The Bay of Fundy

Truro proved to be a very uncomfortable stop. First of all, it rained. Second of all, it poured! Last of all, it freakin’ deluged!!! When we pulled out, two rigs sunk into the grass and mud and had to be pulled out by a backhoe. Although we started the trip in sunshine, the sky darkened as we headed south and the CB radio crackled loudly every time a lightning bolt fired off (which was just about constantly). The rain was coming down so heavily we had to slow to 30 mph. Wipers on high speed hardly kept the windshield clear enough to continue. This was a true frog strangler!

As we neared our destination of Hopewell Cape, the rain subsided and we parked and got set up with relative ease. At 3:00, we carpooled to Hopewell Rocks, a Provincial Park on the Bay of Fundy, the site of the highest tides in the world. Tides of over fifty feet have been recorded here. Today, we would be treated to a slightly above average tide, a “mere” 43-footer. We go back tomorrow at low tide for a completely different perspective and even get to go out and walk on the sea floor.


Bay of Fundy presentation


Explaining tides using "models" of earth, moon and sun


Hopewell Rocks at medium tide


Low tide

More low tide

Returning to the park, the staff got ready for a travel briefing and an ice cream social.

Terry dishing it out!

Serving fresh homemade berry pie

After the briefing, one male guest got his retaliation against three female guests who had “decorated” his rig at an earlier date. Dressed in full Scottish attire, he presented each lady with some Orgasm candy and a set of autographed pink balls, tied together with a purple ribbon.

"Scotty" and his victims!

Each got a set of pink balls and a purple ribbon!

This had a “special meaning” to each and created quite a hoot from all the other guests. After the howling subsided, we dove into the ice cream and some fresh berry pies, donated by another guest.

Tomorrow, after the low tide visit to Hopewell Rocks, is the final leg of the trip. We travel to St. John for one day and a wake-up. The one day will be a morning bus tour of the city with the Farewell Dinner in the evening. We will be up early Saturday morning to serve the guests coffee and sweet rolls. After the morning “Hitch-up Breakfast”, everyone splits to go their separate ways. Barry and Terry are headed to Bangor, Maine and Claudia and I are staying in Canada. We are headed northwest to Quebec and then southwest to Port Huron, just above Detroit, where we will cross back into the USA. From there, we follow I-80 to I-70, through Denver to I-15 to Saint George, Utah where we start the next episode of our summer travels, a 29-day caravan around the Four Corners area. This caravan visits all the state and national parks in the Four Corners area. As we will be leading this trip, I seriously doubt there will be much blogging time from now on. Look for us to arrive home on or about October 2nd or 3rd.

From the Canadian Maritimes, Au revoir!

Jerry, Claudia and Valentino

Labrador, Deer Lake and Louisbourgh

As I didn’t get to Labrador, this particular blog is from Claudia.

End of blog! (She refused to write it)

When we left St. Barbe, we headed for Deer Lake, a run of about 185 miles. We were a little worried about one rig that had the “check engine” light come on along with a loss of power. The rig started up and they took off with crossed fingers. We pulled out about a half hour behind them, hoping for the best. They wanted to get to the Caterpillar mechanic about 35 miles past Deer Lake. We ran across them at the Gros Morne Resort, about 112 miles into the trip. The rig had shut down again and they were on the phone to the mechanic. The short story is that they called a tow truck and were eventually towed to the repair facility. We continued to the RV park and settled in for the night.

The next morning, the entire group walked across the street to the Newfoundland Insectarium and Butterfly Pavillion. The building was a beautifully refurbished dairy barn.


The inside of the Insectarium (an old dairy barn)

We got a fabulous lecture on bees from the manager


Bee lecture at glass bee hive

(ask me anything about bees now and I can tell you!) and then toured the facility on our own. I started at the glass beehive and then wandered to the beetles, bugs,


A Walking Stick bug

butterflies and finally spiders. I really liked the Mexican Red Knee Tarantula and the Goliath Bird-eating Spider.

