PEOPLE I MET ALONG THE WAY
Its is all about the people.
Deborah writes the full version of the trip in her main Blog. Check that out. But I share just about the people. I don't want to forget them. Most I'll never see again. All relations are passing, a minute, a day, a lifetime.
I write just about the people I met along the way. But really this is my record, for me about the faces I looked into. I don't want to forget any of them. If you are not one of my family, consider this obviously, a Vanity. Forgive, but indulge me. Like any graffiti, any person can put up a "tag" as a graffiti artist would call it. (See my other web page: KeggerBackpack.com) This is mine, as much for you as for me to keep sight in this brief life I have given.
Briefly we started near San Francisco, drove to a family reunion in Toledo, OH., then through New England and Maine as a warm up. Then the main part of the trip starts when we cross into Quebec Province, Canada. We proceeded to dive into all the "Atlantic Provinces" as they are referred to. We entered New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island to Nova Scotia. Then we took a ferry to Newfoundland's southern tip. We then drove north to another ferry crossing into Labrador on the mainland. From there staying inland and going west back into Quebec Province on the west side of the St. Lawrence, down to Quebec City. We then continued west across southern Canada before crossing back into the U.S. near Thunder Bay into Minnesota. Driving through Minnesota before continuing on to Wyoming. By then we were homeward bound to Walnut Creek, CA
Near the bottom you will find a series of maps that roughly plots our 3-month trip on the road. At the very bottom is our itinerary and where we actually spent the night.
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Departure: July 8th. Estimated Return October 9th.
After
starting from home (we left July 8th, 2025) our first visit was in
Salt Lake City where I met two friends I’d not seen since High School! Martin and John(no picture) with their wives
took us to a wonderful meal up near Park City Utah. We talked of old times and laughed at our
youthful antics. We talked of our adventures since. Families, Children, friends, jobs, careers, the mates we chose,
the places we lived and the causes we took up.
It was great to see how we all ended up.
Saturday, July 12, 2025
Gary was
traveling alone. He traveled at least nine months a year and lived out of the
pop up behind us. He has a Permanent home in Iowa, but has been all over. We’d pulled over in Wyoming east of Laramie
and stayed an extra day in those hills because we were dreading the coming heat as we crossed the
plains before arriving in Perrysburg Ohio. He had many tips on traveling I-80
and how to navigate around Chicago.
Tuesday,
July 15, 2025
Further east we stopped at Cary and Tami’s home in Ankeny NE by Des Moines. We had talked our parents in to letting us
drive up to Sun Valley Idaho to stay with my cousin Tim, and ski all week! The drive took two days up, then we flew
home. It was a life changing trip. It was 1974 and Cary and I were seniors in
high school. Life was amazing,
beautiful, but scary a bit.
Then the reunion.
Friday, July 18,
2025
When we finally got
to Perrysburg, Ohio, for our family reunion Deborah and I were seasoned
travelers. Meeting many of my family, cousins and their children was wonderful.
My parents got married after WW II, and both from the Toledo area. They
promptly moved away to the West coast and as a result growing up we rarely met
any of our cousins. 50 years later we were fixing that. I have 28 cousins and I had met 4 of them
back in the 1960s.
The next day we all
went up to the Toledo Museum. This world
class museum has some of America’s best art pieces.
Outside the museum I saw this strikingly handsome
couple. Their manner, speech and
attitude struck me so much I asked if I
could take their picture. They smiled with self pride and consented. I am not
sure where Cherie and Omar were from but they radiated confidence and class.
Never having been to
Niagara Falls, it was a “must see” stop.
We met Gregory on the boat who was very nice. He’d been a security
officer at the mint in Washington D.C. before retirement. Like us he had never seen the falls. He was
staying across the river in Canada as he was on his way to visit his daughter.
We also
met Mike and Kathy on the observation platform after the boat tour up to the
falls. We talked for at least a half
hour. They reminded me of us.
After
Niagara Falls we stopped and saw an old friend, Lynn in Rochester N.Y. She has a most inspiring story, becoming a
nun near age 40 after raising a family, and serving in a convent. Then latter
becoming a priest.
While camping in the Adirondack Mountains at the Sacandaga Campground, we met Steven Rhodes of North Carolina. His wife stays home with the horses while he travels all around in the summer fishing. Stay at a campground maybe a week before moving onto the next lake and campground. Always fishing July & August he refuses to be home. Because of the heat and humidity.
Paul was born in this neighborhood in Albany, NY. He was a talker. Always in a total flurry, combining foods and prepping meals, he’d talk then concentrate on cooking, then talk, then concentrate on cooking. He talked about regular customers, the price of pork for his sausage, when he was robbed, how he got the job while in high school and now has been here over 30 years. He got married young, has kids, everyone knows him. He works in a tight area, a small kitchen and shares it with his daughter who takes orders. It has a small store front in an old town neighborhood.
They were:
1. 1-Hancock Shaker Village, [from 1774 and
1836 ]Massachusetts on July 27th,
2025
3-Fortress Of Louisbourg Nat'l. Historic Site, [1713- 1758, a French Fortress] Nova Scotia, Aug-26th, 2025,
4- L’Anse aux Meadows Nat’l. Historic sight, Newfoundland (Viking Village, 1,028A.D. ) Sept. 9th, 2025
2. I met many wonderful and vivacious people at these living museums and so want to treat them as part of my journey of seeing the diversity in history of people and their choice of livelihoods. Without exception these docents were all enthralled in the trade they demonstrated, be it weaving, carpentry or blacksmithing
The first was the Hancock Shaker Village in Massachusetts.
July 27-2025
Pete the
Blacksmith at Hancock Shaker Village shared his love of working with iron and
steel. He has been doing it as a hobby for 30 years and now is a docent at the
village. It was the third of nineteen
major Shaker villages established between 1774 and 1836 in New York, New England, Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana, and was active till 1960. It is
now a National Historic Landmark. The very
plebian and simple lifestyle of the shakers is fascinating. They were just people
desperately trying to live a life that is good, wholesome and enriching. Shakers do not believe in carnal
relationships. And so had no children. There ranks were only fortified or
replace by new recruits, or children that were brought into the group. This was
the closest I had ever been to learning of the beliefs of this millenarian
restorationist Christian sect. Espousing egalitarian ideals, the Shakers
practice a celibate and communal utopian lifestyle, pacifism, uniform
charismatic worship, and their model of equality of the sexes, which they
institutionalized in their society in the 1780s.
Mary was a
wood carver and crafts person. She did
her own lath work and knew her trade. Today
she was working on a chair. I had the
feeling when she went home after working here, she played with wood. She loved her craft and had been working with
wood since she was young.
I forget
her name, but she told us about shopkeeping and merchandising and trading. She would have had to trade for things that came
all the way from New York City, to sell locally.
Seth works
the Machine room. Watter turns a big
wheel outside. The axile runs into a primary room and then big wide belts carry the motion to other rooms, big machinery like saws, grinders and drills. Some under
the floor to the basement. Seth fabricates from wood, the huge wooden gears.
