Days 6,7 & 8

All right so we’ve been on the road for a week now and it feels like a lot longer! Possibly because we’ve been to so many places in such a short time.
We are currently in Nova Scotia in a place called Ben Eoin. We are staying at a really beautiful campsite overlooking the ocean and facing onto the tree-laden mountains. It’s a place you could only experience on the east coast.
The weather however, is currently very miserable! Raining, cold and a wind like you can only get at the ocean – I think it might actually be gale-force. The van she is a-rockin and a-rollin!
Because of the rain, Amy and I had to quite literally batten down the hatches! Ol’ Bertha you see, has a bit of a leaky roof. Give her a break though, she is 34 years old!
So if you are interested, the following is the procedure for battening down the hatches RV styles:
Someone climbs atop the roof by precariously scaling the passenger side door, hoofing through our bedroom window and pulling oneself on top of ol Bertha
Next, a tarp is laid over the front side of the roof, rope is pulled through holes at various points on the tarp and tied down to the van.
Finally, duct tape is placed along the width of the roof to prevent rain from getting underneath the tarp… sneaky rain!
Oh and than a few words are whispered to the powers that be.
Needless to say, the above procedure went out of the window today as a hurricane seemed to be blowing through town.
Anyway, fingers crossed we will not awake to an unwanted, freezing cold shower in bed tonight.

All right, so since I’ve been so lax about writing the last couple of days, lets give you the highlights of days 6 and 7.
Day 6, we woke to hit the flowerpots once again, this time to see them at low tide. Once again a stunning sight, and may I just add that all four of us have agreed that you should not be charged money to see a natural occurring wonder in your own back-yard – offensive! If anyone has any conservative strings to pull you should tell ol’ Harpy to fix that outrage. Oh and also, you should tell him to put cute little old men in golf carts all over that m’effer!
After hiking down to the pots, we then hiked to a beach on the other side of the park. Since we had all agreed that at the first opportunity we had to swim in the Atlantic Ocean, we would - and with some coaxing from Amy-shit-stirrer Karrandjas- she, myself and Ty all stripped down - some to their bikinis, Ty to his boxers - and dashed in… and promptly dashed right back out. A few short seconds of bone chilling cold and then - exhilaration! And then that crappy, slightly awkward feeling of spending the rest of the day in wet undies.
Back at camp later in the day and it was time to bid a sad farwell to Alison and Ty. So Amazing that we met up with you guys though! See you in Seattle!
A nice bike ride with pup-pup, some supper and then beddie-buys.

Day 7 and our clocks are coming right, early to bed, early to rise and I’m proud to say I’m using “early” in the strictest definition of the word.
Up with the crows (I just made that phrase up, I don’t think crow are even early risers – in fact, they might be nocturnal, who knows) and we are packing up to drive to PEI! So exciting! So a bit of sprucing up : shower and a hair dry – which may I say from a day 8 persepective is a blessing since it is rather hard to come by when your trying to do stuff on the cheap because your truck needs land right to Saudi Arabia to keep moving - And we’re on the road again!
The drive to PEI was spectacular, so green with trees, with a beautiful backdrop of sea and lake and quaint painted farm houses, horses and fields, my love, the pup-pup, the cobra and a good soundtrack. Over an 8 mile long steel bridge crossing oceanic province lines, and we arrive on the beautiful island of PEI. You have to go see this place, and if you do manage to go, visit the village of Summerside – we spent the night there on the waterfront back parking-lot of Price Choppers! It was pretty great. After much driving around looking for prime real-estate, we decided this had the best bang for our buck!
Another great sleep , another early morning, this time to make room for the trucks processing their loads through the Price Choppers receiving area and we’re on the road to tour the rest of PEI.
Twisting and turning, up and down these beautiful winding hills, we are driving the scenic roads of the Island when we find ourselves in Malpeque and, quite naturally, jointly reach the decision to have delicious fresh oysters caught that very morning from the waters all around us for breakfast! We stopped at a beautiful waterfront pub which had just opened seen as though it was barely on 10am, and sat down to a shared pint of beer and 6 beautiful, fat, gleaming oysters, Delish!
After spending much of the rest of the morning and early afternoon driving around the island, we eventually decided to head to the ferry that was to take us to Nova Scotia, but not before a failed attempt to grab some famous PEI mussels – unfortunately nothing was on the go at the only restaurant we saw for miles.
Aboard the massive ferry which carried mac trucks, RV’s and tens of cars, we stood over the bough watching the waves crash furiously over the front of the vessel as she made her way through the choppy waters of the Atlantic to the shores of Nova Scotia.
Whilst waiting we met three great people and their dogs who were doing much the same trip we were but in a 1976 mustard yellow Volvo. Two girls, one of which was an Australian transplant to Canada and one fellow who turned out to be a Parkdale street kid who, before this trip, had been all over the country by riding the rails – he seemed to me like an older Huck Finn with dreads.
After arriving at Pictou, Nova Scotia, we made our way to a beautiful and solitary Provincial Park that Amy spotted from the highway. We were the only campers there and it was great. Around dusk we made our camp fire and roasted some hot dogs for dinner while a cute, furry red squirrel taunted Falcor from the tree tops. After that, some chess, a bit of scrabble and you guessed: beddie buys!
The next morning we woke early and hiked down to the beautiful cliffs and beaches of our temporary home. It turned out that it was quite the archeological gem – an actively eroding cliff face and lots of rock fossils littering the beach. It was so exciting and really appealed to the not so small part of me that’s always wanted to dig up old bones and artifacts and discover ancient life. I think I might be the biggest nerd I know, but I’m totally fine with that.
Mid morning we packed up camp and headed east to Cape Breton where the Cabot trail lies ahead.
Unfortunately, the day was excessively windy and rainy and quite miserable, so we decided to try and find a place to wait out the storm, which is where we find ourselves now, in Ben Eion.
So we are up to date and hopefully I will be more diligent about recording the days as they unfold from here on in.
As for the rest of tonight: some canned supper, some delicious warm whiskey and nighty night.