Mexican Red Knee tarantula

Giant Bird-eating spider

I then wandered downstairs to find Claudia in the gift shop but took a wrong turn and wound up in the ice cream snack bar. I had a single “Death by Chocolate”, my new most favorite flavor.
We then returned to the park and everyone fired up and left for Grand Codroy for a non-eventful overnight stay. We were joined enroute by the rig that had broken down. The problem was a faulty fuel sensor. The next day, we left in a convoy for the 26-mile trip to the Port aux Basque ferry terminal and out return trip to Nova Scotia. The trip was uneventful and we started loading around 4:00 pm. The ferry pulled out at 5:00 pm, right on schedule.

Our trip to North Sydney took just under six hours and we started offloading right about 11:00 pm. I happened to be the first one off the boat and took the convoy lead for the trip to the Arm of Gold RV park. Although the trip was in darkness, something the convoy was not used to, we had no problems at all. It was one nice straight line and no one got lost. OK, OK…so there was only one turn during the whole three-mile trip…and it was right at the park. When we arrived, there were three much appreciated traffic directors that led the convoy in and put us in our sites without so much as a hiccup. It went so smoothly, the entire caravan was parked in about ten minutes. We all just hooked up to power and went to bed. Screw the jacks, slides and all fanciness. The basics will do tonight!

We all got a good night’s sleep and again hit the road at 8:00 am, headed for Louisbourgh. As a point of interest (or not), the fuel prices are about 8-cents a liter cheaper in Nova Scotia than in Newfoundland so we were all playing the game of having our fuel tanks almost empty when we got to the ferry and were planning on fueling on the way to Louisbourgh. The key work here is “almost”. Some rigs “Low Fuel” warning lights were on as we left Arm of Gold. The first fuel was at the 26-mile mark. All rigs made it. I went by the first fuel stop (too many rigs already there) and pulled into the second at the 31-mile mark. We took 421.35 liters (about 112 gallons) of fuel at a cost of $585.26. After fueling, we continued the short distance to the park and settled in.

We immediately had a welcome briefing from the park manager and then carpooled to the Fortress of Louisbourgh, a Parks Canada Historic Site. We arrived at the fortress and went to the Visitor’s Center to view exhibits and then board a bus for the trip to the fortress. We found out there is a difference between a “fort” and a “fortress”, the later designed to protect a civilian population. We had another outstanding guide who took us on an hour-long tour of some of the fortress, leaving us later to explore on our own.

The Louisburgh Fortress

The guard at the gate

Fortress moat

Inside the fortress

The soldier's chapel


The bay entrance to the fortress

Claudia and I and Barry and Terry decided to explore the inside of one of their period restaurants. Claudia ordered baked cod, vegetables and pea soup. I had the same, but because I still have my lingering cough and chest congestion, I added a hot buttered rum for medicinal purposes. The tour of the fort was extremely interesting and we meandered through several buildings, including the Destouches Bakery where an apple and a cherry turnover somehow made it into a paper bag and out the door with us. I hate it when that happens! We also checked out a wooden horse standing in a small open area that was used as a muster area.

The punnishment "horse"

Any soldier found in violation of fortress rules, such as sleeping at his post, was taken to the “horse”. A punishment of time was set by the person in charge and the soldier was told to mount the horse. His hands were then bound behind him and large rocks were tied to his feet. This sufficed to lower the recidivism rate of such misdeeds.

We then left the fortress and drove slowly through the town, eventually ending up on the road to the lighthouse. The road weaved along the edge of the bay and we passed several homes and small businesses that were obviously used for fishing lobster and crab. Another super-picturesque spot!

Along the lighthouse road

More lighthouse road stuff

We got to the lighthouse (Canada’s oldest) and got out to check out the sights. The lighthouse was very pretty but the coastline was rough and spectacular.

Canada's oldest lighthouse


Coastline at the lighthouse

I burned up lots of “film”. We then returned to the rig where I am now writing my blog and Claudia is checking the darkness in the bedroom. Tonight is a Celtic show at the Louisbourgh Playhouse. Claudia just asked me what I was planning to wear tonight. My reply was, “shorts and a nice shirt”. Her reply was, “You might want to reconsider that!” I did!

St. Anthony and St. Barbe

Today is Monday, August 11th and we are on our way to St. Anthony. Once we got past Lobster Head Cove lighthouse, the scenery changed considerably. The trees became stunted and wind-shaped, very similar to the Santa Barbara and Monterrey areas. All along the road were stacks of cut firewood, lobster traps and small plots planted with potatoes, carrots, turnips and the like.