Josh and
Marsha run a farm in the Berkshire Hills in Massachusetts.
They have taken the day to day work over from their parents. The also have
several farm hands that work with them.
They offer so many things from their farm. Prize beef is one of their specialties, but
the make many Maple syrup products to.
We stayed
at there farm through the “Harvest Host” program. This is where you pay an annual fee to join
and then get unlimited use to stay over night at more than 9,000 different
Farms, wineries, golf courses, breweries and more. In the morning as we started our next days
driving we would look up on line if there might be a harvest host site where we
hoped to be that night. Staying at these is free, except you are expected to buy
some of the product they produce if possible.
There maple Syrup butter was, delicious. See:
https://www.iokavalleyfarm.com/
Cousin Judy lives in a very cool colonial house in Monson, Massachusetts. Being there was like a lesson in the American revolution. Judy had hosted us before on a leaf peeping trip in 2018, as well as a visit in Florida during our great Eclipse trip in the spring of 2024. See https://debandphilnow.blogspot.com/2024/02/south-atlantic-coast-and-eclipse-spring.html
In Burrillville, Roade Island I saw my beautiful niece Rebeka and her family Eleanor and Andrew.
Andolan was an old horse that must have seen a lot before being rescued by Erin.
Stony Creek Farm is a “Harvest Host” destination. The farm
doesn’t really sell anything. But asks for donations. She has over 100 animals, 27 are horses also
Llamas.
Sarah my niece at a favorite coffee shop with Patrick. I met my young niece for the very first time.
Mutate
lives in Westchester but comes here to Spy Pond to practice
guitar. She bought a ukulele four weeks
ago and loved it and then bought a guitar two days ago. She was wearing a Santana
t-shirt.
My cousin
Mike and Lynn have a beautiful home off the Merrimack River in a beautiful
little bay that faces inland over a beautiful estuary. Mike and I shared more interests than most
any body I’ve met lately. It is always
hard to find people to discuss cosmology, or quantum physics with. They had
attended the reunion in Toledo and invited us to stop by on our way north.
Dorthy is a retired Environmental Scientist and now a docent at the Parker River Nat’l. Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center. near Newbury M.A. We spent nearly an hour talking about the health of the Merrimack River. She was great!
These
folks were driving around Newbury waiting for the fireworks to start. They were
feeling great and a blast to chat with.
Actually another couple was in the front seats driving and it was a good
thing. I don’t remember their names but
they to were Elks members and we were staying in their parking lot. Newbury was having their annual Yankee
Homecoming festival. Our timing was
perfect! They had a kid’s talent show, a
Waiters Races, (carrying big trays of glasses of water) a golf tournament,
craft show, Veterans Luncheon and of course a Cornhole competition! Fireworks and plenty of alcohol were a part
of it all.
Savana hosted us at Betty’s Kitchen near North Hampton, in New Hamshire.
8-3-2025
My cousins,
Marcia, myself, and Candi. We came to
visit them on Barters Island near Booth Bay, Maine for a week. They to were at
the reunion in Toledo. We explored the island, ate the lobster, saw the history
and tried to make up for 50 years of being out of touch.
Paul a neighbor took us and the sisters out boating on the Sheepscot River. Paul was raised here, drifted away to Portland, ME to work in the fishing fleet, then returned eventually. He has a nice spread of family houses next door. They were getting ready to host a big family reunion, and would borrow the cabin we were in from the sisters after we left.
Cousin
Marcia on the right holds my wallet, with Marcia on the left who found it on
the ground at the Tide Pools Gift Shop, where I dropped it. OMG, it was like my life flashed in front of
me.
On August 8th, 2025 we crossed into Canada, our original primary destination.
After Maine we drove north into Canada’s Quebec Province, crossing the boarder at
Edmundston. We headed up to the St. Lawrence
Seaway and then going east, northeast along the Gaspe Peninsula we met Paul and
Louis from Montreal for the first time. They were also in a RV Van or "Class B" We
had stopped at this free community supported campground at Saint-Ulric. It had a gorgeous view of the St. Lawrence
river.
We shared a bottle of wine as they gave us wonderful ideas about where to go
on the rest of our trip in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. They have made three
trips to the Western US in their RV, and have two grown boys, 24 and 27.
Their ideas for us became so valuable.
On the way back to California we stopped at their home in Montreal and
spent a night.
8-10-2025
I met Berry Le’Blane by the La Martre
light House, on the Gaspesie Peninsula.
He has a degree in politics and economics, but is now a photographer. He
retired 15 years ago and specializes in drown photography. He is
excellent. Check out his website at https://barryleblancphoto.ca/?lang=en Of
Berry’s two sons, one is very conservative and Trump like. This son is working
for an American software company. He
offered great suggestion about where we should go on the Gatsby Peninsula.
August 12th!!!! I just
turned 70 years old. Oh! My! God!
What the hell happened! ? Where
did my life go? I love it so much.
Nova
Scotia had it’s own RV technical challenges.
I met Dan in Bathurst. Our sewer broke all up as I pulled out of a camp
site. Bottom knobs that vent and hold everything in, leaked constantly. It was so aggravating. I thought we might have to turn back home. No
toilet seemed like a deal breaker. All
my planning, our efforts to get this far, then to have to turn around. There was no way I was going to make Deborah
go on without a toilet at night.
Hotels, maybe, but we’d probably just
hop on the interstate and head back to California. Dan’s
RV shop replace it and we only lost one day. We thought we might have to turn
back toward home.
Dan has
lived on the coast of Nova Scotia all his life and has raised kids and had a
wife. He went to college and loves his country.
If I’d been born here, would I have turned out the same-ish?
We all
want the same things in life, mostly.
Sometimes you meet people and you think “Wow, this person may be a lot like me…
(gulp)” but you never say that out loud.
We’re all just struggling on.
Life is simply a “is it half full, or half empty? Life is what you make of it.
Anyway,
when you are on the road, you may need to ask for help.
Art
actually did the work.
In New Brunswick we stopped at the Bathurst Heritage Museum. It had wonderful displays of the history of Bathurst. Carolyn on the right was the program manager. Peggy and Linda were her 2 young docents in training.
Carol
Rabichoux was from Quebec, built this beautiful campground with her husband and
daughter and son. They started seven years ago, on Miscou Island in New Brunswick. The wood buildings that supported this modest RV campground we
pieces of art, done in a raw wood style nearly Scandinavian. She was wonderful
and happy and full of life and spontaneous and honest, and she was totally
Cajian. The rates were very reasonable,
and though we were near peak season there were few other campers. Electricity water and dumping are always nice
every 5 or 10 days. Unlike other
campgrounds Carol won’t let permanent campers for the season. She wants new
fresh people, and she wants to help travelers. There is no trailer trash or
permanent renters in this place. This is in the heart of Acadia. These people originally of French origin have
a strong cultural Identity.
