Fredda has been working at this time (1996) for about 2 1/2 years on a contract in Canada. After acquiring Bübbi as her first road motorcycle in the late fall of 1995, we decided to venture north of the border for her first long ride. Since Fredda has to work during the week in Ottawa, we decided to go to celebrate Canada Day with about 1,000,000 friends in the capital.

Many of the government buildings in Ottawa are very Victorian in style. The most famous ones are along Wellington Street and back high on the escarpment above the Ottawa River. The towers are visible from everywhere, as newer buildings are not permitted to block them out.

We took Bübbi on her first long trip, starting in Vermont (Warren). We rode north along Vt. 100, then cut over through the Champlain Islands to New York. We followed the northern edge of the state to the bridge to Cornwall, Ontario. Bübbi was very excited to cross into another country. Besides, there are two bridges over the St. Larwrence with nice views. Now we were officially in Canada. Bübbi is not a super-highway motorcycle, so we went west along Canada 2 on the river (St. Lawrence) to Ontario 31 (north). This road becomes Bank Street in Ottawa (named for the Bank of Canada). The scene above looks across Sparks Street by the old Bank building to the tower on the house office building.

Bübbi got her first Canadian decal here. It is a Canadian flag that says "Ottawa" on the bottom. She participated in the unofficial birthday parade down Bank Street, with a Canadian flag mounted on her spare tire. We retraced our steps to return home to Massachusetts via Vermont. This was my first relatively long bike trip as other than a motorcycle passenger. We learned a lot, and we were about to become significantly more adventurous.

Fredda Cole and Bübbi

Frank Cole and BFM