Campgrounds and CAMPGROUNDS!

Having travelled across Canada twice now, I'm beginning to be a bit of an expert on Campgrounds in this fair land.  They fall into three main categories:

Parking Lot
Cute and Quaint
I Could Live Here

Parking Lot

The Parking Lot campground, you would think would be least expensive but you'd be wrong!  They tend to be set out on acres of land with little gravel pads and your basic services (water, sewer, power, a picnic table and a fire pit).  Your next door neighbour is an arm's length away and the nearest thing to a tree is the little plastic flower hanging in the washroom.  If they are planned well, your front door does not exit out into their sewer line - but that's just a faint wish.  However, better the sewer line than a thousand little plastic bikes and old picnic gear.  The Parking Lot Campground is fine for a short - one night layover where you plan to sleep and then be up and away in the morning but definitely not aesthetically pleasing.

Cute and Quaint

The Cute and Quaint campground is how I would classify our Home away from Home at Hilden.  Scotia Pine Campground is beautifully designed with large trees between each site, a pool, a gift shop and a laundry.  There tend to be more older travellers here than little children and definitely more pets.  These places are quiet, pretty and friendly and ofter very reasonable.

Parks and Beaches

I Could Live Here - is a place I discovered today.  The place is called Chrystal Lake Campground somewhere between Vermilion Bay and Winnipeg.  After driving up the lovely manicured driveway I was greeted by a virtual park (like golf course green).  All I could think of is, "Clark would be SO at home here!"  Ann's other half gets great joy from caring for his lawn and for putting his little John Deere to the test.  This place looks like he been here, too.  The sign on the door says, "Find a spot - we'll see you later!"  So I pulled into this pristine, super level, blacktop pull through site with all the business parts near at hand.  Hooked up and am now off to enjoy the big sandy beach  and wiggle my toes in the lake.  Oh, and it's just about the lowest cost campground I've come across yet!  You gotta love it!

I've always hoped that some day someone in our family will NOT glaze over when I start talking about family history.  So you can imagine the joy I felt when receiving an email from grandson, Mark about the Grade 12 History summer class he's taking (he's actually just finished Grade 10 and trying to get a jump on the years to come)  His project was to do a family tree!  Yay!  Jim, his grandfather, is also interested in genealogy so he had two pretty good sources to work with.  While I'm not kidding myself that this is the beginning of a grand passion for family history on Mark's part, I'm very proud of the work he produced.

Mark's Family Tree Project

To be continued..............................

Waxing Poetic - or Maybe Just a Little Tipsy

This was yesterday's blog.....

I just finished the most beautiful can of Blue – EVER!  After a long day on the road – really long – the campground I am at tonight is also an LCBO outlet and that big can of Blue was just sitting there promising to slake my deadly thirst!  Went down in about three big gulps – WONDERFUL!

Ney's Campground

I’m back at Ney’s Lunch and Campground where the kindly lady owner gave me some very precious lessons on motorhome operations on my very first trip through this country.  She even showed me how to work the hot water heater and the furnace.  Heck!  I didn’t even know I had a furnace at that point.  Like the star pupil returning to visit an old prof. I was able to assure her that her lessons were taken to heart and after four cross-Canada treks, I am now in a position to give a few lessons of my own.  Thanks Tammy Gillespie for the lessons back then and for your warm welcome today.

Chippewa Falls

Today!  Let’s just say my little mind was spiraling about in poetic muse at the wonder of this part of Canada.  That’s what happens when you travel alone, I guess.  To begin with, the TransCanada crosses over some of the most amazing little falls as it twists up and down through the Shield.  The Chippawa River and Speckled Trout Creek were just two that almost had me careening off the road as I caught a glimpse of them.  Cheeky, splashy falls that sparkled in the morning sun as they rushed down toward Lake Superior.

And Lake Superior!   So enormous that even a hint of the far shore cannot be seen on the horizon.  Marvelous bays, punctuated by evergreen islands and surrounded by soft, sandy beaches made it tempting not to stop more than a couple of times just to enjoy the view.

Wild Chicory

This is definitely lake country and even now, the forests are beginning to take on the patchwork look of fall.  Here and there great clusters of moribund water lilys lie in repose on their rusty-green lily pads and little flocks of geese seem to be feeding up for their upcoming flight south.

