'Streets of Laredo', Canada trip departure, Drive to and through Maine and New Brunswick to Amherst, NS
(posted from the Newfoundland Ferry, sailing from North Sydney, Nova Scotia to Port Aux Basques, Newfoundland)
(This post covers 19 – 24 August, 2010)
------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 24 August-
This morning we went into the Wal-mart and bought a Canada-USA card issued by Bell Canada. We then called the ferry company and made our reservation for the Newfoundland ferry for tomorrow. The 100-mile, five-and-a-half hour trip cost $166 for two adults and our van.
We took our time driving up the 104 and later the 105 to Cape Breton. At mid-morning we stopped in Pictou for gas ($4.04 per gallon) and took advantage of their internet connection to pick up and send email and used our phone card via a pay-phone to check messages at home.
At Antigonish ('anti-GO-nish') we saw a sign for a Boston Pizza and remembered a wonderful Thai-pasta dish we had at the Boston Pizza in Thompson, Manitoba back in 2007. But alas they didn't have it. So we had our Lebanon bologney sandwiches in the parking lot of the visitor's center next door.
By mid-afternoon we needed a break so stopped at a Mic'Maq cultural center along the Bras d'Or lakes. We watched a film about the history of the Mic'Maw in Atlantic Canada and then had a charming discussion with a Mic'Maq teenage girl. We talked about her education as a Canadian and in her formal and informal courses in her native culture. There are some 7000 Mic'Maw in Atlantic Canada.
We then continued north to Baddeck where we went into the Alexander Graham Bell National Heritage site. We had visited here in the mid-Nineties so only went to the gift shop today, then broke for tea at the little tea house on site. We had a picture-perfect blue-sky afternoon, sitting on the deck and looking out across the lake as we sipped our King Cole tea, a popular brand of the Maritimes.
After tea we drove on to our campground for the night. We picked Mountain View campground from the touring brochure and found we liked it right away. It's a small, family-owned campground and we liked interacting with the various family members as we went through our stay.
Given that we don't want delays tomorrow morning as we head for the ferry, we took showers
this evening before Labashi prepared supper. Afterwards I headed down to the office for a wi-fi connection but on the way had a very long conversation with a couple from Alberta. They're a retired farming family from just east of Edmundton and we had a lot of travel destinations in common. Also, they just returned today from Newfoundland.
I finally made it to the office and hooked up to wi-fi only to have the youngest son – a 15 year-old-- suddenly wanting to talk. I had a very nice hour or so working away on the web while chatting with him about cars, girls, motorcycles, ATVs, and school. That was fun. What a great kid.
-----------------------------------------
Monday, 23 August-
What a fantastic night! For once the Wal-mart parking lot was very quiet and remained so all night. We returned our Redbox movie and gassed up at the nearby Irving ($2.79 a gallon) before crossing the border into St. Stephens, New Brunswick (where gas is $3.80 a gallon). We had no problems getting the paperwork for the shotgun processed (it's still $25; I had expected it to have gone up since the last time we did this in 2008) and passed the inspection of its storage container and safety lock before the agent wished us a good trip and bid us goodbye.
We spent the next few hours going up Route 1 and stopped at the St. George visitor's center. There we met Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox, local volunteers running the center. After discussing our travel plans I asked Mr. Wilcox what he does in his real (non-volunteer) life. He's now retired but used to captain a tugboat, generally hauling newsprint down the East Coast of the US. He had towed 10,000-tonne barges of newsprint as far south as Miami and had hit many ports in between. One of his favorites was Alexandria, Virginia, on their delivery for the Washington Post. In Alexandria, unlike many ports, he could walk into town rather than have to pay $20 for a cab ride.
We somehow got on the subject of pulp-paper mills and how the overpowering strong smells from them have moderated. I told him of my working for UPS years ago and making deliveries to the paper plant in Spring Grove where the overpowering chemical smell made my eyes water and my skin burn. He said the worst he had every experienced was in North Carolina and blamed the awful smell on the fact that they processed jack pine.
Labashi and I continued up Route 1 to Saint John (NB) and, based on Mr. Wilcox's recommendation, turned toward the Bay of Fundy to St. Martin's and the Fundy Trail. We had a good seafood chowder on the deck at 'The Caves' restaurant, which overlooks a cove lined with sea-caves.
We then spent a pleasant afternoon on the Fundy Trail, a Skyline-Drive type of park. At the Interpretation Centre we learned this is one of the very few remaining wilderness seacoast forests from Miami to Labrador. The river-mouth (of the Big Salmon River) where the Center was located had been a settlement of 300 loggers in its heyday. The loggers were expected to work 14-hour days and cut 90 trees-- all this in the age of the cross-cut saw.
