July, 2004
There
are lots of mosquitoes in the woods of Michigan!! I think we found most of
them...or I should say, they found us! We spent the first 5 days of July
halfway between Kalkaska and Grayling with our friends Charlotte and Terry
Eicher. The set-up that Char and Terry have on their property is
fantastic. We had water, sewer, electric and phone hook-ups.
Thanks to the trees, the satellite TV system didn't work, but we were able
to get several local channels. Char and Terry have worked hard
to clear out part of their 11 acres and Char has spent a lot of time
gardening around the RV site. It's a very relaxing
spot. While we were staying there we we able to get in
some good tennis games, play some cards and enjoy some of Terry's famous gourmet
cooking. One afternoon we went to the Hartwick Pines State Park, strolled
through the pine forest and visited the logging museum and chapel. Another
afternoon Tom and I drove into Traverse City to visit with our friends, Dick and
Nancy Maxwell (former Bounder owners) who were parked behind their son's
motel in their Alpha SeeYa. From their RV we were able to watch a bit
of the Blue Angels team practice for their weekend Air Show at the Traverse City
Cherry Festival. We enjoyed a BBQ evening with a great group
of Eicher's neighbors on the 4th and understand why Char and
Terry enjoy returning to their old neighborhood in the summer!





Our
Michigan hosts (former Toledoans and winter residents of Palm Creek in AZ), Char
and Terry Eicher and Molly.
"Brother" and "sister" 2004 Dutch Stars parked on Eicher's eleven acres
near Kalkaska, MI.
Inside
the chapel at Hartwick Pines State Park, Grayling, MI.
Winners of the first tennis match, Terry and Tom.
Tom
and Char making S'mores for desert one night during our stay.
We
joined the throngs of vehicles driving the length of Michigan on July 5th.
It seemed as though every third vehicle was towing a trailer carrying either a
camper, jet-skis, boat, motorcycles, 4-wheelers, bikes or a combination of the
above. It took us about 5 hours to get from Kalkaska to Dundee where we
parked behind Cabela's store once again. We did a little shopping inside
and walked a bit further to Applebee's for dinner. On Tuesday morning we
headed south to Marysville. We needed lots of hugs and kisses before we
headed east for the rest of the summer. On Thursday we drove to Mt.
Vernon, OH and enjoyed the hospitality of friends, Ed and Sue Sims. They
let us park the rig beside their barn and gave us an electric hookup for the
night. After dinner out with the Sims and friends Bob and Betty
Leskey we had a great visit over Sue's homemade fruit cobbler, sharing our
various RV adventures. On Friday we hooked up and
headed to the Canton, OH area to visit the Beggs RV Dealership where we'd
purchased our Dutch Star. We had a few minor service items to be taken
care of. We took advantage of free parking space behind the dealership and
spent two nights there. On Saturday we drove the car to Wadsworth, OH and
visited with Mary's Aunt Nina Close and cousin Kathryn Horvath. A short
notice visit kept us from seeing the rest of their family as they were
busy with a deck building project. On Sunday we took care of
water and holding tanks and drove to Ashtabula, OH to meet our travel buddy,
Jacques Everhart and his yellow lab, Aly. They'll be driving in their
Bounder with us as we travel across the north-eastern states into the Canadian
Maritime Provinces for the rest of the summer.


We'll
miss Close, Merrick and Coffey while we travel the rest of the
summer.
Friends Ed and Sue Sims and Bob and Betty Leskey. (Sims have a 38'
Bounder and Leskeys made the switch to a Dutch Star in 2001)
Mary's
Aunt Nina Close in Wadsworth, OH
Click on "forward" above to learn about our trip to
the "Maritimes."
Jacques, Aly, Mary and Tom enjoying the yard at the Ashtabula Flying J
Plaza...ready to travel east.
page 1
July, 2004
page 2
Monday, July 12 we set out for the Canadian Maritime Provinces.