She took us out in her ATV to see what she said was a Viking monument, or monolith. I believe her. There are faint traces or grooves that look carved. It is so out of place. there are no other rocks like it anywhere around. Could it have been propped up and carved on from the 1,025AD era when the Vikings were in Newfoundland but came to the mainland to gather certain nuts and trade with the Indians?
8-15-2025
We met Tom
and Val at the Shire by the bay of Fundy. Both are from France, but live in
Montreal now. They are bicycle riders and have been traveling all around
Canada. We camped at “The Shire” south
of Hopewell rocks. It’s up next to the
Bay of Fundy. Don and his dog Hope own the land. Don lives in the house across the road. Definitely
go and say hi if you come this way. He's is a hoot and lets people park for
free. There is water and a flat area! It was very nice. And there were many
travelers there.
Dorthy changed our oil. Did a great job to. Her love is softball.
On August
16th I learned my brother-in-law passed.
Rick was a professional photographer (no picture) most of his life. He took many
photos of old Rock and Roll artists. One
year he invited I and my son to accompany him and his Boy Scout troop in
Seattle. He was leading them, on a canoe
trip into the Boundary Waters in northeast Minnesota. It was one of the toughest trips I have ever
done, and a true trip of a lifetime. In
July of that summer, we ‘fought’ overwhelming mosquitos and the most intense
rain and thunderstorms I have ever seen.
We portaged our canoes up to the
Canadian Border from Ely, Minnesota then followed east along the U.S.-Canadian border to Lake Superior. 125 miles of paddling small lakes or carrying
our canoes, sometimes on a trail but often bushwacking between lakes. It was
brutal for us adults and the 12 boys we were with.
Life is so
fragile. The people you meet in life,
the examples of others like ourselves, as we all live vicariously, we often see
and soar over others accomplishments.
Rick had struggled with Parkinsons for many years.
8-17-2025
We met
Jaria and Lucy when we overnighted in a empty Farmers Market in Charlottetown
on Prince Edward Island. It was great place and
gave us some walking options being right next to a regional trail. Some people
walked by but not a lot. Most seemed
determined and on their way somewhere definite.
Like at home. Others with less purpose, out walking for the joy of bird
watching or just enjoying the estuary close by.
People, people, it’s all about people sometimes. Jaria
and Lucy had never stayed at this spot, and laughing said it is better
we “Class B”rs park near each
other, They were nice, trying to speak
English as we spoke no French. Their
smile, there uncomfortable English was really very welcoming. They really tried to be nice just as every
single other Canadian was.
We loved
the Charlottetown farmers Market. We looked for a local gathering like this whenever we could, but usually they were only on weekends.
Emily was very industrious. She made all sorts of things mostly from yarn. Small knitted things key chains. A lot of cute stuff little girls love. She even had her own Facebook page and business cards. Go to FaceBook > “Emily’s Gifts to go”
And she
had a lot to say. Here parents were
letting her run the booth alone. I never
saw them or anyone else helping her. She was into yarncraft and selling and
excited to talk about her things, and how she made them. What a vivacious sharp
eyed young girl. Here enthusiasm had me
grinning from the start.
I learned afterwards that she is in the second year of cancer treatment.
Go girl!!
Marla sold us some of the best bred. I got a rich, textured, colorful, seeded, sour dough and decided then and there to try to get all my sandwich making bread from farmers markets the rest of the trip if possible. Deborah got a loaf of fresh made gluten free sour dough! It was so superior to any store bought breads we’d got so far.
8-19-2025
Linda was working the The Tin Roof Distillery in Lunenburg. https://thetinroofdistillery.com/ It was a spur of the moment stop. We’d been arguing about something, and this looked like a good place to pause. Linda’s husband had grown his hobby, then started it as a business in 2021. Now her son was in charge. There were so many different flavors of whiskey and other spirits.
Mr. Kent Cook
has a nice little shop for tourist at Peggys cove. He used to fish for Lobster. It was a good livelihood. But then 20 years
ago the government started regulating it, bad. They changed the size of lobster
you could take. They could not be too
small, they could not be too big. Inconsistent take seasons were implemented. Extra taxes were added and worst, the paperwork became unbearable. He is resentful, and blames it on American
pressure from the EPA. In Maine we saw a
lobster farm that gets their young lobster from Canada and grows them in a
lobster hatchery till large enough for market.
Mr. Cook’s
store sells an eclectic combination of things that a tourist might want
including old boat anchors, carved and painted sea birds, all sorts of buoys,
sword fish horns. Old nets, old bottles of any type, old prints from magazines
showing ocean scenes, all shorts of shells, dried starfish, lobster traps. He even had some old dory’s, anything to do with the fishing industry of
Nova Scotia that might appeal to a rich tourist that wanted to decorate his
office with nautical items.
The store
is right on the small main dock at Peggy’s Cove. The story is told how the cove got it’s
name. Young Peggy was traveling by boat
to Halifax to meet her fiancée when the ship she was in foundered on the rocks.
She was rescued by local folk, and when visitors went to see her they would say
they were going to “Peggy of the Cove”.
Wendy McKenzie worked at the MacPhee House Visitor Center and Community Museum in Sheet Harbor on the Atlantic ocean northeast of Halifax. Her husband is a fisherman and he has been out to sea for 3 days, and will be back tomorrow.
Sherbrook village. Nova Scotia. This was
our second Interpretive Village we visited.
8-22-2025
This old
fishing village is on the eastern shore facing the Atlantic. There were incredible displays, and
demonstrations about what life was like in the 1800s. In the 1860s, timber, tall ships and a small gold
rush brought prosperity to Sherbrooke’s people. Check out their website
at: https://sherbrookevillage.novascotia.ca/ We explored this amazing interpretive
village with its 25 original buildings, that had been restored in the last 45
years. There were few other visitors
when we went there. I could ask all the questions
I wanted. When I looked each person in the eye I could tell they loved what
they were doing and were delighted to share knowledge of their trade, whether
they were the paper maker, black smith or one of the many other crafts people
there.
Stone
Age: 3.3 Million BC to 3,300 BC
Bronze Age: 3,300 BC -1,200 BC
Iron age: 3,300 BC to 600 BC
(After 600 BC it’s a blend of new metals, or forging techniques, or regions)
I have
always wanted to ride this kind of old time bicycle.
Tony also rides one of these “Penny farthing.” He
told me to go to “Rideable Bicycle Replicas"
located in of Alameda near my home. Also
known as "high-wheel" bicycles, Tony was a master riding these. After listening to him talk about the
different ways you could ride, and fall down, I had a lot more respect for
riders of these. I want to try it out.
Patty would make paper by hand, then use it in her paper products like cards or books that were sold in the 1860s. She showed me the whole process. Paper was a sought after commodity in those days and was traded all the way down to New York City. The process to make one batch of paper, maybe 15 sheets, dry and flatten it looked like fun. It was simple in it’s own way but labor intensive and had many steps. There were many kinds of paper with many textures she could make.
