So we wake up.
Dennis looks like a gloworm hihih.
We discover that we are in a place named like my Bike “Buell” nice.
But more importantly we wake up to this magnificent view.
We rode passed Sante Barbera, stopping in only to drive up its main strip, nice little city.
Eventually we decided to call it a night when we found a camp sight by the rode.
Now keep in mind that this is March, ok… so its March in California, but it was freezing every night. Camping turned out not to be such a great idea after all.
This was a Fantastic ride along beautiful pacific beaches and mountains. Seeing as we were very late on our itinerary on account or slow driving (which would continue to be an issue throughout our trip) and the fact that we lost some 10-15hours due to Chicago airport’s typical delay shenanigans we only got going around supper time so we rode well into the night to try to make some time up.
Denis and I are both expecting a new baby soon, and so we thought it would be a good idea to fly to LA and rent some motorcycles and drive around California.
Turns out its cheaper to take a flat rate limo than a metered taxi during rush hours in LA!
Ok so beleive I have fixed the Motorcycle.
Turns out the Dealer had installed 10R12A Sparkplugs in my bike when I an supposed to have 10R12X Sparkplugs. Not much of a difference but when I changed them up for the correct ones, I also noticed some rust in my rear plug wire, so I changed my plug wires too.
In changing my plug wires I had to remove the entire Airbox and Air box base assembly which alloud me to discover another problem. My Main Engine Gound was loose. I tightened that up while I was there.
Inspecting my airbox I also noticed that I had a lot of spooge all over it…. further inspection revealed that my lower crankcase breatherhose was disconnected. Not a big issue but I would prefer to vent that spooge out the back instead of all over the inside of my airbox. I cleaned up the crud in my airbox using some electrical contact cleaner.
But in a new airfilter mine was filthy from dust and gravel.
Finally, I noticed some wear on my ECM connectors from rubbing on the bottom of my seat. Figured this wasn’t a good thing and so I bent the metal retension bracket down to lower the ECM a little to avoid the seat rubbing on it.
Not sure which fix the problem, probably a combination of all of the above, but anyhow Nomore engine problems! Yeah!
Had a hard time making it to Baie-Comeau, after the first 2 hours the Buell kept cutting, skipping, and losing power. Then sometimes it would miraculously comeback to life. We made pretty bad time and decided to stay in Baie-Comeau.
We were all rather smelly and a nice shower in a comfort inn was a welcomed luxury.
While at the hotel we took advantage of the internet to see if we could find a possible solution to my problems but we really didn’t find any solutions.
At Tadousac we drove to Chicoutimi on some of the best motorcycling roads we have in the Province. Twisty mountain road by the Sagunay river opening up onto the Fjord. Jeff took point and for a while my bike was even running well!! Great fun! We were really flying down the roads, and Jeff joked about how this road took all 650cc’s of his V-Strom, especially when going up some of those massive mountains. The Buell pulled like an ox with all 1203cc, barely affected by the steap mountain climbs;Â it reminded me just how great this motorcycle is… when it works properly that is.
We took a breather to take some layers off seeing as it was pulling on 33C in Chicoutimi. I showed then the “little white house” that survived tha floods and we headed towards Alma, then La Tuque, and TroisRiviere.
The Next day my bike was ok for the first 2 hours then started acting up again. It did this all the way home to Montreal. At Trois-Riviere it was so bad I had the Throttle opened up ALL the way in 5th gear just to keep it at 120km/h!!! The engine was rattling something fierce and shaking like mad.
Finally I made it home around 10pm, with Martine waiting for me in tha Garage with the door opened and ready for me to just drive in! 🙂 Best welcome home I could ever have had given the hellish day I had had on the bike.
This village was founded in 1855 by Magdalen Islanders who traveled there regularly during fishing season.
This is also the last stop for me and Jeff, and Steven, this is the begining of the roadway afterall.
Upon getting off the boat we drove East to see the end of the 138highway. This it the farthest East you can drive in Quebec.
