A little after 1:00PM we pulled out, air bags had performed just fine! During the trip Art thought he noticed the air pressure dropping a little more than normal, but from both front and rear systems equally. The compressor was more than adequate to bring pressure back up but Art thought it to be cycling just a little more frequently. It may just be paranoia! We will do a full air brake run up in the morning just to see. We will also phone Freightliner N.B. in the morning to set up an appointment.
At 2:00 PM we pulled off to fuel up: Diesel and propane for the rig and coffee for Art. Gillian also made a couple of sandwiches to eat on the go although hers had disappeared before the rig hit the highway. Another quick lunch and fuel stop; 30 minutes.
As the day progressed the cloud level raised and we had more than a glimpse or two of blue sky, but the temperature remained cool and actually began to drop. From the “balmy” 15C that we started with, it was down to 13 by the time we stopped for the night. Glad we had topped up the propane — the furnace would be needed!
The drive along the part of the Gaspe Peninsula that we drove was very pretty; old wooden houses in excellent condition, flat fertile farm land, small rivers and lakes and always to our left, the St Lawrence River, getting wider across with every kilometer. We had wanted to go all the way around the Gaspe but as we had been delayed so many times we thought we had better make up some time.
Highway 2 is a two lane each way divided highway, the 100 Km/H posted limit a little hard on fuel, but so as not to impede traffic too much we more or less maintained that speed. That and the city driving we had been doing has had a deleterious effect on fuel burn. As of tonight our over all trip average mpg (US) has dropped from 9.4 to 9.2 mpg.
We turned south at Mont Joli, heading towards New Brunswick and noticed a change in terrain; now more hilly with taller trees. A bit after Mont Joli we stopped for a shopping and pee break. Gillian went into the IGA store and Art took the dogs for a stroll around the large grassy field next door. Gillian, who always says “don't go shopping when you're hungry” went into the store at least two hours after lunch which probably explains the case of beer and bag of Miss Vickie's potato chips! She then had to return to the store because she had forgotten the number one item on the list — her cereal! Art had noticed a church in the distance and was able to take this photo from the IGA parking lot as a freight train passed by.
Leaving Mont Joli Art decided that he only wanted to drive another hour or so. Looking at the map there appeared to be a rest area about forty minutes south. Right on schedule we found the small picnic site and boat launch in the town of Sayabec. Trekker was overjoyed with the opportunity for a swim, chasing a stick thrown into the lake made it even better!
Parked on a level spot we didn't bother to put the jacks down nor did we extend the slides since we were only here for an overnight We could manage without the dinette.Energising the inverter Art activated the Explorer automatic satellite dish which again found the Starchoice satellite in less than a minute! Then since there was almost an hour to wait for the 5 o'clock CHEK TV news (it being a bit after 7:00PM here) he switched the inverter off to conserve battery capacity.
The dogs exercised and tired out we sat down with a drink and the lap-top to record the day's events for posterity (or the “delete” key, which ever comes first). Note: no Scotch-Vermouth moments! Only because Art forgot to pour Gillian's drink when he poured his. Brownie Point disaster! He did remember when it came time for refills however.
Dinner tonight was sauteed chicken breast with fresh herbs from our garden accompanied by carrots, beans and sweet potatoes. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Art of course will do the washing up in a vain attempt to regain a few Brownie Points.
After the news we watched “New Tricks” on TV and were in bed by 10:00!
In the morning after breakfast Gillian took the dogs for a last walk and the chance for a splash for Trekker. Using the huge reward of a swim as the prize for behaving properly Gillian had Trekker on a “heel” command when a mink swam across the bottom of the boat launch then ran into the reeds. Trekker of course went ballistic, jumping and lunging. Gillian turned him away and when he calmed down approached the lake again. An immediate return to the jumping and lunging behaviour cancelled his swim — he couldn't be rewarded for that, so they returned to the motorhome, poor Trekker, still dry.
For once, early to bed had resulted in early to rise; we were on the road just after 9:00, the brake test showing everything was fine, pressure holding the required time with engine (and compressor) switched off . We crossed into New Brunswick a short while later, stopping near Bathhurst NB for lunch at 1:00 PM, almost 3 hours after setting off. No, not bad arithmetic: Time Zones.
We paralleled the Salmon River for quite a long way, this was a very pleasant picturesque and relaxing drive.
This part of the provincial coast was indented with many deep narrow inlets, some of which required bridges in order to avoid long inland detours.
At the rest area we had phoned Freightliner in Moncton for their address, punched it into the GPS and at 4:30 we were there. Art went in, faulty part in hand and spoke with the service department. They were very helpful and were easily persuaded to search for what we had been told was an after market part. Filling out a work order we left the part behind, Art pleading “please don't lose this — I'll have a heck of a time trying to describe it!”
By 5:15 we arrived at a nearby Wal-mart after negotiating a few blocks of red mud — more road construction. Checking with the staff we were given permission to stay the night, found a relatively level spot, put the slides out and got comfortable.
