Three Californians Walk Into A Bar in Nova Scotia, and…….

@ the Fortress of Louisbourg

Day 94     September 11, 2014

Glace Bay  to  Antigonish

Nova Scotia, Canada

Maybe it was due to the gloomy overcast day, but Glace Bay completely underwhelmed us. Maybe we’d set our expectations too high. Maybe it was just the grayness. Well, we checked it off the list and moved on.

Next, we drove to Louisbourg. Have I mentioned how much I dislike historic reenactment villages? I think I have. But somehow, I ended up at another one of ‘em…..the Fortress of Louisbourg.

They welcomed us. How nice!

Unlike my experience with Glace Bay, my expectations had been set very low for our visit to Louisbourg. And this was so uncalled for, ‘cause the Fortress was pretty dang cool. We took tons of pictures, bought homemade wheat and rye breads, and ate lunch in the cantina. So glad Mark talked me into stopping here!

More or less, the front door of the fortress

Let the reenactment crap begin…..

@ the Fortress of Louisbourg

A fortress must have a moat, right?

@ the Fortress of Louisbourg

@ the Fortress of Louisbourg

@ the Fortress of Louisbourg

@ the Fortress of Louisbourg

@ the Fortress of Louisbourg

@ the Fortress of Louisbourg

@ the Fortress of Louisbourg

A fortress needs some cool weaponry too, right?

@ the Fortress of Louisbourg

@ the Fortress of Louisbourg

Green door detail @ the Fortress of Louisbourg

@ the Fortress of Louisbourg

@ the Fortress of Louisbourg

@ the Fortress of Louisbourg

@ the Fortress of Louisbourg

Red door detail @ the Fortress of Louisbourg

@ the Fortress of Louisbourg

The view of the fortress from across the water

On our walk back to the visitor center….a nice little graveyard.

It was early afternoon when we got back on the road and headed west on Route 104. We drove past the lake region, which looked pretty, but we didn’t have time to stop. We had to put on some more miles today.

We stopped for the night at Whidden Park Campground in Antigonish. This was one of those rare campground/RV parks that was situated right in the town….not two miles outside of town…right in the town.

This was a great opportunity to go out for drinks and dinner. Antigonish is home to St. Francis Xavier University. So, it’s a university town, which meant there actually was some night life!

We walked through the town, checking out a few places, and settled on The Townhouse Brewpub & Eatery. It was live jazz night, and the place was packed, but we lucked into a couple seats at the bar.

This was going to be a fun and easy place to talk to some locals, which was why I nearly fell off my bar stool when I discovered that the guy sitting next to me at the bar (not Mark, the other guy, other side of me), was a realtor from San Diego, CA. WTF??!!! What are the chances of that? He was equally as shocked to discover that we live about 1/2 hour from him back home in California!

Our new friend from California was on a fishing trip. He and his buddies would catch and release big fish during the day, and then drink like big fish in the Antigonish bars at night!

Now the guy two bar stools down from me, on the other side of Mr. California, he was a local. And he was hilarious, and had a keen mind for trivia. He challenged all three of us Californians to an informal game of trivia. This meant that he’d ask the questions, and the three of us would try to get the correct answers. He kicked our asses. And he even let us chose the categories. This must have cemented in his mind, the opinion that Californians, although we are a good looking bunch, are dumb.

It was a fun evening. And by the way, The Townhouse Brewpub & Eatery had fabulous food! Anyway, although our new friends invited us to go to another bar with them, we had to say goodnight and get back to the Space Shuttle where the pups would be awaiting our return.

Will The Real Adam Sandler Please Stand Up….

@ Coffee Cove

Day 91     September 8, 2014

South Brook to Barachois Pond Provincial Park, Newfoundland

Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

In the middle of the night, we’d been awoken by an alarm going off inside the Space Shuttle. Argh!! It was our tire pressure alarm. I disconnected the alarm so that we could sleep and deal with it in the morning. So now we had to deal with it.

Fiona in the morning @ Kona Beach Campground

One of our tires had dropped from 61 psi, to 54 psi. Mark was able to use our bike pump to get the tire up to 59 psi, but, we clearly had an impending situation on our hands. It had become obvious that our problem with those gas station air pumps the day before, had actually been a problem with our tire.

But ya know what? There wasn’t anyplace nearby to get the tire looked at. And since we could pump it up to 59 psi, well, that was good enough to keep us on the road until we reached somewhere where someone could help us.

And so, off we went, up Route 391 to King’s Point and to Rattling Brook to see the waterfalls. This is where we came to the conclusion that a lot of stuff in Newfoundland was falling apart. We walked up the trail as far as we could, only to find that the stairway path leading up to the great view of the falls, had been destroyed by a rock slide. I guess that, being pretty remote, and there not being many people around, Newfoundland just wasn’t in a big hurry to fix some stuff. I don’t have a problem with that.

