The Road Goes On…

2024 Eastern Canada

  • Moncton, NB

    Today was a restful day at the USVA spa, alternating between saunas or steam baths, and then ice cold water, either from buckets above or a small dipping pool with a small waterfall. After the shock of the cold water, we relaxed for 20 minutes, mostly in hammocks before repeating the cycle once again. After five cycles, we were hungry and set out to find a place to eat.

    Skipper Jacks ended up being the place for dinner. We’d been there on our 2019 trip and really enjoyed it, so why not return? The fish and chips meal was great and we topped it off with cheese cake. We had a Pumphouse blueberry beer with our meal and it was really refreshing. We’ll have to find some to take home.

  • Moncton, NB to Summerside, PE

    Today is Saturday and the Moncton Farmer’s Market is open and worth a trip to. We recognized some of the stands from our 2019 visit and found some new ones as well. There are a number of craft stands with jewelry, leather goods, toys, minerals and fossils, and wooden creations. Other stands had freshly made pastries, bread and meals while another hall had fruits, vegetables, meats and, of course, seafood. We bought some pastries and ate them outside where a musician played guitar and sang. A refreshing cold raspberry lemonade helped cool us off on this hot and humid day.

    On our way out we found a stand that was selling cooling “scarves” that you wet and hang around your neck. Very effective today!

    We found the Pumphouse brewery a couple of hundred metres from the market and purchased a six pack of the blueberry beer we had had yesterday to take home.

    We haven’t been to Prince Edward Island for a while so we crossed the Confederation Bridge and stopped at the information centre to see what we should see and do while on the island. Kevin was a great help and probably gave us suggestions for several weeks of activities and sightseeing. We may not make it to Nova Scotia at this rate.

    While we had a large stack of brochures and a map, we found the roadside signage great as it gave ample warning of upcoming attractions, the first of which was the Thompson’s Woodcraft workshop (46.37375N, 63.72876W). Wilfred Thompson is an accomplished woodworker with over 50 years of experience. He turns beautiful wood bowls, and when we told him we’d just started turning wood ourselves, he gave us a tour of his workshop and a couple of tips on bowl making. What a delightful experience.

    We’re staying at the Linkletter Provincial Park, which is right on the water and features mosquitos. Nonetheless we had a great walk along the beach.

  • Summerside, PE to Stanley Bridge, PE

    We woke up to bright sunshine and walked around the campground. The mosquitos were gone and the tide on the Northumberland Strait was high. The campsites directly on the water have a great view.

    One of the RVs in the campground was a really old unit from the 1970s that had been refurbished 3-4 times. The owners told us that they were here for car racing the next day at nearby Slemon Park and that visitors were welcome to watch. They would be racing a yellow 1970s Mini. The Slemon Park is on the grounds of what used to be a military base and it is still an active airport. For today, part of apron was blocked off for the races. Cars of all types were there, including Corvettes, Mustangs, BMWs and one yellow Mini as promised. These cars are mostly street cars, although there were lots of stacks of tires around, perhaps to improve racing performance. Next to one car was a stack of tires and a child seat, so perhaps that was the daily driver.

    Father and son-in-law were taking turns driving the Mini as the son-in-law’s car had a broken oil pump.

    The Mini was making some squealing sounds and at lunch that was further investigated by both father and son-in-law. The initial thought was that the alternator belt was the cause so that alternator was adjusted slightly but further investigation determined the cause to be air leaking around one of the air filters on one of the two carburetors.

    The wives were cheering during the races and looking after the three dogs.

    A static aircraft display and memorial is by the entrance to Slemon Park and we were able to walk around. Some of the aircraft had been built by Dehavilland or Canadair.

    This CP-107 Argus was used for antisubmarine warfare and was built at the Canadair factory in Montreal near where Martin grew up sometime between 1957 and 1960.

    We returned to Summerside and walked along the boardwalk and watched a Coast Guard ship come into port.

    Further along the boardwalk we discovered artist shops and the Shoreline Design PEI jewelry shop where Joe was making new creations in the workshop. He took a Canadian penny and punched a hole in it and then transformed it into a ring which he gave Ruth as a gift.

    A short distance further is the MaiYa Pearls store where we talked to Claus about politics, culture and many other subjects. The store is named after his beautiful daughter.

    We enjoyed two huge ice cream scoops to some live music before moving on to Stanley Bridge for a Ceilidh (a music performance). The Proud Islanders were playing in an old United Church to a small but interesting audience comprised largely of tourists. We learned quite a bit about Maritime life through the songs and stories told.