Last night it poured in Baddeck. In fact it rained so hard that the awning couldn’t handle the weight of water that it tipped down on the front side with a resounding crash waking most all of us. Zach was convinced it was a moose ramming the trailer. Connie asked me what was that? I responded with “what was what”? Zach got up to check things out, so I thought I’d do the same. I opened the door into the downpour and sure enough the front of the trailer side of the awning was dipping to its lowest point. I pushed it back and brought the awning in. Fortunately, we put everything away the night before so nothing would have to be put away wet in the morning.
While I normally like sleeping with the soft sounds of rain, none of us slept well for the sound of the pounding (literally pounding) rain. By early morning it had eased up and at 730am I rose to complete my morning ritual but today I decided to drive up the road to top up the Tundra and pick up a Tim Horton’s large dark roast. While I was there I purchased a vanilla dip donut for Zach and a small pack of Timbits for Connie and Zach to share on the road.
When I returned to the campsite, Tommy’s girlfriend and kids were packing up and leaving – likely off to home and work. I began readying the trailer for today’s 5 hour trip. My intention was to sip my coffee while I worked but as you know best intentions tend to go by the wayside. While I was packing up, Tommy emerged from his tent trailer to say “good morning” and “that was quite a rain we had last night”. If this Cape Breton’er said it was quite a rain then I’m thinking it was quite the rain.
We made good progress and were on the road by 830am. Unfortunately, my coffee was nearly cold but I drank it anyway. We were making good time, the rain had ceased to a drizzle and the traffic was light – perhaps due to it being Sunday morning. There was nothing much out of the ordinary as we made our way to the Canso Causway (the man made connection between Cape Breton and Nova Scotia. Along the way, we saw three cars without plates or noticeably posted temporary permits! Two looked new and one was rather full of gentlemen (I’m being generous here) who looked like they were up to some mischief. Shortly thereafter we saw in the distance the flashing lights of a police car. I thought well one of these cars got nabbed. As we approached, I noticed the car pulled over had a license plate. Go figure!
Mid morning we reached Antigonish, so I pulled off the highway to drive through the town. It is a cute little town and on Sunday morning there was very little traffic in the downtown core. The few that were out, appeared to be driving to attend church. It didn’t take us long to reach the outskirts of the downtown and as we did, I drove over some railroad tracks that were rather bumpy and by the regional hospital. I was looking for a spot to turn around and head back to the highway. Just as I found one, I heard a noise that just didn’t seem quite right. It sounded like dragging chains. I pulled over as quickly as possible and Zach and I hopped out to see what was up. We discovered Connie’s bike had been dragging on the ground behind the trailer. The back tire was attached to the bike rack and the handle bars were scraping on the road.
Now you will recall, a few days ago Connie was concerned about her bike being attached securely and I disassembled and reassembled the bike rack. After doing so, I secured her bike in a manner that…well let’s just say it wasn’t the way I should have. So, her nice padded handle bar grips are slightly worn now having dragged along the road for a piece.
Frankly, I am relieved it happened in Antigonish when we were travelling at low speeds. Had it happened on the highway at 100km/hour, I’m afraid her bike wouldn’t have been salvageable. Thankfully it is still rideable, albeit a little worse for wear. That being said, Zach gave me a lengthy lecture about how crappy my bike rack is and that I should secure the bikes or I’m likely to injure someone.
I secured the bike (the way I should have…the way it was when we left home) and headed for the highway. On the way, we topped up the Tundra (seems I write this a lot) and grabbed another Tim Horton’s dark roast for the road.
The rest of the trip was pretty much uneventful. At 1pm we stopped at Oxford, Nova Scotia, the Blueberry Capital of Canada (to top up the Tundra) and grab a bite to eat. From there we headed towards New Brunswick and the exit to the Confederation Bridge. Even though it was a bit foggy and rainy, driving the bridge was a great experience. While it isn’t the longest open water bridge in the world, it is an amazing engineering feat.
Once across the bridge, we headed toward Charlottetown and our campsite (about 20 minutes outside of the capital city). We arrived to a very busy campsite, full of locals and visitors ready to celebrate Canada Day.
Given we are only here for two nights, we were given a choice spot (not!). While it is grassy and clean, it is rather sloped from the back of the trailer to the front, so much so that we barely had enough blocks for the front levellers to reach the ground. We made the best of it and were all finished setting up by 430pm when we drove back into Charlottetown to buy a few groceries.
When we returned to the campsite, Connie put another choice Atlantic Salmon on the BBQ. While dinner was cooking, I chatted with the neighbours who commented about us being a long way from home. I responded by commenting on the weather being colder than I expected. They responded with, “yes it is a little colder than we expected too!”
After dinner we went to the clubhouse to listen to a couple of local musicians. They were good…not terrific but good for a couple of IT instructors at the local college.
Tomorrow is Canada Day and we will celebrate it in downtown Charlottetown, the birthplace of Canadian Federation.
Mal and Connie's Cross Canada Adventure 2.0 