July 1st, 2025 Canada Day

 July 1st, 2025

There were a number of celebrations going on in St. Peters.  We attended the Lion's Club picnic where there was free entertainment and free food!  Events for the kids were available, too.  We joined Nancy, Pierre and their good friends for part of the afternoon.  Pierre was also working the food stand, so he was busy.  

Nancy on the left and their good friends

Pierre

  The Kitchen Fest entertainers:  guitarists, accordion, percussion and vocals.  Our waitress came out and did a wonderful step dance.  After the evening was over, she shared her story with Ron and me.  Her daughter in her 20s is in the military and began having some brain issues.  She was tested and they found 2 aneurysms. Since she was so young, the doctors suggested that it was most likely hereditary and that all of her family should be tested.  Her mom saw a doctor who immediately ordered an MRI.  The Canadian medical system, unlike ours, made her wait 1 year before the MRI could be done.  She was found to have 4 aneurysms in her brain. Both the mom and daughter have had some surgeries, but the mom, our waitress, continues too have issues.  She told us she'd been step dancing her entire life and was so afraid she could never dance again.  But she's grateful she can still dance and teach others. Tried to upload a photo of the  step dancer, but the file was too large.

beautiful accordion

unique percussion

This performer recently won a big award

Aaron McDonald

June 30th, 2025 Broad Creek Campground to St. Peter

 

June 30, 2025

We got a late start, so we didn't arrive in St. Peter until 3:30pm.  We signed in at the campground, purchased groceries and headed for Bras d Or Lake Inn for Kitchen Fest.  We were joined by another couple who also had agreed to share their table.  Little did we know we had so much in common. By the end of the evening, we were good friends.  

Emil and Elaine Roach live in Sydney and have a 140 year old cabin near St. Peter. Emil was a high school science teacher and later worked at a college (similar to my story). We mentioned that we had friends who live here but spend winter months in Dunedin.  When I said their names (Pierre and Nancy Lacroix), Emil said, I was their children's teacher.  He mentioned that Pierre was in a men's choir, and I told him it was through choir in Dunedin that we met Pierre.  One more similarity:  Emil was a cyclist who did long rides in the Maritimes for many years. We told them that Ron and I met through cycling.  What a small world to find so many similarities.

Typical scenery

Ferry Ride

All signs are English and Gaelic

Great entertainment

Emil and Elaine

June 29th, 2025

   June 29th, 2025

Rain is expected today, so we decided to take a day off and catch up on some work.  We are in the same campground as last night, Broad Cove, here on the East side of the Cabot Trail.  We are in the tent area because we did not need power and there were no power sites available anyway.  We had called yesterday for a reservation and they said they were full.  It always pays to drive to the campground and ask in person.  They assumed since we were an RV that we needed power.  Cost of this National Park campground, Canadian $20 per night/ US $15.  Thanks to the new Prime Minister of Canada, all of the National Parks are free until September this year so we did not have to pay to drive the Cabot Trail.  The National Park Campgrounds get a 25% discount!  

Tomorrow we head for St Peters where we have reservations for three nights at the provincial park.  We also have reservations for several of the Kitchen Fest events in town.

June 28th, 2025

 

  June 28th, 2025  Mabou to  Broad Cove Campground on the Cabot Trail 

  We went to the Red Shoe last night for great fiddle/piano/guitar music.  Knowing that the music started at 7:30 and tables filled quickly, we decided on an early dinner and had great seats.  People were lined up outside the door for the music venue, and we told that staff that we would be happy to share our table of four.  The first two ladies who joined us were retirees from Vancouver, Iris and Margaret.  They stayed for dinner and then left for another music venue in town. The staff came and asked us if we were willing to share our table again.  This time we were joined by Bonnie and Carl, a couple in their late 40s from Toronto. They were fun!  Several locals entertained us with step dancing.  By 9:30 we decided to head back to the RV as fireworks were going off at a nearby beach.   I will try to upload some videos of dancing later.  

The Red Shoe

Our original plan  was to go to the Doryman in Chiticamp for music, but we arrived in town so early, we continued on to the Cabot Trail. The trail is a scenic 298 km highway loop on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia.  It's named after the explorer John Cabot who led the first European expedition to North America in 1497.  While he didn't explore this specific area, his voyages paved the way for European settlement and the naming of the trail in his honor.  