Mark & Dax. Going to see the waterfalls, or so we thought.

End of the hike for us!

At least the hike there and back was pretty!

Pretty scenery across the street from the Rattling Brook Falls hike

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty scenery across the street from the Rattling Brook Falls hike

Dax the explorer…

Mark & Dax taking some photos

Next stop….St. Patrick’s and Coffee Cove. We parked in the parking lot at Church of the Sacred Heart, in St. Patrick’s, and ate lunch in the Space Shuttle . Down below was Coffee Cove. With a name like Coffee Cove, we were sort of hoping we’d find at least a cute little coffee shop . But, there didn’t seem to be anything but some scattered houses, and solitude.

Church of the Sacred Heart in St. Patrick’s.

The view down towards Coffee Cove

@ Coffee Cove. No coffee shop here!

 

 

 

Fiona in Coffee Cove. Mark’s down there having a look around.

@ Coffee Cove

Beachside was our next destination. Maybe we’d find a coffee shop there. Umm…nope…except for a small community of small houses, we didn’t see so much as a grocery store or anything out there. I found this, on Wikipedia,

“There is only one business located in Beachside and this is a souvenir shop called Newfoundland Souvenir Manufacturing Limited.”

Hmm, we missed that too. However, what we did find, was some absolutely spectacular scenery!

The beaches were actually a greenish color

So beautiful!

The weirdest thing about Beachside, which Wikipedia doesn’t mention anything about, was the color of the beaches. All of the beaches seemed to be green. Why? I don’t know. Too much spinach in the water? Probably not, as the water was a beautiful shade of blue. Well, there was too much of something on those pebbly beaches, I’m just not sure what.

Stopped for a photo op on the way back to the highway

Mark, taking a pic of the grand view…

Although actually not our main goal for the day, we did eventually find coffee…at the Springdale Tim Horton’s. Not so charming, but it did alleviate our cravings. Got some free internet while we were there as well.

Back from whence we came….heading south….

We continued our journey southwest on Route 1, all the way to Barachois Pond Provincial Park. We checked in with the on-duty park ranger, who bore an uncanny resemblance to Adam Sandler. And he was funny as hell too.

I bet he could make a fortune if he went on tour as an Adam Sandler impersonator. However, in the 10 minute comedic banter back and forth with him, he told us he’d never been outside of Newfoundland, and had no desire to travel outside of Newfoundland. Really? Not even in the winter? A little escape to Florida maybe?! This was kind of hard to believe.

Then it occurred to me that maybe this guy was the real Adam Sandler!! Maybe he goes to work and hangs out in Newfoundland during the summers. Ya know, to get away from the Hollywood scene and get some peace and quiet.

The ranger/Adam Sandler, did tell us that Barachois Pond Provincial Park has the reputation as a raucous weekend party destination. But we were there mid-week, and at the very end of the season. There was hardly anyone else in the park. Once again, we had our choice of campsites. We chose site #1, right by the lake. It was a good choice!

Barachois Pond Provincial Park

Evening walk around the pond

Evening walk around the pond

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunset from our campsite…site #1

The Snow Globe, The Mighty Wind, and the Walmart

The Rooms, St. John’s

Day 89            September 6, 2014
St. John’s to Clarenville, Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Most of our day was spent at The Rooms, an amazing combination museum and gallery in St. John’s. Although half of that time was spent in the restaurant and gift shop, we really did love the great art and exhibits, all of which related in some way to Newfoundland.

Graphic interiors @ The Rooms

View of the harbor, from The Rooms

The most memorable thing about The Rooms…..the waitress in the cafe telling us that St. John’s in the winter time, is like living in a snow globe. Brrrrr..…I shudder to think about it!

Late in the afternoon, as we sat in the Space Shuttle out in the parking lot, we held a major trip planning session. We were supposed to be in Albuquerque, New Mexico on October 2nd….only 3.5 weeks away. There were still a good number of places on our “to visit” list between St. John’s and Albuquerque, and this was the time we really got down to figuring out how we were gonna see everything, do everything, and still end up in Albuquerque on time. And the verdict was, we better start heading west now.

It was sad leaving St. John’s. Not only did we love this city, but leaving also meant we were on our way home. Granted, it would take over a month to get home, but, it still signified the end of our great journey east and north.

We got on the road, the same road we’d driven east on, the only road that crosses Newfoundland from east to west. We drove for an hour or so, but as the wind picked up a notch, and it started getting dark, we searched for a campground. According to our campground guide, there was a campground in Arnold’s Bay called Putt & Paddle Campground.

The one good thing the wind was doing…perfectly posing the flags!

Perfect flags!

