Day 84- Anne of Green Gables and Goodbye PEI- Hello New Brunswick

Day 84 Saturday, July 31, 2010 Distance 82.09 km. Time 4 hr. 48 min. Total so far 5810.46 km. A few sprinkles at the end of loading our bicycles brought us to the picnic canopy pretty fast this morning. It was a good thing that the tent was dry and packed already. The sprinkles stopped and we headed toward Cavendish. The hilly route took about an hour and a quarter. We stopped at one souvenir store but didn’t find anything. My quest for today was to buy an Anne of Green Gables T-shirt for Tryne. When we stopped at the tourist information center, there was a nice one there and the price was down by 5 dollars so I landed up buying one for each of my young grand daughters. There were none in Amy’s size. We headed right to the Green Gables Post Office to send them away with my usual message of “ Gramma Loves You” on the outside. We tried several times to call Clara because if she was home we would have gone to visit her in Rose Valley but again there was no answer and a message every time that her phone was not initialized. I felt bad about having to miss her and Craig. We then went to the Green Gables House and I did the tour as quickly as I could because I knew Dave was waiting in the parking lot with the bicycles and this isn’t his kind of thing to do. We had received an email saying the neighbour and his daughter who were watching our house weren’t able to do it again, and our neighbour next door had a leak and needed our vehicles moved but neither vehicle will start now. Dave figures it is time to double time it back home although, Matthew, who is now done school for the summer says he will take care of things. It was a good thing that we approached from the north because the whole section of road after we left was full of what Dave calls tourist traps-fun places for children that clean out parents’ pocketbooks fast! Our original plan had been to drive around the Darnley area where my sister’s family had vacationed in July but due to the looming weather we decided to go south. We left by Hwy. 6 which was quite busy here but then we turned to Hwy. 8 to go across the island. What a hilly road but the views of the farmland are very beautiful. The different greens of the crops, the yellows of the ripe oats and the dark puffy clouds of the sky were very appealing to the camera eye. We stopped at a guardrail at the top of a hill for our peanut butter and cheese lunch. Afterwards we took Hwy. 109, then Hwy. 225, then 1A and finally Hwy. 1. About 5 km. before the end of PEI someone threw a glass bottle out of a car window that smashed on the road just in front of Dave. How nice! We came to the Confederation Bridge just as the shuttle bus was loading. One problem though was that she wanted us to take off all the panniers and bags from the bicycles or they would be too heavy for her trailer where she would velcro them in place. It took me quite a while to unload Silver as my cheaper setup is more complicated. The other passengers in the shuttle were shoppers from New Brunswick. (NB) I felt that we had cheated PEI as we were only there for 3 days but it is time to head home. Maybe we'll be back another time. Dave took some photos from his front row seat of the shuttle during the 13 km. ride. When we arrived in NB, it took quite a while again to load the bicycles. We headed down the highway past marshy moose land and turned to Hwy. 955 to Murray’s Corners. We were told there was a campground there but haven't seen it yet. When we reached the little Irving Station at the Little Shemogue sign, we asked the owner if we could camp behind his shed. He said yes. We set up and took a short walk down to the water of the Northumberland Strait. We had a view of the PEI bridge to our right and some cottages to our left. The tide was out, the birds were looking for food and it was a little smelly. At about 8 pm. there was a short but nice fireworks display by the beach that we could see from the tent.

