Ride For Rand : Day 83 - Fredericton to Saint John

Despite the weather, today was a pretty straightforward day riding south down towards Saint John from Fredericton. I woke up to rain and left early to make it to Saint John in good time. I always wanted to get to St. John's on this journey, but I suppose St. John will have to do. I looked online and found a room on the local university campus in St. John for $35 dollars--same rate as it cost for me to stay in Quebec City. I'm telling you, if you want to have the privacy of a hotel with the price of a hostel, university campuses are the cheapest and BEST accommodation you can get in the summer. I never realized what a resource they were, but they are much cheaper than even most campsites.

Anyway, people say that hindsight is 20/20 and it was clear to me that the previous day was actually not too bad in comparison, but this day wasn't too bad either. Once the heavy rains subsided and I had a breakfast sandwich in me, the little drops of rain just glided off of me like... how does that saying go again? What I mean is that I felt motivated and the morning wasn't so bad, just a little refreshing--that's all.

Later on in the day, the highway I was on cut through a military training ground and the sun burned through the clouds. It was a pretty long stretch of road with constant signs not to stray from the highway, but after awhile, I made it through. I remember when I saw a little sliver of blue in the distance and felt like crying. Even though my trip hadn't ended yet, the blue symbolized the Atlantic Ocean which I vowed to dip my front tire into, so no matter what happened after this point, I knew that I had reached my destination in some way. Entering St. John, I made my way down through the highway and to the Reversing Falls and then gradually saw the get closer.

I took the long hill up towards the UNB Saint John Summer Hotel on the UNB campus in the mountains. After arriving, I couldn't resist going downtown to check out the sights and sounds. There were several live bands and I had some delicious food while I was there.

I went to sleep that night secure in the thought that I had reached the Atlantic Ocean. What a day!