The Gaelic people in Nova Scotia are primarily descendants of Scottish Highlanders and islanders who immigrated to the province between 1773 and 1855.  They brought with them their language, and a rich culture that continues to influence Nova Scotia today.  While Gaelic is no longer widely spoken, there are still an estimated 2,000 speakers in the province  Kitchen parties (Ceilidhs) pronounced kay-lees, are a popular way to experience Gaelic culture, with music dancing and story-telling.

June 27, 2025

  

June 27, 2025  Onward to Mabou

We had a beautiful day's ride from the Provincial Park to Mabou and The Red Shoe where tonight begins Kitchen Fest music.  We drove through Pugwash and saw these cute boats at an intersection in town. 

 Lunch was in a roadside park.  We arrived in Mabou and pulled into a parking lot where we have overnighted before.  And then the trouble began.  Ron felt and heard something tug at our roof and he got out and looked.  A wire was attached to our air conditioner and was stuck.  A knight in ?shining? armor was sitting in his nearby yard and came over to help.  He said that a few days ago, a larger RV pulled in and knocked this wire part way down.  The guy quickly got a stepladder and offered to help.  Well that ladder wasn't tall enough so he went back and found his extension ladder.  Both he and Ron tried to figure out what to do.  They determined that is was a coaxial cable and not live and dangerous.  Ron finally decided the only way to deal with it was to cut it.  That worked, but part of the wire was stripped and is still wedged under our AC.  The AC works, but hopefully there will be no leaks if it rains.  We offered this generous man some money, but he refused.  What a good Samaritan. After this episode, he went to a nearby building and found some cones to mark future problems for those coming to park this evening. 

 

 

On to listen to music!!

June 26, 2025

 

June 26, 2025 Wal-Mart to Amherst Shores Provincial Park, Nova Scotia

Finally, great weather.  After a cool night, the daytime temp was pleasant and sunny (68 high).  We always avoid highways if possible.  That led us to a lunch stop at Baie-Verte Park where we met a couple from Quebec traveling on their motorcycles. They were on a short holiday from work.  He is vice-president of an international company with 600 employees in the US and Canada.  His work often brings him to Naples, FL where many of the employees are headquartered. 

Our destination today was Amherst Provincial Park, where check-in was easy and welcoming.  We've been getting up so early that we crashed for a couple of hours this afternoon.  We had dinner, a short walk, sat outside until the mosquitoes arrived, and then finished season one of a Netflix series called the sinner.   

Our friends in Cape Breton (who also have a place in Dunedin) saw that we were heading their way and contacted us.  Thanks for the email, Pierre!

Couple from Quebec

Lunch stop

Enjoying the sunshine

June 23rd, 24th & 25th, 2025

 

June 23rd, 2025

HOT!  Temps here were in the 90's with little cool-off at night.  Our campsite near Gorham, NH (Moose Brook State Park) was fine, but it was so hot, we opted for no fire and no outdoor dining.  Instead we watched Netflix and enjoyed the air-conditioning!  It was even too hot to take a picture!

June 24th, 2025

We stayed at Peak-Kenny State Park in Maine.  This was a beautiful wooded campground and a bit cooler than last night.  To me, even the mosquitoes seemed sluggish, although I am rarely bitten.  Ron, however, is a mosquito magnet!  We enjoyed a fire and then retired to the AC!

June 25, /2025

Our border crossing into Canada seemed to be more thorough than some of our previous crossings.  Passports were collected, questions were asked about the amount of alcohol and tobacco on board, guns, pets, fresh fruits and vegetables, why we had Ohio temporary plates since our residence was in Florida.  Then the customs agent went back to the building and further reviewed whether we were a threat to Canada.  We checked out OK and off we went.

  We seldom make reservations for a campground, and that worked well for us today.  Our plan was show up at Mactaquac Provincial Park in New Brunswick, Canada.  It was on the opposite side of the river as we traveled north.  Without any previous signs, we arrived at the bridge and it was blocked off by barricades.  Other vehicles were as confused as we were. 

So the alternate plan tonight is Wal-Mart in Fredericton.  Temps are supposed to take a big drop tonight.  By 6am tomorrow it will be 49 degrees.  What a switch.  We will be digging out the winter clothes!!  YAY!!