There was a little light construction going on today, but only the kind that repairs bridges and has a stoplight at each end.  Gives one time to enjoy the abundance of wildflowers growning along the ditches.  Baby blue chicory and purple loostrife predominate, dotted here and their with field daisies and buttercups and masses of yellow yarrow and white queen ann’s lace.    Ingredients for the best hippy wedding bouquet you can imagine.

On to Manitoba tomorrow where I hear gas is about $1.19.  Can’t wait but will have to do one more expensive fill up before I get there.  Gas in Ontario has been $1.15 all the way to $1.49.  You can imagine where I try to shop.

I only have wifi on my phone tonight so will try and publish this through that.  What are the chances?  After losing the power, I had no electronics last night - hence being sent today.

To be continued…..

Do You Want Onions on That?

Just a Joke - That's not Us!

So the great Rock and Roll Tour of 2013 is slowly coming to a close but will be fodder of many great memories in days to come.  Since leaving Ann on her driveway on Thursday, I have been spending my time learning to travel alone again - well not really - there's always Digit.  We had a great system for getting the motor home ready for the road which had tasks we each performed.  I, for instance, made sure the windows are all closed and the blinds up while Ann handled the sewer hose and put the cat into her bed.  I unplugged the power and we each worked on one end of the water hose.  We had a checklist that we religiously followed before setting off.  Now I have to remember to feed the cat - Ann's job.  I had had to learn to operate our new coffee machine - also Ann's.  Setup on arriving at the new destination went much better today.  I have figured out a new system that requires only one pass down the business side of the vehicle and one pass back.  It took less than 3 minutes - yeah me!

I miss my best friend - but as we often say - How grateful are we to have had 4 of these great trips to Nova Scotia and a few little side trips as well?

Today I am north of the Great Lakes where there is a dearth of Tim Hortons but you can rent a bush plane for next to nothing.  I passed through the powerful, granite valleys around Sudbury and today enjoyed a long lazy drive along the Blind River.  I am seeing trees beginning to take on their fall colour - another sign it's time to be heading home.

In the past few days, I've come to know Dave Dare Bates - a cousin on several levels.  He is from New Jersey and was just in Nova Scotia doing some family research.  He tells me his one family tree has more than 220,000 people in it.  That makes him about 3 times as crazy for family history than I am.  Unfortunately, he had only 3 days there, which makes me so grateful for the 8 weeks we had.

Daniel Lionel Teed

I've also come to know Peter Teed from Saint John New Brunswick, who

Hugh Mariner Teed

responded to my family history blog.  His two great uncles are part of a study I am doing on family members who died in the First World War.  Hugh Mariner Teed died while training a young Private to use a hand grenade.  The Private dropped it and both men were killed instantly.  Daniel Lionel Teed was a Lieutenant who was shot during enemy bombardment and he was awarded the Military Cross for his actions.   Peter has photos of this decoration and also copies of both men's military records - so I'm looking forward to seeing those.

Our Onion Farm

Every day you learn something new.  Here are two pretty neat things I've learned this summer.

1. If you place a bunch of green onions in a glass with some water in the bottom, the onions will continue growing and you can harvest 3 or 4 times the usual amount.  The leaves continue to grow and so you just snip them off with a pair of scissors.  Next thing you know, new, fresh leaves are popping up ready for your next harvest.
2. If you get bad bug bites, the best thing to get rid of the itch is the heat from your hair dryer.  Just point the hot air at the itchy spot and let it heat up the area for about 15 seconds.  Repeat this process 2 or 3 times.  Remarkably, the itch disappears - at least temporarily.  If you do it 2 days in a row, the itch will be totally gone.  This works particularly well on Nova Scotia's notorious deer flies.  They leave a nasty, itchy bump that can stick around for weeks.  A couple of hair dryer treatments - and they are gone.  It's a miracle!

 Today I passed a road sign to "Seldom Seen", Ontario.  Had I not been tooling along at the speed limit, I would have gone to see what it was all about.  The road sign was small - perhaps the reason for the community's name.

To be continued.....

Saints Preserve Us!

Ha Ha!

Still on the topic of Quebec - I'm not saying the Quebecois  make up the names for many of the religious for whom their towns are named but really!

• St. Pamphile
• St. Remi
• St. Ours
• Saint Ludgar de Milot
• Saint Nicefore

Just to name a few.  However I did find myself giggling as we passed Saint Louis du Ha Ha!  and I giggled again as we saw the sign to Saint Eulalie.