We found Arnold’s Bay, but we never found the campground. We were wandering around some neighborhood, lost, when we saw an older gentleman walking up the street. We stopped him to ask directions. Classically, it seemed he either couldn’t hear us, or couldn’t understand our accents. And when he spoke, well, with his uber thick Newfoundland accent, we couldn’t understand a damn word he said. We smiled, said thank you, and made our way back to the highway.

By this time, it was dark. And with our high profile vehicle (almost 10’ tall), the high winds were really blowing us around. And we were scared to death of hitting a moose. There was no choice but to continue driving until we got to the next town. And as luck would have it, the next town had a Walmart! Hello, Clarenville Walmart! I’ve never been so happy to see a Walmart, and to get off the freakin’ road!

Goats On A Leash…Getting Screeched In… & Other Tales From St. John’s

The view from Signal Hill

Day 87     September 4, 2014

St. John’s, Newfoundland

Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

This morning we spent time organizing, rearranging, and cleaning, and then we headed out on more fun adventures.

As we we were driving through downtown St. John’s, we passed a guy walking two goats on leashes. What up with that? Is that some kind of trend? Where does this guy live, that he’s walking his goats downtown in the city? I’m not sure goats even like cities.  Too bad we couldn’t pull over and stop to talk to this guy. This bugged me for a long time, the not knowing what the story was!

I had to shake off the vision of the guy with his goats as we drove out to Cape Spear, the most easterly point in North America. Couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day.

Cape Spear Lighthouse

@ Cape Spear

@ Cape Spear

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

@ Cape Spear

@ Cape Spear

@ Cape Spear

@ Cape Spear

@ Cape Spear

@ Cape Spear

Fiona, way down there in the parking lot @ Cape Spear

@ Cape Spear

@ Cape Spear

@ Cape Spear

@ Cape Spear

@ Cape Spear

While exploring, we stopped to talk to a young guy walking his puppy. He told us that he bought a house just down the road. He used to be a furniture mover, and it seemed like every time he’d be moving someone, they’d tell him about how they were moving ‘cause they couldn’t stand their neighbors. So when he was able to buy his first house, he made sure he bought one as far away from anyone as he could get. Cape Spear is pretty far away from most people!

Our next stop was Signal Hill. This is the spot where Guglielmo Marconi received the first ever transatlantic wireless signal. I figure he picked this spot due to the magnificent views. If you’re gonna be sitting in one spot for a long time, waiting for someone to call you, you may as well have great views, eh?

The view of St. John’s harbor @ Signal Hill.

@ Signal Hill

@ Signal Hill

@ Signal Hill

An interesting dude in pink high heel boots @ Signal Hill

We had the luck of the dumb with us today, as we unknowingly had ended up at Signal Hill at just the right time to enjoy the sunset and to enjoy the spectacle that is everyone cruising up there in their cool cars to strut their stuff and watch the sunset. Dumb works for us sometimes!

@ Signal Hill

@ Signal Hill

@ Signal Hill

How would we top off our day? It’d already been so amazing. Only two things left to do so late in the day…get “screeched in” and eat dinner.

I’d met a St. John’s native back in Nova Scotia, who’d told me to go to Trapper John’s in St. John’s to get screeched in. So we did. 

We drank shots of screech, kissed a big frozen cod fish on the lips, repeated some gibberish, and laughed our asses off during the 15 minute hilarious ceremony (presided over by the bartender). And so, we became honorary Newfoundlanders! We have certificates to prove it all. Proudest day of our lives!

Getting screeched in @ Trapper John’s

From the Urban Slang dictionary….

The day ended with a fabulous meal at Yellowbelly. We ordered a simple cheeseburger pizza, not really expecting too much. But, yet another surprise…this was possibly, the best pizza I have ever had…ever!!!

We were falling in love with St. John’s.

Yippee-Ti-Yi-Yo….Our Sorry Asses Are Run Out of Town Again!!

Looking down at Ingonish Beach

Day 78      August 26, 2014    Meat Cove to Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada

After a windy-as-hell night in Meat Cove, we woke up to a beautiful, warm and sun-shiny morning. Ya know who else woke up to a beautiful, warm and sun-shiny morning? About ten thousand freakin’ black gnats!

We’d figured on staying in Meat Cove for another day, but we couldn’t take the swarming gnats. Once again….run out of town by crazy blood-sucking s.o.b.’s.

The decision was quickly made to start our trek towards Sydney, where we’d be catching the ferry to Newfoundland. We said goodbye to Debbie & Tony, and headed south.

Mark, Debbie, Tony, and their very cool retro trailer, Millie.

Me, Debbie, Tony….with Millie.

After making the 9 kilometer trek back down the bumpy dirt road, we stopped at a little market to get some drinks for the ride. Mark got Red Bull (for energy), and I got  Marley Mellow Mood (for mellowness). Different strokes for different folks.

One upper, and one downer. To each his/her own!

