After taking it easy in the morning, we packed up the truck with hiking gear and drove about 20 miles to a hike Laura found near Moncton, NB. It’s called Dragonfly and John Howard Loop Trail and was very nicely maintained. Here’s a picture of Laura on part of the trail.
After a mile or so, the trail led us along a beautiful lake. We kept on the lookout for moose which Laura has been dying to see. No joy with the moose sightings. I love hiking around areas where we travel to see the different foliage and wildlife. There were many more pines around
About 30 minutes into the hike, my right knee started to ache a little. It slowed me down a little and didn't seem too bad but kept getting slightly worse as we hiked. I don’t think I twisted it or stumbled but by time we got back to the car, I was limping.
Most of our hikes in Canada have been on very well maintained trails. Not just the trails themselves but people spent 1,000s of hours on the walking bridges. Check out this one in the middle of nowhere.
After our hike, we headed to Shediac for some lunch and sightseeing. Shediac is on a very protect bay and would be a great place to visit with our sailboat. Maybe next year....
While driving around, we found a warf with a public pier and several restaurants / shops. We had lunch at Captain Dan's and the food was a little expensive but good. I finally had what I'd been looking for - fresh fried clams. When they arrived, I tried a few and they were cooked just right but... cold. The waitress took them back and brought me another order that was slightly over-done. Bummer. The warf was behind a breakwater with a large marina behind. For boaters like us, it was very interesting that there were no larger sail or power boats - over about 40 feet. Our 43 foot ketch would have seemed huge in here. Laura took this picture of the marina from our lunch table.
After driving back to our campground, I took a couple Ibuprofen and laid down for the rest of the day to keep weight off my knee. Laura joined me and we watched the last 1/2 of "Step Dave" season 2. I guess I had downloaded that a few weeks (months?) ago on the iPad and had forgotten about it. We like Step Dave because it shows people working their way out of problems without violence. Quite different from many shows today.
I iced my knee through the evening and it eventually felt better. I slept great - probably because of all the Ibuprofen ....
Day 22 (start of week 4)
Today we were up around 8am and I was bugging Laura to get going. The transient part of this campground was not very nice and I wanted to get somewhere better. Over the past few days we have talked about where to go next. Even as late as last night we didn't know. Our current options (top of the list). Each would take 4-8 days depending on how long we stayed at different places -
1. Head north up through New Brunswick and into Quebec. We could go up to the St. Laurence River and work our way down the south shore. This would let us visit my cousin Sylvain and Guy near Montreal.
2. Drive to Houlton, Maine then down I-95 to Bangor. Then take the back roads through New Hampshire and Vermont. We could visit one of our favorite places - Jackson, New Hampshire - near Mt. Washington and maybe see our favorite Irish Band "Four Feet - Two Shoes" who play in that area. About 15 years ago Laura and I hiked Mt. Washington and several of the surrounding peaks during a week long vacation. We heard music as we were walking down the street in Jackson one night and eventually found this band playing on the second floor of a small bar. They were awesome. We have "both" of their CDs. They'd rather play than record.
3. Go back along the south coast of New Brunswick and Maine - along the ocean - visiting some of the places we missed on our trip out.
This morning I said, "Let's head back to to Maine and go to Houlton". Laura agreed and we set course for My Brothers Place campground in Houlton - about 208 miles.
Ok. I've got to let you know that I've been writing this blog at My Brothers Place campground, sitting outside on a beautiful day. We are almost through (our first bottle) of wine so I am hoping this all makes sense in the morning. If not, I'll blame it on the 19 Crimes The Banished (our favorite red).
We had about 4 hours in the car today and I started a conversation on how we were liking RVing. We've talked about this on-and-off for the past couple weeks but now we have more data. We both agreed we were having a good time but weren't sure if it was a life we wanted to continue. Then we talked about the good and bad differences between cruising on a sailboat and RVing. Laura took many notes which we will update and publish in the final blog for the trip (ya didn't think I was going to let you know now, did you?)
I'll give you a taste - we both agreed that the way we've been RVing is difficult because we don't have set destinations or goals. It's a little like trying to live when you don't have something to strive for. How do you know which path to take when you get to a branch in the trail? If you have a goal, one branch will get you closer.
As we were driving, Laura took a couple pictures that really highlight the differences between US highways and highways in Canada. Besides the beautiful scenery, there are many road signs. I especially like this one - speed limit 110. Haven't seen to many of those in the U.S..This second one might be common in Maine but not too many other states.
We stopped for gar at an Irving around 12:30pm. Neither of us were hungry for lunch so we kept driving. After another hour or so, I took an exit hoping to find a quiet place to pull the rig over. About 5 minutes later we came to a beautiful lake and Laura spotted a park / boat launch. We turned around and parked near the boat launch. One of our most beautiful lunch stops. We were thinking about staying the night...We were back on the highway toward Houlton a short while later (way too short). As we approached the boarder, I saw that only one lane was open but there was only one car waiting. Cool. This will be quick.
Of course, it wasn't quick. Answering questions from the customs officer, we had two problems. First, we were carrying firewood (that we actually picked up in Maine before crossing to Canada). Second, we had some fresh fruits and veggies. We were asked to pull over for an agricultural inspection. The officers were very nice and the form was fairly short. But, we had to hand over the keys to the trailer and truck (they were holding our passports) and wait in the "customer" area where they also took our cell phones. About 1/2 hour later the officer came back with 2 limes, a potato and an orange. He showed us that they had bugs on them so were not allowed. I wondered if the bugs on the Canada side of the boarder knew not to fly to the U.S. but I didn't ask him.
Also, the firewood we were carrying was actually parts of a cut up packing crate and therefore "processed lumber" and not firewood. Firewood is cut-up trees that still contain the bark and haven't been processed. So, that was all good and we were on our way a little while later.
After a stop at Walmart (to work on my list) and Hannaford (to replenish our veggies), we pulled into My Brothers Place. The office manager was very serious and, even when I threw him a few Bill-jokes I barely got a smile. For example, Laura ask if they might have a site with some solitude. I chimed in with, "Maybe away from the loud kids and barking dogs..". He said they didn't have either of those and I asked how they did it (with a laugh). He said, "We have very strict rules." Yikes. Don't cross this guy!
Just a few minutes later we backed into this pretty campsite. Laura sprayed for bugs and I finished setting up camp. Here I am working on the blog.We're thinking about staying another night and maybe driving up to Caribou. I lived there for 3 years while in the Air Force back in the early 70s so it would be interesting to visit. I'll let you know in the next blog.
280 miles in the past two days (about 1/2 towing) = 2,727 total trip miles.
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