Below: This is Steven from near Sudbury Ontario on his GS.
Below: THis is Jeff from Greenbay in the USA.
In 1871, John Chislett and Benjamin Simms sailed out of Fortune Bay, Newfoundland in search of fish stocks and a sheltered port. The first colonists to settle in Harrington, they were later joined by the Anderson, Bobbitt, Cox, and Strickland families along with others.
This is also where they filmed the movie “La grande Seduction” or in English “seducing Dr.Lewis” or something like that…
The entire town is built on the rocky shore to bring them as close as possible to the sea. This means that they really cannot have any roads. in the 1960’s a network of boardwalks were built to act as the main roadway. The locals use ATVs to move around town. No cars here. Finally a place for all of those “Plateux-ites” to call home lol.
Oh! and thier speedlimits are VERY precise.
We also found a bar in town to have a beer while we waited for the boat to load and unload.
This town of approximately 350 residents is named after an island resembling a whale head. (Home of ÃŽle Providence).
In Montagnais, this name means “sorcerer.” In 1820, Samuel Robertson purchased the majority of shares in the Labrador Company, moved to the most popular fishing port, and founded his own company, as well as the village of La Tabatière.
The morning brought the calmest Ocean I have ever seen. Total stillness. You could practically see the surface tension.
We dock at our first stop St-Augustin.
In 1868, the Hudson Bay Company opened a store here.
First night I had the cabine all to myself which was nice.
Cabine has 2 bunkbeds (4 beds in all), I took the far one on the top and had a nice view out the window. Put my stuff in the closet and on the lower bunk. Bathroom was ok, it even had a shower.
That night the waves were big and the ship got knocked around alot.
Above: Captain was a biker too, and he gave us a tour of the bridge.
I make my way to the docks at around 20h00 as I was instructed. And wait, and wait, and wait, untill finally something begins to happen at around 23h30!!
The crane was broken, but its ok now! notice they didn’t same it was fixed, they said it was OK…. anyhow.
There were four other bikers there aswell. 2 guys from around missasauga Ontario on BMW GS, a guy from Greenbay in Wisconsin on a V-strom (with a funny story about why he picked , and another guy from near Sudbury Ontario.
The two Ontario folks were alright but the Jeff from Greenbay and Steven from Sudbury were a real blast.
So I have finally arrived to Blanc-Sablon. This is a funny place, the town seems to be separated into parts; thiers a little part in Labrador then a km farther a little part with a couple of houses on the Eastside of the bay, then a km farther a bit more near the dock, then a part in the valley, then a km farther another part on top of the plateau. kind of weird.
These are of the docks area. I arrived on thursday and my ship wasn’t leaving until Friday at midnight, that game me time to catch up on some rest.
My bike would be loaded up into one of these containers for the trip to Natashquan.
Here is where I stayed for the night.
The view from my front door.
Leaving redbay I rediscover what it feels like to drive on a beautiful paved road. This twisty road in the mountains by the shore was spectacular. I would weave up and down through the mountain somtimes cresting over a mountain to be greeted with a spectacular view of the ocean and then begin the twisting desent towards the shoreline only to begin the climb again weavin back and forth across the mountain face. What a great ride!
Just before entering Quebec the road starts to flatten out on top of a massive plateau void of forest which just gives you this feeling of having reached the top of the world. Eventually you begin to drop and then the road turns to crappy pavement and then you see the telltale welcome sign to bad roads again! Bonjour les mauvaise route!
Redbay was originally settled by the Basques in 1500 for whaling.
This is a National something something site heritage protected… or whatever its called. Whatever it is it is really pretty. The red sand meets the blue/black ocean and the green rock strewn fields.
It really feels like your on another planet here.
Here is a photo of the Basque ruins:
There is a little museum in Redbay explaining the basque settlements etc.
Here is a photo of a preserved Basque whaling boat that divers found in the bay. There is also a much large Ocean fishing boat that was discovered in the bay. But after having dug it up and studied it they decided to bury it back and cover it with a tarp and a ton of sand??? I asked the question why would they do this and basically no one knew the answer??
