Daily Journal - May 2006

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Nancy, Doug & Copper

2006 NORTH AMERICAN TOUR

Monday, May 15/06 - Sunny 20C
Spent our first night in the motor home, fell asleep after and exhausting four days of information, party with Nick & Mona, John & Cheryl visited Saturday afternoon, more drinking, Kristy and David had everyone over for supper on Sunday night, it feels like a normal 1 week holiday, where you have to do everything in a rush, but we don’t, cause we are “RETIRED”

Tuesday, May 16/06 - Cloudy with Sunny Periods 16C
Up at a reasonable hour, about 8 AM, packed all the motor home by myself, for the first time. Nick & Mona dropped by to say goodbye and make sure I had done everything in battening down the motor home correctly. We set off about 11:30 am and are traveling down highway 101, when before you know it, there is a “Vehicle Inspection” on the 101. So we slow down and say Hi to the nice officer who has us stopped on the highway, the guy says ‘ hello and away you go, have a nice day’, when suddenly from the rear of the motor home and attached jeep, someone yells “there are no brakes on the Jeep” so the nice officer says, “Hold It, would you mind pulling over on the left hand lane” So over we go and get out of the motor home, where the officer asks me for my license, registration and insurance. I give him all my papers and he comments to his buddy” This Class G on the Ontario license must be for Air Brakes. We fix the lights, just a loose connection and are on our way, What a relief!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then we get to Grand Pre Campgrounds, at about 1:30 pm, we check in and later decide to release the Jeep from the back of the motor home. I look in the mirror of motor home and notice that the wheels are slightly turned towards the passenger side. I’ve been dragging the jeep with wheels turned ever since Halifax, I get into the Jeep and can’t move the steering wheel, or start the jeep, it ceased up tighter than a drum. A crowd gathers at the front gate of the campgrounds. Then finally after 15 or 20 minutes of trying everything, and thinking that I’ve screwed up the transmission on the jeep, shouldn’t cost any more than $5,000.00 or $6,000.00 to fix. A guy from Texas, who was the first guy on the scene, gets in the jeep and gives the wheel a reef, and suddenly, the wheels are straight, the ignition works, the jeep starts and we unhook the jeep from the motor home.
What a relief!!!!!!!!!!!!

I finish setting up the motor home and we decide we are going to go in to Wolfville, N.S. to do a bit of shopping and some touristy things, we get in the jeep and the engine light on the dash board is lit up, again my heart sinks!!!!!!!!!! Shut the engine down, out of the Jeep, lift the hood, and peer into the engine compartment, looking for I don’t know what ! I finally notice that the transmission oil dip stick is loose, I pull it out, check it and return it to it’s rightful position, then restart the car, now no engine light. What a relief!!!!!!!!!

The rest of the day was uneventful. Thank God!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, May 17/06 - Sunny 18C
We stayed at Grand Pre for one more day, traveled around in the Jeep. We went out through Canning to the “Look Off” where you could view the Midas Basin from about 1,000 feet up on an escarpment.

Thursday, May 18/06 - Sunny 18C
We left Grand Pre AT 11:00 AM and headed for Digby, N.S. We had the same problem as yesterday, with the Jeep not tracking properly for the first mile, but eventually we got it right. Then onto the 101 west, well we missed the entrance and eventually got on at the next entrance, some 5 km down the road. We ran into our first rain storm and weathered it without incident. Everything went well until we stopped at Greenwood, where we had difficulty getting back on the 101 West again, this time it took 2 tries, but eventually we made it. Then we noticed a place called Bear River, a place where Nancy’s dad had spent some time as a young lad, before he was married. Well, we had to go and see Bear River, so off the 101 we go. Now, this time I’m sure we will have a place to turn around, in Bear River at the fire station, should be lots of room there. No such luck, we get three quarters of the way around and then I realize that we aren’t going to make it. So we unhook the Jeep, move the Jeep out of the road, back up the motor home, get it turned and headed in the right direction, hook up the Jeep and get the hell out of Bear River, sorry Norm. Back on the 101 west and onto Digby, arriving at 4:00OPM. Stayed at Digby Campgrounds, a rather open small campgrounds. Enough for one day!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nancy and Copper are off for their second walk, now that the tide is out, and you can walk along the beach. Copper is now sleeping, Nancy reading and I’m writing this diary.