June 22 and 23rd, 2025

 June  22:

We found a small church not far from our campground in Cherry Valley.  St. Thomas the Apostle's interior reminded me of the church I attended in Pekin while growing up.  Total attendance at this church last week, according to the bulletin, was 48.  They had an organist and a choir and most of the parishioners sang along.  

On the road we saw a caravan of  over 50 motorcycles, escorted by police front and rear.

This farmer left no stone unturned.  Stone totems were sporadically located throughout the field.

Our campground last night was at the juncture of the Hudson River and Lake Champlain. The Memorial Lighthouse marks the entrance to Lake Champlain.  We had a campsite with no power, but it was not a problem.  We had air-conditioning running off our batteries all night with 30% left. Temps here are crazy for NY.  90s in the daytime and upper 70s at night.   Pictured:  campsite backing up to the Hudson River.

                                                        

      

Lake Champlain Lighthouse

6/23/2025  New York to New Hampshire to Vermont. 

 Courthouse, Montpelier, VT

After a short day of travel, we arrived at Moose Brook State Park.  Although we had no reservation, there were several sites available and we were able to choose the one we wanted. Temps in the mid-90s here, but the humidity makes it feel like 103.  Are we back in Florida?

JUNE 21 2025

 

             Allegany State Park, NY to Glimmerglass State Park, NY

              Here are some Poppy pics:  

                    1.  The crew at Advanced RV who participated in our build.

                    2.  The handle they designed just for me (Jan) to open the outside door.                                     Poppy#1 was impossible for me to open.  This one is easy.

It's only been one day, and Ron already found a gravel road with potholes.  This one took us to Stone Tower.

  

            Our route today contained many steep climbs and big descents, but the roads were good.  We stopped at a Farmers' Market in downtown Perry, NY and purchased some amazing looking muffins from an Amish girl.  Temps here reached 90, but for us Floridians, the humidity wasn't bad.  We have power tonight so the AC will be running.

New Poppy 2025

 On June 14th, we left Dunedin and headed to Willoughby, OH to pick up new Poppy. We encountered heavy, blinding rains interspersed with decent weather each of the 3 days of travel.  We even made a side trip to look at some Boykin Spaniels.  They are smaller thank Springers, but extremely lively!

Since we had taken most of our RV stuff home last September, we rented a van and took what we thought we needed.  New Poppy is 18 inches shorter than old Poppy (a loss of 72 square feet), so we were concerned about storage space. We took less, and ended up with ample, even extra space.  

 Advanced RV didn't expect us until Thursday, June 26th, but they were so accommodating! We signed the papers and moved our stuff in to the RV on Monday, June 23rd.  That gave us a few days to see if there were any issues before taking off for New England

        NEW POPPY                          

 Each RV is custom.  Last fall, we met with the design team at A-RV and  selected the layout and the finishes for Poppy. We are so pleased with the quality and how they made our design a reality.   

Today, Friday, June 20th, we left for Allegany, NY State Park.  Although it was only 180 miles, much of it was on curvy mountainous roads, so it took much longer than expected.  This is the first park we've ever been in that wouldn't let you stop at the entry station to check in.  He told us to go to our site, get set up and come back (walking) and check in.  Well it was at least a quarter of a mile up a hill, so we drove back, told him we were unable to walk back.  Check-in completed!

Below is one of the many farms we saw on our trip today.  Many had no electricity and had clotheslines full of drying clothes.  We saw women mowing large yards with push mowers. Of course, they were Amish residences. 

Our campground tonight has warnings of black bear, but none were seen.  

9/10/2024

 9/10/2024 & 9/11/2024: we drove to Willoughby, OH to the Mothership, A-RV, the builder of our RV for some warranty work. Today is our eldest granddaughter's birthday. Happy birthday, Leah!

Advanced RV

Duke meets Bob

Leah is 10

9/9/2024

 9/9/2024: Thanks again to the Larsons for a great dinner and a place to stay last night. Today, my colleagues from my days in Health Careers at ICC got together for lunch at The Lariat Club. So many fun stories!! And now we are headed to Willoughby, OH for some warranty work on Poppy! Front: Bridget, Anh, Janice, Carolynsue. Back: Jan, Bonnie, Kelly Julie.

Front:  Bridget, Anh, Janice, Carolynsue
Back:  Jan, Bonnie, Kelly, Julie

9/8/2024

 9/8/2024: Breakfast with close friends at Ernie's.