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The good people of St. Johns banded together to raise money and help Molly get back on the road. Yet, it was the folks at Newfoundland’s adventure riders forum, RidetheRock.com, that helped Molly realize her place in the motorcycling community. You see, she had never known there was a name for what she was trying to do. Molly got choked up as they handed her an envelope full of cash that they had raised for her through their ice-cream run. “I’ve never been in a biking community,” she said. “And I never knew there was such a thing as ‘adventure riding.’ So, when I discovered I was an adventure rider it felt like I had to get a cape or something.”
By the end of the week she was back on the road to Labrador living the old proverb, “What goes around, comes around.”
The rest of the trip went smoothly. Sure, Molly had to battle loose gravel and the dust clouds kicked up by transport trucks as she rode across the Trans-Lab, but she says everything just came together after the St. Johns incident.
Not only did she get to experience the beautiful Labrador wilderness, she also had plenty of chances to meet the people living there—which was half the reason she chose to travel the area in the first place. And it became very important for her to nurture these new connections through letters and the internet upon returning. “In general, the people of Newfoundland and Labrador were the highlight of the trip,” says Molly.
Thanks to media coverage, she was surprised that so many of the people along the route recognized her. At one point, a police cruiser pulled her over, not for a ticket, but to talk to her about her gutsy ride and to give her a sticker for her bike.
Her relaxed pace allowed her to take in each area’s wildlife where, at one point, she even discovered timber wolf tracks. Others on larger bikes didn’t always take her seriously, but she didn’t care. “I don’t know what their experiences were, maybe they got off on going fast, I don’t know,” she says. “I’d go slowly, because I like to take things in. A lot of people were blowing by me, but they wouldn’t have a chance to see things like the timber wolf tracks… you know what I’m saying?”
After returning to her farm in Maine, she reflected back on the experiences as she dug her hands into the soil. What advice would she give other adventure riders wanting to tackle the Trans-Lab route? Molly’s advice isn’t about carefully guarding your bike against theft, “Are you kidding me?” She laughs, “That was the best part of my trip!” Molly suggests that if you want to truly enjoy the journey, make sure you don’t tie yourself too tightly to an ambitious schedule. “Definitely don’t have a timeframe. Give yourself plenty of room, because then you know you’ll get into trouble.