Cotton rag is used in colonial papermaking. This rag would be shredded from old clothes.
It really was from rags. Patty might
make a dozen sheets at one time depending on how much rag she could save and shred. I would like to take up papermaking some day.
Canso, Nova Scotia
8-23-2025
I walked the village of Canso one day. Deb stayed in the RV and did concert business on her laptop. I walked all over this small town, entering every business I could find to talk with. I wanted to learn about the town. I knew I had 6 hours of personal focus time and I didn't want to waste any of it.
Cheryl was
alone. She lived full time at the Canso
RV Park & Marina. She would have been fun to share a glass of wine
with. Cheryl has lost her trailer here
several years ago when it flooded. Now
she’d rebuilt a nice double wide. I
wonder what she is looking for.
I met Jim Cashing.
Jim had a stroke four years ago and he feels at a great loss. I’ve thought
about Jim much since I met him. Like all of us, a guy working hard, hoping it
might pay off, hoping he made the right choices, hoping nothing violent happens
to him, then a tragedy strikes that changes everything.
As he shuffles around town, he feels something, a lack of anatomical
preciseness. You can tell in his stride.
It is awkward but he tries vainly to make his gate look normal. He used
to go fish and crab all the time. His day job was working in the plant, now
shut down. It was an old seafood processing plant, over a hundred years old.
Jim was a forklift driver for 32 years, and he liked his job. His son lives up
in Halifax with his young family. He loves for them to drive down to see him,
but fears being a bother. Jim does not
drive anymore. Like any body in his, our situations, his family means
everything. He says when he stopped drinking, he had his
stroke. He blames the absence of alcohol, which thinned his blood. I asked him
what I should do to prevent this, and he said take low dosage aspirin. He wakes
in the morning and makes himself walk. His left arm is weakened and does not
react so well. He walks with a cane. His eyes show a gusto for life but a
sadness for what was and what he can no longer do. Getting old is our greatest challenge, If I
am lucky enough to make it to that point, I dedicate myself to working to maintain my
and my families quality of life by not being a burden to them.
I met Marley, my barista.
When I tell people I’ve just driven from California, doors open. I get a lot of smiles, inquiry and special attention. Canadians are our best
neighbors.
All throughout Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia
provinces, so many churches were closed for lack of parishioners. Especially
the Roman Catholic churches on south side of the St. Lawrence River, on the
Gaspesie peninsula. These buildings had a very distinctive style with a very
tall central steeple. Maybe 150 feet
tall. They would tower way above
everything else in the towns. You could see the spires from miles away as we’d approached a town. They are testaments to the
large fishing industry, it’s workers and their families that once lived there.
When I asked why so many were closed up I was told the younger generation had
left. The buildings are just sitting
there waiting to be sold or re-purposed.
Percy helps maintain his church’s graveyard.
I walked by it up on the hill and sat. It was beauty. The view, the
serenity was a delight for me as I sat and took it in. I watched as people came
to visit grave sites.
I so often wonder what makes humans cling to lost loved ones. I feel it. We all do, a sense of loss of
course. There must be something in our
genes that could make us shed a tear for the departed. But why is it so universal? I love walking in graveyards, to view our
obsession, our love for ones gone before us.
Melissa, Cassie and Myra were my docents as I toured the old Witman House Museum of Canso. The home illustrates the history of Canso Town and eastern Guysborough County, with many exhibits from Canso Harbor including the fishing and maritime industry. I enjoy talking to people that are knowledge about a subject to see what I can learn. I figure I would only be there once, so this is my one time to ask about the captain and his family that lived there a century ago.
Witman bought the house after the How’s lived there.
He was a real person with real values, and I assume a similar love of life
and fear of death. No, I never met
him. But I saw some of his legacy around
the town. I felt him.
========================================================= ==
In Beddeck along the Nova Scotia shoreline is the Alexander Graham Bell
National Historic Site. Bell was
Canadian and invented the telephone in his work shop here. Watching Debbie, explained a lot about how
Canadians think, especially about their pride. We only saw it in subtle ways
throughout Canadian. It was a great
museum about Bell and how the science developed. The conditions that bell worked in were,
primitive, and yet he did so much as a scientist and as a humanitarian. I want
to read his biography.
Neils Harbour
Tyler from
Ontario seems on a ‘Walk About’. He
sublet his place and plans to be on the road for a year. He’s a physical trainer coach.
We saw him several times on our trip as we traveled in the same places for a
week. I wonder where he is now? Anyway
we’d just found a nice iOverlander spot by the small two lane highway on one
side of us and the Atlantic Ocean on the other, and he drives up and
parks. Okay. I went out, we talked. It was good there was
room.
Justin
As Tyler
and I talked a man walked down his driveway from the other side and crossed to
us. I thought “it’s his place” and he would like us to move. Sure we could
find another spot. Instead, he handed
Tyler and I each a bag of fresh halibut!
Maybe 5 lbs. each! We were
speechless. (I’m holding the bag of halibut as I take Justin’s picture)
Our camping spot by the ocean and Justin’s house in
Neil’s Harbour across from Justin’s place was right next to the ocean.
Justin has a large extended family in the area. His ex lives
down the street. She may stop by to have her back rubbed. His mother is ailing
and has dementia but lives all the way down in Halifax. More family lives in
the houses to the sides of his. He might be 70% French, 30% indigenous heritage. At 32 years old he said he's used a lot of different drugs. From coke to “everything else.” Now he
only prefers beer and won’t touch hard alcohol. He goes out fishing seven days
a week usually. He’ll do crabbing for three months then halibut for three
months then some other fish for three months. Also, a lot of lobster. muscles,
clams, but mostly oysters. Justin
admitted he has bipolar and has seen a lot of therapists, all over the island.
He says he’s all fucked up, but he seemed pretty together to me. He was, like
all Canadians, very friendly and welcoming. He offered his aid, including laundry and
tools. If we had problems on the road we
should come back and he’d help us. He invited any friends of ours that might
stop by to do so!
Who ever walked or road by us, he knew who they all were. It was a small town .As a young group came
past by, he said they were all Mexicans and worked at the fish processing
factory. “They are good people and are good workers.” He pointed out a building
that suggested a big dormitory like
barn, over by the fishing docks and Chowder House Restaurant on the point . He
named all of the ethnicities of the people that lived there, and worked in the
plant. He’ll buy half a pig each year, fatten it up and slaughter it getting
400 pounds, and give it away to family. An
uncle was letting him stay there. The Uncle owns several homes next to each
other and has quite the compound. Sometimes he’s bought a calf or half a calf
and fattened it up and butcher it.
One thing that was very special, was that Justin called me in January of 2026 after we came home. I'd sent him a Christmas card and how glad I was to meet him. I kind of guest at his address not sure the card would ever get their. I meet so many people on my trips but never talk to them again. Justin called to chat and it was great. Then he put his father Dana an the phone. We introduce and talked for a long while to! It was winter time up there and they were going to start preparing their crab traps for the season starting in March. Nova Scotia keeps on delighting me. I hope I'll return some day.
