Wednesday August 17, 2016 from Moncton to Lower Barney’s River, NS

Wallace Town Symbol

Amherst wood carving

After a late start, Highway 2 took us into Nova Scotia and Amherst, where we gassed up and consumed some Tim Horton’s donuts.  Amherst, a particularly picturesque town, has gorgeous Victorian buildings from the 1800’s and 43 beautiful carved tree trunks depicting some of the early politicians and early residents.  As one enters the town, the first “tree trunk” features four of the founders of the Canadian Federation.  We made the decision to take the scenic Sunrise Highway along the North Humberland Coast, adding about 20 miles to our journey but a lot nicer ride.  Drove through some really cute towns, like Pugwash and Wallace which have fancy sign banners hanging from lightposts.  Pugwash also has a scenic harbor, and a clever entrance display with two dories and lobster traps.  Last stop before the campground was New Glasgow, featuring a beautiful overhead metal sign over the entrance bridge into the city.  A stop at Sobey’s ensured we had food for a few days.  Our biggest, most pleasant surprise was the Cranberry Campground in Lower Barneys River.  We booked it without much info. It is on the Bay, and has large wide open spaces and is quite scenic. 

Entrance sign to New Glasgow

Street divider in Pugwash

  

Tuesday August 16, 2016 From Woodstock to Moncton, NB

A hot and humid day greeted us, plus a problem.  Three dashboard warning lights went on as the engine started, basically related to braking and anti-skid systems.  We also lost our cruise control.  We called Prime Mercedes in Scarborough, and they said it was probably a faulty electronic module. It should be safe to drive on as we had been doing till we could find a dealer in Canada.  Calls to dealers in Canada basically said it would be a week before they could look at us, so we made the decision to plug on to Newfoundland - we were able to get an appointment for next Tuesday in St. John’s.  We rearranged our planned camping arrangements and car rental in St. John’s, and were off! 

 Around noon we arrived at Kings Landing, a restored 19^th Century village and living museum.  Big place, well done with good “reenactors”, and had a nice lunch in their King’s Arms restaurant.

Anglican Church

Kings Landing Museum

Kings Head Restaurant

Docent in the store explaining the merchandise

  We got some good walking exercise in! 

 Campers City Campground in Moncton was our stop that night-our first and last overnight there.  Basically a place for local weekenders, not transients.  .

Monday August 15, 2016 Departing Touchstone to Woodstock, NB

Mt. Katahdin from an I95 overlook

Our mascot Katahdin!

Today was our day one on our Newfoundland trip, and we departed Touchstone around 9:45am enroute to Hampden. Lois and Charlie Weeks (Becky’s brother and sister-in-law) greeted us with a terrific lunch, featuring fresh crab rolls, brownies and chocolate chip cookies.  After some great conversation and hearing more about their new RV that they’re getting this Friday, we were dispatched with a good supply of desserts.  It was a pretty boring ride on the Maine Turnpike to Houlton, unless of course you like to look at unremitting evergreens!  Our mascot Katahdin is on the trip, and a scenic overlook provided the backdrop for his photograph in front of his namesake Mountain.

 After a quick trip through Canadian Customs, we arrived at the Yogi Bear Campground in Woodstock around 4:30.  Great place if you have kids, lousy for transient campers!  Basic open sites on gravel, no internet, and their advertised cable TV only works if you’re in a rented cabin!  Spent the evening reading and listening to music.