Our second stop was at Black Brook Beach for a quick look-see.

Black Brook Beach

Black Brook Beach

Black Brook Beach

Next stop, Ingonish Beach. We went for a short swim in the cold water, which was actually refreshing on this hot day. Mark took a dive into the cold water, popped back up, and realized he’d just lost his sunglasses in the ocean. No worries though, ‘cause a couple minutes later he found them, floating all by themselves right back to him!

Looking down at Ingonish Beach

The view from above Ingonish Beach

The road down the coast was steep and winding. Apparently, some traveler wasn’t paying attention and they mowed right over the “Steep Hill” sign on the side of the road.

We checked into the RV park outside of Sydney and took time to do some chores. We washed the Space Shuttle (this park had an RV washing pad!!), washed the dogs (with our outdoor shower), did laundry, took nice long hot showers, and grabbed dinner at the fish and chips take out stand on the property.

Since this RV park was the closest one to the ferry terminal, almost everyone at the RV park was either coming from, or going to, Newfoundland. We talked to some nice Newfoundlanders, and got some tips on some things to do up there. We were getting excited about the next leg of our adventure!

One Perfect Day In Nova Scotia….Nude Beaches & Photography, Ice Cream, and Beer! Part 2

Garrison Brewery

Day 72    August 20   Part 1    Nova Scotia, Canada

As soon as we arrived in downtown Halifax, we knew we’d love this city, ‘cause we found a parking spot so easily! As we were sitting there in our parking spot, figuring out what to do next, a young man in a city parking authority uniform, tapped on my window. Crap! I knew this parking luck was too good to be true!

I rolled down my window, expecting the worst, when the young man said, “I noticed your California license plates. You’re a long way from home. Can I help you out in any way?”

Ends up, this guy was originally from New Hampshire, and had moved to Halifax just a couple months earlier. He was just welcoming us, his fellow Americans, to the great white north. And he was super helpful, as he told us where the local breweries were! He also told us where we could park and camp for free for the night. Our visit to Halifax was taking shape!

OK then, first stop…Garrison Brewery. Cool place, nice as heck bartender, good beer. The bartender was envious when he found out we were from San Diego, microbrewery central. He told us his favorite beer was from Green Flash, in San Diego. That was my most proudest moment as an American and as a San Diegan!

Garrison Brewery

Mark, chatting with the bartender at Garrison Brewery

Tasting @ Garrison Brewery

Modern condo building in Halifax

 

 

 

 

 

 

More moderness in Halifax

And, old quaintness in Halifax

Halifax

 

 

Halifax

It was getting dark, so we made our way back to the space shuttle. We were parked right outside of this hole-in-the-wall looking Persian food shack, Shiraz, so we grabbed dinner. A pleasant surprise, as the food was awesome and cheap!

Shiraz for dinner

Shiraz, the former taxi stand, gets a stellar write-up in the local news.

We tried to find the free overnight parking/camping spot that we’d been told about earlier, but we couldn’t find it in the dark, and so we drove to Shubie Campground, about 20 minutes outside the city. We had a hard time finding this too, but we did succeed. An important lesson had been learned today….It’s hard to find stuff in the dark in Canada!

Home Sweet Home!

We arrived safely home on October 10th.

123 days on the road

17,245 miles driven

7 rides on ferry boats = about 17 hours = unknown amount of miles

33 US states

6 Canadian provinces

Already planning another trip!!!

I Fought The Law, And The Law Won

Day 58   August 6   Part 2 

On this evening, I received an email from the Portland, Oregon police. After I had reported to them that one of my blog readers had emailed me that he had found my stolen bike in Portland, they had spoken to him and then gone to check it out.

The bike in question was locked up in plain view, in a busy waterfront location. The front tire was missing, presumably taken off by the current “owner” so that nobody could steal it and ride off with it. The irony.

The cop on the case took a few photos of the bike, and attached them to the email. This was un-freakin-believable……this was MY bike!!

My bike had been customized over the last few years with certain high-end components. This was not a combination that you just purchase off-the-rack at a bike shop. This was, without a doubt, MY bike!

Now the sucky news. The cops could not legally cut the lock to retrieve my bike, without proof that the bike was mine.

Since I’d be traveling for another couple months, I didn’t have any way to check my files at home to see if I had recorded the serial number. I called Trek, and I called the shop where I’d purchased the original bike, and neither of them had a record of my serial number. (and, now that I’m home, I checked my files, and did not record the serial number. dumb)

No serial number, no bikey coming back to me.

There you have it. Some a-hole stole my bike, and probably sold it to someone who has no idea it was stolen and no idea how valuable it is. If they knew these things, they most definitely would NOT leave it outside.

So many lessons to be learned here. Such a bummer. A suck-fest. On the other hand, I think I’m over my hatred of Portland, Oregon. I think I’m ready to go back there someday.

