2 KLR's, the Trans Lab and the Main Fuse of Destiny

[YJake]

I love it, in!

-Jake

[HellCat650]

Thanks guys....the last two days weren't as eventful..we were pushing to get home.

[DAY 8]
Rocky Harbour, NL to Port aux Basques, NL = 339 km

Wow, day 8...the end is getting near...we have mixed emotions about this.
On one hand it will be great to get home to our respective families...
On the other hand, we're in a rhythm now of riding, exploring, packing and un-packing.

I can see how people get addicted to exploring and traveling...

We survived the rain storm and it had cleared up by the morning.
Though the clouds look ominous in the distance.



After breakfast at the Sunset Cafe, we filled up and were ready to hit the road.

Figure that I might need something like this on my KLR...



Driving through Gros Morne, there were no shortage of spectacular views...





We got rained on pretty hard up until Port aux Basques.



Sunshine greeting us in Port aux Basques.
We are anxious to check in and find out what the story is with the ferry.

One of the ferries suffered a mechanical failure earlier in the week and some of the trips got bumped around.

Our ferry has arrived!



Here we are in the bike line....I'm # 2...



Amazing how many vehicles were lined up for the ferry.



Now that we're headed back to the maritimes, it's time to remove my trip notes...
Only my two tank buddies remain



We finally got loaded up on the ferry.
It felt really good to be onboard and ready for the crossing.

Ferry ride # 3....I was less worried about my bike tipping over and more worried about the newer Wing behind me



We were finally under way by 9:45 PM...
We ate some hot dogs and other delicious ferry food...

Here is the view from my seat...
Hope to catch a couple hours sleep.



Almost home...

[HellCat650]

[DAY 9]
North Sydney, NS to Quispamsis, NB = 664 km

Calling this day 9 is a bit of a stretch since at the time it felt like day 8 hadn't really ended...

We slept for a few hours on the ferry and we were off the boat at 4:30 AM.

A bunch of us drove to the nearby Tim Hortons where we waited for it to open at 5 AM.
Our plan was to have a coffee and wait for a hint of daylight before hitting the road.

Needless to say, the coffee was delicious!

We pulled out at about 5:45 AM and thought about doing the Cabot Trail....for about 5 seconds.
It was 9.7 deg C and we were now ready to be home.



The last time I was here it was about 9 deg C and raining....maybe it's me?





Other than being a little chilly, we had a nice drive through Cape Breton and arrived at the Canso Causeway in no time...



From here we took the Sunrise Trail for a while up to Cape George...no pics but it was a nice route that I'd never seen before.

We passed through New Glasgow and then hit the highway for New Brunswick.
Sorry to say, I didn't take any pictures...partially because I've traveled this route so many times and partially because I was exhausted.

We made good time and arrived at Jeff's at about 1:50 PM!



The journey of our lifetimes was over...we had made it!

4,108 km through 4 provinces and 3 time zones.

In a way we went expecting the worst...

Loaded down with spare tubes, tire change equipment, compressors, tools, parts and a willingness to do whatever it took.
We even planned our days to have time to pull the bikes out of whatever emergency they had found themselves in.

In the end, the trip was nearly perfect.
Sure we had a couple hiccups, but really isn't that part of the fun.

Labrador truly was an amazing place to visit...I believe however that something will be lost once the weird and wonderful gravel roads get transformed into smooth asphalt for everyone to see.

For the last year and a half I felt a sense of urgency to make this trip and now I can finally relax and feel that I have done something that not everyone has.

Sure it has become more and more popular...maybe it has lost some of its' mystery.
But for me, I think I may have found something on the road to nowhere...



Matt

[Littlepeter]

Labrador truly was an amazing place to visit...I believe however that something will be lost once the weird and wonderful gravel roads get transformed into smooth asphalt for everyone to see.

For the last year and a half I felt a sense of urgency to make this trip and now I can finally relax and feel that I have done something that not everyone has.

Sure it has become more and more popular...maybe it has lost some of its' mystery.
But for me, I think I may have found something on the road to nowhere...




Good description of how the trip makes you "feel". Your next question is probably the same one I have...."Where to next?".

Peter

[SavannahCapt]

Well done!! Now you've got me thinking.

[Ballbearing]

Great Report.

[zoki1]

Nice RR !!! Still picking some info's for i hope next summer !!!! thanks for shearing

[sibyib]

Bought mine just to ride the gravel and dirt in my local area and wow the worlds the 2012 KLR open up Reading RR from all over North America and hope your adventure can be one I share soon.

[Oil-Burner]

In, great report!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[stfla]

Nice report & pics! Thanks

-Steve

[stfmkr]

Happy to hear that your electrical mystery didn't act up again. Great report guys and thanks for the help with the luggage at the Twin Season's Inn in Labrador City. It was great to meet you, cheers.

[HellCat650]

Sorry for the late reply...no more electrical issues after that.
I'm still not exactly sure what happened.
I took it all apart when I got home and checked all the connections...

No problem with the luggage
It was fun chatting about the bikes and the trip.

We had a blast!

I see you posted up a ride report as well...(going to read through it tomorrow).

Cheers.
Matt