Justin was one of Canada's best, and he is average.
We met Ester and Samual when we pulled over near Pleasant Bay to see some lighthouse as we drove the coast of Nova Scotia. With their bicycles and kayaks they seemed so, together and achievement oriented. We talked for quite a while.
Jacqueline
demonstrates Hook Rug making or rug hooking . This is an old style and a very tight weave. It was a specialty of
the local region. Jacqueline learned when she was a very young girl from her
grandmother. You could tell she had 40 years of
experience hooking, She new exactly how
to efficiently use the yarn. Jacqueline was a volunteer at the Les Trois
Pignons Cultural Center and museum in Cheticamp, NS, on the beautiful Cape
Breton Peninsula. It sits on the ‘Cabot Trail’ A scenic drive around the
peninsula on Cape Breton. This is one of
the most beautiful places in Canada.
The Fortress Of Louisbourg
Nat'l.
Historic Site, [1713- 1758, a French Fortress] Nova Scotia, Aug-26th,
2025.
Louisbourg
was the 3rd interpretive village we went to. Actually a fort there
were all sorts of trades from the 1750s being demonstrated. The French in 1750 were desperately trying to
hold a piece of America. Twice during
European wars the British lay siege to this fort, and both times it fell to
them. The second time they totally destroyed every building and wall.
One
quarter of it has been restored, actually completely rebuilt starting in 1961 from
the ground up including massive stones of the huge outer wall stone buttresses.
Margeret did this special kind of crewel work. It was very intricate and labor intensive to make the small knots. Like most of the crafts it was the result of economy of time, and raw materials.
Bernard
was of the Mi'kmaq tribe. He sang the songs of his tribe. The blues I guess, in
his native tongue. Their plight and
destruction was caused by Europeans, genocide really. But also he recited poems
and stories from legends, stories of successful hunts and beautiful princes
that fought indifferent gods. Some were funny.
Gillis was
the gardener.
She planted and maintained two huge plots. As a gardener myself, I saw her
garden was beautiful. The produce was
used in the tavern that served period meals to the tourists, like it was 1750s.
A lot of root crops and beans, like the soldiers and colonists would have
eaten. I had a navy bean soup. Gillis
gets to use piped in water and is grateful she does not have to carry it to her
plants like in the old days. I could
see it really was a working farm. She was putting in as many crops as she could
get through before the snows came.
Pierre took the role
of an engineer and a merchant back in the day.
He told the story of a very prominent citizen in Louisbourg who owned 2 large buildings. One was his home.
It had seven rooms, plus he had 2 indentured servants to help he, his wife and
two children. The other building was a
warehouse. Pierre was a merchant and
started as a young clerk for the governor, then on completing his military
service stayed, started a store and became a trader.
Jacque Plas also loved the history of the fortress, and he knew it well.
I asked
questions about all the different growth spurts of the fort, building
materials, what the politics of the time were in Nova Scotia, and in Europe,
how they effected food supplies, taxes from the king, the mixing of French with
first nation people, trade with France, smuggling, alcohol consumption, the
amount of fresh vegetables consumed, and who got them. He knew about the social class system, from
the lowest Indians up through the lowest Europeans, to the governor and his
officers. He knew their salaries and how
much it could buy. It effected how warm a person would be on a cold night, or
how nice a food he would eat. It
controlled whether a man could afford a wife and family. Times were hard in this world. Jacque had stories of the sailing ships and
their crews. He shared how the cod industry worked their boats, their catches,
and dangers. The Catholic church had declared that people should refrain from
eating the meat of warm blooded animals on certain days, all through Europe and
the Americas. This encouraged the eating of fish and so the cod industry
exploded. The rich Grand Banks of Nova
Scotia were extremely productive, and fed cod to much of France.
Bobby was
born here but left as a young person to work in the fishing industry down in
Halifax. He came back a couple of years ago to take care of his ailing farther,
who used to put up the flags. Bobby
inherited his fathers great flag collection.
He will host any flag he feels like that day whether it is of Japan’s or
Colorado’s, the Vatican or Nova Scotia’s.
With the help of his dog Harvey he would pick the flag to fly that day.
I saw him my first evening as he was taking down the flags. I offered to help
him, then we talked. When he came back
the next morning to raise his flags we talked more. Like most Canadians Bobby new his geography. He
could describe the differences between a Vietnamese flag and one from Myanmar. And
of course, he knew where countries were. The geographical ignorance of most
Americans is appalling! People in these
foreign lands are your brothers, your sisters, in our human race. They are born, live and die in these far of
places, and, they are real. They exist and are living sentient beings. They
live and toil like us, they hurt, they feal pain. Certainly many have wives,
cherished children or loving parents. So
Bobby honors them by raising their flag.
Bobby’s
father passed several years ago but he carries on the tradition. He is not paid by the city. He loves flags, he loved his father.
8-27-2025
As we were
waiting for the ferry to take us from Nova Scotia to the island of Newfoundland
we hung out in the town of Sydney. In
addition to having the worlds largest violin, there was a little stand that
sold "Beaver Tails." I had never seen this kind of pastry before and immediately
became a fan. Imagine a nice simple
flatbread with different toppings. Some were savory while some were sweet. I
could see a whole world of possibilities. I loved them! And engaged the owner
Sadie, (no picture) about why there were none in San Francisco? She did not know but went on to explain how
I might purchase a franchised outlet as she had. I could start a trend and
maybe make a killing. I think I’ll try
to make them at home first. Sadie was pretty busy. This was a popular item in Nova Scotia.
We met Anne and Louis on the 17 hour ferry from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland. They were from Quebec City. We talked all morning as we waited for our ferry to arrive in Placentia, Newfoundland. They made some great recommendations about what to see when we later would travel home through Quebec province. They invited us to come visit them on the Island of Magdalen (or Cap-aux-meules) next summer where they have a house. There is an International Sand Castle building contest there each summer. But we better reserve a slot on that ferry which only takes two cars at a time. They were wonderful people.
Also on the Ferry we met Frank and LeeAnne. This couple had left Alberta and were bicycling
across Canada. Their final destination
was St, Johns Newfoundland. After
bicycling and camping for 2 months they had just two days to go before they
would board a plan to return home. On the ferry we talked long into the night,
about people in both our country’s, our ways, concerns and attitudes. I would
really like to meet them again someday in Alberta. After we disembarked from
the ferry we saw them at a rest stop biking toward St. Johns. It was raining
and they had a “the journey is near complete” look in their eyes. We were going
to meet at Christian’s Pub in St. John to get ‘Screeched’ together but it did
not work out. Frank advised me to purchase Oboz boots, and double tie
them. The pieces of information I
remember surprises me. I have much respect for what they had just done,
bicycling nearly 4,000 miles.
