Another Day, Another Mascot .....: Day 78 - Shediac New Brunswick to Borden PEI - And Then We Pedalled...... Cross Canada 2015

August 19, 2015

Another Day, Another Mascot .....: Day 78 - Shediac New Brunswick to Borden PEI

Shorter day but a big one.

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First the obvious, The Lobster.

Second, seven provinces done.

Third we had another great ride on very quiet sea side roads, the last of the Acadian Trail that we have more or less been following since entering New Brunswick.

So, the 'BIG BUG'. There have been a lot of comments on Kirsten's Facebook page about the Shediac lobster. It's quite amazing how many other people have been here and have pictures of it.

So here's ours!

Ok, a while back I ran a little Bob Dylan quiz. We had some fun with the interaction with the audience out there (seems like there's about 350 of you each day). So here's the next audience participation moment.

I'd like to see a vote on which Mascot shot folks like best:

Today's All Canadian Shediac Lobster or

Minnesota's Walleye from back on day 36.

I tried to get Kirsten to do the same pose on each one to make it a level playing field!

Send your votes in via the Guestbook.

Got the best pictures from this angle. Two reason for this, both due to us getting a late start (surprised?). First, the sun was right at the back of the thing, making head on shots difficult, and second, we didn't beat the tour buses. On the other side of the big bug is half of Shanghai, and they pretty much had a monopoly on the front end.

At the risk of overplaying his whole lobster thing, we ended up having a really interesting morning with the big cement bug being central to it.

As I mentioned yesterday, our host Sharon was working on an art installation at the Shediac Lobster shack just a cross the water from 'the bug'. The installation is a life size depiction of the family, who have run the lobster shop for generations, plying their trade. It was designed by Monette Leger, who we also met, and who is also responsible for 'touching up the bug' at then end of every tourist season (you can see how it needs maintaining. Some people just climb all over it!)

Sharon, Monette and Kirsten by the Lobster Shop where they are putting in their latest art installation

Monette with a scale model of the installation they are working on

It turns out Monette has done several art installations around Shediac, including a beautiful totem pole depicting the Acadian story, titled " The History Tree of The Acadians) on the Main Street in Shediac. She spent 9 months in BC creating this piece from a single Red Cedar. It is a beautiful piece and very inspirational.

The Histrory Tree of the Acadians by Monette Leger

We finally got pedalling out of Shediac at about 10:30 and quickly decided that today was going to be a leisurely ride along the costal route, hwy 133, 950 and 955, to the confederation bridge.

Really nice ride, very little traffic, not as hot as the last two days (temps in the mid rather than high 30's). Popped over the bridge to PEI on the shuttle service, got a good priced motel (with AC and no black flies or Mosquitos!). We'll have another short day tomorrow into Charlottetown and take Friday off there. Then it's on to Nova Scotia ... Province 9!

Nice sheltered bays and inlets along the coast

This guy had a really good collection of old Cockshut and Farmall tractors ... Along hwy 133

Sea scapes along hwy 955 west of the Confederation bridge

Couldn't get a shot of the 'Welcome to PEI' sign when we came over the bridge. Got this instead. Stereotypes exist for a reason!

Song of the day:

can't be anything else...

Bud the Spud by PEI's very own Stomping Tom

Historical monument of the day:

The Acadian History Tree totem depicting 400 years of Acadian history in the area. Kind of cool that we met the artist too!

Today's ride: 88 km (55 miles)
Total: 7,321 km (4,546 miles)

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