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...........