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| Each comments entry box in the guest book is limited to approx. 250 characters including spaces. For longer messages please e-mail us at morton@rmortonc.com |
To view the photos click on “Photos September 2007” above.
September 1st was a busy day with packing, cleaning the RV, the truck and giving Lobo a bath. The following day we left for Montreal, Quebec (< - - Please click) traveling along the secondary roads for 140 miles, until we arrived on the outskirts of the city in Saint-Philippe, where we spent two nights at Camping Amerique. That evening we took a trip into the city to locate the tour departure points and to determine if parking the truck would be a problem while we were on a tour bus. We found ample parking available near Dorchester Square, where the tour buses depart. That evening we had supper at a nice Chinese buffet.
“Labour”. We arrived at Dorchester Square shortly before 10 AM and parked in one of the many available spaces, then noticed that parking was limited to a maximum of two hours. We then found an underground parking garage. Upon entering it, we received a ticket from a machine, the door opened; we drove in, the door closed behind us. At that point we observed that all parking spots on that level were reserved and the ramp to the next lower level was not passable since our truck is much higher than a car or SUV. Additionally, the attendant had left a sign saying he/she would return shortly. After waiting for the attendant for some time and we had to get to the tour bus that |
was leaving, we made a decision. The attendant was gone, it was a holiday, and it was obvious we couldn’t park anywhere else. So we parked the truck behind a delivery truck in the reserved area, where the attendant could not see it from the booth. We had beautiful weather for the tour of Montréal (see photos) and as we returned to the parking garage, we fully expected to encounter problems, but the sign “Will return shortly” was still in the attendant’s booth! We paid through the automat and left. Since it was still early afternoon, we decided to make a short trip to New York State, which was only a short distance away. That was a big mistake! After getting stuck in line for 2½ hours to enter the US with no way to turn around, it took two hours of waiting to return that evening. The Canadian border agent then threatened to charge us custom duties on the groceries we had bought. Actually, we think he needed to sound important and exercise his authority. After offering to pay the custom duties, he then changed his mind and let us go. We arrived back at the campground shortly before midnight. The following morning we left Saint-Philippe and headed for our next destination: St. Albans, Vermont. In St. Albans we accomplished a few things that we were not able to get done in Canada and visited a vet clinic to obtain a refill for Lobo’s thyroid medication. We then headed north again, spending the night behind a restaurant/convenience store in Eden, VT. We had a nice large meadow all to ourselves since the store closed around 9 PM. The temperature dropped to about 39° F that night but was again around 65° F when we left at 11:35 AM. Shortly after leaving Eden we were greeted by a large moose on the side of the road. We crossed the border into Canada in the small town of Derby Line, then traveled on the secondary roads through Sherbrooke to Richmond, where after making a right turn we immediately saw a bridge about a block in front of us with a maximum height of 3.6 meters. The RV is 4 meters high! We tried to back up but a fellow coming across the bridge informed us that a turn off existed right before the bridge where we could turn around. (We weren’t the first ones to use it either!) After finding a different bridge to cross, we continued on to Victoriaville where we spent the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot. The following morning we tried to start the generator and the batteries were dead. Not a problem, just start the truck and the solenoid will kick over and send juice to the RV. But the truck batteries were also dead! How did this happen? Long story about a switch turned in the wrong position, now disconnected so it won’t happen again. With no one near us in the corner of the parking lot, Chuck came up with the solution of standing outside with the jumper cables in his hand and motioning to each passerby. A young French-Canadian couple in a pickup stopped to help. He could speak no English but she spoke enough for us to communicate. After repeated tries, the truck finally cooperated and the engine started. With a thousand “merci beaucoups” and a few handshakes, we left at about 12:30 PM. We arrived in St. Augustine-de-Desmaures at the Camping Canadien/Américain campground that afternoon (September 6th) and rented a spot until the 11th. The following day was hot and humid. That