Day 83- Happy Birthday, Dave

Day 83 Friday, July 30, 2010 Distance 72.16 km. Time 3 hr. 57 min. Total so far 5728.37 km. Today is Dave’s 64th birthday. We left a little later than usual. We headed up Hwy 4 and passed a place called Roseneath which is the same name as the place where daughter, Melissa, lives in Ontario. It's amazing in all these provinces how the same names repeat themselves. When we reached Hwy. 5 we turned west and were going great guns past soy bean, oat and potato fields grown in the very red soil until we both heard a loud ping sound. Blackie had broken a spoke on the back wheel. We turned into the entrance of the potato field and turned the bicycle over and Dave did the needed repairs. He is getting pretty good at it and about half an hour later, we were on the way again. The potato fields smell so nice right now because the plants are all in blossom. We turned at Hwy. 22 and bicycled to the visitor center in Mount Stewart. There we met Jack, Jay and Dora who are heading to St. Peter’s today. They are on a supported tour so most of their belongings are carried for them and the lodgings are all arranged as well. We crossed the Hillsborough River and headed south on Hwy. 2 until we reached Hwy. 6 at which point we headed west. We ate lunch at a baseball diamond bench at Grand Tracadie . It was starting to get cooler and more overcast. We continued on winding Hwy. 6 until we came to a corner where a lady was selling Thrum mitts. Dave had looked at a pair of these in Newfoundland but hadn’t purchased them so this time since it was his birthday, I said I would buy them for him. Thrum mitts are knitted but have pieces of wool inside that make them thick and warm. The skein of wool is called a boving and the little pieces of it are called thrums. We came near Oyster Bed Bridge and decided to camp. At first the owner at Bayfield Campground said he was full. I really don’t like that at the end of the day when I see acres of grass in the place and all we want is a littlle patch of it. I decided to leave and find a stealth spot but Dave stayed to get some water and then got called back in. Apparently now the guy had some room. I was across the road on a nice piece of grass with a view of the water. I don’t know who owned it but I would have tried to camp there. Dave called me over to the site we had been given and we set up next to a lady with a couple small children. Later under their picnic canopy building where we could plug in the computer, I did a blog and also talked to Sarah, Chris and Tryne on Skype. They vacationed with Chris’ parents in this part of PEI last year. They told us about a local restaurant with all-you-can-eat seafood. On bicycles though, you stay parked for the night once you camp so we didn’t go there. Even though PEI has no moose, deer or bear, this campground had a pesky chipmunk that could sidle right up the tents so we hung our food by a rope in a nearby tree. I tried to call our friend, Clara, who we met on the NFL ferry three times without any luck. Then we went to bed which we always look forward to because we are always tired. I wonder why?

Day 82- Goodbye Nova Scotia-Hello Prince Edward Island and A Gospel Meeting- A tent in a tent