These are all completely out in the open. There is absolutely no theft of property up here. People leave snowmobiles and trailers outside without any thought they might be stolen or vandalized. It just doesn’t happen up here.

We went through the small villages of Sally’s Cove, Western Brook and Broom Point and then into the thriving metropolis of Cow Head which is near Shallow Bay. I think the people who named these towns were imagination challenged. We passed a restaurant where two rigs were stopped. After checking on them, we again headed on down the road. We got about five miles and came to a small pond on the left side of the road. There at the edge of the pond, munching on grass and lilly pads, was Ms. Moose. There was no place to stop to grab a photo so you will just have to close your eyes and imagine a cow moose standing by a pond. Sorry! I’ll try to do better next time.

The road varied from very good to very bad. Some of the time we were doing 55 and other times we were down to 30. We arrived at the park just after 3:00 and got all snuggled into our site. After doing necessary chores, we moved over to Barry’s rig and set up for a 5:00 pm social. Almost everyone showed up and, again, there was more than enough food. We split at 6:00 for a light dinner. The light dinner was necessary as we are hosting a 7:30 campfire and doing “slugs” for the group.

Before we could set up for the campfire, we had a visitor to the campground.

A yearling bull moose decided to pay us a visit by walking slowly by at the edge of the trees right behind the rigs. We got lots of great pictures. He wasn’t afraid at all and just kept posing before slowly walking off into the trees. We then finished setting up for the slugs.

How to make a "slug".

Spray a slug stick with non-stick

Wrap slug skin on stick

Bake the skin until done

Fill baked skin with "guts"

Add a whipped cream "head"

The finished slug

Eat and enjoy

We needed to do a full clean-up afterwards because there are bears that roam here at the park and we don’t need any gear torn up. Tomorrow is an all-day bus tour and a Viking dinner.
The first place we went to on the tour was L’Anse aux Meadows, the site of the first known Norse settlement in North America. It is believed that it was Leif Erickson who settled here, but that cannot be confirmed. We toured the remains of the settlement and visited a reproduction of the village. The whole thing is built on bogs that are loaded with bakeapples, some of which were

summarily removed and consumed on the spot.

Picking bakeapples

A bucket of bakeapples

Following this, we went to a reproduction of a Norse village called Norstead where we viewed a beautiful Viking ship, participated in an axe throwing contest, ate fresh cod cooked over an open fire and observed several weaving demonstrations.

Viking ship

Inside the ship

Throwing the axe (it stuck!)

Cooking cod

We then went to a museum dedicated to Dr. Grenfell, an English doctor and Samaritan who established several hospitals and clinics and spent years treating the people of Labrador and Newfoundland. We then returned to the park to relax and get cleaned up for the Viking Feast.
The feast was a ball! We entered a large sod house, similar to the ones at Norstead, and were met by the employees who were all dressed up as Vikings.

We were seated at large community tables and plied with modern “grog”. The dinner was a buffet consisting of salad, moose stew, roast beef, baked cod, baked salmon, carrots, potatoes and turnips. We had only spoons and a knife for utensils. It was a delicious meal.

After the meal, the head Viking brought up several people from the audience who wished to accuse others of “crimes”. Several “trials” were held and punishment meted out. I just happened to be one of those accused of a crime. My “crime” was waking up caravan guests early on travel days by beating on their tires with a “huge” stick, causing unknown damage and consternation to the guests and their pets. I was allowed to plead my case to the audience. I answered the charges by telling them it was required by the company I work for and it was for the customer’s own safety, as a deflated tire could cause severe damage to a motorhome if it blew out while travelling.

Pleading my case

My pleadings fell on deaf ears. I was found guilty. It was a total railroad job. My sentence was to help the rigs dump their tanks at our next stop. Fine…I’ll do it! Oh, I just remembered…there are no sewer hookups at our next stop. Golly, Gee whiz, Darn…that’s too bad! Heh, heh…skated on that one!

The next day, Wednesday, we travelled to the Labrador Ferry holding yard at St. Barbe. It is a large fenced gravel yard that easily held our caravan. We are having a wine and cheese party after everyone gets here and we just spend the night awaiting the ferry’s departure for Labrador at 8:00 tomorrow morning. We leave the rigs here and are just walk-on’s for the ferry. We spend tomorrow night at a hotel and then return to the rigs about 9:00 am on Friday morning.

