September 22--Fundy National Park

Well, we woke up about 7:30 nice and warm to a beautiful, sunny day, but our heater seems to be having some issues this morning. It ran all night long, but this morning, it seems to turn off after just a few minutes of heat. Steve thinks it is a the thermocouple that has to reset itself, because it does the same thing after a few minutes. Oh well, we’ll worry about that tonight.

We had coffee and breakfast, and then headed to the Visitor Center to see what we could learn about the tides at Fundy. Normally the ocean tides change 13 feet twice a day, but in Fundy because of the shape of the bay and the location of Fundy on the planet, the tides change 40-50 feet a day.

There are caution signs posted warning you to start back from the tidal beach within an hour or two off low tide because the water comes back in at about 7 feet per minute. So we exercised caution, and walked out as far as the water’s edge, and then headed back. By the time we got back, there was even more ocean bottom exposed, but we decided to head on up the coast to the lighthouse and to Hopewell Bay.


On our way to the lighthouse, we noticed a winery with a tasting room open. So we went in (of course) and discovered that they had rhubarb and blueberry wines. So we both tasted the various blueberry wines, and I tasted the rhubard wine, and we decided to buy a small bottle of the blueberry sweet dessert wine to have with Lee and Joli.

After that we stopped at the lighthouse, and took pictures of Fundy Bay and then headed to Hopewell Rock. The lighthouse is kind of off the beaten track, and very cool. Apparently the local kids maintain and operate it during the summer, and use the proceeds for the upkeep and maintenance of it.
Hopewell Rock, however, is not off the beaten path. Lots and lots of tour buses, and senior citizens. It is a beautiful walk down to the photo opportunities, and very well kept.

While taking a break from all the seafood with a couple of cheeseburgers, we decided that Utah was a pretty great state to live in, even after seeing all of the great places that we have seen so far on this trip. We are excited about heading to Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor, Maine tomorrow.

As always, I am happy to return stateside. It’s been great being here in Canada. I love the Canadians, they are all so friendly and open. But I do love the USA and it will be great to be a part of it again, even with the financial upheaval that seems to be going on (sometimes its a curse to have satellite radio to listen to!).

September 21--Leaving Nova Scotia

Well, today was another traveling day. We got up, had breakfast, packed up and headed out of Nova Scotia. It did take us a while to get out. We drove through the morning fog and mist into the sunlight away from the river and ocean. Western Nova Scotia is lovely with rolling hills and farms, and a few larger towns. By the time we got to Moncton outskirts, the sun had disappeared and the temperature had dropped enough for me to ask for a stop so I could get my electric clothes back on and warm up.

Ahh, heated clothes! What a wonderful thing they are! They turn a gray, chilled to the bone, focused on cold fingers attitude into happy, content, just watching the scenery pass by! We finally got to the turn off from the Canadian version of a superhighway (we actually had to pay a $4.00 toll on it) onto a decidedly unsuper Hwy 114 headed east for Fundy National Park and the town of Alma, just outside the park on the coast side.


We skipped the campground and went right to town to get a bite to eat (lobster rolls and clam plates). It is blueberry season, and we did pass the blueberry capital of Nova Scotia earlier, so I had fresh blueberry cobbler for dessert. We both have to admit we are getting seafood’ed out. We went back to the only open campsite in the park, about 4 kilometers up the hill from the town and found a lovely site. They have washer and dryers, fire wood for sale, showers, and lots of private campsites. I scrounged for wood, and got enough for last night’s fire.

We got everything set up, and then headed back to Alma to see the high tide at 5:02 p.m. By the time we got back, the boats that I’d seen at the wharf high and dry earlier in the day were floating! It was pretty amazing.

We wandered around and took pictures and then headed to camp for a fire and the first episode of MadMen.

We had finished all the Hero episodes the night before (except for a few we accidentally skipped) and decided to move to MadMen.

If you haven’t seen this series, it’s worth watching. If you are a woman, you just have to be amazed at how far women have come since the 60’s, and why we moved as fast as we could away from that era (except, maybe, Sarah Palin). Thank God we got the vote (well, we will see in November!)!!!

Tomorrow we will be sightseeing around Fundy Drive, and head for low tide at Alma which is at 11:52 a.m. We want to walk out on the ocean bottom and see what turns up!

September 20--Louisbourg and Beyond

Today, we had a lazy start, ate breakfast a few feet from our RV park in ‘down town’ Louisbourg and headed out to the Old French fortress town. We fell asleep last night to the sounds of the wharf, mostly crab fishermen support systems. At breakfast, we talked with the cafe owner about American politics, Canadian politics, and the politics of fish! He was obviously very well educated about all three! He was an Obama fan, by the way!