Back in Ontario again just to be greeted by the most incredible rainstorm this afternoon.  It was fun trying to keep track of the lines between lanes while being passed by Transport after Transport.  Happy to be snug and warm here in the campground at Marmora which is where we spent our first night on the road - 11 weeks ago.  Where DID the time go?  Tomorrow, we'll complete this journey together as I drop Ann and her gear off at her house.  However, we're already beginning to plan for another adventure next year.  Who know what we might get up to?

Ontario is building the most wonderful rest stops along the highway called ONROUTE.  Each one features tourist information, a food court, a truck rest area and a gas station - AND THE PRICE OF GAS IS $1.17 here as opposed to $1.39 back in Quebec.  Happy, happy, happy!

Got to run now as we are doing a final quick lesson on the Genealogy Software so Ann continue to add to her 800 or so new found relatives.

To be continued.......

I'm Not Say'in'

Quebec Countryside

So here we are - still in Quebec and I am doing my level best to enjoy our travels through La Belle Province. It has been a wonderful trip from Edmundston, New Brunswick to here at the Montreal West KOA Campground.

• I'm not sayin' that the roads in Quebec are bar none the worst in Canada.  
• I'm not sayin' that the word TRAVEAUX means, "We'll line up a bunch of pylons along the road and make you go 70 for kilometres on end until you reach the big orange FIN sign".  
• I'm not sayin' that these TRAVEAUX sections don't occur about every 20 km down the road.  
• I'm not sayin' the bumper to bumper traffic on the Trans Canada Highway isn't just loads of fun.  
• I'm not sayin' that driving and trying to translate all the French-only road signs isn't just a barrel of laughs.  
• I'm not sayin' I understand why every 10th vehicle we encountered on the highway was towing a little home made trailer filled with stuff and covered over with garbage bags and rope.
• I'm not sayin' that driving over the St. Lawrence on a high bridge in a gusty windstorm isn't something I've always dreamed of doing.  And we were lucky enough to get to pay for the privilege.

But:

• I am saying that Quebec is beautiful and scenic.
• I am saying that the people we've met have been friendly and interesting.
• I am saying that the roadside rest stops here are the finest I've seen anywhere - and well used.
• I am saying that Quebec drivers are no worse than those in Saskatchewan.
• I am saying that we're only 17 km from Ontario tonight and ready to head for home.

John Deere Lawn Mower

We've seen some interesting things in our travels.  People decorate their homes with all sorts of odd and unique items that really personalize their property.  We've seen our share of lighthouses, windmills and duck ponds in Nova Scotia.  Plastic deer and little forest creatures in New Brunswick.  Religious shrines here in Quebec.  This, however, was one item we passed each day on our way to the campground in Truro.  It captured Ann's attention, particularly, because Clark is a fan of anything John Deere.  So this photo is for Clark.

Breakfast Poutine

Yesterday, I had the most interesting breakfast - unique to Quebec, I'm sure.  It was called a Breakfast Bowl and consisted of two easy-over eggs on top of a mixture of hash browns, sliced sausage, ham strips, bacon pieces and covered with melting cheese curd.  Kind of a Breakfast Poutine, if you will.  It was pretty good - but way too much, especially with 4 slices of thick, home made toast.  However, I soldiered on and am still full 30 hours later.

To be continued....................

It's Better than Television!

I've often said that camping is an Art for women and a Science for men.  It is also a source of great entertainment as we watch the male of the species arrive at a campground.  Let me say, first, that I have had a lot of practice so I'm probably not your typical woman camper.  Today, we arrived back at our camp spot, neatly backed into the space, opened all the operating doors and between Ann and I, had the plumbing, electrical and water hooked up and the little doors all locked again in under two minutes.  We are level and set to enjoy a lovely evening.

A man, however, arrived just after we did and it gave us such joy to see him go through all the motions "men" seem to feel are required in a perfect parking job.  He stopped on the road and carefully walked the length of his proposed site - obviously looking for a level spot.  Slowly, he backed in, got out and did a walk around and then got back in and moved forward several feet.  Not satisfied, he then moved back a foot and came to rest.  Reaching into a compartment in his back bumper, he extracted a 4' long level and placed it on top of the said bumper.  He then got back in and drove ahead a foot.  Checking the level once more, he seemed satisfied.  Next he pulled several yellow plastic chocks from an underneath storage bin and placed them in front and behind each of his tires - and then soundly kicked them into place.  Now the nearest hill to this campground has to be 2km away, so I can't imagine where he thought he might roll away to - but he's going nowhere.  He carefully uncoiled his water hose and then discovered he was about a foot too short to reach the water tap.  Out came the chocks and back went the motor home.  Once re-chocked and water hooked up, he proceeded to plug in the power - no problem there.  Finally, he fished out a contraption that looks a little like a bridge for a toy train set - only this one gets progressively shorter as it goes away from the motor home.  Carefully, he lays his sewer hose down the length of this trestle and connects the business ends to their appropriate apertures.  All this time, his wife is standing back trying hard to surpress a giggle.  The time to complete his task - 42.5 minutes.  Honestly, it's better than Television!

