The Maritimes- ah the Prodigal Son returns

So we have made it to Fredericton- the capital of New Brunswick. Tyler has never been to the Maritimes and I haven't been to this area for 15 years since my family left Nova Scotia where I was born. Certainly getting a different view then my hazy recollections of Fundy Bay. We have been rocking out on secondary roads in the St. John River Valley. The roads are in good condition with little if any traffic. It is very scenic farmland and forest area as well.

In New Brunswick culture, we have witnessed the big money of prominent NB families at work. We camped in a campground outside of a Irving lumber mill and have seen over a half dozen stores of their province wide gas station chain. One day near Grand Sault/Grand Falls we biked by a McCains plant and that same day we camped in Floranceville the "French Fry Capital of the World" which has a giant smelly French fry plant, the McCain Corporate headquarters, McCains R&D division, and New Brunswick only potato museum.

We started our New Brunswick portion in L'Acadie so it was very similar to Quebec though people were generally bilingual especially in Edmundston which made it much less of a production ordering Subway with our mangled French. Saw a few Acadian flags though they were mostly paired with Canadian and New Brunswick flags. But we moved into English New Brunswick fairly fast and wont be back to the Acadia portion until Shediac and that coastal region.

Now is time for a flashback of our last few days in Quebec. We dealt with horrendous headwind upon leaving Quebec City. And La Route Verte map wasn't too accurate on the location of a campsite so we ended up camping behind a gazebo beside a church in the very foggy hamlet of Saint-Denis. At least it was free. The next day we had lunch at Riverie-du-Loup. From there to Edmundston, NB it was 135 kms on an unpaved trail of an old railbed. A little hairy in the rain but pretty fun. And no traffic save for a furtive car or two taking illegal shortcuts. Tyler only lost 2 spokes- w00t. We camped our last night in Quebec under a shelter with a fireplace in a Cabano campground. The next morning we ran into Brian and Pat- two trans-Canada cyclists we had met in English River, Ontario- about 2500 kms ago. Their website is here and has a picture of us.
Now we are going to get some tuneups tomorrow and leave towards Moncton. We'll be thru PEI and into Nova Scotia in no time.