The connection was very slow so we did nothing more that check and read some e-mails and delete unread some of the huge “jokes” files forwarded by well meaning friends which have resulted in so many huge files in our in-box to the point where we can't receive any more e-mails until some files are deleted. Sometimes with slow internet connections we are not able to download our e-mails to delete the garbage and so miss real mail. So. Here's the hint folks: anything over 4000 is deleted without reading in every case. Files over 1000 may or may not be read depending on connection speed. 'Nuff said.
Within a few hours two more RVs had pulled in; both with BC license plates. One proved to be from Victoria, the other from near Kelowna where Art had lived for a couple or years a long time ago. These were the first BC RV's that we have seen since Dawson Creek.
The weather on the way down had been reasonable but the rain had been threatening. Things were pretty wet by the time we arrived.
Tuesday morning, the 14th. Although Art first woke at about 6:30 to the sound of rain on the roof and road construction across the parking lot he just lay resting for a while, dozing on and off realising that this was far too early to get up. A short while later he looked at his watch to find that it was after 9 o'clock! He must have fallen asleep for a while without being aware of it.
Eventually up and breakfasted he wandered into the nearby Chapters to browse the shelves, finding a new Robert L Forward novel, the first new novel of the “Flinx” series in 35 years! Since Art has recently been re-reading this series he was delighted. Being sharp sighted when it comes to books, he noticed an author that he and Gillian in particular liked, Sue Henry, who writes mystery novels set in Alaska, —a new novel set in Homer, Alaska, which we had visited this trip and also featuring a motorhome! Had to buy it. He also picked up the latest issues of “Wooden Boat” and “Latitudes and Attitudes” (a recommended read to boaters and non boaters alike).
He also discovered why we couldn't get the Starbucks wifi signal. It wasn't in the near corner of the store with the huge “Starbuck's” sign, it was located in the opposite corner of the building!
We eventually (12:10!) hit the highway, avoiding the muddy dug up section, almost making a wrong turn, we were soon on our way to PEI.
On highway 16 north to PEI, Art suddenly remembered that we hadn't refuelled. The tank gauge reading ¼, about as low as we like to go. We turned off at Port Elgin and found a small station that we could just fit into and pulled up alongside the pumps. When he began to pump the fuel Art realised that this was one of those stations that had removed the latch that allowed the fuel to flow without squeezing the nozzle handle. Since he finds this hard on his hands and fingers he stopped at $50.00 and went in to pay, taking along his coffee mug. As he approached the till he asked “any coffee around here?” and was told “Yes, over in the corner and since you bought so much fuel it's free”! Almost (but not quite!) feeling guilty Art said “well it would have been another $150.00 if the latch hadn't been removed. It's too hard on my hands to squeeze that handle for too long.” They didn't seem too concerned and didn't offer to pump it for him (which has happened in the USA a couple of times) so he paid for the fuel, took his free coffee and left guilt free.
Soon we were approaching Confederation Bridge, linking New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. The weather was fortuitously clearing rapidly and by the time we were crossing the bridge the visibility was excellent. We enjoyed the 12.9 kilometer drive and soon were in P.E.I.
We pulled into the Welcome Centre, had a good look around, had lunch—a first for Art, a scallop burger and chips which was delicious. Gillian too enjoyed her lunch, a bowl of seafood chowder and half of one of Art's scallops, all he was prepared to part with, Brownie Points be damned! Somethings are worth suffering for!
After lunch we did a bit more shopping, Art buying a jacket with zip off sleeves and a “PEI Dirt Shirt” dyed with the ever present red PEI dirt.
At the Centre we watched an excellent 30 minute video about the construction of Confederation Bridge, opened in 1997. It was a fascinating and tremendous undertaking, completed on time and on budget. Outside there was a monument, a scale model of a section of the bridge, the surrounding brickwork engraved with the names of everyone who worked on the project, some 2500 people. The outer ring of stones carried the names of all the contractors and subcontractors involved.
In the photo, the grey rocks on the right are from New Brunswick while the red rocks on the left are from PEI.
The beautiful sunny day was being threatened by clouds in the distance as we made our way to Sunnyside and the Linkletter Provincial Park. With a few worries about the route (Gillian had dropped the map down the stairwell and there was nowhere to pullover so she could retrieve it!) we eventually arrived and found our site; not quite on the waterfront but good enough.
Wet. As we arrived the rain began. And continued to pour down. Art decided there was no point in waiting for it to stop so donned his rain gear and began the struggle with jacks, blocks, electric cable (that 50 Amp cable is very hard to handle), hoses etc. By the time he was done the right rear jack had buried the wooden block into the wet soggy grass (there two under there) and the sun was shining so Gillian with a smile said “see, I told you we should wait!” and set off to walk the dogs for their walk. Art went inside and poured a drink.
The satellite was found quickly so we watched the news and after supper found an episode of “New Tricks” on SCN which Gillian had not seen before—and which we both agree one of the very good ones.