But, to get there we had to pass through just a bit of Pennsylvania, and cross
through New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Our first stop was in
Hornell, NY at the Wilkins RV dealership. Our left turn signal on the car
wasn't working while connected to the Dutch Star. We stopped at Wilkins as
we'd found their name on the Newmar website and they were along our travel
route. The service techs immediately got working on our problem and had us
all fixed up and on the road in about an hour and a half...fantastic
service! We continued on and spent our next two nights in rest areas along
the interstate. On Wednesday we became tourists and stopped first in
Bennington, VT at the Grandma Moses Museum and in Arlington, VT at the Norman
Rockwell Museum. The two artists were acquaintances and it was interesting
to learn about their lives and to see their work....much of which was familiar
to us. In Manchester, VT we found ourselves in a typical small New England
town of narrow streets and small parking lots and because of the crowds, no
available on-street parking for large vehicles. So, we turned into an
industrial park and stopped in front of a vacant warehouse. A carpet
salesman across the street told us how to contact the owner and we got
permission to park there as long as we liked. We were able to go back into
Manchester in the car and visit the Orvis Sporting Goods flagship outlet and rod
shop and also to shop some of the other outlet stores. And, we also spent
the night in the industrial park.
Heading on north on Thursday
morning we visited the Morgan Horse Farm which is operated by the University of
Vermont. The primary mission of the farm is to promote and maintain the
breed of beautiful horses. They breed and train Morgan horses there
and sell them to provide funds to operate the farm. At one time,
the farm had been operated by the US Government to provide horses for the
calvary. From there we went to Shelburne, VT and toured the Vermont Teddy
Bear Factory. We got to see some of the adorable cuddly creatures
"being born." In spite of many to choose from, we didn't "adopt" any
of them. After a night with quite a few other RVers at "Camp
Wal-Mart" we went a few more miles to Waterbury, VT and had a tasty "breakfast"
at the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Factory. We had a tour of their
facilities and also the "Flavor Graveyard" where they have tombstones
marked for their retired flavors. Later that day we topped off the ice
cream with a stop at the Maple Grove Farms syrup and candy factory and learned
all about "sugaring" and maple candy making. That night we had
crossed into New Hampshire and stayed at the Gorham Wal-Mart. Saturday was
a short driving day and we stayed that night at the Stony Brook Recreation and
Campground near Bethel, NH. It was time to get some full hookups and do
some laundry and housecleaning.
Sunday, July 18 it was on to Maine and the Pumpkin Patch RV Park near
Bangor. The only pumpkins we saw were on the site markers, but it was a
great park and definitely "big rig friendly." We stayed here two nights
and on Monday, the four of us (Tom and Mary with our travel
buddies - Jacques Everhart and his yellow lab, Aly) spent the day at Acadia
National Park and Bar Harbor. All of the land for the park was donated in
the early 1900's to the US Government by the wealthy land owners who wanted to
see it remain unspoiled. Wouldn't you know - the weather would be rainy
and foggy! We did enjoy the drive on the park's "Loop Road" even
though we couldn't see the mountain tops except when we were standing on
them. We had lunch in "touristy" Bar Harbor and stopped for "tea" at the
Jordan Pond House overlooking the Jordan Pond in the park (yummy Maine blueberry
cobbler!). We're certain to have more opportunities to see rocks and waves
in Canada - which we plan to enter on Tuesday, July 20.



Moms
and their offspring at the Morgan Horse Farm.
Tom
and some of the "orphans" at the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory.
Ben
and Jerry????
Sand
Beach in Acadia National Park.
One of
the unique stone bridges on one of the 45 miles of "carriage roads" in the
park. All of the carriage roads and bridges were built by J. D.
Rockefeller, Jr, to be available to horses, bikes and pedestrians
only.
Atop
Cadillac Mountain - the highest point on the Atlantic seaboard.
click on "forward" or "back" above to see more of our
adventures in July.
