Cape Breton

We drove from PEI to Cape Breton and aside from the main TransCanada Hwy the roads are horrible. They have nasty potholes, cracks and heaves, poor Cougar, our trailer. One cabinet door came unhinged and most of Anne's undies were on the bedroom floor. Spent a few hours tightening and checking screws and bolts after our scenic side road adventure.

Cape Breton is beautiful of course, but not as impressive as I thought it would be. I guess because it is a lot like the west coast, a little different, like the stones on the beaches are a pretty pinkish color, but not much. The drive along the ocean on the bluffs is cool but after doing the Oregon, North California drive it was kinda underwhelming. Guess it would be better in the fall when all the leaves change. There are many little harbors, shops and restaurants to explore, we spent a nice day in a little town called Baddeck located on the large inland sea called Bras D'or Lake. I had more mussels, yum, can't get enough and Anne had a lobster sandwich.

We also stopped at the oddest display some guy named Joe made a scarecrow village perched right near the coastline. Check out the video, weird, hehe.

Currently as I write this post the wind is howling as the remnants of hurricane Irene blow through. Luckily the main part hit well west of us and it's only windy, no torrential rain. Very muggy out though, a very warm wind, you can tell it came from the tropics.

Next we are headed over to the Sidney, Nova Scotia area because that's where the ferry to Newfoundland leaves from. We will spend a week or so there till the Labor Day long weekend is over, before heading across. yyyayyyyyyyhhhhh!,,,,!!!! kids go back to school, peace in the campgrounds again. You would not believe the noise last weekend, whoa. more photos here

PEI here we are

Drove the Confederation bridge across the Northumberland Strait into PEI. Wow what a engineering accomplishment. It's a 8 mile link between New Brunswick and PEI. The longest bridge across ice covered waters in the world. PEI is beauiful!

Most of the Island is rural farm land filled with quaint little villages and marinas. The beaches are terrific. Most are red sand with some white sand and the water is warm for being so far north. Some of the beaches boasts the warmest waters north of South Carolina. The people are as warm and friendly as the beaches. Our favourite campsite was at RED Point near the eastern tip of the island. It offered a spectacular view of the ocean and it's own red sandy beach area. We did many day trips around the Island to take in the sites. The tourist area is called Cavendish where the Anne of Green Gables books were based and has many shops, restaurants and museums to explore. We dined at a local eatery and had our fill of lobster, mussels, oysters and clams, yumm!

THe beagles had a blast as dogs are allowed on most beaches here. Oscar got off leash on a beach for the first time in a while and ran as fast as he could which is quite slow as he is very old now. Angie ran and fetched her jolly ball and even went for a dip in the water. Anne also loved it, she adores the beach and sat out reading her books and soaking up the sun. So basically PEI was heaven for us BUT FOR ONE THING< GRRRRRRRRRRR>>>!!!!! MOSQUITOS, oh my god, the little bastards. There were very few ate REd point but when we moved west across to a campground called John Cabot on the MApleque Bay they were swarming. We all lost a gallon of blood and had to stay in the trailer most of the time. All in all though though it was a great time and would like to come back one day, now off to Nova Scotia. looking forward to spending a week or so in Cape Breton . Rest of the photos here

Borked Tranny

We stayed in New Brunswick a little longer than planned due to a transmission failure on the big blue truck. :( The torque converter started to slip causing the brain to put the tranny into limp mode. Was able to clear the codes by unhooking the batteries but on the next tough pull up a steep grade into wind it would do it again. So rather than have it melt down completely at an inopportune time we decided to get a full rebuild in Fredericton. Found a great shop Jensen transmissions and they put in some upgraded components and a heavy duty towing converter. Now she tows like a dream! Love the truck, everywhere we go people comment on it. They don't see many 1994 trucks in such good shape out east here, where they tend to rust out. On to PEI!