Day 29, July 26, 2007

Day 29, Wednesday, July 26, 2007
We didn’t get a real early start, about 9:45 am. Nothing to do on the motorhome, just getting ready to go and we didn’t have many miles to put on today. We are on the Acadian coast and going to head to Miscou Island which is the farthest east you can go in New Brunswick. Before we start you know what - - - - - - - - Tim Horton’s which is right on our way. There is a wooden lighthouse there which dates back to the 1800’s. I think it is the oldest wooden lighthouse in use in Canada, I’ll have to confirm that. The drive up is about an hour and again the unseen scenery. Lots of little towns to drive through and the houses are quite spread out. The landscape changes from tall trees in the Shippagan area to a ground cover and a few copse of trees as we went up the Acadian Isles. There just are no tall trees, the tallest is maybe 10 feet and they are sparse and in little copse of trees. These copse are about 15-20 feet across and more or less in a circle. You can see in some areas maybe a half mile or a little more and that is all you see. Very strikingly different. The drive out is very windy, but a good road and actually better than some parts of the Trans Canada Highway. The ground again at the lighthouse is very flat and drops about 8 feet to the water. A different smell to the water here as compared to our ocean. More of a pungent smell. Takes a little getting use to. Unfortunately, the lighthouse was not open to go upstairs. There was a little gift store (and I mean little, 8 x 16 feet) operated by a local lady. Her husband does sand sculptures and she sells them there. Very well done and not very expensive. Willa and Tegan were down at the water and I started talking to this lady ???????????????????. She was born on the Miscou Island as she said “in the dead of winter, in the middle of a snowstorm and with no nurse, my dad delivered me, so I was born and raised on the Island”. Nice lady, her husband is a fisherman and was out herring fishing I think. He also lobster fishes. She had moved away for awhile but moved back with her husband and their little guy was born there, but not delivered by her husband. We have met some interesting and friendly people on this trip so far. Coming back from the lighthouse we stopped at an ecological walk and did the tour, but it was new and so no information on fauna etc. This was in the middle of a peat bog which is what most of this area is like. In fact, there were a couple of peat farms you could see from the road. On our way back, we stopped at the provincial run Aquarium in Schippagan. Very nice and well done. Very informative on the fishing history of the Acadians. I was finished ahead of Willa and Tegan so I thought I would come out and start the air conditioner. I met two ladies on big motorbikes and got to talking to them. They are from Moncton and on a little holiday. Well I got to talking to them and then Willa and Tegan came out and I introduced them around and we must have visited with them for 30-40 minutes. Very nice people. Well it is now getting to be close to 4:00 pm and time to start looking for a campsite. The Town of Schippagan has one right on the water and so that is where we headed about 3-4 k out of town. We are all settled in, been lucky in most of the campsites—the parking space is level so have to do very little to level up, maybe one or two wheels. They have a laundry here so Willa wants to catch up on her washing, some things just seem to follow you from home even on holidays. The weather has been overcast today with a temp of about 80-83 f but very muggy. I’ve ran the roof top air (which needs the generator running which is no problem). You get pretty comfortable in the motorhome traveling along with the a/c running. Then you get out and it hits you. the hot muggy weather. Well I’ve transferred my pictures over to the laptop and I am done with my diary and it is still fairly early. Once a week I transfer my pictures over, that way it gives me an idea where they were taken and if I forget I can look at my diary and hopefully figure out where they were taken. Another day of memories and another day coming to look forward to.