Fun Day driving to Fundy Bay

Day 7

We are getting used to being in Canada.  There are some interesting differences besides the money and measurements.  Traffic lights have green lights that blink, signaling its ok to turn left.  And there are no restrooms in Canada—they call them “washrooms”.  We are adjusting to the exits (sorties), and the different kind of signage here (a whole lot less than we’re used to).  We bought our first diesel fuel in Canada and paid $1.19…it sounds so good when it’s expressed in liters.  But that’s $4.49 a gallon—which doesn’t sound so good! But, it’s better than milk which is $6.50 per gallon!  We are NOT getting used to the rain, which poured on us all day yesterday and most of the night.  The sun peeked out for a short time this morning to send us on our way.

On the drive today, there was some beautiful countryside along the way…this farming community looked like a scene for a jigsaw puzzle!  The drive took us through Fundy National Park and on to the coast of the Bay of Fundy.

We passed through Alma, a small seaside town along the coast while the tide was out, and saw these boats way below the pier, almost sitting on dry land!  When the tide comes back in, they’ll be back in line with the dock.

This is the first day with the caravan that we haven’t made a wrong turn along the way—woo hoo!  Jim was ready to fire me as navigator after the wrong turn on Saturday going into St. John.   (We decided we didn’t have trouble with wrong turns in Alaska because there was only one road, so it was hard to miss a turn!)  And speaking of Alaska, we came across some roads today that remind us of Alaska.  Like Alaska, this part of Canada had a harsh winter, and the roads are telling the story.  There were a lot of “frost heaves” where the road had big bumps, and then we came upon this one-lane stretch that was Alaska déjà vu!

Jim’s nice clean Lundcruiser got muddy going through the mess, so he did a little clean up once we got settled.

We arrived at the Ponderosa Pines Campground in Hopewell Cape, New Brunswick.  We are right along the coast line, facing a lake which is adjacent to the bay.  You can see Nova Scotia across the Bay of Fundy! 

We’ve already had several unfortunate situations with the caravan.  One couple pulling a 5th wheel had a bearing go out and blew a tire on the way to St. John.   The system worked—the caravan tailgunner, Duane, spotted them and was able to stop and help. Luckily, they were able to get repairs accomplished and join the group that evening.  Another couple got locked out of their rv tonight—their electronic key fob didn’t work, and they didn’t have an extra key outside.  After an hour of trying various things…battery disconnect to reset, trying the key from almost every other motorhome, looking for a way to get in through the windows, etc., somebody tried leaning against the door and jiggling it, and it must have adjusted the contacts but it worked!! (That was Hero Howard’s idea!)  Whew…a little panic happened on that one.  And finally, one couple had to leave the caravan yesterday morning due to medical issues and they are on their way back to Ohio.  A very sad day for everyone.  Dave and Donna are great people, with plenty of stories and experiences to share.  Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time with them to get to hear all of those stories.  …Sending thoughts and good wishes to them.
Tonight we had a “pot luck” (nobody in the group except those from Indiana has heard of “pitch in’s”).  Karen from Washington state made yummy clam chowder from the leftover clams from our earlier lobster bake and everyone pitched in with salad, bread and desserts.There was a success story from one of my blog students who said she caught up on her blog entries from the first day of the trip! (But I might need to go back to blog school to learn how to embed a video in the blog.)