The ferry
to Newfoundland docked about 10:30am in the morning. We followed roads into the deep interior of
the province and found a nice place to camp for the night. It was surrounded by small lakes and in a
very shrubby landscape. We were surprised when an SUV drove by us and
stopped. I was expecting a “You can’t
camp here.” Speech.
Gerald and Wanda were about to go blueberry picking and they told us to lock up our van and jump in their car! We were a little wary but did it and it turned out to be an amazing adventure, one that will affect me the rest of my life. Blue berries in Newfoundland grow like sage in the western U.S. They are everywhere and we just happened to come during the weeks when they were ripening. Picking berries is the kind of thing you have to be shown once at least. These berries were a little smaller than the huge ones we see in our supermarkets, but they were immensely tastier. We were so surprised and delighted.
We picked for only an hour as the sun was going down. Gerald and Wanda live in the town of Dildo,
most of the year, about 30 minutes away. They have a long trailer about 2 miles
away, for when they are here with family in the peak summer months. He said at
the end of the season they can just walk away from the tailer. No one has ever broken into it and stole or
damaged it. At those times in late July they
all camp at the lake we were parked near. There might be a dozen family tents on the
shoreline Wanda told me. The water was nice, soft but cold. I’d swim in
it. They had been fishing there that
afternoon, and caught and kept twelve. They were beautiful big nice trout.
They’d worked hard I was sure. Gerald
had even cleaned them. Later as they were about to drive off for the day, they
gave them all to us! I was speechless
again… I felt so humbled by these people,
and so gifted. I tried to protest, some,
only. We had fresh trout that night.
In
Newfoundland we had been warned about vehicle moose collisions causing 1 to 2
fatalities a year. But our fear was not
death as much as messing up our rig. HaWe decided not to drive at night.
Gerald told me the story of when he and Wanda were the first drivers to come upon a moose accident. The driver and passenger were still in the car. The moose was dead. The windshield was gone. He helped the driver get out. Huge pieces of moose had wedged her in pretty tight. Blood was everywhere. Then he went over to the passenger. At first he wasn’t sure what he was looking at. He described it as a shiny yellow green mass surrounding where a passenger might have been. He couldn’t quite tell if it was from something in the car, or car airbags. There was all sorts of stuff on his face and chest, including shattered glass everywhere. As he pealed it away he realized it was the intestines of the moose covering this person. He finally got the man out but they both had to go to the hospital. We watched for Moose constantly, but never saw one on the whole trip.
Gerald had
worked at a fish processing plant most of his life. He only started saving for
retirement when he was 65, now he’s 80. They
have been coming up to this Soldiers Ponds area for 50 or 60 years. They seem very happy to have each other. Kind of a ‘I don’t have to go into old age
alone’ confidence. They’d both been married before, and were now in their 29th year.
They had sons that were 27 and 24 who work in the cities in Canada. As I
was getting into there car I noticed a big picture on their car doors. Meeting them was a gift.
But the
afternoon was mostly about blue berries.
This was
to become in a wonderful pattern for us in Newfoundland. The people there are
with out a doubt the friendliest and most gracious people I have ever met. It
was extraordinary. 5 days latter we bought some sugar and pulled over to boil
half of the berries into a wonderful fresh jam. It was especially good on plain
yogurt.
In St.
John we walked into a liquor store, and went a little crazy. Brianna personally helped us select a wide
variety of wines and liquors. We had made it to easy for her to sell to us.
Chris and John were our campground hosts at our RV campground while in St. John’s. They had all sorts of tips how to get cheap drinks at the bars in St. John’s. They told me to go to the Dildo Brewing Co. Dildo makes some of the best bears in Newfoundland.
I did, but it was closed.
9-2-2025
Marc Lamontage
and Cathy, were camped across from us. He was a retired officer in the Canadian
Coast Guard. Now he was hiring back as a
consultant directing large dock and bay berm construction projects. They sold
their big home near Gander and had bought a smaller home near Arnolds Cove by
the water. But much of the year they
lived in their trailer. There daughter
lived in St. Johns and was dropping her dog of to be watched for a few days
while she was to travel to New York for a conference. We talked for a long time about places we
should go next. Latter as we went up the
coast we took much of their advice. Marc
said if I get in any mechanical trouble with
the RV I could call him for help. Marc was telling me about how a large
percentage of the population take part in annual moose management. They hunt
them. I asked if there might be some
place I could buy moose meat. He said
no, and the season was actually to start in one month. That would be the best time. But we’d be gone
then. He went inside his trailer and came out with some frozen cod and moose
sausage for us!
Daughter
Jane laughed and suggested she had moose sausage coming out of her ears. But to
us this was a great boon. Not only were these gifts of a tasty sort, but more
so an acceptance and welcome to us as foreigners.
Marc and Cathy had suggested we go see the show in Twillingate. We did.
The
Twillingate/NWI Dinner Theater puts on a show 5 nights a week. NWI stands for New World Island. First, we were served a wonderful cod dinner,
then our servers and cooks took the stage and entertained us with wonderful
local stories and ballads, histories, folk songs and poems, drama and
comedy. Much of the crowd was local, but
the bartender estimated maybe 2/3rds were from farther away. Tripadvisor calls
it a “must see experience.”
After we arrived and were seated, another couple was also put at our
table.
They
turned out to be perfect for us. Before
we sat down, I was nearly dreading having to interact and introduce ourselves
again. I had just had so much, so many
new people, so many lives to observe and learn about. I though I just needed a quiet break. How wrong I was. Laury’s first husband had
died of cancer 8 years ago. Mikes 1st
wife left him. There paths led them to each other they both felt.
After pharmacist school Mike agreed to take a job as an assistant way up the Long Range Mountains. This mountainous peninsula is on the very northern edge of Newfoundland and faces the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The north eastern tip of Newfoundland was our goal where “L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site” the confirmed Viking encampment of 1,025A.D. was. The drive up there was long and desolate. Only a few towns with very limited services lay there. Mike started working at Anchors Point Drugstore and eventually took over when the previous owner retired. He then eventually retire also, comfortably and sell the store. Now Mike works part time when a pharmacy needs a temporary head pharmacist for a few weeks. He travels all over Newfoundland. At one point when we were talking I told him how we had hoped to get “Screeched” in St. Johns at Christianson’s Bar but it did not work out. He said that there was a great show and Screeching ceremony at Annies Harbour Bar tomorrow night and we should join them. It meant we would stay over an extra night in Twillingate, but we could always find things to do. So we decided to go up to the Twillingate Lighthouse the next day. I would hike all around area and Deborah would work on computer tasks, especially with her concert production.
Me and Ralph, for the first time, at the light house in Twillingate. Ralph lives in Santa Cruz, CA. a neighbor in California! He traveled with friend Mat from Colorado, who was an old college buddy. They’ve been hanging out for 50 years. It reminded me of people you stay in touch with for 2/3rds of your life. What old friends do you have that you’d just pick up and fly off to a foreign place. They’d rented a car and were just driving around Newfoundland for 3 weeks, staying at Airbnb’s mostly. He was the only traveler I met from California.
