Meet a widow who is checking off her bucket list on a 3-wheeled motorcycle | CBC News

Six years after her husband died, Alice Auburtine grew tired of hanging around her lonely Sudbury, Ont., home.

At 61, she decided it was time to start tackling her bucket list.

So she sold her belongings, purchased a three-wheeled motorcycle — a Spyder bike — packed up her little dog and headed for Newfoundland.

“Life is too short,” she said. “I don’t want to end up in an old age home saying, ‘I wish I would have done that.'”

Auburtine’s husband wasn’t able to travel in the last years of his life, and exploring Canada was something she’d always wanted to do.

“I went through all the provinces, you know, took my time because I didn’t have an agenda. I knew I was going to be gone for a few months.”

It sounds like a daunting trip to take on by yourself. But Auburtine says fear was never something that slowed her down.

“I can’t let fear come in. Because if fear comes in, it’s going to cocoon me and stop me from enjoying life,” she said.

Even so, it wasn’t always smooth sailing.

It rained through most of New Brunswick, and Auburtine’s beloved bike broke down and had to be repaired in Quebec.

But by the time she reached Newfoundland, her luck turned around.

“Newfoundland was amazing. It was the best province that I travelled through,” she said. “Crossing over to Newfoundland was almost like a crossover to another planet. It was just majestic.”

Along my way, I found such hidden gems.– Alice Auburtine

She started things off in St. John’s, and checked off the usual tourist sites — Cape Spear, Signal Hill, a boat tour with some whale and puffin sightings.

After about six days, Auburtine moved on. Her strategy was to stay off the main highway and explore as many nooks and crannies of the province as she could.

“Along my way, I found such hidden gems,” she said.

One of those gems was Middle Arm, on the northern shore of Notre Dame Bay.

“It was a trick getting there,” she said. “The road wasn’t the greatest, but I pressed on and when I got to this beautiful little town, it was just surrounded by mountains and ocean and wonderful, beautiful people.”

Auburtine said she made her way down to the wharf and started taking photos of fishermen coming in with their catch.

She told them that one day she’d love to get out on the water. 

“One fellow says to me, ‘Well, can you be ready in five minutes?'”

She scooped up her dog, hopped in the boat and went cod jigging for the first time.

“We went touring around the beautiful high cliffs, watched the eagles. I looked into the water, and then for the very first time I saw jellyfish. It was just so amazing.”

The people she’d met set her up in a nice camp, and a woman later brought her a fresh feed of cod with a homemade dessert. 

Heading home

Eventually, Auburtine had to make her way back to Ontario. Even after a month of exploring the island, she wasn’t ready to go.

“I could have spent another month,” she said. “It was just so, so amazing. What an amazing trip.”

Auburtine made plenty of friends along the way and stays in touch with them through social media.

“People say that I inspired them. Especially women — that I inspire them to start their own bucket list and push that fear away.”

Next summer, she plans to explore her own province before tackling Canada’s West Coast.

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