Louisbourg is now a fascinating historical site on the order of Williamsburg, Virginia. In the mid 1700’s, it was one of the 3 (or 4, depending on who you listened to) busiest ports in North America, just after New York, Boston and, perhaps, Charleston. For me, it came as a surprise to learn that the trading of beaver pelts was NOT the principle business of the French in North America (OK, so my basic education in the history of this period was dished up in the 6th grade in major metropolis of Lake Crystal, Mn (population 1,500 + livestock). No, their business was dried cod . . . to the tune of the equivalent of $20 billion US per year. And they caught them one at a time using a hemp line, a 5 lb weight, and a hook. That’s a lot of cod! Well, enough of the history lesson. Let’s just say that Louisbourg was a very cool place!

So now let’s talk about the roads that came from the same time period. We hit every bump on them down route 4 alongside Bras D’Or. This is a HUGE drainage, 3700 square miles with six rivers feeding it, all within the island of Cape Breton, with only 18,000 people currently occupying it. Apparently, many have moved to the oil/gas fields of Alberta, and left their homes for sale. Many, many for sale signs along the shores.

Tonight we ended up at Antigonish, NS, and only had seafood as an appetizer. The steak and lamb chops were a terrific change of diet! We checked the tide tables for Fundy National Park, and thought we would be there tomorrow to see the high tide at around 5 p.m. Low tide is at midnight tomorrow, and we doubt seriously that we will see that one, so we will stay the next day to see the next low tide at noon. There will be a 40 feet difference between high and low, certainly something to see!

September 19--Louisbourg

Well, the weather was beautiful this morning, a little frost on the tent, but the heater is holding in there keeping us warm. So our choice was made for us.

Right now we are sitting in our lawnchairs looking at Louisbourg Bay (mile 4,509), smelling the ocean, watching the lobster boats go by, and contemplating ??? guess what ??? for dinner. There is a place just down the street called the Lobster Kettle, within walking distance.

We traveled down the eastern coast of Cape Breton today, Steve had lots of practice braking and turning with the bike and trailer rig. We had a short little ferry ride across a river, and then made a right turn and headed for Baddeck. Great highway, and lots of photo opportunities if we had a panorama lens.



We spent a few hours at the Alexander Graham Bell Museum. Did you know that Bell had invented the photophone years ago, turning light waves into electrical and sound way back in the late 1800’s? I learned what a classy lady his wife was in so many different ways! It was a fascinating museum, and amazing the number of things Bell worked on in his life. His family still lives in Baddeck, a charming little community with lots of sailboats in the harbour. There are about 20 residences on the Bell property belonging to various Bell offspring.

After the museum and lunch, we headed back north to Sydney, and thought for a very quick moment about taking the ferry to Newfoundland, but passed it by for Louisbourg. Tomorrow we are going to the old French fortress/museum and are advised it takes about 4 hours to tour. We will be there when they open at 9:30 a.m and then head towards the Bay of Fundy National Park in New Brunswick tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow will mark the furthest point East of our great adventure. Thus, officially, we’ll be ‘on our way home’ tomorrow although it will be a much longer trek back (going by way of North Carolina, Texas, etc.)!

September 18--Cabot Trail

Well, we woke to clouds, but not rain, so we decided to head on up the Cabot Trail. We left our camp about 8 a.m. and headed north. We stopped at several places along the way, looking for quilts for the cabin, but not finding anything we liked. We stopped in Cheticamp, and looked at the hooked rugs they made. I even gave it a try at ‘hooking’, but was an abysmal failure at that.

We entered the park, and it very quickly got darker and darker. By the time we had passed French Mountain, we were in the clouds and the rain. After about 30 kilometers, we stopped for lunch (lobster roll, scallops, mussels, shrimp) in the pouring rain. We tried to sit it out until it quit, but after lunch with dessert, it was still coming down. So we got out our rain gear and electric heated clothing and geared up and headed out. Much better with electrics on. After a few kilometers we were passed by a Ducati who we later saw at the end of the park. It turns out he was doing a coast to coast Canada ride for an online motorcycle blog. He had picked up the bike in Toronto, and was riding it to St. John, Newfoundland, to begin his coast to coast trip. He was planning on being in Vancouver by October 7, but said 300 kilometers a day was about all his body could stand on the bike (too bad he didn’t have a Goldwing!). He also said the rain had followed him wherever he went, so we should definitely go a different way. I think he was right, because we set up camp close to Ingonish and had sunshine about an hour after we left him! Despite what the travel books say about the West Coast of Cape Breton as being stunning, we have been more taken by the East Coast! Perhaps it was just the rain and fog that skewed our views!

