Road Trip 2017: Gaspé Peninsula & Mount Washington

By Paul James Brown

A journal of a four day solo bike trip through the fjords of Quebec to the Gaspé Peninsula to Mount Washington. Lots of colour photos.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jul 31, 2017
• ISBN: 9781387120758

Book preview

Road Trip 2017: Gaspé Peninsula & Mount Washington

Road Trip 2017

Gaspé Peninsula

Mount Washington

By:

Paul James Brown

© 2017 Paul James Brown

pauljamesbrown.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any process – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise – without the prior written permission of the author.

Printed in Canada and the United States of America by Lulu Press Inc.

ISBN 978-1-387-12075-8 (e-book)

Editor's Note:

All of the stories and/ or examples in this book are based on actual experiences. The names may have been changed to protect the privacy of the people involved.

This book dedicated to Wendy, Owen, and Liam;

my incredible wife and children.

The open road is amazing, but there's nothing greater than coming home to you guys.... PJB

PREFACE

In 2005, I went on a motorcycle road trip on my 2005 Suzuki Volusia. It was an 800cc bike. On that trip, I rode from Whitby Ontario (where I lived at the time) to St John's Newfoundland to Boston Massachusetts to New York City. I was on the road for 11 days, and kept a journal the entire time. When I got back, I typed it up, added the pictures, and had it printed. It's great to look back and see the pictures, but also to read the stories around them and know exactly where I was and what was going on. I did the same thing in 2007 when I did a road trip to St John's Newfoundland with my dad.

The trip with Skipper wasn't on the motorcycle, but I've done lots of motorcycle road trips since 2005; too many to count. With the exception of one, they've all been with other people. In all of those trips, I haven't documented anything. I'm not sure why but it is probably because the group I usually travel with isn't really the type to journal. That and most nights are filled with drunken shenanigans when we travel together, so there is a high probability of memory failure.

When my wife (Wendy) was pregnant with our oldest son (Owen - now almost 7), I went on a lot of bike trips with the guys that summer. I knew the volume of trips wouldn't continue once he was born, so I made a deal with Wendy. Each summer, I would get a four-day bike trip, and she would get a girls' weekend. Her and her friends don't usually use the whole weekend but now, they go down south for four or five days in late fall.

Since I travelled solo this time, I thought it would be a good excuse to write things down. I've also been going through some emotional stuff over the last five months, so I thought it might prove therapeutic to track my thoughts while I was on the open road, and away from responsibility.

Now, I'm riding a 2009 Harley Davidson Ultra Classic or as some refer to it, A Geezer-Glide. It has a 96 cubic inch (1573cc) engine, and is incredibly comfortable. The planned trip was from Peterborough Ontario (where I live now) to Saguenay Quebec to the Gaspé