afternoon we drove to downtown Québec to look around (see photos). The weather became a bit more comfortable the next morning and we spent the day getting ready for our guests, Elke and her son Martin who arrived at the Québec airport on September 9th. Elke is Renée’s former work colleague from Abbott Laboratories in Wiesbaden-Delkenheim / Germany. Martin rented a car at the airport and Renée rode with them back to the campground. Lobo remembered them from their visit to Florida in 2005 and immediately allowed them to enter and share the RV. That evening we had a delicious supper of delicacies brought from Germany. Since the travelers were on European time, we all went to bed early. Elke slept on the convertible couch and Martin slept on one of our thick inflatable mattresses. Monday was spent on sightseeing in Québec, (The old city, Château Frontenac, Place d'Armes, Dufferin Terrace, etc.) (see photos). Since Martin only had a week with us and would be leaving from Halifax, Nova Scotia, we left the Québec area the following morning. The weather had turned to rain and we used the day to travel as far east as possible. In St. Basile (New Brunswick), south of Edmundston, we found a campground. Martin invited us for supper and after setting up camp, we drove back to a roadside restaurant. The food wasn’t spectacular but okay, except Martin’s, which was a local meatless dish of deep fried potatoes smothered in gravy. Wednesday brought partly cloudy skies without rain. We invited everyone for lunch in the town of Woodstock, and then drove until we reached a campground southeast of Oromocto, near Gagetown. Elke and Martin made a short shopping trip while we set up camp and Renée washed a few loads of clothes. Our campground was several miles from town, completely empty except for us and without street lights. That night the sky was also clear and we had a beautiful view of the Milky Way and a star-studded sky! And it was celebrated with breakfast served outside (see photos). After the celebration we drove on to one of the attractions we had read about and wanted to see, the “Magnetic Hill” in Moncton. It is listed as the second greatest attraction (after the enormous tide of Fundy Bay). According to the tourist literature, on a specific road cars will roll backward uphill. Since we would have to unhook from the RV and leave it in a lot, we parked the truck and the RV. We all rode together in their car. When we arrived, the biggest surprise was that in order to get to the road, we had to pass a toll gate (not mentioned in any brochure) and pay a $5.00 vehicle entry fee. We then drove to this small incline and followed the instructions of stopping, placing the car in neutral and then guiding it as it rolled backwards. There is an optical illusion that the vehicle is rolling slightly uphill, but not worth the $5.00! This town really pulls a dirty joke on tourists by blocking the access so that they can get money from each car load. We left Moncton, vowing that it won’t receive any more money from us and headed toward Nova Scotia (< - - please click). Searching for a campground to spend the night, we pulled off in Springhill and followed the signs for camping until the signs ended. We asked a local couple for help and they informed us that the campground had gone out of business several years earlier. (Everybody knows that so why bother with removing the signs!). They took us to a local mining museum with a meadow used for camping which was free. No electric, just water, but what do you want for nothing? After parking, Elke invited us to the “Jade Palace”, a local Chinese restaurant for supper (see photos). That night it turned quite cold and the meadow was covered with frost when we woke up. After warming up and eating breakfast, we drove to Hammonds Plains, near Halifax, Nova Scotia, where we rented a spot for a week at Woodhaven RV Park. After setting up camp, we all rode in the rental car to Halifax for a little sightseeing. We then were treated by Elke to a real culinary experience at the “Atlantic Steak und Lobster House” which won’t be soon forgotten (see photos). Martin’s last full day in Canada was cold with almost non-stop rain. The planned trip along the coast and the bays south of Halifax was attempted despite the weather. Martin invited us for lunch in a nice little restaurant overlooking Mahone Bay (< - - please click) that has a beautiful view of the five churches (< - - please click). We gave up on the sightseeing in the rain after Voglers Cove and drove to Halifax for Martin’s farewell dinner at the “Waterfront Warehouse” (< - - please click). The sea scallops with batter fried sweet potatoes, washed down with Alexander Keith local beer was another memorable culinary delight (see photos). The following morning the sun was shining brightly but Martin wasn’t in such a bright mood when he was required to pay a $100 drop-off fee for the rental