Labrador/Newfoundland…The After Thoughts!

Sunday Aug 4, 2013
One of the last things we did before leaving on our little jaunt was to welcome home Jerry D Rouleau from a successful career in the United States Army. Jerry’s retirement party was a wonderful way to start our journey.
What is remarkable about “Jerry” was, on our return, the first persons for us to recognize coming into town was Jerry and his wife Cathy. They were going to Old Orchard Beach to meet with his sister, Ann. It was like a welcoming home party for us!

The Eye is on You!

Our travels took us to places that we could not have imagined! The road block in Relais Gabriel was not a stumbling block, but an opportunity to meet many locals, to experience a full fledged staging area for a forest fire that lasted one month.
The decision to turn around and back track 200 miles was the right one. We followed the fire scene closely online and on TV. Using my old line of “being in a canoe, going down stream, without a paddle,” worked! Our original plans did not include visiting the entire “Gaspésie” peninsular. It turned out to be very fruitful. The people both local and 

Carvings in Stone

travelers like us, were what we enjoyed. Stopping at whatever caught our fancy usually brought a story. As an example, the little shop, along the road, with many wooden model ships.The wood carver sitting with his girl friend and mother. Of course, French was the language here. He explained how he cut the trees, dried the wood for two to three years…to prevent wood checking. He said he worked on a ship’s body and didn’t put the masts and sails until the following year. These little stops are the cherished moments that will last for some time to come.

Manipulation...What's inside that cave!

My next challenge is to sort about 1200 pictures that we took. Helen is getting good at taking pictures of me taking pictures of other things. I definitely have some that will be printed and framed. When I return from these trips, I always get energized with Photo Shop and my mind explodes with ideas for the photos. Everything from watermarks to manipulating the images to a different format.
This summer’s trip totaled over 4,800 miles! An average of $130 a day for gas, a $1,000.00 was spent on ferries. Was it worth the expense? The answer for me was certainly! For others maybe not. The enjoyment, for me, will last a long time. Every time I write a blog, look and work on a picture, will bring back that special moment when we were at that location.
That is what we did and saw!

Sackville to Lincoln, Maine…The High Tide

Friday Aug. 2nd

A Warning!

The forecast for today…sunny this morning, with rain coming this afternoon. “OK, here is the game plan”! We would travel down the  Fundy Coastal Drive and visit the famous “Hopewell Rocks” This is the place that has the world highest tides. When there is a full moon the tide will rise a whopping 47 feet! The Hopewell Rocks are accessible by walking to them at low tide. They tell us that there is about 3 hours to get in and out before the tide cuts you off from the main land.
When we got there, unfortunately, high tide was cresting. Now they also said that there wasn’t a full moon and the tide came in at 36 feet. This was actually good for our little visit. We would be able to walk along part of the beach.
From the Visitor Center, to the Hopewell Rocks, is about a 15 minute walk down a wide forested path. It was fairly early and only a few visitors were present. This was a good thing as the parking lot looked like it could hold hundreds of cars and buses.


So Nice!

Down on the boardwalk overlook was our first view of the “Rocks”! Great photo opportunity! We descended several metal stairs and took pictures at every level. At the bottom, we had five to ten feet of beach to wonder and again get those incredible shots. A few minutes later, a bunch of sea kayaks appeared and started to paddle underneath the arches. Again this was a great photo opportunity.

Mary Lane and Me

With camera in hand, we headed for the truck and drove south to the Maine border. A couple of hours later in rained nearly steady until we reached the US Custom in Calais, Maine. One of the Custom Officer said, “ New Hampshire National Guard plates” “Yes Sir”, I replied. What unit were you with? I said “A” Btry 2/197th FA. He said, “I’m with a sister unit up here in Maine. Than another Custom Officer, said, “I was an FO”, (Forward Observer). He also said that guy over there was also in the Guard. I felt like we were having a family reunion. We pulled into Calais to gas up the truck. $3.81 a per gal. I don’t know what the price back home is right now, but it cost me $90.00 instead of the usual $130 in Canada.
It was time to make a decision, which we did and visited my oldest 2nd cousin, in Lincoln, Maine. It was a thirty mile detour, but cousin Mary was very happy to see us. She just turned 100 years old on March 6th of this year. We talked for a while and said our good-byes. Tonight we parked in a school parking lot in Lincoln, not wanting to bother cousin Mary.
Tomorrow the home stretch!
That is what we did and saw!

Louisburg to Moncton…Long Ride with a nice ending!

Thursday Aug 1
My, my the were does the time go? I can’t believe that we’ve been gone nearly a month! We’ve visited so many places and met so many wonderful people along the way. I’ve met all of my important goals on this adventure. About the only one I didn’t meet was getting “Screeched” Remember, that was how to become a full pledged Newfoundlander…wear a down-Easter rain gear, kiss a cod fish and down a jigger of moonshine. I didn’t get the opportunity and I wasn’t too crazy about kissing that big old cod fish either.

Now bad for a dead Elm Tree!

Tonight, we are dry camping again outside a Visitor Center in Sackville, New Brunswick. We walked the downtown and took a few pictures of the carved Elm trees. These Elms have become victims of the dreaded Dutch Elm Disease. The town residences were wise not to cut them at ground level. Local “First Nation Artist” have done a remarkable job of pulling figures from these once giants.
The weather here in Sackville today and night was perfect…in  the mid seventies. After supper in the camper, we took the watershed walking tour from the visitor center. We didn’t expect too much of this walk, but it turned out to be very pleasant. The trail started out like most trails do with gravel. After a few hundred feet, we came across a little wooden bridge. Still nothing to write home about or for that matter write into the blog. Next at a fork in the trail, to our left, was a boardwalk that went over the reeds in the marsh. From then on, it was peaceful and wildlife started to show itself. Birds of several species were bobbing around feeding, taking care of their young chicks and so one. 

All the boardwalk in Sackville

The board walk started to get more populated with people. Joggers, walkers, dog walkers, bikers were all present at one time or another. The white birches were now towering above on each side of the boardwalk. I had brought my pocket Nikon and took several interesting shots of the wildlife, the flowers and us walking along this little gem of a trail.
Tomorrow we tackle the Bay of Fundy Trail
That is what we did and saw!