We walked down to the beach at the river-mouth and followed the river upstream to a suspension bridge, then on for another half-mile or so before turning back.
We then drove back to St. Martin's and followed 111 East to Sussex Corner. At an athletic field parking lot we found a shady spot and had supper, then continued on past Moncton and crossed into Nova Scotia around 1900.
We found the local Wal-mart in Amherst and went looking for a cell phone at the nearby mall. I had hoped to buy something like a cheap Tracfone that would work in Canada since our Tracfones don't work here. Though I know I can get a Tracfone for under $20 in the US, I would have to pay $70 for a Bell Canada phone and there's not much coverage in Newfoundland and less in Labrador. Telus and Rogers have even less coverage than Bell. Scratch that idea!
On our last trip I bought a phone card at Wal-mart and that worked reasonably well. But I don't know how easy it will be to find a pay-phone if we need one.
We read for a bit and then turned in early.
-------------------------------------
Sunday, 22 August-
Last night we stayed in the driveway of Labashi's girl-hood buddy who lives in Maine in the summer and Chambersburg in the winter. She goes to bed early because of her early-riser job so we didn't get a chance to see her last night. But she had left a note inviting us to take showers and make ourselves at home.
After our showers this morning we went to visit her at work. Unfortunately, we only were able to speak with her for a few minutes-- the shop was extra-busy this morning and she couldn't take a break. We tried several times but eventually just had to give up. We said our thanks and goodbyes and promised to get together back home.
We drove up Route 1, taking the scenic route rather than the quicker more-direct route. We shopped a bit at LL Bean in Newport and were very happy to see Wiscasset, Rockland, Rockport, and Camden, places which have meant something to us in the past. In Rockport we said a brief hello to the spirit of our sailor-friend who had passed away here in the Fall of 2008. I loved looking out over the site of his mooring in Rockport Harbor and thinking back to our visits to this place with him. We had helped him sail his beloved wooden ketch up the coast from Baltimore several times and then he'd take us from this harbor to the bus station for our ride home .
Around Belfast we decided to shortcut the scenic route a bit and cut up to Route 9 to make our destination of Calais a bit sooner.
We hit the Calais Wal-mart around 1700, had supper, did a bit of Wally-World shopping, then rented a movie ('Sherlock Holmes' with Robert Downey, Jr) from the Redbox. Ah, wilderness.....
------------------------------------
Saturday, 21 August-
We left for Maine this morning. We had intended to depart somewhere between 0730 and 0800 and were lucky to be on the road by 0930 with a few stops yet to make. The individual jobs we had to do didn't seem to need much time but they added up to a late departure.
Fortunately, the actual driving went well. We did have a sobering moment, though. At the I-287 / I-84 junction I pulled into the exit lane for I-84 and was decelerating when we heard a massive crash that made us both jump. I even felt a shock wave from it coming through my open window.
As we approached our exit, I had noticed that traffic in the through lanes was stopped. We had been running in stop-and-go traffic ever since the Tappan Zee bridge turnoff and it had been tricky. Traffic would stop entirely, then start rolling again and before long we were back up to 60 miles per hour only to have to come to a stop again in a few miles, sometimes with little warning. So traffic had stopped once again and the driver of a red compact car had apparently been looking down or texting or something. He or she crashed full speed into the back of the line of traffic stopped in the passing lane.
The crash was about five car lengths behind us and to our left by three mostly-open lanes. We were already off into the exit lane when the crash happened and I looked back in my side mirror to see cars still sliding, the red compact with its hood standing vertically at the windshield.
This exit was a toll booth so we reported the accident and the attendant called 911.
The remainder of our trip went fine. After our arrival in Ocean Park I went for a walk down to the beach while Labashi relaxed and read.
-------------------------------------
Friday, 20 August-
Time to get packing! We're leaving tomorrow! After packing up my personal stuff I vacuumed the house while Labashi packed. I took a last ride into town on the GS, then put it in the storage barn to get it out of the weather while we're gone. I have put 2000 miles on it since May.
That evening we watched the final episode of 'Streets of Laredo'. I can't say we really liked it but we are glad to have seen it, particularly for the scenery. Last Spring we were at the movie set for the scenes along the Rio Grande and enjoyed seeing that area on film. The film had enough good actors but somehow fell flat.... too many coincidences, too predictable.
-------------------------------------
Thursday, 19 August-
We continued with our preparations for the Canada trip. I washed Mocha Joe and finished up with the interior cleaning and re-stow of everything movable.
Late in the day I buzzed in to town in the Miata to run some errands and get the Miata's oil circulated in preparation for a month of sitting.
That evening we watched the second part of 'Streets of Laredo', the sequel to 'Lonesome Dove'.
