Day 15/16: I found the middle of nowhere - it's on hwy105

On day 14, the Grand Falls locals recommended taking highway 130 if I wanted to avoid traffic on the Trans-Canada.  I thought highway 105 on the east coast of the St. John river looked like a more direct route,  but they didn't seem to have an opinion on it that I can remember.

Lesson for the day- Listen to the locals!

I rode 172km yesterday - though not by choice.  Highway 105 seemed great!  There was no traffic,  no anything. There were two rest stops in the first 25km - then nothing for the next 150km. No rest stops,  no motels, no stores,  and after I passed Hartland there wasn't even another town or exit for another 100km. I couldn't believe a road could go on for so long with only farms;  what were you supposed to do if you ran out of gas?

When I finally hit an exit to highway 102 on the other side of the river,  I took it - although having watched the other bank of the river all day I wasn't confident this road would be any better.  After 10km on the new highway I actually hit a motel! Unfortunately it was only open during the summer. Of course.

Fortunately the owners were around and took pity on me. It was freezing outside and they said the next closest motel was over 30km away, and I didn't have another 30km in me for the day. I ran out of water 50km ago, and was on my last pepperoni stick,  I needed to crash. They also said I was lucky I crossed over to 102 when I did,  otherwise I'd have been stuck until I hit Fredericton 70km later.

They made up a bed in one of the rooms for me and let me use the laundry room to shower since water wasn't hooked up to any of the units yet. I feel somewhat refreshed this morning, and the good news is I have less than 40km to go until Fredericton! From here on in I'm going to stick to recognizable routes or at least heed the advice of locals.

Several pics of the beautiful - and completely desolate - highway 105.

This was interesting.  The bridge was closed for an hour with no alternate route for dozens of kilometers. I decided to wait it out.

More tranquil - but desolate highway

Don't let the sign fool you - they're not open yet.

This morning.