Day 20 - Jacques Cartier, PEI to Gagnon Beach, New Brunswick

Day 20

I'm back writing the blog on the computer as I've found a way to get my computer to boot in SAFE mode.  So far, I haven't been able to get the login screen in normal mode so SAFE mode will have to do for now.  In a few days, we'll be near a Walmart and I'll pick up a Bluetooth keyboard for my iPad.  That will make life easier if (when?) the computer dies completely.  I found a 128 gig zip drive that I had thrown in the spare-parts bag from the boat and am currently backing up the critical files on the computer while I can still get it to run at all.  How many people bring a spare zip drive on vacation?

Our stay in Jacques Cartier Provincial Park was a little short - less then 24 hours.  The bugs were eating us alive and it was going to rain all day today so we decided to head off the island and see some new spots in New Brunswick.  Living in the trailer without shore power or water was OK.  The battery held up great and we had plenty of water.  The campground showers were nice (much bigger than the last few campgrounds) so we both took showers there instead of the trailer.  I think the mosquitoes there have learned to operate in stealth-mode.  I went out this morning to look at the ocean and, in about 5 minutes, I killed 5 of them on my legs that I saw but didn't even feel.  They sucked enough blood out of me I won't be able to visit the bloodmobile for a month....

Neither of us slept well because it was a little warm in the trailer.  The breeze died and a little drizzle started last evening so we couldn't even open up all the windows.  We haven't needed the air-conditioning for the past couple weeks except for last night but we couldn't use it because no power. I could have pulled out our Honda generator but it has to run almost full power to energize our air-conditioning and we had tent campers all around us.  Even the quiet Honda would have been noisy at that speed.

It almost seemed like we were intruding on the tent campers in the no-hookup part of the campground.  The field we were in had 6 sites and we were the only trailer.  There were 4 tents and a VW camper bus.  We hit the sac around 9pm last night to watch a couple Outlander episodes (only the bedroom TV works with my iPad).  Around 9:30 we could hear another tent being setup right next to our bedroom window.  They were loud and seemed to be having a good time.  "Hey.  We're trying to watch Outlander!", I felt like saying.  Instead, I got up and closed that window too.

This morning several of the tent'ers left early (I assume because the rain was coming) so we were able to hook up the truck and use the field as a pull-through.  But, we were a bit lazy and I had to finish hooking up the trailer in the rain.

We cruised out of the campground around 10am.  The trailer was making a squeaking noise when going around turns that I hadn't heard before.  I stopped a bit down the road and loosened the anti-sway bar.  It seemed better after that and I eventually took off the bar completely a little later.  Maybe it had something to do with being wet.

About an hour later we were bumper-to-bumper waiting to pay the toll on the Borden-Carleton (Confederation) bridge off Prince Edward Island.  Our toll was $47.75 for the truck and another $16.50 for the trailer.  I thought the trailer toll was pretty good considering it was $19 for motorcycles.

The bridge is 12.9 kilometers (8 miles) long and is the world's longest bridge over ice covered waters (thankfully, not this time of year.).  Here's a picture Laura took today as we started over.

We stopped for lunch a bit later at a roadside restaurant.  The clam chowder did not meet my expectations for $10 but the fish and chips were excellent.  Big pieces of Haddock lightly battered.  Yumm.

A short while later we pulled into the Gagnon Beach Campground and unhooked / leveled the trailer on the side of a big field.  This was a 2-way site - power and water hookups.  The sites are pretty close here and I miss the trees and isolation of our first few campgrounds 3 weeks ago.  Shortly after setting up, Laura and I walked to the beach about 1/4 miles away - not as close at the 100 feet to the ocean last night.  The beach was nice but I decided to head back to the trailer for a nap.  Laura browsed the beach and found some sea-glass but it wasn't "cooked" enough yet.

If you click on the picture to expand, you can just see the ocean near the middle right side.

This is the beach near our campground.  Laura is down there a bit so she's small.

Plans are to relax today then do some sightseeing tomorrow.  We will leave here Tuesday or Wednesday - probably heading toward Houlton, Maine and back to The States.  Our 5 days in beautiful Prince Edward Island were fun and very interesting.  I'll miss the islanders who were friendly and helpful every day.

106 miles today (all towing) = 2,447 total trip miles