Not a difficult ride.
There was the odd dip or two, but at this point they were of no concern.
I stopped for ice cream for the first time during the trip.
On the stretch, I really came to realize the strong farming culture in PEI.
Wood Islands was nice. It was some holiday so I couldn’t buy booze from the liquor store. I got on my second ferry of the trip with no problems. Of course, I was the only cyclist and with my dark skin color and “homeless” look, I was asked many questions and looked at in strange ways.
On the other end, I was greeted by a couple- Chrystal and her husband. They agreed to take me in for the night a week or two before.
One of my Couchsurfing hosts in Quebec City, Scott, has generations of family all throughout eastern Canada. He called a few of them up and luckily got me this hook up near New Glasgow. I stayed with Scott’s brother and wife Chrystal. They picked me up in their truck and we went back to their place and then headed to a family BBQ. Very interesting at that. Nonetheless, good meat, corn, potatoes and beer. I think by the end of the dinner, although I introduced myself to everyone, they still couldn’t figure out who the hell I was!
Thanks again for having me guys. I know it was a real stretch to have a complete stranger stay over. I hope that your ideas of “travellers” have changed now.
I hit the trans Canada the next day at 7am. I was flying. Morale was boosted once again and nothing could stop me. The 53’ trucks flying by me at 120km/h up the hills with no shoulder freaked me out a bit, though.
Sometimes you just have to give it hard and not think about how stupid an idea that was. Needless to say, I felt cycling faster and with less stops was going to reduce the chances I get hit by a sleepy truck driver. I was lucky and made it to Antigonish in less than 3 hours from New Glasgow.
I met up with a nice university at her house as soon as I got into town. I was her first couch surfer. It must be something about the friendly pictures on my couchsurfing profile. Nonetheless, she was a really sweet girl, and was eager to show me around the whole town. She is very involved in her university and is a radio host at the school (Saint Xavier). It was the students first day back to school after the summer break, and I was invited out to party with the students. Let me just say, I stayed another night.
