Vermont to Missisqoui Bay, Quebec

So far in our trip we’ve stuck to our rules to avoid chain restaurants and to make no reservations or definite plans. We did have a few goals such as riding to the Atlantic Coast, eating some Maine Lobster, perhaps cross in to Canada and make our route plans on the fly. We’ve completed our goals except for crossing into Canada. So we set a direct course through Vermont into Canada. The road through the mountains took us past more “Bear Crossing” signs and through some big patches of fog. Some of the trees were changing colors and we saw patches of red along the course. It was common to ride to the top of a mountain and look off to one side and see a small town nestled in the valley below.

We reached the Canadian border crossing. There was no traffic and only about three cars crossing the border. The Canadian border agent started out speaking French but switched to English one he realized that I could not get past bonjour! The agent asked my purpose for the visit so I told him the abbreviated version of our motorcycle trip. He asked where in Canada we planned to visit. I told him that our plan is to ride around Missisqoui Bay then perhaps cross into New York. Once we crossed all the signs were in French. It was pretty neat and made us feel like we entered another country.

On the other side of the bay we stopped at the Duty Free shop at the U.S. border. I bought a few souvenirs and noticed the stop signs in the parking lot had the English word under the French writing. We entered the line at the border and noticed that the west side of the bay was much busier. We turned off the motorcycle engines and coasted the bikes as we waited in line. I noticed a border patrol agent walking between the lines of vehicles. He bent down and placed a package on the underside of a pickup truck then walked away. Several minutes later another agent with a working dog weaved between the vehicles. The dog walked past the truck then turned around quickly. The dog smelled whatever was in that package. He passed the test.

Last year Brad got in trouble at the American border near Niagara Falls. He parked his motorcycle too close to mine. The border agent made him push his motorcycle back and was talking very sternly. This year Brad kept his distance and waited to be called upon before moving the bike forward. I was first so I shut off the engine so I could converse with the border agent. I had my passport and was answering all the questions. The agent asked if I bought anything in Canada. I answered with an exact list; I purchased some post cards, refrigerator magnet, and a hockey puck. The agent gave a big grin thinking my shopping list was comical. He asked if I rode all the way to Canada to buy a post card and hockey puck.  I said yes, my son plays hockey adn is a fan. He asked if I visited anywhere else while in Canada. I quickly replied by stating that we crossed on the east side of the bay from Vermont. We rode up route 133 turned onto route 202 and then to route 15. The agent was a little stunned and asked again how many times I visited this area. I told him that it was my first time. He examined the dash of my motorcycle closer while asking if I had a Tom Tom navigation system. I told him that I didn’t have one. I have a paper map and I was the navigator for our trip. Brad tells people that he doesn’t need a Tom Tom. He has a Bill Bill to navigate. It seems that we spend more time at the check points returning to the U.S. than we do leaving. Missisqoui Bay was pretty but uneventful. Perhaps it was out timing. It was still mid morning when we crossed into New York. Oh well, we still have good memories from last year in Sudbury!