**************** END OF POST ****************
(posted from the Newfoundland Ferry, sailing from North Sydney, Nova Scotia to Port Aux Basques, Newfoundland)
(This post covers 19 – 24 August, 2010)
------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 24 August-
This morning we went into the Wal-mart and bought a Canada-USA card issued by Bell Canada. We then called the ferry company and made our reservation for the Newfoundland ferry for tomorrow. The 100-mile, five-and-a-half hour trip cost $166 for two adults and our van.
We took our time driving up the 104 and later the 105 to Cape Breton. At mid-morning we stopped in Pictou for gas ($4.04 per gallon) and took advantage of their internet connection to pick up and send email and used our phone card via a pay-phone to check messages at home.
At Antigonish ('anti-GO-nish') we saw a sign for a Boston Pizza and remembered a wonderful Thai-pasta dish we had at the Boston Pizza in Thompson, Manitoba back in 2007. But alas they didn't have it. So we had our Lebanon bologney sandwiches in the parking lot of the visitor's center next door.
By mid-afternoon we needed a break so stopped at a Mic'Maq cultural center along the Bras d'Or lakes. We watched a film about the history of the Mic'Maw in Atlantic Canada and then had a charming discussion with a Mic'Maq teenage girl. We talked about her education as a Canadian and in her formal and informal courses in her native culture. There are some 7000 Mic'Maw in Atlantic Canada.
We then continued north to Baddeck where we went into the Alexander Graham Bell National Heritage site. We had visited here in the mid-Nineties so only went to the gift shop today, then broke for tea at the little tea house on site. We had a picture-perfect blue-sky afternoon, sitting on the deck and looking out across the lake as we sipped our King Cole tea, a popular brand of the Maritimes.
After tea we drove on to our campground for the night. We picked Mountain View campground from the touring brochure and found we liked it right away. It's a small, family-owned campground and we liked interacting with the various family members as we went through our stay.
Given that we don't want delays tomorrow morning as we head for the ferry, we took showers
this evening before Labashi prepared supper. Afterwards I headed down to the office for a wi-fi connection but on the way had a very long conversation with a couple from Alberta. They're a retired farming family from just east of Edmundton and we had a lot of travel destinations in common. Also, they just returned today from Newfoundland.
I finally made it to the office and hooked up to wi-fi only to have the youngest son – a 15 year-old-- suddenly wanting to talk. I had a very nice hour or so working away on the web while chatting with him about cars, girls, motorcycles, ATVs, and school. That was fun. What a great kid.
-----------------------------------------
Monday, 23 August-
What a fantastic night! For once the Wal-mart parking lot was very quiet and remained so all night. We returned our Redbox movie and gassed up at the nearby Irving ($2.79 a gallon) before crossing the border into St. Stephens, New Brunswick (where gas is $3.80 a gallon). We had no problems getting the paperwork for the shotgun processed (it's still $25; I had expected it to have gone up since the last time we did this in 2008) and passed the inspection of its storage container and safety lock before the agent wished us a good trip and bid us goodbye.
We spent the next few hours going up Route 1 and stopped at the St. George visitor's center. There we met Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox, local volunteers running the center. After discussing our travel plans I asked Mr. Wilcox what he does in his real (non-volunteer) life. He's now retired but used to captain a tugboat, generally hauling newsprint down the East Coast of the US. He had towed 10,000-tonne barges of newsprint as far south as Miami and had hit many ports in between. One of his favorites was Alexandria, Virginia, on their delivery for the Washington Post. In Alexandria, unlike many ports, he could walk into town rather than have to pay $20 for a cab ride.
We somehow got on the subject of pulp-paper mills and how the overpowering strong smells from them have moderated. I told him of my working for UPS years ago and making deliveries to the paper plant in Spring Grove where the overpowering chemical smell made my eyes water and my skin burn. He said the worst he had every experienced was in North Carolina and blamed the awful smell on the fact that they processed jack pine.
Labashi and I continued up Route 1 to Saint John (NB) and, based on Mr. Wilcox's recommendation, turned toward the Bay of Fundy to St. Martin's and the Fundy Trail. We had a good seafood chowder on the deck at 'The Caves' restaurant, which overlooks a cove lined with sea-caves.
We then spent a pleasant afternoon on the Fundy Trail, a Skyline-Drive type of park. At the Interpretation Centre we learned this is one of the very few remaining wilderness seacoast forests from Miami to Labrador. The river-mouth (of the Big Salmon River) where the Center was located had been a settlement of 300 loggers in its heyday. The loggers were expected to work 14-hour days and cut 90 trees-- all this in the age of the cross-cut saw.
We walked down to the beach at the river-mouth and followed the river upstream to a suspension bridge, then on for another half-mile or so before turning back.