Fun in Maine!! Lighthouses and Ice Cream!

Nubble Light House, looking very moody in the fog!

Day 56    August 4     part 1

Today we’d be leaving Kittery Point, Maine, and continuing our journey north.

After breakfast, Gary and Jane gave us a bunch of travel and campground suggestions for Maine, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island….places they had enjoyed on their travels in their Airstream….info that proved quite handy in the coming weeks.

I know that I mentioned the hospitality that our friends had shown us, but really, words can’t tell you how amazing they both were to us. And I hope that we can someday return the favor. In these short days, they had truly become friends!

The hospitality of their neighbors was also outstanding. From their neighbor that lent us the kayaks the day before, to their next door neighbor, Polly, who stopped by this morning to give us a bounty of blueberries and snap peas from her garden, Kittery Point was obviously a very special place.

We could have easily just hung out here indefinitely, but we knew we had to get back on the road. Of course, before we left, we had to take a few more photos with the very fun welcome sign that had greeted us a couple days ago. And then, off we went.

Gary, Jane, the pups, Fiona, nd the awesome sign that G&J had made for us.

Mark, the pups, Fiona, and the awesome sign that Gary and Jane had made for us

Up the coast of Maine, we meandered, stopping for ice-cream, and stopping to take photos along the way.

A little town in Maine

Nubble Light House, looking very moody in the fog!

 

Once again, time for ice cream!

We only made it a short distance, and stopped for the night at Recompence Shore Campground, a campground that Gary and Jane had recommended.

@ Recompence Shore Campground

@ Recompence Shore Campground

@ Recompence Shore Campground

Dinner this night was a pretty fabulous meal. We had fresh lettuce and squash from Jane’s garden, and leftover lobster from our lobster feast. We were living like Kings and Queens!

The Dogs Run Free. The Lobster Get Murdered. Where’s The Justice?

The Space Shuttle, docked in Gary & Jane’s yard.

Day 55    August 3

Maine hospitality is really something, at least, Gary & Jane’s hospitality was! They made us and the dogs feel completely at home, and did their best to make sure we had a fun time! And we did have a fun time. We seemed to all share the same twisted sense of humor, and that made for lots and lots of laughs!

After breakfast, all six of us headed over to nearby Fort Foster. Gary and Mark rode their bikes over there, while Jane and I, and Trixie and Dax, drove over. The tide was low, and we all rode, walked, and ran all over the beach. It was a fabulous morning! Trixie and Dax were ecstatic to have total freedom to be dogs (lots of running and digging).

Entrance to Fort Foster

Low tide. Fort Foster

Gary & Mark on their bikes, escorted by Jane

Dax, on the loose on the beach at Fort Foster

Beautiful beach @ Fort Foster

Mark, Jane, and the pups.

Our afternoon was filled with lobster shopping, lobster killing, and lobster feasting. In all fairness, our new friends didn’t partake of the lobster….Mark and I were the only lobster murderers, and we were very happy lobster murderers. Delicious!

Shopping for lunch.

Gumby & Pokey….risk-takers. Checking out our soon-to-be lunch.

Jane, the brave lobster wrangler.

 

 

 

 

 

Yummy little critter!

Lunch is served!

I was exhausted, and looking forward to a nap, however, Jane had other plans for us. We were going kayaking, which ended up being magnificent! The coastline was beautiful. And when it started to sprinkle rain on us, it just made it that much more sublime and peaceful. It was quite magical.

And then I finally got my nap.

After my nap, we would once again feast on another wonderful Jane-made meal of pasta and mussels. Jane was an awesome cook!

We were having such a great time with Gary and Jane, that it would be hard to leave our new friends in the morning.

Newport Folk Festival…Peace Out!

Anticipation….

Day 46           July 25

The Newport Folk Festival 2014…..Day #1

Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head, drove to Fort Adams (the festival site), parked, strapped our chairs to our backs, and rode our bikes down the hill to the entrance gates. We were early, and waited about an hour before they opened the gates.

Earlybirds at the festival. Mark’s chillin out, hangin’ out until they open the gates. A very mellow crowd, indeed.

 

It’s very important to wait in line to get wristbands for beer.

If you have to wait around, you may as well wait around here! So, no complaints!

 

Super happy to finally be at NFF!!

Once inside the gates, we set up our chairs by the “Quad” stage. We’d use that as our home base for the day, and in fact, we ended up setting up in the same place all three days.

Fun times at NFF. Hangin’ out at the Quad Stage.

What followed was the most magnificent day of great weather, spectacular music, burgers, beer, ice-cream, and blueberry pie. From noon until 8:00 pm, we got to listen to the most awesome musicians, in the most awesome location, with thousands of other awesomely nice people!

