Day 38. Layover Pictou NS

9/24/23.

The basic layover day…relaxing sleeping in a nice hotel. Leisurely breakfast, lube bikes and adding new brake pads to Jim’s bike. Securing lodging and camping for the next week of riding. We have about 2 weeks left of this amazing bicycle adventure in eastern Canada!

We took a stroll around this little historic harbor town. It is famous for the historic ship called Hector that brought Scottish immigrants to Nova Scotia after the battle of Culloden when the British claimed Scotland in the 1770’s.

It’s a beautiful Indian summer kind of day… sunny, warm with no wind! Enjoyed an afternoon beer at a restaurant on their outdoor deck. Key word today is “ leisure”!

How it all began….travel by bicycle

When you don’t own your first car until the Spring of your 22nd year of life… that means you have navigated all your childhood life in a “small town” with a bicycle and all your college years and summers with ONLY a bicycle.
In college I used to ride my bike on weekends in Missoula, Montana along the Bitterroot River to Florence and back (40 mi)..just because it was pretty. (Bicycle paths did not exist in 1974-75)
There was a college summer working in Mount Rushmore of the Black Hills of South Dakota where I used my bike to go to a lake to swim when I worked split shifts. Key word: black hills!
There were certainly times in college in rainy Eugene, Oregon where I wished I had a car, but there were buses. (1976-78.)
There was a college summer (1977) in the foothills of Northern California, climbing those hills to work and back to my parents house on a steep hill. But I used my trusty Schwinn Supersport 10 speed bicycle!
I suppose I could have bought a car sooner but honestly I managed just fine with a bicycle and…friends with cars!

I can’t speak for Jim and his love of bicycles but I can assure you he had a car as a teenager! He always had a bike too… a Raleigh Supercourse! As a matter of fact, he was a bicycle commuter his entire work career… even in winter… including when we lived in urban Milwaukee WI and it was a 20 mile round trip commute. He gave that Raleigh to my son Dominic as a commuter bike for him in 2013! I think he still has it… but not totally certain of that.

These are the trips I have taken by bicycle with my best friend and husband Jim. How lucky are we that we both enjoy traveling by bicycle?!
Our first trip… picture this….Bell helmets (they were like a giant turtle shell on your head), garden gloves with fingers cutoff and sweat pants with legs cutoff and rat traps on our pedals! Our panniers were sewn homemade from a pattern by a company called Frostlline! (They had patterns for down vests, jackets, booties and such). Loved that company. Very funny…this was as techy as it got in 1980… at least for us!

Multi day Bicycle Rides

*Oregon coast loop (1981) self contained with camping. 7 days. Eugene to Florence to Seaside to Forest Grove to Eugene)

*San Juan Islands in Washington (1983) self contained with camping 1 week

*Spa to Spa Wise River MT -3/4 days several times, supported, camping and cabins (1995-2021)

*Italy Tuscany (2006) small group guided tour, Inns. 10 days

*Budapest to Krakow (2013) Baggage-supported. Assisted self guided, Inns. 10 days

*Cycle Greater Yellowstone Group Tour (2014 and 2015) supported. Camping and motels 7 days

*Maah Dah Hey Trail, Medora, North Dakota. (2017) baggage supported, camping, mountain bike, 4 days

*White Rim Trail, Canyonlands National Park Utah, (2018) supported, mountain bike, camping. 5 days

*Cycle Oregon (2019) large tour, supported. Camping 7 days

*Southern Tier Coast to Coast
March 1-28, 2020 San Diego, CA to Del Rio, TX
April 3 – May 7, 2022 Del Rio TX to St. Augustine, FL
self contained, unsupported. Camping, some motels or Bnb’s. 61 days.
(This long distance trip was interrupted by Covid while enroute)

*Eastern Canadian Provinces (2023) August 15-Oct 8. Montreal, Quebec to Cape Breton Cabot Trail, Nova Scotia. Self- contained… self-supported except… *baggage support for Cabot Trail

Who knows what or where we will go next!