesome. One of the best experiences I have had in a long time.

The trip to Boston was mainly uneventful. Stayed in a campground that took 50 bucks for a damn tent site. It was the worst campground I have ever been to. There must have been 400 sites on a piece of land that should have supported a third of that. They had to put CHLORINE in the LAKE because there were so many people swimming in it. It was really gross.

We will be leaving for Connecticut on Tuesday morning. I like Boston, but I need to get back on the road. I plan to visit NYC and DC for a couple of days. Good old friends there that I am excited to see. I very well may not make it all the way to Folly Beach on the bike. The heat is brutal (100+) all the way down the east coast, and I am not into getting heat stroke.

Oh yeah, Montreal sucks.