I was able to take a snapshot of almost every band that we saw all weekend. What follows are those pics. I know, they all look the same…same place, same vantage point, etc.. I just wanted to document who I saw. It wasn’t about getting great shots, or zooming in close, or whatever. I was just enjoying the music and taking a quick pic of each artist, so that I didn’t forget who I’d seen!

You’ve probably never heard of most of these artists, and believe me, they were all out of this world, crazy good! So, if you’re looking for new music to listen to, I hope you’ll check some of them out!

Mandolin Orange. Great way to start the festival.

Ryan Adams. Friday night headliner on the main stage.

Jimmy Cliff. Fun, fun, fun!!

Indoor intimate venue

Spirit Family Reunion jamming.

Newport locals, Lake Street Dive.

Reignwolf. Kind of heavy metal ockers!! Not sure what they were doing at the FOLK festival, but they were pretty freakin’ awesome!

Noah Gunderson

Noah Gunderson, with his sister, brother, and a friend. One of my festival favorites.

Phox. A great sound!

Real Time Update

Following another spectacular day in Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland, the Space Shuttle is currently docked for the night in a gravel parking lot/rv park, next to the ferry terminal in St Barbe, Newfoundland.

The wind is howling outside and even though we’re parked, it’s making us rock and roll. And, did I mention that it just started raining?

Amazingly, I’ve got a great internet connection here and have managed to upload  some of my backlogged posts.

Hoping to catch the ferry to Labrador in the morning. However, if it’s too rough and nasty out there, we’ll postpone it until later in the week.

Pittsburg Is NOT The Pits

Breakfast on the porch

Day 41     July 20

After having a lovely breakfast on our friend’s front porch, it was time to run a few errands. Mike and Bev were nice enough to drive us to the big shopping area, where we hit up the pet store (doggie pill pockets for giving Trixie her thyroid pills), the drug store (high-back sand chairs to take to the Newport Folk Festival), and the sunglass store (to replace my sunglasses which were so scratched up I couldn’t see out of them).

Hangin’ out on the front porch

Cool flower in the front porch garden

The rest of the day in Pittsburg was much more interesting. We drove to the top of Mt Washington to enjoy the beautiful view of the city. And yes, Pittsburg is a beautiful city, so don’t knock it until you’ve been there!

View from Mt Washington

View from Mt Washington

View from Mt Washington

Church on Mt Washington

After Mt Washington, we drove into the city to see the Old Cork Factory (now upscale condos), and to “the strip” to grab a cup of coffee at one of Bev’s favorite cafes (it was closed…boo), and then back to Squirrel Hill for a dog walk through the fanciest of neighborhoods, and for a quiet dinner back on our friend’s front porch.

Old Cork Factory

Old Cork Factory

Old Cork Factory

On The Strip

Big chicken

Another fun day completed!

Just Say “NO” to Caves. The Selfie Festival

Trixie & Me. Selfie

Day 35    July 14

This morning we drove the 15 minutes back to Mammoth Cave National Park. Mark wanted to do a cave tour. I did not. I mean, I would have, had it not been underground and all. Nope, I was staying above ground!

Mammoth Cave National Park

While Mark went into the dark abyss, I took the dogs for a little hike on a nearby trail. Surprisingly, though this is a national park, they do allow dogs on the hiking trails. Extremely rare, indeed. Unfortunately, it was still pretty warm out, and Dax and Trixie didn’t feel like walking very far, so it was a short little hike. Was still nice though.

After our little hike, Dax and Trixie and I went back to the parking lot where the three of us enjoyed hanging out in the shade of a tree. There was a nice little breeze to keep us cool, and we spent the time napping and taking selfies, while we waited for Mark to return from his cave tour.

Selfie

Trixie & Me. Selfie

I photo bombed Trixie’s selfie

Dax and Me. Selfie

Dax photo bombed my selfie

Upon Mark’s return, we hit the road again. This time we were headed for Louisville, Kentucky, to visit Mark’s cousin, Susanne. It was a pretty unremarkable drive there, followed by a comfortably cool evening in the drizzling rain, in the driveway at Susanne’s house. This was the first evening in over a week, that we didn’t need the a/c. Thank goodness…it was finally cooling off!

Mark, Dax, and cousin Ryan, hanging out in the back of the Space Shuttle. Louisville, KY

Real Time Update

We’re currently in Maine, at Acadia National Park. We’ll be heading north tomorrow, aiming for New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland!

Gifts From Strangers / (gifts from new friends)

We were told to stop here…and so we did.

Day 33      July12

We were heading to Nashville next. Mark’s brother, Chuck, was working there for a handful of months, so we would detour down there to see him. Plus, neither of us had ever been to Nashville.

As we were packing up our campsite to head out, our neighbors, Linda & Jim, came over to say goodbye. And Linda gave me the most beautiful hand crocheted trivet/pot holder that she’d made!!! She told me that, while Jim drives, she crochets these little treasures, and then she gives them to people she meets. I was so touched by her gift!