Redbay is also where the Tarmac starts up again. And where I begin my journey home via Blanc-Sablon and the Nordik Express Cargo ship.
Here the land rteally started to look different, The lichen and spruce forests gives way to endless rock-strewn fields and valleys, with red sand, and marches.
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Now begins the last off-road stretch of my trip. South to Blanc-Sablon.
Here is the motel i stayed at. It was a nice motel very new built in 2003. But unfortunately they built the town pub around back and so the thumping of the bass was annoying.
Cartwright has a natural harbour.
Like most seashore places in Labrador they are crab fishermen. Crab season beeing over many of the townsfolk go live farther south untill the fall, where they return before the winter starts.
On the approach to Cartwright I saw this massive white building out in the distance. No idea what it is and the people in Cartwright really couldn’t tell me either. I suspect that it must be somekind of radar station of somekind maybe part of NORAD?? no idea, could also be a weather station of somekind but it was really big!
Not making that name up thats the real name of the place. Wonder if its the hot honymooning location of Labrador; Labrador’s answer to Niagara falls…. lol.
Nothing but what appears to be cottages here.
Less than 100km left untill Cartwright. Decided to stop and take a little walk in the forest. BAD IDEA!! the BUGS!! aaarrrgggg! THE BUGS!! they are eating me alive, quick back on the bike!
This is the longest sctretch of off-road driving that I will have to do in my trip and also the longest stretch without any gas, or civilisation for that matter. It is 400km from Goose bay to Cartwright.
Great view off the new bridge just outside Happy Valley getting on Phase 3 of the Trans-Labrador Highway.
At around halfwayI was getting hungrey and the bike needed gas so I pulled over to fill up as fast as I could, fearing the swarms of black flies… But they never came?? Not sure why, it wasn’t all that windy?
Took advantage of this fact to have a little picnic in the tundra. hundreds of km from anywhere.
I always thought that lichen would be soft, but its actually kind of cruncky… like cheetos.
For dessert I had some freshly picked Labrador blueberries.
Figured I throw in a few pics of me. I took these with the timer function on the camera.
Funny place this is.
The military base is Goose bay, and the village is happy-valley; when they merge them 20 years ago they came up with this inventive name: Happy-Valley Goose bay. Wow! just flows right off your tongue.
Just realised that I do not have anyother photos from here.
I had a funny situation here. I had called ahead to book a room in a B&B but when I showed up no one was home but the door was unlocked?? So I let myself in, and tried to call the person I had talked to but they were “outside the service area” so no luck. Anyhow, I found a room spent the night and in the morning still no-one around?? Tried calling again and still no reception?? So I got back on the bike and hit the road again. Don’t know if I was at the right place or not? Hope I didn’t just squat in someones house…. lol.
I had read about these and I was looking forward to seeing some.
These beaches and sand dunes were carried here from the bottom of the Arctic Ocean by glaciers. The effect is quite dramatic, from thick forests to sand dunes.
Back on the road, now heading for Happy-Valley Goose Bay
Posted: September 3, 2010 in Trans-LabradorTime to fill the spare gas cans.
Below I tried to capture what an oncoming vehicle looks like. You can imagine the dust it lifts as it goes by. The worst it trying to overtake in this cloud of zero visibility. Most drivers are aware enough to stop and pull over as you approach but not all. Good thing traffic is sporadic up here.
The above picture really doesn’t do justice to the sceneary, actually none of the sceanery pics actually manage to capture the whole experience of beeing here; endless sea of green and icebergs of snow floating in a neverending sky. They call this place the “big land” and at this point in the trip I am beginning to understand why. Anyhow, in the above picture I was trying to capture the white matchsticks of birch supporting the leafy green canopy.
Nothing much here except for what is supposedly the hydro electric dam with the greatest potential for energy generation in the world. Its not as big as many other dams but it holds back more water.
Don’t know what it is about the great north but the roads here are all in amazingly good condition. Ok granted that this stretch is brand new.