In spite of warnings we'd been given at the campground in
Maine, we had no problems passing through customs into Canada on Tuesday,
July 20. They were not busy - just asked a few questions and passed us
on. Our first stop was Fredericton, New Brunswick. Planning around
our fixed ferry reservations coming at the end of the month, we didn't do
as much as we would like to in the area. We hope to do a little more on
our way back south in August. But, we did take advantage of Wal-Mart
hospitality for two nights and the day in between we visited the Mactaquac
Generating Station and Biodiversity Center where they rescue and relocate the
fish they catch at the generating station. In downtown Fredericton we
watched the "changing of the guard" at the Officer's Square in the old military
district.
From
Fredericton we drove to Prince Edward Island across the 8-mile long
Confederation Bridge....quite an engineering and construction project!
Unfortunately, it was foggy at the bridge, so we couldn't see much. We
found our way to Anne's Whispering Pines Campground near Tracadie Bay
on the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the PEI National Park. Over the next
several days we toured parts of Prince Edward Island.
July, 2004
page 3
Click on "forward" and "back" above to see more of our
adventures in July.
Our
first tour took us to "Anne's Land" which is the area where the author Lucy Maud
Montgomery was born and raised and was the inspiration for her books (and the
eventual movies, etc.) in the "Anne of Green Gables" series. We
visited the author's birthplace and the family farm near
Cavendish and also a small museum in Malpeque where a very friendly lady
told us all about the mussel farming business. We had noticed the many,
many white buoys floating in most of the bay areas. Baby mussels (called
spats) are put into "socks" of fish netting and hung from buoys in the water for
two years. In that time they grow big enough to eat and then are harvested
and sold. We also made a stop at the Woodleigh Gardens which is a showcase
of large scale replicas of castles and cathedrals of the British
Isles. They were built over a number of years by Colonel Johnstone who had
been inspired during time spent in England during WWI. We walked inside
the "Tower of London" and several other famous buildings.
Our
second tour, on Saturday, took us to the "Hills and Harbours" area of PEI.
We drove just along the southern-most coastline and checked out the campground
we'll be moving to next week and also the ferry we'll be taking over to Nova
Scotia. We climbed to the top of the oldest lighthouse on PEI, the Point
Prim. It is circular, built of brick, and has been in continuous service
since 1846. It has been operated electrically since 1969. We were
amazed that it is just open to the public for free and we could climb right up
and touch the revolving, flashing lens. We're sure glad that we never had
to run up and down the tiny circular staircase to trim the wicks and keep the
kerosene burning - or live in the small spaces on the landings. We were
disappointed that because the water was calm, they were not harvesting "Irish
moss." In this area, after stormy seas, they use huge rakes to pull in the
seaweed and haul it away. Supposedly most of the world's supply of
Carrageenan (a food stabilizer) is created from PEI's harvest of "Irish
moss."

The
"piper" leading the guard at Officer's Square in Fredericton.
The
"Anne of Green Gables House near Cavendish, PEI
Rows
of mussel buoys in the Winter River/Tracadie Bay, PEI
The
Tower of London at Woodleigh Gardens, Kensington, PEI
Point Prim Lighthouse, PEI
It
was on to the "Ship to Shore" and "Sunsets and Seascapes" areas of PEI on
Sunday. It was a long day with a lot of driving. We got to see a lot
of what PEI is famous for.....cottages scattered among the miles of flowering
potato and glistening wheat fields with the water off in the distance. The
yards surrounding the farmhouses and cottages are all neat and clean and edged
with flowers. The one thing that stuck us, however, was the lack
of boats in the water. There were a few docks with fishing boats
in some of the villages, but no pleasure
boats.