The other gift that Jim and Linda gave us, was the heads up on a little winery in Tennessee that’d we’d pass on our route to Nashville. Beachaven Winery. And we did stop there. And we did a wine tasting….you can taste as many wines as you want, and there’s no charge!! Sweet! And we bought three bottles to take with us. That was a nice little stop!

Wine tasting menu

Some of our purchases

Back on the highway to Nashville, we had a cool Fiona Look-A-Like sighting. We found ourselves driving right behind another silver Airstream Interstate, with two bikes on the back. I did a double take, ‘cause at first, I thought it was us! LOL! They obviously spotted us behind them, ‘cause as we drove past them, we were all looking over at each other and smiling and waving like crazy!!!

Me and Trixie, relaxing in the back of the space shuttle while Mark drives

Dax takes a selfie, while Mark drives

We arrived in Nashville, and met Mark’s brother at Gaylord’s Opryland. We had a nice visit with my bro-in-law, and had a look around the resort. And then, once again, retired to our campground, exhausted from the fun day we’d had!

Mark and Chuck

Cool ceiling @ Opryland

So big, it requires a big map

Inside Opryland

Skeeters and Heat, Oh My!!

That’s us!

Day 28      July 7

Another hot and buggy morning. We walked the dogs and got the heck out of the campground at Jacomo Lake, before the skeeters hauled us away.

Mark and Dax on a very quick morning walk @ Jacomo Lake

Jacomo Lake Campground

We took Rt 50 east, towards Jefferson City, the capitol of Missouri. We would have enjoyed walking around, as it looked like a nice old city, but alas, it was too freakin’ hot and humid. It was 96 degrees out, and felt like it was 126 degrees (just my estimation, based on the amount of sweat I was producing!).

Jefferson City. Where all the governmental magic happens

On the road

Corn…on the road

We took Rt 19, and detoured over to Hermann. Hermann was a cute old town, and, again, we would have enjoyed walking around, had it not been sweltering hot outside. The place looked almost like a ghost town, due to the lack of anyone out on the streets. Too darn HOT!!

Hermann

Hermann

Hermann

Not to sound too whiney about the heat, because we still thoroughly enjoyed driving about and having a look at all of these nice places. But, when it gets that hot and humid, we also have to be super mindful of the dogs. After all, they’re 9.5 years old, and are wearing black fur coats. So, it’s a double whammy. They can’t be out in the hot sun very long, and it’s too hot to leave them in the RV. Just the nature of the beast when travelling with our best friends!

A highway sighting..

St. Charles, MO was our final destination of the day. We pulled in to the Sundermeier RV Park just as it started to drizzle, and just as the temperatures began to drop…finally!! By time we went to sleep, it was a nice cool 83 degrees. Everything is relative!

From Fit To Frump in 21 Days. You CAN Do It!

Little Big Horn

Day 21        June 30

This morning, we drove into downtown Billings, just to get a quick peek at what it looked like. I wasn’t sure what to make of the place. As we entered downtown, I can’t remember which we saw first, the Women’s Prison, or the Department of Corrections building. Howdy folks. Welcome to Billings. We did a quick drive-a-bout and then got the heck out of town.

Sometimes, ok, all the time, when we’re driving, we have weird conversations. Or, I should say, we have conversations about weird stuff. Today our conversation centered on our lack of exercise since we’ve been on the road. Mark cracked me up when he said,

“I’ve got to get on an exercise program. I can still feel my chest muscles, but, maybe it’s just fat.”

Well, I hear ya bro! Pretty sure I’ve lost every ounce of swimming muscles in my arms. And I’m not sure I could hold a plank for longer than 10 seconds anymore.

A couple days ago, I tried to do some tricep dips on a picnic bench. I did a few, and promptly got a splinter in my hand. I took that as a sign that my exercise program shouldn’t start that day.

Why Do I Need My Muscles Anyway?

I need my muscles because on days like today, I need to be able to slam our sliding door shut.

We took the scenic byway out of Billings, onto Rt 212 East, so that we could stop at the Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument. Call me crazy, but I don’t like war stuff. Maybe ‘cause, growing up in Virginia, I was dragged to every battlefield and war related place known to Virginians. I’m done with that stuff. Over it.

BUT….Little Big Horn Battlefield N.M. was one of the most beautiful and spiritual places I’ve ever been. The land itself is stunning, and the American Indian Monument kind of got to me. I think what I was feeling was “White Man’s Guilt.”

Little Big Horn

Graveyard @ Little Big Horn

Little Big Horn

Graveyard @ Little Big Horn

Graveyard @ Little Big Horn

Little Big Horn

Little Big Horn

American Indian monument @ Little Big Horn

American Indian monument @ Little Big Horn

The 45 mph winds also got to me. It was howling out there, which made it on the difficult side to open and shut the large sliding side door. Yep, I need to rebuild me some muscles!!