Right
under the light house was the ‘Light Keepers Fudgery’ run by Paul.
Paul made all his own fudge. I felt a little kinship because of when Deborah was in the Fudge business from 2009 to 2011. I knew all about the work he had to do, the long hours, and the fun of making a product everyone loved.
We spent
the whole day up at the light house.
Deborah worked on her concert series activities while I hiked all over
the shoreline trails. She had a concert
scheduled 3 days after we were to get home.
That night we saw Mike
and Laury again at the Captains Pub & Restaurant in Twillingate. The Captian was having a little Screeching ceremony for
visiting off-islanders.
Mike
Sixonate entertained the bar all night and was wonderful to listen to. He sang modern songs, and old ballads. He told stories of fishing, of huge hauls and
tragic episodes of the sea. His voice
and cadence were a pleasure to listen to.
He was homegrown, born in Twillingate.
Married here and is now raising his teenage daughter as a single
dad. His stories of how he came to this
place at this time, his different careers, i.e. his day jobs were examples of what people do that live
here. I loved it. His stage presence and friendly approach mixed with a sense
of humility and pride were a great show. Mike then lead the “Screeching” of Deborah and I. We talked to him afterwards. I asked about
his inspiration, what more it was like being a single dad and how I respected
him for that. Mikle Sixonate has two
albums on Spotify. Check him out.
The Screeching ceremony itself consists of listening to gallic poems and proclamations about Newfoundland. Then on stage publicly declaring your integrity and good hope for Newfoundland and that you will support it and its people. I and Deborah declared these things to a whole room of “Newfies” as they called them self. Then there was a special kind of rum to toast with. This was a very light rum. Tradition says that when rum from the Indies was brought up, the barrels were emptied and then some water was placed in them. This sat for six months and absorbed some of the original rum from the barrels. Then the lower classes, that could not afford the fancy rum would drink it.
It was a
little hard to leave Twillingate. We
kept meeting very friendly people.
The next
day as we traveled northeast we stopped in Grand Falls-Windsor for a cup of
coffee at a Tim Hortons. Tim Hortons is
an institution in Canada, a lot like Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts in the US. Jim came over to our table and asked to join
us. A little taken back but we said
sure. He proceeded to amaze and delight
us with a serious of sleight of hand tricks.
He was good. I sat right there
and I could not figure it out, no matter how often I watched him repeat a
trick. He did a lot with a coin, making
it disappear and appear. He also had a
colored string, folding and knotting it, then miraculously untangling it. Jim
had COPD and had been retired for 11 years. He had been a building inspector the
last half of his adult life. 8 years ago
his wife died. I could see it left a
whole in his life. He lives about 50 miles away but comes to this Tim Hortons
to meet a certain group of friends every Thursday.
Feliz was
from Germany. He’d come over to Victoria, B.C. a year ago and got a job there. He wanted to work on his English language
skills. After saving up a little money
he started hitchhiking east through Canada.
We met him at Gros Morne National Park. Gros Morne is famous for having
some of the oldest rocks on earth. The
Geology was beautiful with colorful, contrasting layers of stone. Great road
cuts.
We met Celine when we took a boat tour on Western Brook Pond. She reminded me of an old friend of ours, Jamie. Western Brook Pond is not a "pond" though, it’s a huge fiord. Everybody on the tour had to walk in 1 mile to the dock.
There was
no shuttle. Celine was a lot of fun. We
bitched about the boat being so small, about the hike in, then started talking
politics.
We met
Danny, Dawn and Bob in a nice little city park in Corner Brook. Danny was traveling alone and had a nice
little campervan. He talked a lot, then
said he was going to get something to eat, and we never saw him again. But we did talk to Dawn and Bob extensively.
He had just retired from a career in the custodial industry. He had a “treatable” cough he said, but by
the end of the nigh I thought it was emphysema, always present. Dawn was a
chain smoker and I’m sure it harmed Bob somewhat. They were in a nice new fancy class B. they were still total newbies. I felt old and wise in the RV world as I
listened to them. Five years and 65,000 miles can age someone. It was a gift as I realized I’ve come a long
way in learning about RV travel.
Cooper
worked at a the Kinsmen Prince Edward Campground. We stayed there in Corner
brook, Newfoundland. I told him I say
that concert, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon, in 1973. He was respectful and curious. I was wearing my “Kaleo” shirt and he said
he’d seen them live! We bonded over rock
and role. He talked about his life in Corner Brook. He spoke about what was
important, his friends, his family, his job. We traveled to so many towns, that
had so many people, all living full lives.
We had come so far and my ultimate goal was to get to L. Anse aux Meadows. This UNESCO World Heritage site was re-discovered in the 1960s and found to be a Viking village from around 1,025 A.D. This desolate outpost was on the extreme northeast coast of Newfoundland, north of Saint Anthony.
L’Anse aux Medows
9-9-2025
L'Anse Meadows was also our 4th and last interpretive village. It was called Norstead when it was occupied. There were three halls and 5 smaller buildings that had been rebuilt. Norstead was a Viking Village and Port of Trade at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland.
What a lonely outpost this must have been for the six to 12 families that lived her. The site was eventually abandoned after 20 years, all returned to Iceland. The main goal was to catch and salt cod plus collect other good to trade by summers end. Then they would make an annual trip to Iceland.
One was a
blacksmith shop that Ragnar worked at.
Ragnar told us several stories and legends about his ancestors and the
people that actually lived here a thousand years ago. It was wonderful to see how blacksmithing had
changed from the Viking days, up to Sherbrook Village in the 1860s.
Ragnar the
Blacksmith’s tats. I asked what the
bottom one meant to him. He would only tell me it was some ancient runes.
One of our first stops in Labrador was for coffee. Rebe-Lynn started a small coffee shop in St. Anthony. It had a nice feel and a beautiful little deck to watch the harbor. She had worked for 25 years down in St. Johns, Newfoundland, then moved back here to be with her parents.
Paul was a
very interesting person to me. We had
disembarked off the ferry from Newfoundland and found a spot to park by Fist
Lake near Forteau in Labrador. He drove in a half hour later. He used to make paper, industrially.
Huge vats, big machines process it make it and then bake it. After 25 years he
switched to making drywall and he did
that all over Canada. He also did a stint in California and Utah. But mostly he
was out of Ontario. Now he is a full timer in his RV, and travels all over. I
asked why he traveled. He said because if “I don’t like my neighbor, I can just
go, I can split.” He said he didn’t want to pay taxes. He’s been down to
Mexico. And says it didn’t bother him and it was cool but I think his main trip
was to Baja. I’m not sure if he went to the Mexican main land. He said he had a
daughter in Montreal. Paul was on the
same route as us. He also planned on
doing the big arc from Blanc-Sablon, through Goose Bay, then Labrador city on
his way back down to Quebec City where he would pick up his girlfriend.