Well…the best laid plans… I have been fighting my annual sore throat, chest congestion and hacking cough for the past few days and it flared up pretty bad last night. I decided to stay here in the motorhome and try to get better rather than go to Labrador and possibly infect all the guests with what I have. So, here I am, me and Valentino, in an empty motorhome , all alone. I started taking antibiotics and other medications and I think it’s starting to turn. At least the slight fever I had yesterday hasn’t returned. Luckily, I have a good supply of old war flicks and westerns to watch. Valentino prefers the westerns…he doesn’t like major violence. Too bad I don’t have “Finding Nemo” for him to watch.

When Claudia returns tomorrow, we all jump in our rigs and head for Deer Lake, a 184-mile trip. Supposedly, there is wi-fi at our site so I should be able to get this now-too-long blog off into the airways.

Gros Morne

Barry & me cooking scrambled eggs

Getting set up

The biscuits & gravy with scrambled eggs serving line

The breakfast was outstanding. We had plenty and everyone went away stuffed. After breakfast clean-up, Claudia and I holed up in the motorhome and started working on our Grand Circle tour. We got the calendar all filled in with the tours, meals and other events. This will be the basis of organizing the trip. Now we just need to contact all parks and vendors to confirm the contracts. We are in motion!

Two guests went out and bought 17# of halibut chunks and hosted a pot luck dinner for the entire caravan. Once again, we are stuffed! After dinner, Vicki Parmley, a previous guest of ours, brought out her new toy…an ugly stick.

Vicki and her Ugly Stick!

This is a traditional Newfi musical instrument (?). It is built around a stick about 5’ tall. The traditional stick has a small boot or shoe attached to the bottom and a dolls head at the top. There are about 16-20 nails driven into the stick in four vertical lines so each line has four or five nails. Each nail hold several (about six) beer bottle caps loosely impaled on it. A second part of the stick is a smaller 2 to 3-foot stick, with or without the nails and beer caps. The stick is held by one hand near the top and the boot is stomped on the ground, preferably on wood, to keep time with the music. The smaller stick is held in the other hand and is used to strike the main stick to keep an intermediate beat to the music. Since we were out on a gravel parking lot, Vicki climbed up on a picnic table to “play” her stick. I had my strumstick out and another guest had spoons. We did a wild rendition of “You are my Sunshine”.

Vicki, Doug and me

It was a hoot! After a few songs, we got hit with a light rain and everyone bailed. It was a good day!

Our next day was Sunday…a day of rest…RIGHT! Claudia cleaned house and I worked outside doing “stuff”. After the house was clean, I came inside and dirtied it up by re-stringing a broken window shade. After fixing the shade, I started in on the washing machine. The dryer part has been acting up and only coming on occasionally. After calling the company, I did some electrical tests but couldn’t figure anything out as the machine now decided to do something totally different. After screwing around for a while, it totally shut down and quit. Then the handle that opens the door broke. I quit fooling with it and put it all back together. We will call the service center tomorrow.

After the washing machine fiasco, I took a well-deserved shower and then started getting ready for ANOTHER pot luck waddle-fest. Claudia and I cooked the last of our really great Canadian beef steaks and added more than a few pot luck offerings to our plates. There were several salads, pulled pork, spaghetti, meat loaf, barbecue beans and several desserts. Too much food. I had to be polite and try everything. It took two trips to do it but I succeeded. Again, the result was not pretty. I keep looking at the scale in the bathroom. I will continue to look at it. I will not touch it nor will I even think of stepping on it. Not for a long time! I waddled back to the rig and started putting things away. We leave tomorrow morning for St. Anthony for two days and then on to St. Barbe (not much more than a fenced-in field) for one night and then the overnight to Labrador. There will not be any Internet and probably very little or no cell phone service until we get back from Labrador so this will be it for a while. Y’all stay safe.