The evening was spent visiting with neighbours from New Jersey discussing sports, politics, Cuba and Vietnam. The gentleman was a Vietnam veteran but was critical of the US Government's involvement in that and other areas of international involvement. He said “I love my country dearly, but the USA has done a lot of wrong things over the years”.
Soon it was too cool in the breeze off the ocean so we returned to the rig for some TV watching, drinks, dinner and composing these words.
Another slow start this morning—it was 11:30 by the time we got going to tour the west side of the island then later the centre. Along the way we snapped a few photos on the run. The church is in the town of Miscouchie, the bridge a little further along the northwest coast.
Our first stop (forgetting the camera in the rig) was to see a shipbuilding museum which was interesting, but poorly signed, the entrance too was difficult for the big rig. We were told that we should have taken the gravel road back at the gate. There was no hint that it led any where in particular and the sign pointed down the paved lane to the museum. . .? ? ? Were we supposed to be psychic?
Anyway, from the museum we were told the rest of the display and the Yoe House were through the back door. (Mr Yoe had been the wner of the shipyard) Out the door there was nothing but a large expanse of grass, an old closed school house and in the distance, the Yoe house. We had had enough so returned to the rig and took the gravel road back to the entrance. ¼ the distance! A sign would have been nice. As would have directional signs at the museum. We later found that we had missed completely the old shipyard itself!!!
Moving on we stopped in Tyne Valley for fuel both for the rig and ourselves. Here we found a Pub/Seafood restaurant, a combination we couldn't resist. Waiting for more than a week for more beer delivery, the only draught they had left was Guinnes! We settled for a bottle of one of the microbrews available, for lunch Art had no trouble deciding on the one dozen breaded and panfried oysters with french fries and salad while Gillian had scallops in a marinara sauce.
The owners turned out to be from Victoria. At one point they lived very close to the condo we lived in 30 plus years ago. Small world.
We continued our tour until it was time to find a place to stay for the night. We found one in the book then tried to find it. Thanks to poor signage we finally had to phone for directions and were told “yes I just saw you go by”! We turned around,for the second time down the mud road this time turning right (it had been a 50/50 guess the first time around) and were soon settled in for the night.
This large park had very large open grassy fields so Trekker had a great time with a couple of ball chasing and fetching sessions between which Gillian did some laundry and Art hooked up the battery charger to the car (the suplimentary braking system draws from the car battery) and then was occupied on the internet working on the previous post.
Thursday, September16th
Surprise, surprise we slept in this morning. Rain last night and WIND , it was almost noon before we left the RV park.
We decided that we would head to the north-east side of the island to continue our sightseeing. If the weather improved enough and soon enough we would stay one more night. Didn't look too promising.
This part of the island didn't seem quite as picturesque as the west end, the cold wind and on and off rain didn't help. There were some very pretty spots, just didn't didn't seem quite so expansive and the west side.
Somewhere around 1:30 we stopped for lunch, more seafood! Unfortunately the seafood chowder wasn't ready! Art decided on another scallop burger and Gillian was tempted by the seafood pizza. By the time we had finished our meal the soup was 15 minutes from being done. We had spotted a shop near where we had parked that we wanted to check out so decided to do that then return to the restaurant for takeout.
Back at the shops we had a good look around, bought about forty dollars worth of books and a coffee and went out to take a photo of the sign that had caught our attention.
Back on the road the decision had been made: Due south to Woods Island and the ferry to Nova Scotia.
The road was fairly good with a few sections of really really bad and one detour through a mud bog. The tires slipped a bit but we got though with out needing a tow!
At 4:45 we arrived at the terminal to find that the 16:30 departure hadn't even arrived yet so we hadn't missed it. We hadn't worried much about which ferry we would get, thinking probably the 6:00PM, which, as it turned out, wasn't scheduled today! In any case the ferry arrived and we boarded somewhere around 5:30 and sailed almost immediately.
It was an uneventful crossing, the clouds clearing a little and the rain slowing to a halt. Soon we were back in the rig and the second vehicle to disembark! Following the directions in the campground book we arrived at the campground in Pictou without incident. The signage was much better than last night though still restricted to the blue official signs. However every turn though was marked by a rectangular blue “Harbour Light Campground” with a directional arrow to keep us on the right path.
At the office Gillian asked a gentleman in a pickup truck who seemed to be the owner of the park “Do you have room for us tonight?” who replied in the affirmative and led us to our space. Art asked if he could give Gillian a ride back up to the office to register and pay and he said that we would see us in the morning and drove off!
We were soon settled in once the jacks were down and pushed the button on the Explorer dish which found the Starchoice satellite even before Art had extended the slides!
Dinner was easy; Seafood chowder for both of us, Gillian finished the last quarter of her lunch pizza and Art filled a tortilla with the shrimp marinara left over from dinner two nights ago. Beer each and later an after dinner drink while watching some TV and working on the blog we were in bed a bit earlier than last night but much later than hoped.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment