{"id":57094,"date":"2021-03-10T08:57:13","date_gmt":"2021-03-10T13:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/?p=57094"},"modified":"2021-03-10T08:57:13","modified_gmt":"2021-03-10T13:57:13","slug":"discovering-quebecs-gaspe-peninsula","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/2021\/03\/discovering-quebecs-gaspe-peninsula\/","title":{"rendered":"Discovering Quebec\u2019s Gasp\u00e9 Peninsula"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The last ride of the season fulfills a lifelong dream.<\/p>\n<p>Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! is just fun to say. Never mind that it\u2019s the only place name in the world with not one but two exclamation points. The \u201cHa! Ha!\u201d may originate with the old French word meaning \u201cbarrier,\u201d which in this case would be Lake T\u00e9miscouata. No one seems to know who Louis was, much less his spiritual status. But the name remains and the village of 1,300 was my starting point for touring the Gasp\u00e9 Peninsula \u2013 a lifelong dream.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s more, I was riding a new-to-me red 2016 Suzuki DL650, my second V-Strom, appropriately named Suzi II.<\/p>\n<p>As an \u201cadventure\u201d model, luggage was stock and the aftermarket lowered seat meant that I did not need the bar risers from my old machine. It was a perfect fit. Nimble on gravel, smooth and solid at highway speeds, she was a delight.<\/p>\n<p>As I rode along Highway 232 through St. Esprit and St. Gabriel, my route opened onto one spectacular valley after another with terrain so steep I wondered how they farmed it, but farm it they did. The road then led to a trench cut deep into the Appalachians by the Matapedia River. I stopped to watch two men standing waist-deep, fly-fishing for salmon \u2013 one of the river\u2019s prime species. A stretch of old Hwy 132 that parallels the riverbank permitted wild camping, and I found a site with a picnic table beside a spring of potable water that trickled peacefully all night.<\/p>\n<p>As I entered the covered bridge at Routhierville the next morning, the sound of my V-Strom\u2019s engine roused a homeless young man who had found shelter for the night under the wooden roof. I gave him my lunch of trail mix, and he was excessively thankful. I wished him well. And was mindful of my blessings.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hard to Get Lost<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-57098\" src=\"http:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/13-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\">Navigationally, the counterclockwise route in the Gasp\u00e9 is a simpleton\u2019s dream: follow 132 and turn left, then continue on 132 and turn left \u2013 just like in NASCAR \u2013 all the way around the peninsula. However, I made an extra left inland at Carleton, which meant a sudden ascent from sea level to 555 metres on a road with a 15 per cent grade. I wanted to visit Oratoire Notre-Dame-Du-St-Joseph, a church on the cliff overlooking the Baie des Chaleurs. The farmland, marina and lagoon below the mountain looked like part of a model railway.<\/p>\n<p>In New Carlisle, I had to stop every 200 metres and snap another photo of brightly painted fire hydrants depicting cartoon characters and making clever use of the hydrants\u2019 shape. Just west of Perc\u00e9, I inquired about a tour of the Magasin G\u00e9n\u00e9ral Historique Authentique 1928. Even though I arrived at closing time, two hosts dressed in early 20th-century garb welcomed me and eagerly gave me a tour. They switched to passable English when they realized I spoke less than passable French. The hosts, who were brothers, had restored their father\u2019s store to its glory days and established a museum of which they were justifiably proud.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Famous Rock<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I took a short but striking ride around the point and came face-to-face with&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The last ride of the season fulfills a lifelong dream. Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! is just fun to say. Never mind that it\u2019s the only place name in the world with not one but two exclamation points. The \u201cHa! Ha!\u201d may originate with the old French word meaning \u201cbarrier,\u201d which in this case would be Lake T\u00e9miscouata. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57095,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2039,228],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Gasp\u00e9 Peninsula Motorcycle Travel Log | Motorcycle Mojo<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In this month&#039;s issue of Motorcycle Mojo magazine, we have a motorcycle travel log about the Gasp\u00e9 Peninsula in Quebec. Click here to read about it today.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/2021\/03\/discovering-quebecs-gaspe-peninsula\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gasp\u00e9 Peninsula Motorcycle Travel Log | Motorcycle Mojo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In this month&#039;s issue of Motorcycle Mojo magazine, we have a motorcycle travel log about the Gasp\u00e9 Peninsula in Quebec. Click here to read about it today.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/2021\/03\/discovering-quebecs-gaspe-peninsula\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Motorcycle Mojo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MOTORCYCLE-MOJO-MAGAZINE-161377162001\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-10T13:57:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/gaspefeatured.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"930\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"448\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mojo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@motorcyclemojo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@motorcyclemojo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mojo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/2021\/03\/discovering-quebecs-gaspe-peninsula\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/2021\/03\/discovering-quebecs-gaspe-peninsula\/\",\"name\":\"Gasp\u00e9 Peninsula Motorcycle Travel Log | Motorcycle Mojo\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-10T13:57:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-10T13:57:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/#\/schema\/person\/34e2f2e71d83920226c959f06fd24cdd\"},\"description\":\"In this month's issue of Motorcycle Mojo magazine, we have a motorcycle travel log about the Gasp\u00e9 Peninsula in Quebec. Click here to read about it today.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/2021\/03\/discovering-quebecs-gaspe-peninsula\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/2021\/03\/discovering-quebecs-gaspe-peninsula\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/2021\/03\/discovering-quebecs-gaspe-peninsula\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Discovering Quebec\u2019s Gasp\u00e9 Peninsula\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/\",\"name\":\"Motorcycle Mojo\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/#\/schema\/person\/34e2f2e71d83920226c959f06fd24cdd\",\"name\":\"Mojo\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4cc87f50d1fa4da0cf95de93394efdd4?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4cc87f50d1fa4da0cf95de93394efdd4?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Mojo\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Gasp\u00e9 Peninsula Motorcycle Travel Log | Motorcycle Mojo","description":"In this month's issue of Motorcycle Mojo magazine, we have a motorcycle travel log about the Gasp\u00e9 Peninsula in Quebec. Click here to read about it today.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/2021\/03\/discovering-quebecs-gaspe-peninsula\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Gasp\u00e9 Peninsula Motorcycle Travel Log | Motorcycle Mojo","og_description":"In this month's issue of Motorcycle Mojo magazine, we have a motorcycle travel log about the Gasp\u00e9 Peninsula in Quebec. Click here to read about it today.","og_url":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/2021\/03\/discovering-quebecs-gaspe-peninsula\/","og_site_name":"Motorcycle Mojo","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MOTORCYCLE-MOJO-MAGAZINE-161377162001\/","article_published_time":"2021-03-10T13:57:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":930,"height":448,"url":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/gaspefeatured.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Mojo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@motorcyclemojo","twitter_site":"@motorcyclemojo","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mojo","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/2021\/03\/discovering-quebecs-gaspe-peninsula\/","url":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/2021\/03\/discovering-quebecs-gaspe-peninsula\/","name":"Gasp\u00e9 Peninsula Motorcycle Travel Log | Motorcycle Mojo","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-03-10T13:57:13+00:00","dateModified":"2021-03-10T13:57:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/#\/schema\/person\/34e2f2e71d83920226c959f06fd24cdd"},"description":"In this month's issue of Motorcycle Mojo magazine, we have a motorcycle travel log about the Gasp\u00e9 Peninsula in Quebec. Click here to read about it today.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/2021\/03\/discovering-quebecs-gaspe-peninsula\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/2021\/03\/discovering-quebecs-gaspe-peninsula\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/2021\/03\/discovering-quebecs-gaspe-peninsula\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Discovering Quebec\u2019s Gasp\u00e9 Peninsula"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/","name":"Motorcycle Mojo","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/#\/schema\/person\/34e2f2e71d83920226c959f06fd24cdd","name":"Mojo","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4cc87f50d1fa4da0cf95de93394efdd4?s=96&d=mm&r=r","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4cc87f50d1fa4da0cf95de93394efdd4?s=96&d=mm&r=r","caption":"Mojo"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com"],"url":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57094"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}