St. John, NB to Annapolis Royal, NS

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I could have missed the ferry to Nova Scotia this morning, but I didn't. Last night, while watching TV, I noticed the time on clock in my room had a different time from my watch. I glanced at it from time to time, but finally the geek in me took over and I decided to set it to the proper time. For some reason, rather than just set it to my watch, I checked the time on the weather channel. Surprise - I was in a new time zone and didn't realize it. My watch was wrong. Thank goodness I discover that oversight. The undesired consequence for me would have been another day in St. John.

While waiting for the ferry, I met a couple of other motorcyclists, Sylvain and Manon, from the Eastern Townships of Quebec. Those were names I had never heard before and I'm not sure if I could have figured out which was the man's and which the woman's without them telling me. If I lived in Quebec I probably would have known better. We talked more during the crossing. I asked for their ideas about roads along the south shore of the St. Lawrence that would be fun on a motorcycle and they gave me some suggestions, although, they said, the best rides are on the north side.

Sylvain and Manon were on their honeymoon. They have been together for 17 years, but decided it was time to be married. Sylvain is a contractor in a construction related business and Manon is a photographer. I jumped at the chance to talk photography with her. She specializes in portraiture of individuals and groups. Her uniqueness is that she does everything with natural light and doesn't like using a studio. She showed me some examples of her work done up in mniature folder. I liked what I saw.

They invited me to drop in and see them on my way through their hometown. Likewise, I asked them to come and see me if they come to Calgary so I could take them on some nice rides out west. I certainly plan to go and see them when I get to the Eastern Townships.

After the three hour trip across the calm Bay of Fundy we arrived in Digby and I went off to explore.

Back in the late 40s, my Dad, who was the president of the Saskatchewan Chapter of the Canadian Dental Association, came to Digby for a dental conference. Mom also came with him on this trip. They travelled by train and stayed at the Pines Resort, an old chalet type hotel on the outskirts of Digby. The train and station have disappeared, but the Pines Resort still operates in all its glory. It was and is an expensive place to stay. According to one of the porters and a couple of older guests I talked with, the main building hasn't changed since it was built in the 1920s. All the infrastructure has been modernized, but the furniture and decorations have been kept true to earlier years in the hotel. I found it very pleasant. It gave me a sense of security as I sat in the lounge soaking up the ambiance. I guess that security comes from being somewhere in Canada that still looks the same as when my parents were alive. Maybe that feeling of security seems a bit silly, but it happens when I get exposed to this sort of situation.

After lunch in Digby, I rode on to Annapolis Royal. It looked like a nice village and has some important Nova Scotia history in its past. I decided to stay the rest of the day and overnight in a local campground.

I found the history interesting and enjoyed exploring the nearby tidal power station. I am not going to write about any of that here as it is all available in the internet or at your local library if, by chance, you really are driven for knowledge. I need to take my history lessons in short spurts.

I visited the 74th Crusaders Motorcycle Club in their clubhouse near Annapolis Royal and met a nice group of people having a BBQ. It was an incredible set up for a motorcycle club. It use to be a boat club, but about 5 years ago they realized that hardly any of the members had boats anymore, but most had motorcycles. They had a Board meeting and changed the club. Those inherited boat club facilities make for quite the place. By the way, for you motorcyclists, they have great camping facilities on their grounds complete with showers and toilets. I wish I had found their place before I checked into my campground.

I had not paid attention to the calendar and, too late, I realized I was camping in Nova Scotia, on a weekend, during a special event in the Annapoic Valley called Valley Days. The consequence was that I hardly got any sleep because of the parties going on around me. Lots of yelling and shouting, lots of music, and lots of booze flowing. It reminded me of a time when Les and I had the boys at a campground on a weekend near Drumheller. That time and this were moments from hell.

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