PAGE 70 www. FavoriteRidesAndDestinations. com | ridermagazine. com
SPRING 2017 ISSUE 01 / VOL. 02
Left: Western Brook Pond is a fjord once connected to the ocean. Its 2,000- foot-high cliffs rise out of this freshwater lake. This gem of Newfoundland is a World Heritage Site and is reached after a 45-minute hike to a government-run boat service. Above: The Bonavista Peninsula is fairly named with visual pleasure around every corner, like this one from Dungeon Provincial Park.
if I rode over 45 mph. Some gusts knocked me back to 30 mph. The Burin is moonlike and when the wind blows there is nothing to stop it. In Grand Banks I was the only guest in a beautiful B & B with a“ For Sale” sign out front. If it’ s hard where you live, it’ s twice as hard in Grand Banks.
I was at the point in the trip when I needed to start back, and that always feels different. A quick day on the TransCanada covered the 500 miles back to the west coast. My rear TKC was showing serious wear and I eyeballed the tread at every gas stop. But soon I was on the return ferry, with my bike lashed down and me settled in a private cabin. Sleep in a chair once and you’ ll pay the extra! The cafeteria food was even pretty good and inexpensive, too. We docked and I was on the road at 7:30 a. m. It was 1,000 miles home, so I put the hammer down, praying for my V-Strom’ s rear tire to last. It did, and when I reached the hills of western Massachusetts and climbed the last one before home it was a starry, hot June night, with 4,600 more miles on the V-Strom’ s odometer.
Last year an old man in Alaska said to me that the thing about traveling is,“ You never want it to end and you can’ t wait to get home.” I know what he meant.