OK, we arrived in Whycocomagh safely, with our bike. We got here a bit late, and that gets right into the theme of this blog post, The Trouble With Travels. But this morning dawned a new day, we got the bike assembled and we did a shake-down ride. All is in order, it isn't raining or snowing (though it is fairly cold), and we are anxious to get on the road tomorrow.
I remember a time when travelling was a glorious adventure. Romantic, even. Getting on a plane destined for a new, unexplored and untested destination. But alas, the romance of travelling has diminished over the years. Or maybe I've just lost that aspect of it as I've aged. While exploring new places is still the same for me, the travel bit has gotten rather tedious. I'll give you the short story.
We flew from Redmond to San Francisco, SF to Toronto, and Toronto to Halifax. The flight from SF was the problem. Back in steerage, where we ride, the seats are so small and close together that my knees actually hit the seat in front of me. Uncomfortable. I'm only 6 ft tall, so anyone taller would really be in a world of hurt. And the seats are really narrow. That isn't a problem for me, but if you're big, pay big when you buy a ticket and go for a higher class of seatage. We were uncomfortably tucked into our seats when the plane is backed out. Then we stop on the runway and the pilot says "Oh Oh, we have a flat tire." No kidding. So we have to wait for Les Schwab to drive out to the runway with a new tire for a Boeing 757 and have the tire changed. Did you know that they can jack up a monstrous airplane and change the tire? They can and it is pretty amazing. But it takes about 2 hours and of course we had to sit on the plane.
The tire changed, we got underway. Two hours late, but off we go at about 1 a.m. The flight was uneventful but of course we were two hours late into Toronto and the scheduled 4 hour flight was a 6 hour flight. That gave us about 1 hour to clear customs in Toronto, retrieve our bike from oversize luggage, get our oversize luggage reinspected and rechecked for the flight to Halifax, get checked in ourselves and pass COVID screening via ArriveCan, and get to the gate. For all of that, we made it to the plane as they were closing the gate.
Our plane arrived in Halifax on time, but our bike and wheels didn't; they missed the plane. It was about 1300 when we arrived in Halifax and we had a ticket for the bus to Whycocomagh, departing at 1530. Air Canada baggage service informed us that the bike and wheels would probably be on the next plane from Toronto, which would arrive in Halifax at 1730, well after the bus was to depart. We started exploring alternatives. We could get on the bus without the bike, but Air Canada would not deliver the bike "all the way" to Whycocomagh before Friday, at the earliest. That wouldn't work because we had to start riding on Thursday. And we couldn't have the bike loaded onto the bus today (Thursday) for delivery to us in Whycocomagh since the bus would not take baggage without the owner being on board.
After a lot of deliberation, we decided to wait for the 1730 plane, collect the bike and wheels, and hire a taxi to drive us to Whycocomagh. A taxi from the Portland airport to, say, downtown, costs about $40. The drive from the Halifax to Whycocomagh is 300 km (about 180 miles) and takes 3 hours. You can imagine the ransom we paid. But we had a delightful driver who narrated nonstop along the way (I slept for much of it), and that helped. And we made it, and thats what counts.
We got checked into our place at about midnight, stashed the bike box and the wheels, and slept.
We woke up to a glorious morning looking over the bay, refreshed and excited to assemble the bike.
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| The view of sunrise from our cabin |
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| Whycocomagh sits on a very picturesque harbor |
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| The coat says a lot; it is pretty chilly... |
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| Nearly done. |
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| Ready to ride. Tomorrow. |
We head out on the Cabot Trail tomorrow, in a clockwise direction. It is about 350 km to circle back to Whycocomagh. The weather looks pretty decent for a few days, at least.
Cheers!
