Family Mellmann

Each year, around this time, we gather with four to six other families for a weekend of camping fun at one of Vermont's many state parks.  This year we went to Ricker Pond in Groton. Meals are divided up and the duties are shared in such a way that everyone contributes to one meal.  Even the kids are assigned to help with either setting up or cleaning up for meals. This year it was a rainy weekend with a little thunder and lighting, and some sweltering heat mixed in for good measure.  But we hung tough and stayed until Sunday morning.

Yesterday was a long day.  We rode from Oromocto New Brunswick straight through Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont all the way to Williston.  We arrived home exhausted, around 21:30.  We took a couple of breaks along the way (we call them our "butt breaks"), but one in particular took longer than the others. As we rode along I-95 through Maine, we met this scene unfolding.  The state police and Sheriff were just arriving on the scene of a car fire.  A few last cars squeezed by before they blocked off the road to through traffic...like us.  We were in the front row seat.  At first it was a car fire.  But quickly the fire jumped to nearby grass.  Black smoke from the car fire.  White smoke from the grass fire.  With the high winds whipping along the highway, the grass fire quickly turned into a small forest fire.  Multiple fire units from local houses and towns were dispatched to control the fires.  The wind ble...

Last night we boarded another ferry, this time from Port aux Basque Newfoundland to Sydney Nova Scotia.  Though shorter (this crossing is roughly seven hours rather than 16+ for the last one), this crossing doesn't start until 23:30, and we still have to be checked in two hours ahead of time. While we mingled in the parking lot, queued for boarding, we met several other motorcycle riders.  Like the "fraternity" of scuba divers, fly fishermen, and other shared hobbyists we have met over the years, motorcyclists can be a fun crowd with interesting stories of adventures and road trips, not unlike our own.  We met a realtor and his daughter, riding a BMW GS, who are doing a month-long ride for charity, a couple of guys from Ontario one of whom got married in Newfoundland only days before, and another guy who who was using his vacation to follow some buddies (who are in a band) as they do their gigs through New Brunswick and Nova Scotia before returning to his engineering job....

This morning started with a boat ride in the French Bay to see humpback and minke whales, dolphin pods, and icebergs! After that we rode on to L'anse aux Meadow to learn about the Vikings "settlement" on Newfoundland.  It was actually believed to be a storage depot and working camp (repair ships, build tools, etc.) for the crews of Vikings who came to discover the area and whatever resources could be returned home to Greenland. In this picture, you can see land in the far off distance.  That is Labrador. Our last stop today, before checking in to our hotel for the night, was at the Torrent River Salmon...station.  At this location on the Torrent River there is a large waterfall up which the salmon were unable to jump as they swam upstream for spawning.  Someone came up with the idea of building a gate system to make it possible for them to pass.  As they pass through this system, they are counted, measured, and inspected for injury via photo and video.  The...

On Friday morning we drove the Cabot Trail route on Cape Breton Island, still in Nova Scotia.  We enjoyed some beautiful scenery on this ride.  The Trail was only supposed to take us a couple of hours (according to a local), but it was more like SIX. At the northern most point of our road trip (so far); Dingwall Nova Scotia.  We had to do a family picture here.  We arrived back in Sydney just in time time to board a ferry to go to Argentia Newfoundland.  It was a sixteen hour ferry, so we slept during the night as best we could.  There were no cabins available so we had to bunk out in the main area with all the other...riff raff. :) We survived the night.  Now it's time to gather our stuff and get back on the bikes. Once we got off the ferry in Argentia Newfoundland, we started the ride toward Deer Lake; our goal for the night.  It was a long day, and when we arrived there they had no room for us at the inn...so we had to go back about 30 minutes ...

We walked around a little bit to stretch our legs and look for a supper place, but everything was full.  During our walk I captured a little sunset. We returned  to the hotel restaurant for dinner, where we could sit outside and enjoy the ocean breeze.

Today we put in 299 miles from Sackville New Brunswick to Sydney Nova Scotia (that's more than 1,070 miles since we left home).  Our hopes for the evening didn't pan out, but that's all part of the deal on a real road trip.  We've been on the road for four days and managed to get this far without any reservations. Patrick and Katherine played a game on Patrick's phone while Jörg and I worked out our alternative plans. The up-side to our changed plans for tonight means that we have a relaxed evening to stretch out, a relaxed schedule for tomorrow, and time to do a little laundry. Funny side note.  We tried three hotels before finding one with a vacancy.  It seems that this weekend is a motorcycle rally with thousands of riders from all over the place.  So, while we are definitely outnumbered by the Harleys, we fit right in. ;)