We then drove back to St. Martin's and followed 111 East to Sussex Corner. At an athletic field parking lot we found a shady spot and had supper, then continued on past Moncton and crossed into Nova Scotia around 1900.
We found the local Wal-mart in Amherst and went looking for a cell phone at the nearby mall. I had hoped to buy something like a cheap Tracfone that would work in Canada since our Tracfones don't work here. Though I know I can get a Tracfone for under $20 in the US, I would have to pay $70 for a Bell Canada phone and there's not much coverage in Newfoundland and less in Labrador. Telus and Rogers have even less coverage than Bell. Scratch that idea!
On our last trip I bought a phone card at Wal-mart and that worked reasonably well. But I don't know how easy it will be to find a pay-phone if we need one.
We read for a bit and then turned in early.
-------------------------------------
Sunday, 22 August-
Last night we stayed in the driveway of Labashi's girl-hood buddy who lives in Maine in the summer and Chambersburg in the winter. She goes to bed early because of her early-riser job so we didn't get a chance to see her last night. But she had left a note inviting us to take showers and make ourselves at home.
After our showers this morning we went to visit her at work. Unfortunately, we only were able to speak with her for a few minutes-- the shop was extra-busy this morning and she couldn't take a break. We tried several times but eventually just had to give up. We said our thanks and goodbyes and promised to get together back home.
We drove up Route 1, taking the scenic route rather than the quicker more-direct route. We shopped a bit at LL Bean in Newport and were very happy to see Wiscasset, Rockland, Rockport, and Camden, places which have meant something to us in the past. In Rockport we said a brief hello to the spirit of our sailor-friend who had passed away here in the Fall of 2008. I loved looking out over the site of his mooring in Rockport Harbor and thinking back to our visits to this place with him. We had helped him sail his beloved wooden ketch up the coast from Baltimore several times and then he'd take us from this harbor to the bus station for our ride home .
Around Belfast we decided to shortcut the scenic route a bit and cut up to Route 9 to make our destination of Calais a bit sooner.
We hit the Calais Wal-mart around 1700, had supper, did a bit of Wally-World shopping, then rented a movie ('Sherlock Holmes' with Robert Downey, Jr) from the Redbox. Ah, wilderness.....
------------------------------------
Saturday, 21 August-
We left for Maine this morning. We had intended to depart somewhere between 0730 and 0800 and were lucky to be on the road by 0930 with a few stops yet to make. The individual jobs we had to do didn't seem to need much time but they added up to a late departure.
Fortunately, the actual driving went well. We did have a sobering moment, though. At the I-287 / I-84 junction I pulled into the exit lane for I-84 and was decelerating when we heard a massive crash that made us both jump. I even felt a shock wave from it coming through my open window.
As we approached our exit, I had noticed that traffic in the through lanes was stopped. We had been running in stop-and-go traffic ever since the Tappan Zee bridge turnoff and it had been tricky. Traffic would stop entirely, then start rolling again and before long we were back up to 60 miles per hour only to have to come to a stop again in a few miles, sometimes with little warning. So traffic had stopped once again and the driver of a red compact car had apparently been looking down or texting or something. He or she crashed full speed into the back of the line of traffic stopped in the passing lane.
The crash was about five car lengths behind us and to our left by three mostly-open lanes. We were already off into the exit lane when the crash happened and I looked back in my side mirror to see cars still sliding, the red compact with its hood standing vertically at the windshield.
This exit was a toll booth so we reported the accident and the attendant called 911.
The remainder of our trip went fine. After our arrival in Ocean Park I went for a walk down to the beach while Labashi relaxed and read.
-------------------------------------
Friday, 20 August-
Time to get packing! We're leaving tomorrow! After packing up my personal stuff I vacuumed the house while Labashi packed. I took a last ride into town on the GS, then put it in the storage barn to get it out of the weather while we're gone. I have put 2000 miles on it since May.
That evening we watched the final episode of 'Streets of Laredo'. I can't say we really liked it but we are glad to have seen it, particularly for the scenery. Last Spring we were at the movie set for the scenes along the Rio Grande and enjoyed seeing that area on film. The film had enough good actors but somehow fell flat.... too many coincidences, too predictable.
-------------------------------------
Thursday, 19 August-
We continued with our preparations for the Canada trip. I washed Mocha Joe and finished up with the interior cleaning and re-stow of everything movable.
Late in the day I buzzed in to town in the Miata to run some errands and get the Miata's oil circulated in preparation for a month of sitting.
That evening we watched the second part of 'Streets of Laredo', the sequel to 'Lonesome Dove'.
**************** END OF POST ****************
posted by Bezabor&Labashi | 23:59
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