Day 82 Thursday, July 29,2010 Distance 49.10 km. Time 2 hr. 34 min. Total so far 5656.21 km. We had a nice quiet sleep behind the Abercrombie Community Center. When we got up, it was warm, not raining but very overcast. We hurriedly packed the tent. We were both grumpy as we had no food and it was supposedly my fault. We rode right past Pictou as the stores wouldn’t be open yet this early. We timed it perfect as when we arrived at the ferry to Prince Edward Island (PEI) we were able to get on immediately. We didn’t have to pay because you pay when you leave PEI not when you enter. We tied up the bicycles securely and headed upstairs for the 75 minute ride. I got some information from the tourist bureau on the ferry. As we were crossing it started to rain quite heavily so we went down early to put our rain gear on. Where Silver was the rain was pouring in all over her back bags which I wasn’t too happy about. As we departed from the ferry, the rain stopped and the first thing that I noticed were mosquitoes heading to my hand to bite me. We went to the visitor center as we were very undecided as to where to go. We needed a grocery store and it was windy so we decided to go to the nearest store that had a route with the wind going on our backs. We headed up Hwy. 315 to Montague. Someone had told us that PEI was flat. Well, they were wrong. All we did was hill after hill on that road. Some of it was bush and there were a few oat and bean fields and a few potato fields. We passed Mount Vernon, Caledonia, Brooklyn and Kilmuir. At one house I took a photo of Snow White and the seven dwarfs and the three pigs but the wind knocked down Silver in return. In Montague, we went to the bank and the grocery store. The sky was still overcast but no rain developed. We came to Hwy.4 and as we were going along, I noticed a tent sign and Dave spotted a big white tent. We decided to check it out. It was a tent for Gospel meetings. No one was around so we took a peek inside and I found some cards with a photo of the Confederation Bridge on one side and a little invitation on the other side from David Hierlihy (sounds like Her ly high) and Scott MacLeod. We decided to have our lunch in this sheltered spot and as we were eating, a car drove up and Scott introduced himself and said we were most welcome to stay and could even camp there and go to the meeting at 7 pm. He had to go away for a little while and we said we would think about it as there were still 2 good hours of bicycling if we wanted . We decided that the Lord had led us here today for some reason (probably to tell us to stop bickering and enjoy the company of some Christians). As we finished eating, a different car came and it was David. He also welcomed us and said he was camping in a trailer in Brudenell River Provincial Park and he wasn’t going to be in it this night and we could use it if we wanted. We said we would think about it. He also had to leave for awhile so we just decided to set up the tent behind their little prayer tent. When they both returned, they helped us move the tent right into the prayer tent and David took us to see the trailer to see if we wanted to stay there. While there, we had a shower and enjoyed a nice supper together. David lives in the west of PEI with his wife and 4 children. When it was time for the meeting we returned to the tents and people started to arrive. They have had a very good turnout every night for several weeks and I met Scott’s wife, Wilma, who has parents from Holland and Scott’s father, Douglas. The MacLeod’s have two daughters, Rachel and Kara. To my amazement, the lady sitting right next to me turned out to be Louise, one of the names given to us of two ladies that live in Cornwall. We chatted until the meeting started. Both men had very good messages about trusting in the work of Jesus on the cross for your sins rather than relying on any deeds or works of your own to get to heaven. After the meeting, we took some photos together and everyone left and Dave and I were left alone in our tent in a tent. We felt tremendously refreshed.

Day 81- Blackie needs repair

Day 81 Wednesday, July 28, 2010 Distance 69. 35 km. Time 4 hr. 24 min. Total so far 5612.11 km. I didn’t sleep very well last night. At 3 am. there was a whole lot of yelling and arguing . Some people in the trailers were having a domestic dispute. In the morning, we said goodbye to Wilfrid and Denise and started on the highway toward New Glasgow. The wind was in our face, my legs were tired, the road was busy, the uphills had no edges and I got run off the road again by a truck. We knew we had to do the seven hills that we had done to cross this section before. I was going down one hill at full steam and noticed Dave’s Cape Breton flag on the ground. I had to come to a fast stop to pick it up. Then it was hard to go again as I had lost all my momentum. Now he owes me two favors-one for this and one for finding him a southwester hat. After 3 hours we made it past the noisy hill that has 6 big sections of rumble strips going right across the lane. You should hear the racket from the cars and trucks as they go across them. Thank goodness they didn't extend to our little part of the highway. We finally reached the section where the new road that is not opened yet to traffic is being finished. We rode on it, just the two of us. I really wasn’t feeling well at this point so we stopped and had lunch to see if that would help me. For the last couple of days, Dave has been having trouble with his bike crank and has had to keep tightening it. When we reached New Glasgow, we headed straight to the Pictou Bicycle Shop. They found that the bottom bracket was cracked and that’s why the peddle crank couldn’t be tightened. So poor Blackie needed a new bottom bracket and crank arms and Dave was much poorer after the visit even though he supplied some of the parts. I just had the guy ride Silver in the parking lot and make minor adjustments to the gears. But it seems that what is fixed in one direction (the small chain ring falling off) is affected in another ( now the chain rubs on the derailleur). We passed a grocery store on the way out of town and should have stopped but I thought we were going all the way to Pictou today so I didn’t say anything. Dave was still upset about the bike bill. We stopped before Pictou at the Abercrombie Community Center where we set up behind the building. Later, 2 ladies walked by with their dog and shortly after a man came to check us out. We told him about our trip and he opened up the building for us to use the washroom and get water. The man had worked in Hamilton and Elliot Lake in his younger days. We slept well there.