We are camped tonight at Broad Cove Campground just inside the Cape Breton National Park, and will head to Banneck tomorrow, to visit the Alexander Graham Bell National Museum. Then we think we may head over to Sydney and the Louisville French Fortress if the weather is good, and straight to the causeway to get off the island of NS if the weather is gray and rainy. We’ll see what tomorrow brings. Bay of Fundy or Louisville???

September 17--Still at McLeod's campground

Well, we woke up to clouds, but they cleared off by 9 a.m. Yeah! We slept in waiting for someone to bring us coffee in bed, but it didn’t happen. So we got up, dressed and packed up our dirty clothes and the computer and went to Inverness for coffee and the laundromat. We had coffee at a quik stop, but the coffee line was long. The fellow in front of us said we had to be quick, or it would be gone. He said they served over 500 cups of coffee a day from the dinky little place.

So we got our coffee, some cinnamon rolls, and headed back to the laundry. They had a great wi-fi connection, so I was able to upload several days of journals, and a few pictures before Steve got the laundry folded! Is he a good boy!! (I’m the best!...Steve)

Then we headed south to the Glenora Distillery, the one of the few makers of single malt whiskey (can’t call it scotch) in North America. We had a tour of the distillery, a lovely lunch accompanied by scottish tunes, and left with a couple of bottles of aged scotch (seemed to be worth more than the Wing!) and a DVD from our lunchtime Celtic mandolin player.

We spent a quiet evening in camp watching the sun, then the sunset, over the ocean. We visited with one of the “seasonals” who said they lived on the other side of Cape Breton about an hour away, and they took their RV over to McLeod’s every year for the last 22 years and left it for the summer. We heard the story about the island across the bay, and how wonderful the ocean is during the summertime right on McLeod’s beach.

I guess there were 3 trailers actually involved in the flood several weeks ago, one washed clear out to sea, There is a fine toilet sitting on a beach a mile away. . .the last remains of the ill fated RV.

I met a woman in the showers and we talked about the ferocious wind we had both encountered on PEI. She said she had heard that they had actually had to turn a cruise liner away from the harbor at St. Johns, Newfoundland, because of the high waves caused by the remains of Hurricane Ike, the first time for that to happen in 80 years. It sounded like we were really lucky in the campsites we chose while we were on PEI. She said she and her husband were in an exposed campsite, and they were afraid their truck pop-up was going to blow over.

We had a lovely fire this evening, and sat outside until the first stars came out. The evening was capped off with showers and an episode of Heroes. Tomorrow we are headed north on our red chariot to traverse the Cabot Trail.

September 16 til ???--Cape Breton

Well, we were shooting for the 11:15 a.m. ferry from PEI to Caribou, Nova Scotia. We took out time getting up, having breakfast, packing up, and getting the bike loaded. We were on the road and to the ferry site at Woods Island by 9 a.m. and in line for the 9:30 ferry.

A fellow came up and talked with us about our camper. He had a similar motorcycle camper but pulled it behind his truck. He was from New Brunswick, and spent the summer on PEI working for his son who does something with electrical mosquito abatement. We laughed about how the mosquitoes in NB actually ATE DEET and it seemed like they were on steroids after sucking it up. The DEET did nothing to keep the mosquitoes away from us in NB.

Well, finally the ferry started loading, and we were in line for the 45 degree vertical climb up to the upper deck (my knuckles were certainly white, and Steve should have been feeling my claw marks). But at the last minute they waved us to the lower deck with the Big Rigs!!! Whew!

After a 90 minute ride during which we had a great American breakfast complete with fried eggs and sausages, we landed in Caribou and headed east to Cape Breton Island. Just gorgeous!! But the colors haven’t turned much up here yet, either. We stopped at the Glenora Distillery, and were going to do their tour, but it was getting late, and we decided to go to the next town and settle in and come back tomorrow. We were directed to the McLeod Campsite about 20 kilometers away by several people. When we finally got there and turned on the gravel road, we were very skeptical. The gravel road was potholed and a bit rough, and then you had to go down a slight hill on gravel to the campsite office, about 1 mile off the main highway. However, it is fabulous! We are staying at least two nights, and maybe another one.

The reason the road was so bad is that it is a county road and apparently two weeks ago one of the remnants of a hurricane (Hannah, I think) arrived over the McLeod campsite and stayed for several days, dumping 30 inches of water on a very centralized 25 mile square area. It washed away two of the trailers that were camping in the campground. The owner apologized for the road conditions, but it seems he is still trying to get his campground back together after this storm. He also told us that the wind we had in PEI the last two days was the remnants of Hurricane Ike, so you can imagine the winds Steve drove through on PEI.

I’ll upload photos later. Tomorrow we are doing laundry and then going back to the Glenora Distillery for a tour and tasting.