After completing our Cabot Trail ride, it seemed a good time to head home. At least one of us was missing the vegetable garden, which was just getting ripe tomatoes when we left (It might have also had a bit to do with our travel diet--it's tough to pass up the good fried clams and rich seafood chowders).
We had originally considered driving back via Fredriction, NB and crossing the border at Houlton, ME at the end of Interstate 95, but after looking at the maps some more, we decided that the shorter and faster route was back to Moncton, NB, then down NB 1 to the St. Stephen, NB/Calais, ME border. We could then take route 9 to Bangor and I-95 home.
So, after packing the bikes back into the trailer, we headed for the border, stopping only for fuel, coffee and food. We reached the brand new border crossing at Calais around 5pm. The border guards confiscated our clementines, as usual, and half a sweet pepper (peppers and tomatoes are no longer allowed across the border). They checked out Speedy's toilet and the trailer--checking for aliens, I suspect.
Finally, they led Ellen away, as always, because she lost her passport in New Zealand in 1996. The Homeland Security computers never forget; it doesn't matter that the replacement passport expired years ago and she's had its replacement for several years. They let her go after filling out the usual forms, and let us back into the United States.
As it was getting late, we decided to forgo starting down Route 9 and headed off on US 1 to one of our favorite parks, Cobscook Bay State Park, stopping at the New Friendly Restaurant in Perry. ME. It was a homestyle place packed with locals (it could have been the only place in town) with cheap eats, of which we ate too much.
The fog was coming off the bay as we entered the state park and they had a nice open, but not waterside, pull-through site available. This meant no backing up of the trailer. By that point it was around 8pm, so we watched the daylight fade, read for a while and collapsed.
The next day was just a long ride back to Cohasset. US 1 from Calais to Machais is in pretty rough shape for a national route. Much of the road is is cracked and lumpy, with lots of potholes. It was no fun in the van towing the trailer, nor would it have been on the bikes. At Machias, we turned inland on route 192 to cut over to route 9. 192 has just been repaved and would have been a great ride on the bikes, winding through the countryside (It wasn't too bad with Speedy, albeit a bit narrow).
Route 9, the Airline Road, has been widened and rebuilt in the past few years and is a great ride from Calais to Bangor--and not a bad drive. There is not a lot of traffic, it has a good selection of hills and curves, and has passing lanes on the hill climbs. What more could you ask for? (The bikes, not Speedy and a trailer.)
That was pretty much the end of the interesting parts. We reached I-395 and the I-95 at Brewer, charged down the interstate to increasing traffic and arrived home at about 5:30 pm. Somehow, we always manage to get back to the Boston area at rush hour.
So, after 1944 Speedy miles and 660 motorcycle miles each, our Nova Scotia adventure came to a close.
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