car, although the travel agency in Germany had assured him there would be none. The following day, the 17th, we noticed that a tire had lost all of its air, although it was fully inflated when we had parked two days earlier. Chuck took it off and then we went to Wal-Mart to have it repaired and do some shopping. Renée and Elke bought yarn for knitting socks. Elke had decided to knit her own rather than paying 17 € (about $20) for hand knit socks. After finding out the tire was beyond repair and a new one needed to be ordered at a nearby dealer, we left for a trip to Peggy’s Cove (<- - please click) (also see photos). That evening Renée gave knitting lessons and in the next five weeks Elke completed almost three full pairs of socks. The next day Renée and Elke spent shopping and strolling through Halifax while Chuck tended to the tire problem and refilling the propane tanks. We left Hammond Plains on the 21st traveling north, stopping for the evening at Murphy Cove at “Murphy on the Ocean” campground. That evening we took a two hour boat tour with Brian Murphy as the captain, along with a young Swiss couple (see photos). The following day we had difficulty finding a campground that wasn’t full. But as we reached Picton, we found a vacancy at the ”Harbour Light Trailer Court & Family Campground“ where we spent the night. For supper we had pork chops, fried green tomatoes and corn-on-the-cob. The following morning we took a walk on the beach before leaving for Prince Edward Island (<- - please click) via the “Confederation Bridge” (<- - please click), a nine mile long bridge connecting New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island. We traveled through Charlottetown, the capital, while searching for a campsite. But the one that we saw was overcrowded and not very appealing. Traveling on PEI 26 shortly before Alexandra we found the “Vista bay Golf & RV Park“, sitting high on a hilltop overlooking Northumberland Bay. We initially paid for four nights but extended for a full week after we realized how enjoyable it was there, except for one incident that really stunk that we’ll tell you about a little later. On the 24th, after several household chores were completed, we drove to Charlottetown, but it was too late to do much sightseeing so we had supper at the “Gahan Brewery” where they actually brewed their own beer in the basement. It was quite good! (see photos) The next day was windy and cold. We first toured the Basilica in Charlottetown (see photos), then drove along the northern coast of the island to Prince Edward Island National Park where we took a stroll along the beach. (see photos) When we arrived back at the campground, Elke was treated by the owner/manager/golf pro to free golfing lessons. That evening we had bacon-wrapped sea scallops grilled on an open camp fire. It must have been quite inviting since we had a visitor after supper: A SKUNK. Germany has no skunks and it was a new experience and new smell for Elke. That evening we had trouble sleeping because of the smell. The grass and the outside of the RV were apparently saturated with the stench. As Lobo slept outside the following day, the smell soaked into his coat and he had to be bathed. It was several days before we finally lost the smell. It is still in Lobo’s leather collar despite multiple washings and applications of skunk-odor eliminator. The following day we drove to Summerside to see the harbor and the old villas of yesteryear (see photos). Later we drove to Cavendish to the “Green Gable House” made famous by the Canadian authoress Lucy Maud Montgomery in her book “Anne of Green Gables” (<- - please click). On the way back we stopped at a supermarket and bought a prepared Sea Food Lasagna we had discovered last year but have been having difficulty in finding. Elke agreed that it is quite good! Friday brought heavy rain and we stayed at home knitting and tending to chores but on Saturday the weather was better even though it was quite windy. We took the “East Coastal Drive” to Wood Island where the ferry would have brought us had we decided to take it from Nova Scotia instead of taking the bridge via New Brunswick. We then drove to Fort Amherst National Historic Site which was the site of the first French and Acadian settlement of Prince Edward Island in 1720. This also offered a good view of the harbor of Charlottetown (see photos). The following day we left Prince Edward Island via the Confederation Bridge, back through New Brunswick on Highway 106 through Sackville, Moncton and then on 114 to Fundy National Park. We paid for two nights and had full hookups with 50 Amp but no Internet because of the trees. For supper we had Sea Food Lasagna with homemade apple cobbler and that was a nice ending to the month of September. To be continued ……………. |
Travel Journal September 2007
Our Motto: Home is, where our RV is.
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