Springdale and Rocky Harbor

We are now in Springdale and the weather is not cooperating. It’s not raining but is more of a very heavy mist. The rain was on and off all the way here so it was kind of suckey travelling. After we got here and all set up and settled in, we travelled to the Riverwood Inn, a five-star resort right on the water. We went downstairs for dinner, a screech-in and entertainment. Now dinner I know you can understand. It was probably the best chicken dinner I’ve ever had…definitely a “ten”. We then had some guy walk into the room all dressed in oilskins and carrying an oar.


The "Screech-in" ceremony

He told us stories and cracked Newfie jokes and was great entertainment. He then asked for six “volunteers” to act as representatives for the group to be “screeched” into being honorary Newfoundlanders. I was the first one up!

Now…Screech is a liquor, traditionally a very potent Jamaican rum that was brought back from Jamaica in molasses barrels. It’s the sort of traditional Newfie drink, just like Yukon Jack is the drink up in Alaska…or should I say OVER in Alaska since we are up about the same latitude as Alaska right now. Anyway, the gentleman in oilskins had us up front, on the floor, kneeling. He then presented us with some hardtack (hard bread) that we had had to “reconstitute” in our mouths. Next, we were handed a smoked and dried capelin to eat. Some of the sneakier volunteers stashed the fish in their back pockets. I, however, playing square, took two bites, albeit small bites, before we were told “that’s enough”. Next, we had to recite the Newfoundland Screech pledge words, “Long may your big jib draw” which, translated into the American dialect means “smooth sailing”. We then had the toss a shot glass of Screech back in one gulp. I did as instructed. All I can say is “Holy S**t”! I’ve had “151” rum before but this stuff is pure unadulterated firewater. WOW!!!!!! However, we all passed. One of the girls didn’t quite finish hers off to where the cup was dry so she had to drink another. Poor baby! We were then awarded or Screeching certificates and we are now to be known as “Honorary Newfoundlanders”. After the ceremony, we all came home to sleep soundly…some sounder than the others!

The next day, we were picked up by a bus and taken on a tour of Springdale. Now, Springdale has one main road which is about two miles long with turn-arounds at each end. A couple of other roads branch off the main road and go to the waterfront. That’s it! We first went to a historical house full of photographs and stuffed animals. We then did the waterfront and then headed for “Rattling Brook Falls”, an 800-foot waterfall reached by 204 near-vertical steps.


Steps to the waterfall

Rattling Brook Falls

My legs are still shaking two days later! We then went to a potter’s shed and a restaurant for “coffee and buns”, after which we returned to the park. It was a good day!

Today, Friday the 8th, we headed for Gros Morne (Rocky Harbor) for a three-day stay. The travel was uneventful and we arrived around noonish. At 1:30, everyone headed for the National Park Visitor’s Center to get the lay of the land and a few ideas for what to do for the next two days. Claudia and I did the V.C and then toured the town, from the fishing pier to the Lobster Cove Head lighthouse.

Lobster Cove Lighthouse

Returning to the rig, I broke out the propane cooker and a large Dutch oven and helped Claudia cook up some fried chicken. Dinner tonight consisted of absolutely delicious fried chicken, creamed corn, seasoned rice and butter pecan ice cream for dessert. We continue to eat well on this trip!

Speaking of eating well, as I was helping with dinner and it was time to feed Valentino. Now, Val is a really sweet little fish with LOTS of personality as I have spelled out in past blogs. He really loves me! Every time I come near him, he wiggles and flares and carries on, just happy as hell to see me. He is really a sweet little beta! Now, as the afternoon approached, I got up to his bowl and talked to him, asking if he was ready for a treat. He wiggled that he was! I uncorked his favorite food, freeze-dried blood worms, and put three in his bowl. He didn’t see them at first so I put my finger in the bowl and wiggled it above where the worms were floating. He then turned and swam lovingly toward the worms and then the little son of a bitch jumped up and bit my finger! That ungrateful little pile of smelly fins and scales actually bit the hand that fed him. He is now on full probation!

We have two more days here at Gros Morne. Both days are “Free Days” except that tomorrow morning the staff (us) will be preparing breakfast for the group. Breakfast will consist of biscuits and gravy and scrambled eggs. On Monday we head for St. Anthony for two days, then one day at St. Barbe and then an overnight to Labrador. The Labrador trip will be by ferry and we will leave the rigs in Newfoundland and stay in a hotel for the one night.

It’s cocktail time and I must go. Sea y’all later!