Riding the Early Morning Hours

Bruce and his partner, proprietors of the Gagetown Grill and Smokehouse, today's highlight of people who make a difference in their community.

We had the most wonderful time last night at the tiny Gagetown Grill and Smokehouse/Bunkhouse. Bruce and his girlfriend run it with such down-home charm and graciousness. Gagetown doesn’t have much in terms of places to eat or even places to stay; it feels like a tiny community from a bygone era. But Bruce and his girlfriend are the glue of the community. Every Friday, they host a karaoke night, and every seat in the restaurant is full—probably because Bruce makes the best smoked BBQ pork and the food is delicious! It turns out the grill is also a hub for folks to come and have some fun. When 7:00 PM hits, karaoke is serious business! Both hosts have wonderful voices, as do many of the locals who take their turn at the mic. There was true kindness shared among the locals as they encouraged and helped those who weren’t quite as gifted vocally. (They even encouraged yours truly, but I still can't bring myself to sing with a mic in front of people!)

Early morning ride in the mists.

Folks were fascinated by our story and our bike trip, and they worried about the rain scheduled for the next day; thunderstorms were predicted in the afternoon, accompanied by high winds. So, Andy and I decided to set the alarm for 5:00 AM and get on the road by 6:00 AM to try to beat the rain. We had 50 miles to ride to our next destination, Sussex, NB, and it looked to be a tough 50 miles—strong crosswinds and lots of hills. Riding a bike at 6:00 AM on a Saturday morning meant the roads were empty. We had them to ourselves, along with the morning mist, as we rode through the clouds that had not yet risen from the earth.

Starting up after a ferry ride

We saw three foxes cross in front of us at different points—two red foxes and one gray. A striped chipmunk also scurried by in front of me. We spotted two curious young deer watching us from the tall grasses in a field. We witnessed several hawks perched on trees and fence posts, and a great blue heron high atop a spruce tree. We crossed two rivers by ferry, and both times we were the only passengers. On the first ferry, we even had to wake up the sleeping captain to get it moving!

We were lucky to start early, as it took us six hours to reach our destination. The roads wound endlessly up and down hills, and it felt like we were climbing the entire time—many of the ascents were steep and slow-going. We did about 3,300 feet of climbing overall. As tired as we were and as hard as we pushed to beat the rain, it was impossible not to appreciate the verdant fields stretching out around us. Everything is so green! In the end, we reached Sussex at 12:30 PM, only getting drizzled on during the last five miles. I’d say that was pretty good!