Beautiful New Brunswick

We're still in beautiful New Brunswick - a place so under rated for its beauty.  Long stretches of brand new highway are flanked by moose fences like in Banff.  We passed through Gagetown yesterday, were everyone in the Tim Horton's drive thru was in uniform and speculated that this probably wouldn't be the best place to be a moose, since you're fenced in and in the middle of one of Canada's largest gunnery ranges.

Mother of Invention

"Necessity is the mother of invention" - it's been said, and when you're camping, you tend to spend a lot of time finding multiple uses for the things you've brought along.  One of Ann's great ideas this year was to use clothes pegs to keep stuff from flying out of the fridge after a long and bumpy ride.  We've also discovered Murphy's Law of Refrigerator Clothes Pegs -  the less food in the fridge, the more clothes pegs you need.  The clothes pegs, she also found were most useful in keeping all the little Tassimo coffee packages in their neat chrome despenser.

My favourite new tool, as you may have already guessed in my iPhone.  It is our accountant, our camera, our scanner, our gps, our entertainment centre, our bank machine, our social media centre, our walkie-talkie, our tool chest (levels, flashlights and such), it is our newspaper and our weather man and our trip planner.  I can't imagine how we did the last three trips without it.

Digit's New Best Friend

Digit, my fickle furry friend, has fallen head over heals for Ann this trip.  She spends most of her waking hours following Ann around and watching her every move.  Mind you, it could be because she plies her with catnip, cat grass, treats, cream from her coffee, "real" cat food and water from the dripping tap in the kitchen.  I'm just sayin'!





Oh, and you know that lobster supper that was our goal one day last week?  Well it turned out to be take out Chinese instead. If you are ever in Truro, try Hou's Takee Outee.  Great food  - hugh amounts - great price!  And all you people in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick - you've just got to open a few lobster restaurants!!!

Tomorrow we head up into Quebec and whole new type of scenery.  I've got to remind myself that Quebec drivers are not the same as they are in Nova Scotia and I'll have to be on my toes.  But for tonight, we're settle here on the banks of the Madawaska River, enjoying a lovely dinner, good company and beautiful surroundings.  How lucky can you get?

To be continuez...........

Homeward Bound!

So Long!

As the "Welcome to Nova Scotia" sign receded in the rear-view mirror this morning, it was a time to think back on an amazing eight weeks.  Our last stop, as always, was at the tiny cemetery at Oxford Junction where our great great grandfather, John Bragg, is buried beside his lifelong companion and wife,  Jane Rogers.  It was an emotional moment as I sat and tried to absorb the scenery and the spirits of those resting there.  This little piece of ground, I feel, is the spiritual centre of the Bragg Family and from its core radiates the 60,000 or so individuals I have come to know as kin.

John and Jane Rogers Bragg

John Bragg was an apprentice boy from Somerset, England who set out to sea in search of adventure.  From the early days when his only possession was his axe, he built a thriving farm, raised a family of seven children, provided an education for his own and his neighbour's children and sat as a Justice of the Peace at the County Seat.  He showed us that anything is possible if you live right, help your fellow man and set a good example for your sons and daughters.  Quite a role model!



So it was time to say good bye:

Good bye to the picturesque Great Village with it's church spires poking up out of the trees.
Good bye to the Bay of Fundy with its rippled red sandy beaches.
Good bye to Fonda, my Gamble cousin who is as crazy about family history as I am. Such a treat to spend time with her.
Good bye to all the men and women out there who take such wonderful care of the cemeteries.  It is a mark of such great respect to honour these ancestors with their hard work.
Good Bye to the great folks we met at the various little museums we visited.  They are such a dedicated bunch and so generous with their help and resources.
Good Bye to Whirly Gig's in Wallace Bay - great place to stop for lunch.
Good Bye to Kevin at Home Hardware who "invented" a new part for the motor home so we could use the awning.
Good Bye to the Stewiacke Valley with it's majestic vistas and to Folly Lake.
Good Bye to the Ice Cream stand at Bass River that serves delightful (and inexpensive) cones of Oxford Blueberries, Sticky Bun and Grizzly Tracks.
Good Bye to the "not for motor homes, please" roads we found ourselves on as we searched for the Isgonish Burying Grounds and Economy Falls.

