Early start!  Figured today would be the day I’d get back into Canada.  And with the early start, I thought I’d take some detours and hopefully pick up a little bit of good riding in the morning.  Took the 1, but a nice little loop out to Jonesport along the 187.   Typical Maine side road – a few twists and turns, but bumpy and damaged.  Not great, but a nice distraction.

Needed gas, so stopped for some in Milbridge.   They had some breakfast fundraiser, so food was on the brain.   Eventually pulled over in Machias for a meal.

Big 2:  2x eggs, 2x sausage, 2x bacon, 2x pancakes.  Pancakes were the best part, but they undercooked them and I had to get new ones.  New ones were definitely on the ‘done’ side, but I understand, given what happend the first time around.   Sausage links were cold, but I’d still go back.

Another loop along the 1/191 and a small detour out to Lubec – easternmost town in USA.  Kind of wondered why the 4th corner wasn’t here.

Very pretty in Lubec:

Back along the 1 to Calais – stopped for gas and figured Madawaska wasn’t far away and I’d grab lunch there.   Again, my map reading skills were poorly applied.  I guess swapping between map pages and scales meant I was way off base.   100miles later, I was starving and pulled over to figure out where I was – Danforth.  Still a 100 miles to go, so I decided to eat.

Bright pink hot dog.  Like… ridiculously pink on a roll.

Wasn’t quite enough food, so I had a slice of pizza too.

As I was eating, I had a nice chat with a Goldwing rider/trucker.  He had some advice – take the 1A and stop at the Four Corners park.   Good advice!  I otherwise had no idea it even existed.  I would have just gone to the post office.   There’s a sign, but he said to look for the windmill/gas station.  Pass that and you’ve gone too far.

It is a big sign, but still easy to miss since it’s up on a hill.

Nice little turnout with a metal kick stand pad for bikers – too narrow for cars!   Multi 620 rider was up here in her convertible and we had a little chat about the IBA rally’s.  Managed to wrangle her into taking a picture for me before she drove off.

I tried to stop by the Harley dealership/store.  I figured they sponsored the park and I needed a butt pad.  What better place to throw some business?   Unfortunately, they close 4pm on Saturdays and I didn’t even get to the park until 5pm.  Oh well, I tried.

I crossed the bridge and into Canada…  I was hoping there was a duty free store, but no luck.  So I crossed over after 58 days in the US without buying my quota of alcohol and tabacco.  Blasphemy!   Oh well… Not like I really had a place to put it anyway.

Sat in the Customs inspection zone pulling images off the GoPro and onto the Laptop.   Running painfully low on space.   Gonna need to do something about it before an SaddleSore attempt – Can’t waste 40 minutes processing/copying video onto the laptop partway through.

I did look for a place to stay – but for whatever reason, all the motels/hotels were booked up in Edmundston and Great Falls.  Not sure why, but as far as Expedia was concerned, no rooms.   There seemed to be cheap places back in Madawaska, but I didn’t really want to cross the border again, so I thought I’d push on towards Moncton and try my luck… But once on the road, it felt like it had dropped 10C just crossing over the border(but it was more likely the shade/mountains).   I quickly ducked back off and found a camp site – Riverside RV Park.   Very nice folks, and a proper tent camping area.  Grabbed a spot next to the tree house, close enough to steal power for the laptop and went out to buy groceries.

So… It took all of 2h and a visit to Zellers before I missed the USA.   I really, really didn’t think it’d happen so quickly.  Zellers is like a smaller, darker, crummier, more expensive version of Walmart with less selection.   No more SPAM singles, no more foil/tear packs of tuna.  No more Nong Shin korean spicy instant noodles.  Not even Beenie Weenies!

I should have just stocked up in the USA before crossing over and bought booze at a Wal-mart.  Oh well, lesson learned.  Dinner of Lipton’s Carbonara with milk.