I must admit it feels strange to know that tomorrow morning we will wake up in our own rooms with our respective wives beside us knowing we have no destination, no need to wake up early (breakfast at 9), no need to pack our bikes or put on miles/kilometers. This represents a break in the daily routine of the past 3 weeks. Not only will we share the next week with our spouses, we will sleep in the same bed for more than one night and enjoy exploring the very clean, green and tidy historical and tiny province of Prince Edward Island (it is slightly larger than 2,000 sq. mi., population 140,000 and 22 islands in Canada are bigger than this one. It is about the same size as Delaware but 10% if its population. Vancouver Island is 5x bigger and its population is 10x larger).
Our home on this recess in motorcycle madness is a beautiful home (pictures tomorrow) on the waterfront in Charlottetown. Our (Renae and I) room is the Sunrise Room and our hosts, Aravinda and Jasmine are simply gracious beyond any expectation. From allowing us to wash our bikes of 3 weeks dust, bug stains and road gunk, to letting us use their facilities to do our much needed laundry, to offering anything we needed, they have been great from the moment George and I roared into their driveway.
The day started cool and cloudy as we started early to ensure we could get everything done before Sheri and Renae arrived. We took the picture before going onto the Confederation Bridge (13 km, 8 mi) same spot as last year. We miss Hugh and Jim (last year's picture below). But George and I completed the 400 km trip and were at the Harley dealership, Red Rock (red for the soil here and rock to rival Newfoundland, the other island province in Canada), by noon despite George's GPS taking us on a circu
itous route based on an outdated location (the Goldwing GPS saved the day). There we both had our bikes serviced (apparently the best Honda mechanic in the Maritime Provinces works there) while we had lunch at the Super 8 where we had stayed last year on our cross-Canada trip.
The highlight of the day was seeing Renae and Sheri and enjoying Supper at the Mosaic restaurant (the name gives away the varied menu with a strong Lebanese influence evident as the largest minority represented on the Island we are told). But the funniest event was surely the taxi driver who took us to the airport (difficult to fit our wives on the bikes with luggage!). From the minute we got into his cab, actually even before, he regaled us with stories of drunken cabbies, cops on the take, innumerable motorcycle accidents he had, as well as his life story, including mother, father and 3 sons, and enjoyment of PEI (never been further than Ontario west and Nova Scotia east - said he'd have to win the lottery to go to Newfoundland). All this during a $15 cab ride!
Given that it is supposed to rain, our bikes may stay under their bike covers for a little while. But we are certain the adventure will go on.