We stopped to visit two small museums. In Ellerslie Irma gave us a tour
of her Shellfish Museum where we learned about growing oysters, mussels and
clams and Irma told us about her days "working the lines" as they put out
the "spat." In O'Leary we toured the Potato Museum and learned all
about the island's huge potato industry. Did you know that potatoes
originated in South America and were taken back to Europe by the early
explorers? At North
Cape we saw the "wind farm" of 16 windmills generating electricity and part of
the 2 mile long rock reef which is protected by a lighthouse built in
1866. Moving to the opposite shore of the west end of the island, we
visited the West Point Lighthouse which also functions as a small hotel.
Once again, we were disappointed that no moss harvesting was taking place.

Tom with his harvest of "Irish Moss" on the beach at
North Cape, PEI
We
had communicated by e-mail with friends Mary and Harold Morgan (whom we'd met
several years ago when we were all members of the Michigan-O-Bounders) and
discovered that they were just several miles away from us at another campground
here on PEI. We got together on Monday morning to compare notes of our
travels. They had just returned from Newfoundland and Labrador and we are
heading there next. We had a great visit with them and their traveling
buddies, Vounda and Shelby. (We also have been using journals of our
friends the Emonds and the Paynes who visited the Maritimes last
year....thanks guys!) Later that day we toured the Province House
and Founders Hall in downtown Charlottetown, the capital of PEI, and learned
about the founding of the Confederation Canada and the formation of its
provinces and territories.
July, 2004
page 4
click on "back" above to see our earlier adventures in
July.
Mary
and Harold Morgan with their friends Vounda and Shelby.
The
"Province House" in Charlottetown where the first meetings were held to create
the Confederation of Canada in 1864.
On
Tuesday, July 27 we moved the rigs a little further east on the Island to Seal
Cove Campground. We had a nice level site several rows back from the
water's edge and could see the bay full of buoys from our windows. After
getting set up we went out in search of a distillery that was written up in one
of the tour guides. The descriptions said they had a nice visitor center
and tours of the process of making vodka from potatoes. Well, we searched
every road around the little town of Caledonia and nobody we talked to had ever
seen the place. On Wednesday morning we set out again - this time heading
for "East Point" on the far tip of the island. Aly, Jacques' yellow lab,
had not been feeling well, so we stopped at a veterinary clinic in
Montague. They took some x-rays and suggested that Aly be taken to the
Atlantic Veterinary College Hospital at the University of Prince Edward Island
in Charlottetown. So, we changed directions and went to the hospital where
Aly was seen by some very nice doctors. They recommended surgery.
So, Tom and Jacques drove Aly back to the hospital on Thursday while Mary spent
the day "housekeeping" back at the campground. Since the campground was
fully booked for the weekend, we had to leave on Friday so we drove the rigs to
the College and parked in a large lot. Aly was discharged on Saturday
morning with orders to take it easy and permission to travel. So, our
journey continued.
On
Saturday, July 31 we drove from the Veterinary College in Charlottetown to Woods
Island on the south shore where we caught a ferry to Nova Scotia. Once we
docked, we drove from Pictou, NS across to Cape Bretton Island and up to North
Sydney, making a few stops along the way. When we arrived at the
ferry terminal around 11pm as the agents had suggested when we made our
reservations over the phone weeks ago, we found that they were running way
behind schedule. The lots were full of vehicles and they would not be
loading the last evening ferry till close to 2am. We could have come back then
to get in line for the first morning ferry. We chose not to do that and
found a space to park at Indian Beach a few blocks away. There was a full
moon that night and we were able to watch it across the water, a beautiful
sight. We were first in line for the ferry anyway, arriving around 6:30am
the next morning.....to continue our adventure by going to Newfoundland and
Labrador.


Alyeska, a yellow lab, our travel buddy
The
MV/Holiday Isle, an open ferry, that took us on an hour's journey from
Woods Island, Prince Edward Island to Caribou, Nova Scotia.
Tom
figured out our expenses and discovered that this has been our best month
yet....$4 a night average for campgrounds and 9mpg on fuel...but we hit our
all-time high for fuel cost at $2.24 a gallon in Nova
Scotia.