Shep Scott

Good Bye to John and Judy Bragg and thanks for a lovely evening at Fox Harb'r.
Good Bye to all the wonderfully polite Nova Scotia drivers - Saskatchewan will be a rude awakening for me.
Good Bye to Charlotte.  We really must get together out west sometime.
Good Bye to Shep Scott who taught us that, at 99 there's still a lot of life to be savoured out there.

Of course the trip would not have been nearly as fun or exciting without my directionally-challenged but very very best friend in the world.  With way more perseverance and dedication that I would have, she trod through one cemetery after another, carefully cleaning and photographing the tombstones.  I think we have about 2,000 photos and most of them were hers.  She was my daily source of giggles and my inspiration to keep on with my project and my encouragement to get into mischief at every possible opportunity.  Ann - one in a million!

So our Nova Scotia journey has ended for this time.  We're in a lovely campground at Grand Lake, New Brunswick; the weather is perfect and it promises of be a gorgeous sunset.  While our time together is coming closer to ending, Ann and I intend to make the most of the next few days - see what adventures we can still pack in before arriving at her front door sometime next week.

To be continued.................

Picture That!

Goal for the Day

As our days here in Nova Scotia slowly wind to an end, we're trying to finish up the items on our "Wish List".  Today's goal is to find a lobster dinner.  I can't believe that right here on the Bay of Fundy, we couldn't find a single restaurant that serves it.  It may mean going to the market and buying the fixings and cooking it ourselves.  Whatever - it's lobster day for us.

Yesterday, as we were just finishing up photographing the final cemetery on our list we were engulfed in a loud and very active thunder storm.  That was a first for this trip and by the time we got back to the campground, the skies had pretty much cleared and we had a lovely evening.

Ann at the Clifton Cemetery

Great Great Grandfather
William Moore

Our photography project was a great success with almost 2500 shots to be sorted out and added to the family history.  Ann is responsible for the vast majority of the images with her great little camera.  She has attacked this work with great gusto - taking along her barbeque brush, grass clippers as her main tools.  My iPhone takes pretty good pictures, but certainly not of the same quality.  We've learned a lot - for instance - cloudy days make for clearer pictures and that if you get close enough there is less cropping and enhancing required on the computer end of things.  The trick we've found is to ply Ann with Espresso before leaving for the day.  She can sure move fast "under the influence"!  How lucky am I to have a friend like that!

Bay of Funday

As we're passing through these familiar roads for the last time this trip, we've been simply blown away by the magnificent scenery at every turn.  We've seen the tides at every point in their rush to the rippled red beaches and back,the glorious Cobequid Mountains, lush forests bedded down in nests of ferns and wild flowers.  It has been truly a feast for the senses.  Outstanding were the lovely and majestic Stewiacke Valley and the Fundy Shore from Economy to
Five Islands.  We've experienced some amazing orange sunsets that cast long shadows over the campground and ever the odd sunrise (a bit early for us most days).

We feel so at home here and here are a few ways we know we've been here a while:

1. When you can travel almost anywhere in central Nova Scotia without the use of the GPS.
2. When the lady at Smitty's refers to us as "regulars".
3. When you can pass a cemetery and say "Been there; done that".
4. When the summer student at the Bass River Museum calls you by name.
5. When you know the names of all the streets in the tiny villages along the Fundy Shore.
6. When you can hook up the RV in under two minutes (including water, sewer and power)
7. When everything you travel with is neatly stowed away for the road. (No rattles)
8. When you've had 20 different "next door neighbours".
9. When you have a favourite restaurant, favourite ice cream stand, favourite grocery store and favourite bakery.
10. When you know where to find the "best" pizza - fresh, hot and delicious.
11. When you know where the "bad" bumps on the highway are, and how to avoid them.
12. When you've seen several road construction projects begin and end.
13. When you can spend an afternoon with "family" at the beach.

So - to be continued for a little longer.....................