Day 51- A dismal day---brightened

Day 51 Monday June, 28, 2010 Distance 61.47 km. Time 4 hr. 10 min. Total so far 3642.49 km. The pitter patter of rain started at about 5 o'clock. When the weather reaches the east coast, the lightning and thunder are all worn out and it is just constant rain!!! We have a leak near one of our tent tabs and also drips of water run down our poles as condensation happens. I had to use my little pee pot ( a peanut butter jar) to catch it all so we really didn't want to stay in the tent all day. We need to repair it and spray it again. During a short slow down, we passed all our belongings to the picnic table under the canopy and then loaded from there. Thank goodness that I discovered the flat tire last night! In the rain, we passed Port Joli, Port Mouton and had very short stops so that we didn't get cold. During one downpour, we went off the highway to a craft store and hostel. The hostel was closed and cost $30 each so we dripped and talked to the craft store ladies. Just before Liverpool, I ran out of steam and had to down a whole power bar to keep moving. The rain let up as we entered the town looking for a motel. When I saw a fisherman decoration, I had Dave come back to take my picture and out of the house came sunshine herself in the form of Deborah, the artist and also her husband, Chuck. What a bubbly person she is. She was so excited to see us and couldn't believe we had come so far. She and Chuck got bicycles recently and ride several times a day. After some photos, she insisted on showing us the bunkhouse and said we could stay there if we wished (We would have loved that but had way too many things to dry out and needed more room). Then she brought us to her gallery in the front of her home. Deborah paints, mostly with acrylics, on old boat parts and buoys. She paints popular Maritime scenes, boats and wharfs. She also makes little characters doing needle felting with wool. They are all very beautiful. She and Chuck are looking forward to this weekend's privateer days when they dress up in costumes and do reenactments of the old privateer days and they will also have a display of her art work. Anyone that would like to contact her can email debchuck@eastlink.ca We hated to say goodbye but on we went over the bridge, past two more expensive motels and on into Brooklyn to the Trans Scotia Motel. Our room is very big and we are spread out over every inch of it. Weather forecast for tomorrow---rain.

Day 50-A Beautiful day-------until------

Day 50 Distance 76.70 km. Time 4 hr. 6 min. Total so far 3581. 02 km. The fog lifted early from the finger of land where we had camped at the Red Cap motel behind one of the units. We stopped at the Acadian Village Museum down the road and met Shannon and her husband and two dogs who are here for the Tern Festival. They got to sleep in the Indian teepee because everything was full. Shannon is originally from Barrie, Ontario. I took photos down the road of the water, a lighthouse, and lobster cages that I missed yesterday. Back at the Irving gas station at Hwy 103, Dave talked to Brian, daughter Ashley and another guy. Brian was going across the country once and thought he could go from Sault Ste. Marie to Kenora on a tank of gas and of course ran dry but remembers he was lucky to find a gas station that was closed but accommodated him with some gas. Near the Barrington sign, 5 cyclists from the Yarmouth Bicycle club stopped and talked to us for a while. To continue our twin adventures, one of them has 13 year old twins. At Clyde River, we talked to a couple of the local men who were very friendly. The land along the highway looks like tundra in spots, and the rest is all cedar bush and swamp. We have not seen any animals. I listened to my music for a couple of hours as the road was not busy and the edge is quite big. We went into Shelburne to the grocery store and fueled up. I was disappointed because after the nice town signs with boats, I would have liked to see the waterfront but the main street was all ripped up and Dave didn't want to go farther on it. When we passed a nice little Youth Park at Jordan River and we knew there was nothing much ahead, we decided to stop for the day. We set up behind the canopy. Shortly after, we saw Rick and Carmen on the road and called them over. They had flown from Whitehorse to Halifax and are going around this side of Nova Scotia. In the past, Carmen has gone from Washington down to Mexico. After they left, as I was about to cover Silver for the night---Guess what---a flat on the back tire. We decided there is something in that tire that we just can't find so we decided to put on a brand new tire. That is 9 flats and because we are both busy doing the repair, we don't have a photo of any of them!

Day 49-Friendly Nova Scotians and more RAIN!

Day 49 Saturday, June 26, 2010 Distance 69.31 km. Time 4 hr. 19 min. Total so far 3504. 32 km. The night was mixed with the barking of a dog mixed with the call of a loon. Denise and Wilfrid came over to say goodbye and wish us well. We cycled to Hebron and had to rush under a tree to put on rainwear. The people there were having a garage sale to raise money for 4 H. In town, at the fruit market, Blaine, who shares the same last name as our daughter Melissa, gave us a free orange and told us a story about his grandfather who went west for the gold rush and never returned. His own father later went there and met some elderly ladies who remembered his dad and said he hadn't made it rich and didn't have the money to leave so he settled down there. Yarmouth was the first city without a welcome sign. Dave came out of the grocery store and said he wasn't paying $1.39 for a little container of yogurt. I was waiting outside and met one of the local children. Caleb approached me with a mask on and I said he looked as strange as I did in my rainwear. As we proceeded to the bicycle shop, a car stopped Dave and Bryon, the town councillor, hopped out, welcomed us and gave us a pin of Yarmouth. Everyone we passed on the streets said hello. At Manser's Bike shop, I told Danny about Silver's history and we decided that the problem was not the bottom bracket but my clipless pedal. He put on new Shimano clipless pedals, and I took her for a long test drive and there was no longer a sound. Hooray! We also stocked up on more butt cream (we use a lot of it) and White Lightning lubricant and away we went. The only photo that I got of the word Yarmouth was from the Kia sign. We stopped at the metal bridge over the Tusket River for a snack and rode on to Arglye where we mailed a parcel home. There I photographed the Old Court House. In the marsh area we passed a display of Acadian haystacks and folks. We ducked real fast into an autobody shop and talked to Larry during the next torrential downpour and later under the canopy of a bar. Each time we would leave after it became a drizzle again. At one spot, I took a photo of Old Sainte Anne Church and across the street under a tree we met Michael, a tourer from Quebec doing this part of Nova Scotia in ten days. I'm glad we have good rain covers for our bags because he was putting plastic bags over his. We had lunch off the highway under the front awning of a highschool. We were told by Sandy, who stopped his truck along the road to see if we needed help, that the only motel would be in West Pubnico which was 5 km. off the highway for us. Off we went and guess who passed us on the road and stopped to talk. It was Ken and Lolly from the ferry ride a couple of days ago. We hugged and said hello. Yesterday they went whale watching in a boat and saw about 50 whales close up BUT they didn't take a picture or I would have asked her to forward me one. Finally we came to the Red Cap Restaurant and Motel and Helen, the owner, said they were FULL! The look on my face must have been awful because I really didn't want to retrace 5 km. again. I went to the washroom and during that time Dave told her we would go back and look for something on the side of the highway for our tent and that is when she said we could camp behind one of the units on the grass. Thank you Lord for generous people like Helen. After we set up we went in and had a haddock supper there. What a day!