Behind The Scenes….Airing The Dirty Laundry

Carey, Idaho

Day 17

The Dirty Laundry

Mark and I were having a couple disagreements today. 

From how I see it, Mark uses too much water in the rig. We have small holding tanks, and have to be careful about our usage. So, I pretty much am like the water nazi, constantly yelling…”Too much, too much, OMG, look at how much water you’re using to wash your hands!” Seriously, it almost puts me into cardiac arrest when I see him running the faucet!

Apparently, Mark disagrees with my usage assessment, since he hasn’t changed his habits at all and keeps telling me to leave him alone.

Then, from how I see it, Mark uses too much bug spray. Pretty much the same argument as the water usage scenario. I’m not making any headway there at all either. No matter that applying bug spray is like rolling in toxic chemicals. He don’t care!!

I obviously am lacking relationship superpowers. I should just give up. But, I can’t. Nagging at Mark about these things, gives me something to do.

What Happened and Where We Went

On June 26th, we left Boise. We were on the road by 9:30 am, which is unheard of for the two of us. We usually wake up early, but then we seem to loligag around until we get run out of town (until check out time from the campgrounds).

We turned on the radio, even before leaving our campsite, and discovered FM 96.9, out of Boise. The Bob and Tom Show. It was one of those morning zoo shows, at least that’s what they used to call them. OMG! These guys were hilarious! 

It was a great way to start our day…with some good laughs. We listened until we lost the station signal. It was good while it lasted.

We took Rt 21, a recommended scenic drive, just outside of Boise. This took us through some beautiful and cool places. First stop (besides just some nice overlooks) was Idaho City, an old western town with a neat old cemetery just outside of town and up on a hillside.

Rt 21, Idaho

Rt 21, Idaho

Idaho City

Pioneer Cemetery. Idaho City

Pioneer Cemetery. Idaho City

Pioneer Cemetery. Idaho City

Rt 21 starts heading south and becomes Rt 75…also a gorgeous part of the country. We stopped in Stanley for a couple of chocolate espresso milkshakes at a roadside stand. That should have been enough caffeine to keep us driving for quite a while longer!

Sawtooth Mountain Range in the distance. Rt 75, Idaho

Rt 75, Idaho

Rt 75, Idaho

We then passed right through Ketchum/Sun Valley. It was a beautiful area. We’ll have to put Sun Valley on our list of places we need to visit during ski season.

The final destination on this day, was Craters of the Moon National Monument. This was a definite hi-lite. A very bizarre and super cool place to visit, with a $10/nite campsite right in the thick of things! It was pretty amazing!

Craters of the Moon

Craters of the Moon

Craters of the Moon

Our campsite @ Craters of the Moon

 

We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Maps!

Mt St Helens off in the distance

Day #13

I had a few epiphanies on Day #13.

First, people in Washington love to fish. Everywhere we went, everyone was fishing. I have no interest in fishing, but, fisher-people dotting the landscapes of every river, creek, pond, and lake, was kind of cool.

Second, there’s a metric ton of forests in Washington. There’s plenty of space for Sasquatch to roam about freely without being seen. But, what does he eat? And how does he breed? Is there just one of him? He’s always referred to as Big Foot. There is never any mention of Big Feet, as in, more than one of them. If there’s only one of him, and he doesn’t breed, then, is he just really really old? And then, getting back to a previous inquiry, what does he eat to stay alive for so long?

Third, when in the countryside/foresty parts of Washington, it’s probably a good idea to do some research first, or, at least, ask directions, prior to driving a long way on the wrong road.

We had taken this particular road towards Mt. St. Helens, ‘cause on the map, it looked like it went right by Mt. St. Helens…and it did. But we learned today, from the ranger, that it was the other side of Mt. St. Helens that had blown out in the eruption in 1980…not this side that we were on. Oh. Shoulda asked about that first.

The Space Shuttle…on the “wrong” side of Mt St Helens

We looked at some big posters on the wall in the ranger station, showing the eruption and blown-out side, and decided that was good enough. And we continued on our merry way on the road we had already committed to.

At least we got a great view of the non-traumatized side of Mt. St. Helens, from a great lookout point on Curly Creek Road. And we’d purchased a video from the ranger station, that we watched that night. It was as good as going to the proper side. Got to see everything on the video. Phew…saved ourselves a whole heck of a lot of driving!

I drove a good part of the way as we headed back towards Hood River, OR. The winding mountain roads were beautiful, as was the Jethro Tull music that we had blasting on the stereo. A perfectly sublime road trip moment. And I thought to myself, “Life doesn’t get much better than this!”