Touring Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec

     I know how to read a map scale, but the sense of distance remains an illusion until you find yourself actually riding these roads.  It took an entire day to circumvent Lac-Saint-Jean.  Blue sky and new leaves on the trees coupled with rushing river cascades and waterfalls made for some great sightseeing. 

It snowed here last week and the fiddleheads are just coming up.  Such events are almost ancient history farther south in Montreal.  The tourist season is at least a month away, but residents were out taking advantage of the hot sunshine.  Bicyclists and scantily clad rollerblading enthusiasts; sun worshipers on the pristine sands of Pointe Tallion; and so many motorcycles on the road that one couldn’t be blamed for thinking that a rally was taking place in the vicinity.  In other words, it was a perfect day for a motorcycle ride.

Guided by Ross on this red Honda GL1800 and trailed by Ray on this big black Harley bagger with my bumblebee yellow T-Rex sandwiched between them we were a sight.  The stratification by brand (and even model) that so prevalent in the U.S. doesn’t exist up here.  I saw Harleys riding with Honda scooters and KTM’s.  What’s important is not what you ride, but that you do ride.  It’s a nice sense of inclusion that we would do well to emulated south of the 45^th Parallel.

Naturally we hit the tourism high points – Ouiatchouan Falls in the ghost town of Val-Jalbert, lunch at Zoo Sauvage (this is not a local nightclub, but a premier wildlife zoo) – and made quick stops at a couple of popular motorcycle service shops.  There are dramatic waterfalls and cascades in this region and we passed by most, but did manage to stop a three or four to enable me to practice some photography.  With Ross guiding I was freed from having to navigate while reaping the benefits of riding the best motorcycle touring roads around the lake.  Ray is the kind of guy that everyone takes a liking to and he took on the role of explaining the nature of the T-Rex to the people who came over to check it out every time we stopped.  Fortunately I will be graced with their company on tomorrow’s long journey through the Charlevoix Region and back by way of the Saguenay fjord. I’m looking forward to it already, but it requires an early start so most of my packing has to be done tonight.  I best get on with the job.