Short Drive on a Cool Day

Today was our shortest drive yet – about 3 hours. This meant we could sleep in and that we did…until about 830am. We woke up to the sound of rain.

Before I get to writing today’s post, I must point out that my personal editor on tour has been somewhat tardy in reviewing my material; therefore, if you were to go back and read previous posts (not sure why anyone of you would want to do that), you would find a number of edits to grammar, facts and quotes – particularly those quotes attributed to my editor.

This morning, like every morning my goal is to be…like Elmer Fudd…very, very quiet as I wash my face, brush my teeth, get dressed and then gather the kettle, my coffee cup, spoon and Starbucks Via Instant coffee and exit the trailer, so as to not disturb my editor. However, this morning I evidently was louder than normal when visiting the loo (I thought I was very very quiet) as I heard “shhhhhhhh!”.

Since we were behind schedule…not sure we are on a particular schedule, since I am frequently reminded by my editor and Connie that I am on holidays and need to relax…I quickly made ready the trailer for travel, taking short breaks to sip my coffee. When my editor and Connie exited the trailer, we were only minutes away from hooking up the truck and hitting the road.

While I made the final adjustments, I heard my editor speaking with a gentleman who was passing by walking his dog. He is from northern Ontario and spends every year from June through October at the Stonehurst campsite. Personally, I’d go mad. Don’t get me wrong it is a lovely spot but I can’t fathom what one would do day in and day out. He also went on to say that he has a son who lives in Calgary and another in Richmond and he frequently drives to BC. I’m thinking he must be mad.

We hooked up the trailer and were about to leave when Connie mentioned her bike didn’t look to be sufficiently secure on the bike rack. I’m not quite sure why, as it’s been attached the same every day. Knock on wood it hasn’t fallen off the trailer having travelled more than 7000 kilometres. In any case, I went to work disassembling and reassembling the bike rack to ensure that her bike remains secure. Now in all fairness, she didn’t ask me to dissassemble and reassemble the rack but I am a man and when I’m asked to do something, I do it thoroughly. I might ignore the chore for 6 months but when I get to it, I’m thorough!

With only another 20 minute delay, we were ready to depart. I made my final walk around the truck and trailer to check that all was in order and went to open the drivers door and climb in. To my surprise, my editor was in the driver’s seat and frankly I was delighted. Today, I would be a passenger and take full advantage of the freedom to sight see the sights and do whatever else my little heard desired.

As we pulled out, we gave a wave to Bernie who was substantially behind schedule in packing up. I am going to miss Bernie. Yesterday, when we were speaking about the quality of healthcare, and in particular doctors, he suggested his wife’s surgeon was very good because he was from Newfoundland and previously worked in a fish factory. I said that is really interesting. Frankly, I wasn’t sure if Bernie was joking or serious.

The drive from Moncton to Nova Scotia was enjoyable. My editor is a good driver, so it was easy to relax. The roads in Nova Scotia are pretty good too but we did hit one toll booth and paid $5.25, which is always a stimulator of discussion. Today we debated the benefits of user fees and hidden taxes.

When we passed through the outskirts of Truro, I discovered it too has a Tidal Bore. Here I thought it was something unique to Moncton…seems that it happens anywhere there is a river that runs into the Bay of Fundy.

We rolled into Woodhaven campsite (just outside of Halifax) shortly after noon. There was a line up of recreational vehicles in front of us. Seems this time of day is popular for checkin. Two motorhomes from Florida and a truck and trailer from California were in front of us and shortly after another motorhome rolled up behind us. He hopped out to make an offhand comment about so many americans in the line up. After a short delay, we checked into our spot and set up. When we were done, Connie made us a bite of lunch before we headed into downtown Halifax (about 25 minutes).

It was cold and raining, a stark contrast from the hot and dry weather we’ve had to date (excepting Zach’s convocation day in Toronto). We walked along the pier, snapped some photos and perused the souvenier shops.

My editor is looking for license plates. He wants one from each province and prefers to purchase them from the capital cities. It seems Halifax is lacking in license plates for sale, so if we are unsuccessful in finding one tomorrow, we may have to resort to borrowing one from a parked vehicle.

While walking down the sidewalk I thought I’d take a photo of Connie and my editor who were walking ahead of me. There was an odd fellow walking towards us and before I snapped it, I waited for him to pass us by. Just as he passed by me. He yelled out ‘hey! I have a question. Is it reasonble for someone to be taking a video without them knowing?’. I presumed he thought I was taking a video of some random couple’s behinds. His question caught me off guard, so I said the first words that came to mind – I’m with them. At that point I offered to show him the photo I took but he said ‘no. I don’t want to see it. I just want you to answer my question. Is it reasonable for someone to take a video or photo without them approving?’. I responded by saying certianly not…I would always ask their permission. This seemed to satisfy him and he moved on. Welcome to Halifax!

We then walked up the hill to the Citadel but unfortunately it closed at 5pm and we arrived at 5 past. However, we snapped a few photos and walked around it – a magnificent site and I’m sure worth a tour but it will have to be another time.

I did manage to snap a photo of this guy without his permission but he didnt seem to mind.

Leaving the Citadel we returned to the waterfront and continued on walking on the pier. I stopped to chat with this fisherman and ask him what he was fishing for. He said ‘mackerel but all I’ve go so far is pollock’ as he motioned me to look in his bucket at one lonely fish. He then asked, ‘do you fish for mackerel’. I smiled and said no I’m not much of a fisherman. He responded ‘me either’.

It quickly became apparent that most of Halifax closes at 5 or 6pm on a Wednesday. We did manage to pop in to see the Alexander Keith’s Brewery before heading to dinner on the pier.

Since we are in the Maritimes, I thought it only fitting to enjoy one of these for my dinner.

After dinner, we continued our walk and stopped to cool off by treating ourselves with some ice cream before heading back to the campsite.

Tomorrow we are off to Peggy’s Cove and Lunenburg (home of the Blue Nose).