Friday, May 19/06 - Overcast, rainy in Afternoon 15C
Split my head open this morning, about a 2” gash on the top, according to Nurse Nancy, probably should have gone for a couple of stitches. Instead we went to the Digby Neck, traveling as far as Freeport on Long Island. The force of the tides are phenomenal, we saw them between Long Island and The Digby Neck. We had fish and chips at a little restaurant in Centre Grove on Long Island. It rained most of the afternoon.

Saturday, May 20/06 - Sunny 17C
Well we finally had a day with no problems!!!!!!!!!!!!! We left Digby and went down the coast to Yarmouth. It was a beautiful day for a drive. We stopped at a Port Maitland for lunch along the road. Then on to Yarmouth, where we arrived at about 1:30 pm.We stayed at Camper’s Haven, a nice campsite. Spent some more time cleaning and took Copper for a walk in the woods. Cory called about 3:00 pm, we returned the call about 4:00pm without success. We tried again at 7:00pm still no luck.







Sunday, May 21/06 - Sunny 12C
We went to Church in Yarmouth at Holy Trinity Anglican Church. It was a great service. We then had lunch at a road house, a buffet, great food. We toured around the City of Yarmouth and district. Went out to the light house at Cape Forchu, which is the largest lighthouse in Nova Scotia. The CAT, which is a high speed car ferry, running between Yarmouth, N.S. and Bar Harbor, Maine, carries 900 passengers, up to 250 cars and 14 Motor Homes or tour buses. It wasn’t running today.

Monday, May 22, 2006 - Cloudy 10C
Toured around Yarmouth today, bought 2 - 1 ½ # lobsters for $22.50, or $7.50 per pound and had them for supper. Delicious. We watched TV in the evening. Had a problem with the power in the motor home, I think what happened was the following. We lost 15amps of our 30 amps. The carbon monoxide and the 12 volt indicators, both were beeping. They started to beep when we turned on the stove and then again when we turned on the furnace. Nancy didn’t sleep all night.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006. Sunny 19C
We left Yarmouth this morning, about 10:00 am. We filled up the propane tanks in the motor home at Home Hardware. Hooked up the car and headed for Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, arriving about 2:30 pm. We stayed at Rayport Campgrounds, a beautiful campgrounds, with a trout stream running directly behind the motor home. Extremely peaceful. We stopped along the roadside at Shelburne for lunch.
Drive.churches. Stopped at the beer and wine store and a small bakery. We had supper and then watched American Idol and then Edmonton beat Anahiem in hockey semi finals.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006. Cloudy 12C
Went to Lunenburg today and toured Blue Rock, a small fishing village south of Lunenburg. Nancy went to Frenchy’s again. Had a relaxing day.

Thursday, May 25, 2006. Sunny 17C
Left the Campgrounds around 10:30 am and headed for Halifax, via the Lighthouse Route, though Chester and Hubbard’s. What a beautiful drive. We stopped at the side of the road around Hubbard’s and had lunch. We arrived at Wood Haven Campgrounds at about 3:00 pm. We had a super supper of haddock and potatoes. We called everyone after we had supper.

Friday, May 26, 2006. Cloudy 14C
We spent most of the day cleaning around the motor home. John & Cheryl dropped in after work.






Saturday, May 27, 2006. Cloudy 21C
Nick arrived around 10:00am, we solved a number of problems around the motor home and we were finished about 1:30 pm. Nancy was picked up by Kristy at about 11;00 am, they went shopping for the day. I picked her up at Halifax Shopping Plaza about 4:00pm. John & Cheryl arrived around 5:00 pm, we had a few drinks and then headed to Nick & Mona’s for supper along with Kristy and David.

Sunday, May 28, 2006, Sunny 22C
Beautiful day, sunny and warm. Went over to John & Cheryl’s around 3:00 pm. Visited through the afternoon and then stayed for supper. We were home around 11:00 pm.

Monday, May 29,2006. Sunny 22C
Another, beautiful, Nova Scotia day, sunny & warm. We went down to the Halifax waterfront. We visited John McBain in his new offices, on the eighth floor,
of the Dominion Building, with an awesome view of the Halifax harbour, looking north towards the McKay Bridge. We meet Cheryl for lunch at the Old Triangle Pub, across from John’s office. Then we spent some time at the Halifax Crystal Factory and the toured the waterfront.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006. Sunny 22C
A third beautiful day. Spent some time cleaning the car and motor home this morning. Nick, Mona, Nancy & I went to Bedford RV Center in the afternoon.

Wednesday, May 31/06. Sunny 20C
We spent the morning washing half the motor home, will finish the rest tomorrow. Nick & Mona came out for a boiled dinner, some drinks, some wine and lots of fun. Supper was a great success.

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