Tarmac is great but I came here for some adventure give me the gravel back!
Labrador city is the largest city in Labrador it has ~ 12,000 people if I remember correctcly. It even has a Walmart!
Just to let you all know that I am back home, and ok. The bike is another story…
I will post pics and stuff aout the rest of my trip in the coming days.
mmcc
Matt’s in Blanc Sablon with no internet access. Just to let everyone know Matt’s doing great. Bording Nordik Express tomorrow heading out to Natashquan.
Hanging out at my friends place in Fermont.
He is off to work today, think I might go check out Wabush and Labrador city.
Fermont is on the quebec side of the Labrador & Quebec border. The mining company built a huge 1.1km wall structure shaped like a boomerang which houses all of the cities facilities. Schools, healthcare, apartments, bar, grocery, various stores, a restaurant, etc… all are housed inside this enourmous wall. The Walls also serves to protect the community from the strong Northern winds. As the community grows some people have begun building houses near the wall for protection.
This photo is of the inside of the Fermont wall. Notice how the inside of the wall is filled with apartments. You can also see some townhouses that have been built near the wall for protection.
Kept driving by loads of fantastic lakes.
I eventually stoped by and went down to the lake.
As I drove I whizzed by signs indicating that I was passing parrellels.
1st 50, then 51, then 52, then eventually even 53.
The bike was handelling great and I found that I could comfortably ride much faster on the gravel with my tires then on the tarmac. Whizzing by at 150 KM/h was grat fun and the bike pulled like it was its natural habitat! Awesome time! great ride, great bike!
Even the sky was a sight to behold.
I also noticed when I stopped how quite it is. Not a sound. not a sound. noting, no wind, no birds, nothing. Utter quiet. Don’t think I ever experienced absolute total quite before… outside no less.
Noticed that the ground was kind of odd. Pulled over and noticed that the ground is completely covered in Lichen.
Pretty cool, guess I must be getting pretty far north.
Here is the site of my birthplace: Gagnon.
It is now a ghost town. It was a community that was built around a minig company. When the mine closed down the city also closed down.
This is all that is left. And about ~150km of nice tarmac laid some 30 years ago! That’s a slap in the face to all those politicians we have that would have us beleive that our roads are crap because of the winters!! Guess they don’t have winter here north of the 51st parallel! hipocrits.
Here is the the gas stop and Motel at Manic 5.
Met 2 guys from New York on the road.
One of them had a V-strom with a fancy windshield… For you V-strom riders with buffeting issues (yeah you know who your are…lol) take a look at V-Stream, this guys said that it fixed all his problems. It is shaped loosely like the BMW GS windscreen.
And now the obligatory photos of the impressive dam.
Guess you gotta drive for a day north of Montreal before you can find decent Tarmac! The road here was beautiful! Geart tarmac and a wonderfully twisty road.
Gotta watch out for the big truck though coming around blind corners; which thier are loads of all the way up to Fermont. I got into the habit of honking while appraoching the blind turns.
On the way up route 389 some ways after Manic 2 I came upon the massive transformer station which I thought was impressive.
Here is the second of 5 huge dams on the Manicouagan river. The biggest and most famous is Manic 5 in ~250Km form Baie-Comeau.
So I am off to the great North…
Had to stop at our usual Restaurant!
Didn’t have the BBQ poutine this time I had the seafood Lasagna… But I strongly recommend you try the BBQ poutine here; we practically live off this stuff when we come here in the spring to Scubadive.
Also interesting in this village is the “Centre d’interprétation marine” where they send divers down with a video camera and you can watch fron the shore as abiologist comments on what is filmed.
And thirdly thier is the Essipit reserve. This reserve is like no other reserve I have even been on before. Beautiful, manicured, well mantained, and with very friendly people. They thrive nicely from tourism. Very well done!
Nice raod, uneventfull ride. Low traffic is nice.