Taking the Trans Labrador Highway turned out to be a little
anticlimactic. The stretch of road from Blanc-Sablon p to Labrador City turned out to be an
excellent wide paved road. We rarely
passed other cars. It really was a
beautiful stretch. I’d worried so much about this road, but we just kind of drove
it. The weather was rainy only half the
time, but I worried about snow in September. Snow would have killed us. It was kind of like driving the Alcan Hwy in Alaska in
that there was enough gas stations but you had to fill up at each one. It was
over 1,000 miles from Blanc-Sablon
where the ferry dropped us off, back down to the St. Lawrence River.
From
Labrador City back down towards Baie-Cameau was more challenging. There was a
small section, about 90 miles on graded gravel roads.
We met
only a few people as we drove it. One other goal was to see Lake Manicouagan. (Paste in
51.46434, -68.23602 into your Google map app.) We camped here,
near the crossroads at Relais-Gabriel. I
call this round lake the Eye of Canada. It was formed by a large meteor impact
over 500 million years ago. Only when it
was dammed in the 1950s did it become so obvious.
Jean-Simon Michaud was our walking street tour guide in Quebec City. Full of all sorts of historical facts, he told us highlights of the city founded in 1608. Jean-Simon had been all over Europe, especially Paris being a walking tour Guide. Now he was trying to set up a company here as his parents and siblings lived here. This city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. They are prevented from changing any exterior architecture since it joined UNESCO in 1985. Quebec is frozen in time. It is the only walled city in North America north of Mexico City. It should be on everyone’s bucket list. This place feels as close to a European city as I may ever get. The cobble stone streets and general architecture suggest buildings that are two hundred years old. There are so many old buildings to see and go into, I could spend more days here.
Nanette
was our Walking Food Tour guide. We went to 5 different restaurants and had
different courses. The restaurants in
Quebec are some of the best in the world.
I don’t
remember all the other food tour participants names, but we had a blast. Liquor
was included at some stops.
After
Quebec City we went through Montreal and saw Louise and Paul again. We stayed outside
their house.
We’d met
them at Saint-Ulric on the Gaspesie Peninsula August 10th
just after we entered Canada. They
joined us at our campfire that night.
There advise about what to see and where to go turned out to
be so helpful. When we stopped by, they were hosting another couple, Carol and
Dennis on the left, that were just about to travel to Newfoundland and were
hoping we might suggest tips on where to go.
Paul cooked a wonderful meal of roast duck! One of the few times I’d ever had it. It was
delicious. Again we were warmly welcomed
by Canadians.
It had been only our second night in Canada. We had
been on the road one month already. After I told them our rough travel path,
Louies wrote up a list of places on our route to go see if we had time. I still have this list. She even gave us a map of Quebec City and
told us where we could park overnight. In the old sector!
There
joining us was to have a huge impact on where we ended up going. I had a rough idea of our route, but Louise
filled it in with “stop here” or “make sure you see this.” or "skip that" The problem is
always that there are too many places to go, things to see, places to stop
at. There is never too much time. We had
only 3 months. Next time, I’ll plan
different.
After
Montreal we pretty much headed for home. We had about 15 days to do 4,000
miles.
Martin, our campground host at the Junea-Chalets near Les Bocages lived in Maryland for a while and then Southern California for 10 years. He never really adjusted to the heat, but loves San Francisco. Very gracious and helpful as all Canadians have been. On the side he harvests and sells maples syrup. I bought some. It’s delicious.
9-24-2025
Okay, this picture is not about people. But I just have to say, I have gone looking for fall colors in the northeast twice. This third time in Canada was the most intense. The drive along the top of Lake Superior, along Canadian Highway 17, is the most beautiful drive, in the world! Anytime of year, from Sudbury to Thunder Bay, Ontaria. It is something I will never forget.
9-27-2025
Thunder Bay: Jenifer had started her own “Gluten Free” bakery. It was her second
attempt. Deborah went a little crazy. Me to.
My best friend, going gluten free.
9-30-2025
Nevis MN
Scot and Judy live in Nevis Minnesota. In planning the trip, I reached out to Judy. We’d not communicated since the mid 1990s! I’d known her professionally when we worked for a large oil company drawing maps. She was brilliant as we did complex CAD mapping of foreign countries like Nigeria, or Namibia, or Azerbaijan or Kazakhstan, or Russia, or Australia to name a few.
Judy had left her job when she married Paul, a geologist in San Francisco. They moved to Bakersfield first. Then Paul ended up being transferred all over the world as he helped find more oil deposits. They lived in London, Bangladesh, Namibia and Nigeria to name a few of their homes. Then 4 years ago Paul passed away from cancer. He had been retired about 4 years. Scot’s wife had passed away from cancer also. A year latter the two met. I know they each were devastated. They shared their stories with us. Judy’s daughter now lives in Tucson and just had a baby! They will travel there for the child, and the winter. Daughter Janie and her husband have a nice guesthouse for them.
10-1-2025
The Great Mall Of America
Alex at The Mall of America in Bloomington, MN gave us 2 juices free
as we was closing up. He would have to throw them out anyway and make up fresh
squeezed juice the next day. He was
delighted to reach the days close and was rocking out. Many other workers there had this “I’m beat”
look and feel. Deborah had never been her
so we stopped as we were passing through St. Paul's.
We stopped
in Hyattville Wyoming and spent the night with my cousin Tim on his ranch. He
has quite the spread on this working cattle ranch. But his main efforts are raising hoses. Also
he is doing stream and land restoration
and preservation. We found the ranch
between rainstorms, but the next day on our way out we became stuck in
mud. The wheels would only spin.
It was
starting to look like we’d have to literally hang out till the land dried
enough to get traction. It was just a
section of road, about 60 feet that had never been graveled. Fortunately Alvin Bontrager(no picture) was
building a barn for Tim at the time and he had a Bobcat that helped nudge us
back onto good road. It was another time
I had to ask the help of strangers.
On a previous trip through Wyoming I had seen a sign on the side of the road that said “Fresh Goats Milk for Sale” I jumped at the chance then and as we passed through Hudson I remembered that time.( see our https://debandphilnow.blogspot.com/2023/12/notes-of-wy-mo-nm-2023-fall-loop.html Wyoming Missouri New Mexico trip of 2023) Rae happened to be there today and sold us a gallon of the freshest coldest tastiest goats milk. If you can get it fresh, it is delicious and it seems to have a much different taste than in the stores. She also had some goat cream cheese and goat tapioca. We met her goats and other animals. Husband Quincy who we’d met in September of 2023 was not there.
And here they are going to "Hardly, Strictly Bluegrass" in San Francisco. They went to music festivals all over the Bay Area while we were gone.
(Spelled "Harbour" in Canada, "Harbor" in the U.S.)
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(Preliminary route, to be revised post trip.)
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