CCCT Part II - Oromocto to St. John, NB

Tuesday, June 25, 2013
We were up at 6:30 AM in view of the long ride to St. John which we had ahead of us. Also, the forecast was calling for a hot and humid day. We went down to the dinning room for breakfast. Again it was a Continental breakfast of juice, yogurt, large muffin and fruit. I took a banana and an apple to go. We had to wait awhile for a baggage cart. Once we got one we loaded our bags on it and took them down to the reception area. We loaded our bags on our bikes which Bev had gotten out of the storage room earlier. We set off for St. John at 8:00 AM. Because of the forecast of thunder storms we decided to take hwy 102 which was the longer way but with more places to seek shelter and drinks. The 7 would have been shorter but did not offer any shelter, etc. We made many, many stops because of the heat and high humidity. Several times we heard thunder booming off in the distance. We stopped twice at homes along the way to ask for cold water. At the first stop the lady had just had a new well dug and the water was still to muddy so she took us across the highway to get water. Marge, who lived across the street, was slightly deaf and well into her 80s was expecting us. She said she had passed us earlier and knew that we would be stopping in for a cold drink. I also had to stop several times because of cramps in my right leg due to the tough hills, high heat, etc. We arrived in St. John at 6:30 PM. We managed to escape the rain and thunder and lightning. I checked my GPS for nearby motels and headed for the closest one which turned out to not exist!!! We stopped at a nearby garage and were able to get direction to motels another 2 kms further down the highway. The first one turned out to be closed due to recent renovation and according to the sign in the office window was scheduled to reopen on June 25th. It was June 25th but there was no sign of anyone. There was another motel across the highway that looked like it had seen better days but by this time we were both exhausted and at $60 the price was right. We had to get Billy to sort out the smoke detector alarm which seem to have a dying battery. When checking in I had asked where we might get a cold beer. Billy said he would be glad to drive us to the nearest beer store. I said we only wanted a couple cold beers and sometime later he returned with two cold ones. Bev went across the highway to get some groceries. we ordered pizza for dinner. Billy couldn't sort out the alarm. I think he was using the wrong kind of batteries. I believe the type of smoke detector required alkaline batteries only. Anyway he put the battery in the alarm in the next door room which we shared a bathroom with. There was no one in the other room. Bev paid for the pizza which finally arrived around 8:00 PM. By this time we were ravenous and quickly devoured the entire pizza. Bev called her sister in Lawrencetown, NS, to let her know that we had arrived in St. John and would be taking the ferry over to Digby tomorrow at noon. Pat called back a short time later and agreed to meet us at the Digby ferry terminal on arrival at 3:00 PM. The plan was for her to take our panniers and that way we could cycle the 80 kms or so to Lawrencetown without the extra weight of our panniers to slow us down. There was no Wi-Fi so we watched TV and did some reading. Bev was off to sleep at 9:30 and I joined her a short time later after updating my journal.
Springall Residence, Lawrencetown, NS