Bike started to buck and skip on the road, eventually ending in stalling!! And I couldn’t get it started up again. Nothing dead. Then miraculously it jumped back to life again?? Anyhow made it to outside quebec city where I contracted the Harley dealing in Qubec and drove there.
Once there everyone was out to lunch >(
Finally manage to coax a guy to come and take a look at the bike. We started to check out the bike, and then stumbbed on the negative pole of my battery was loose. Shame on me for not having check that!! I can change my bloody drive belt but I missed this simple thing!! Anyhow.
Here is a pic of me disgumbled outside Subway after the incident.
Driving past McMasterville I found it was a little chilly so I stopped to put on my Leather & Polar fleece neck piece.
Also took a moment to text martine 🙂
So I am off.
Day 1 is from Longueuil to Baie-Comeau, long ride but all tarmac.
Can you tell I was looking straight into the sun, lol.
You will notice that I have added a new tab along the top of the page marked: The Bike”.
Here is have posted many pics of the bike and the modifications I have made to it.
Notice that it is now BLACK!
Looks like I will be doing this trip solo, and only leaving on Friday directly for Baie-Commeau.
The Gaspe part of the trip has been cut 😦
Got my PIAA off-road lights up and running. I used an “L” shaped piece of Aluminum from the hardware store that I drilled holes into. I also had to run my plastic front fender on my table saw to make an indent into it to fit the “L” shape of the bar.
Also installed a LED battery voltage indicator in the dash.
And changed the orange flyscreen, and airbox for Black ones.
Switched out the seat for an all black model that is thicker.
Pics to come.
I have to find a solution for mounting my 2 PIAA off-road headlights to the Motorcycle.
I have a potential mounting position: below the existing headlights thiere are 2 bolts to fasten the front fender to the forks. With a metal bar with holes at the appropriate place I could mount the headlights onto it. Problem is that I don’t have access to a machine shop, and finding a bar has been difficult.
MMcC
Hi all,
In preparing for my trip across northern Canada I thought it might be cool to document my trip via a Blog, and it would also serve as a place I can upload pictures to… provided of cource that we find internet access as we travel.
Anyhow, make sure you check out the tabs along the top “About us” and “The plan.” I will be updating these with our trip plan some background info on Martine and I.
Also feel free to comment and ask questions.
Ciao.
Here is a run down of some preparation items and training that I have done, or still need to do:
Training:
-BWM off-road riding & saftey cource (completed) ,
-Need to learn how to change tires on my own (completed),
-Need to find-out & learn how to change belt.
Storage:
-Stow-n-go bag (installed),
-Top case interior bag Buell(installed),
-Wolfman Large expedition tank bag (received not yet installed)
-Dry duffle for packing tent and slepping bags to strap on cases (3 on order from wolfman)Â
-Need to carry 2 gallons of extra gas. (got 2l installed permanently on bike will carry extra)
Saftey:
-got best rest Tire Iron bead breakr, and bead setter, and dynabeads
-Large windshield (installed),
-Touratech oil radiator guard, (installed)
-PIAA lights with grill (received not installed 510 ATP),
-Need to tweak suspension for added weight (maxed),
-Installed TKC 80 in back, need to install and test MT60 for front
-Need to build adequate tool kit,
-Barkbuster storm S4 (installed)
-Spare plugs (got them on the bike)
-Several spare fuses and relays.
-Diving knife (got one)
-Sidestand magnetic (installed)
-Lowered PE footpegs (installed )
-Need to lower shifter (installed new PE),
-Thinking of buying lower PE passenger pegs, shifter, and brake pedal (all installed)
Other:
–Need to buy tent (bough an MSR)
-Need maps,
-Need camp stove, (got one)
-Need to make a packing list,
-Need to plan route (gas stops, sleep stops),
-Need to buy mosquito netting (got one),
-Need mask against dust,(got one)
-Tire plug kit and compressor (got one).
-Bow saw and/or hatchet for fire wood and emergency shelter.
-Climbing rope
-Off-road GPS (Got a Dakota 20)
-On-road GPS (have a magelland)
Adventure Rider 
