Southeast MA – Saint Stephen NB
Fri Sep 01, 2023
(~373 miles)

In July, with the big rally ride done for the year, thoughts turned to a 2-up riding vacation that Char and I had penciled in for early September. We considered a re-attempt of the Williamsport PA trip that had crashed and burned for us last season, then dismissed the idea, me having been to/through Pennsylvania several times already this year. We also considered entering the 36-hour Missouri Rally as a 2-up team, but finally decided that we didn’t want to spend 2-4 days on the slab getting to and from for this trip. I was feeling a bit sick of the interstate system after the IBR!

A trip north to the Canadian Maritimes was still at the top of my list, and a relaxed flower-sniffing trip sounded perfect to both of us. With a complete week’s worth of riding already fully planned on the New England Riders’ website, this could pretty much be a plug ‘n play vacation with a minimum of ride planning. We put the word out with some riding friends in case anybody wanted to join us, but most had already formulated their vacation plans or had conflicts for Labor Day week. So just the two of us then!

Over the course of the next month or so, I booked us lodgings at a mix of hotels and AirBnBs, based on price and availability along the NER trip route. Aware of the abundance of wet weather for the Maritime Provinces region at this time of year, as the day for departure drew near, we grew excited to see clear weather forecast for at least the first several days of our journey.

We left the house a bit later than expected on Friday, around 13:20, after finishing up our work week around midday. The plan was to get through the state of Maine quickly this afternoon, so as to begin exploring new roads first thing in the morning. Everybody else in the region was heading north early on a Friday afternoon too, because we hit heavy traffic on I-95 starting in Needham all the way to the New Hampshire state line.

The highways remained busy well into Maine. We stopped for a much-needed break at the second rest area, then used the I-295 short-cut through Portland before the traffic truly began to ease up somewhat as we rejoined 95 and afternoon waned into evening.

Our dinner stop was at the famous Dysart’s Restaurant & Truck Stop in the Bangor suburb of Hermon. I’d seen the listing on NER’s website and was looking forward to trying out their famous chicken pot pie with the “buttery flaky crust” after after watching their classic commercial as well as the hilarious spoof from Saturday Night Live (see both video links from their site).

Char opted for a healthy and fresh-looking salad, while I stuck to my guns ordering the piping hot pie with a side of mashed and cranberry sauce. With the chill of the evening just starting to settle in, it really hit the spot!

I was determined to start this vacation off right, finishing my meal off with a nicely warmed slice of their handmade raspberry pie, while we reviewed our progress and ETA for tonight’s hotel.

Something didn’t seem to jibe with the timing. Then I realized that I’d completely forgotten the fact that we would be changing to Atlantic Time when crossing the border into New Brunswick, a full hour ahead! Being used to normally heading west to cross time zones, this just felt plain weird! But it was another exciting sign that we were off on a new adventure to parts unknown.

It did cause a small wrinkle, however, because the mom-and-pop hotel check-in was only listed until 22:00 and now our ETA was showing right around that time when previously I thought we’d have an hour to spare. I called the hotel to let them know we might be late. They said no problem and to just call again if it looked like we’d be arriving past check-in – they’d leave our key in the room. Nice! Feeling more at ease, we finished up our meal and headed back out.

The twilight faded steadily as left I-95 behind at Bangor, skirting south of the city and crossing the Penobscot River on the I-395 connector to pick up US 1A. A few more miles east and we turned northeast on SR 46, passing a couple slow-moving big rigs when opportunity presented before reaching ME 9. In my mind, route 9 takes us far into the north as night falls, but any glance at a map dispels that illusion. In reality, we’re actually booking it east for 80 miles, as quickly as can be. It messes with my head!

We were rejuvenated from our dinner stop and having a downright blast, the goal being to reach our hotel before 10 PM local time if at all possible. We didn’t have to, but now that we knew the hotel room would be left open for us, we could start to enjoy the fact that we were just starting a long-overdue vacation together, with plenty of adventures and new things to experience coming up in the next several days. I just wanted to ride fast and this road lends itself to having a good time if you have the velocity built up. The ST’s auxiliary lighting illuminated the empty two lane roadway quite well through the lonely forests and hilly landscape. With hardly any traffic and plenty of passing zones when there was, we covered this final haul to the border at Calais ME in short order.

I’d decided to use the Main Street crossing, over the St. Croix River into Saint Stephens, New Brunswick, figuring it wouldn’t be any hassle at this time of night and would allows us to cruise through the two towns. As is my custom, I pulled off the roadway shortly before the border bridge so we could remove our earplugs, get paperwork in order, and verify I know my license plate number, if asked.

The crossing itself was quick and painless, with the standard questions asked about our plans for the night and during our stay in the country. Lickety-split, he waved us through and we’re in Canada again!

It was now 21:45 ADT and we had scant minutes to reach the hotel before the check-in window closed. The town of Saint Stephens was asleep at this hour and the sky had started to spit rain off and on, so we wasted no time, navigating the final few miles to the Schoodic Motel, our accommodations for the evening. It’s a classic motor-lodge style building, with rooms that open right out to the parking spaces. The front office was still open, though the friendly proprietor had our key out and had been ready to leave it in our room had we not arrived shortly.

The room was small and a bit odd-shaped, but clean and very adequate for our needs. The bed was not the most comfortable, but fine for a quick stopover. We settled in for a night’s rest after a long exhausting day, eager to start fresh in the morning with new things to see.