Before leaving the Forillion National Parc hostel at the end of the Gaspe Peninsula this morning I took a shot of what my view has been while staying here the past 2 days (intermittent rain and fog not pictured).  Not a bad view for $21 a night, which includes a clean, dry place to sleep, use of a full kitchen, WiFi access, and locals who are more than helpful in providing information about the area, eh? Last night the weather report said it would not be raining this morning, which would be a welcome change to the drizzle, fog, and dampness of the past 2 mornings.  I awoke early just in case they were right so I could hit the roads of Forillion before departing to Campbellton, New Brunswick.  Oh, what a grand morning it was!  Not only that, but my camera actually started working 100% again... WOO-HOO!!  What a great way to start a new day!  I asked a lady who was walking nearby if she would take a photo of me with my camera.  She replied something in French and then nodded she indeed would.  (Too bad I didn't know how to say make sure you get me in the photo in French, huh?): Yesterday's crappy weather prevented me from taking a particular hike that was highly recommended to me by the hostel owner:  ... The hike takes you here, which provides a panoramic view: I stopped at the beaver dam, or “house of the beavers” as the French speaking hostellers would say: Definitely an impressive sight, which was difficult to capture in photos: The whole tail-slapping thing with beavers is true!  These guys were at it this morning! On to the South section of the park: While riding in the park, my bike (Suzuki V-Strom DL1000) hit a milestone:    I'm certain I have just as many memories from the various journeys!! I saw 4 this morning... Route 132 goes straight through the actual town of Gaspe. I stopped at a local grocery store so I could get a banana.  Next door was the first sign of a US retail chain I've seen since leaving Montreal (over 1,000 miles): My own postcard to mark my journey... (Gaspe is celebrating it's 475th Anniversary this year) After leaving Gaspe I continued on Rt-132 for Perce, site of what I was told would be an island just off shore that is a sheer rock formation.  I present my photo of the famous “rock”: Yup, completely fogged in!  I waited around, found a local who spoke English enough to tell me that waiting around for the fog to lift would be a waste since there was no wind.  So, I rolled out with only a verbal description of what the fog was masking. Out of the fog and cold and into warm and bright again within 30 minutes! I came upon a post office soonthereafter and stopped so I could buy more postcard stamps.  Check this out..... the woman planting flowers was also the postal clerk (um, think you'd ever see that in the US?!): While trying buy more stamps, the postal lady adamantly informed me that the credit card I was trying to use was “bad”.  I gave her an alternate one, which also got “it's bad too” response.  I gave up, paid cash, feeling fairly confident that it was her machine, not my cards, that were “bad”.  However, the nagging thought of “could there really be a problem with my cards?!” prompted me to stop at the next bank I came across so I could beef up my Canadian cash supply.  Unfortunately, this was a fiasco!  I stopped at 3 different places, all of which had an ATM screen that looked like this!: Unfortunately, none of the people who were around the area where the banks were located spoke any English!  Yikes!  Not being able to access my own funds was quite distressing to say the least.  I decided I'd better stop at the next gas station and see if I could make a purchase with one of my credit cards to test my theory that my cards were good and that it was the postal lady's machine that was bad.  Thankfully, this turned out to be the case! While riding the Gaspe Peninsula over the past few days, I can say one thing about the people who live here... they all have a TON of firewood!  No kidding, each house has cord after cord of wood, and given the wrath of winter it makes sense.  I decided to stop and take a photo of the typical homeowner's firewood stash: Later in the day I came upon the mother of all firewood stashes!  The place looked like a personal residence.  There was sign posted in the driveway that said “Bois pas a vendre!” (I think I wrote that down correct).  I'm told that it translates to “Wood not for sale!”: (Hey Chris, tell your grasshopper customers about this ant!) The typical refueling station found in the Gaspe Peninsula region: (I've got a story about this place which I'll include later)... A bling-bling church I came upon while riding today... During my time in Canada I have seen a plethora of vehicles with a sign atop reading “ECOLIERS”.  Every time I see one I think of “E-Coli”, and my guess was that it meant taxi.  Well, it means “School Bus” or “Carrying Young Students” I'm told.  So much for my guessing, huh? I saw another lighthouse in the distance today.... ...so I decided to detour over to it: Not a bad place to enjoy lunch, eh? For those of you who will be traveling in Canuck land one day, keep your eye open for these signs, which denote a scenic view is just ahead: Yup, story forthcoming behind this pic: Crossed the bridge from the province of Quebec into NewBrunswick and the town of Campbellton: I've stayed in some really unusual places during my various adventures, but this has to rank up there with the best... a lighthouse!  Best of all, it's a hostel... woo-hoo!! Hmmm, spend the night in a hostel with ultra-cool folks for $24/night or stay just down the street (literally) in this generic, unmemorable place for $118/nt: Yeah, alternative accommodations ROCK!  Besides, I can even dry out my camping gear at the lighthouse, um, hostel.  Can you imagine the fandango scene this would cause if I did this out in front of the HoJo?! Inside the hostel, here's the women's bunks.  Oh yeah, I'm the only one here so I've got the entire room to myself (just like the past 2 nights at Forillion!): My new friend “Mark”, the hostel attendent, who is on his way to med school this fall: After unloading the bike and setting my gear out to dry, I decided to go explore the town of Campbellton on foot not only to get some exercise but also to hit the grocery store (another advantage of staying at a hostel is the use of a full size kitchen!).  I noticed right away that this town is all about salmon fishing.  Being a big fan of fishing myself, I love this place! Notice anything about these signs.... That's right – they have both English AND French words!    That's because New Brunswick is the only officially bi-lingual province in Canada.  Honestly, I'm so freakin' relieved to be back to the land of comprehension!!  The never-ending game of charades is down right fatiguing after a while! Today's final GPS.... Yeah, I know the total miles are whacked.  That's because I accidentally hit the wrong reset button this morning prior to departure and erased the entire log—oops!  Here is the GPS reading from the day before, so the total thus far for “East Coast 2009” is 5,560 miles: (above plus this) My route today for the geographically challenged: Thanks again for the support out there! AGirl    If you'd like to receive a direct email whenever a new Journey Report has been posted, click: THIS Copyright © 2006-2012, All Rights Reserved.