Raleigh to Iowa via Norway

We have been very busy since the last blog posting. [So busy that Jeffrey is the guest writer for this blog post]

We left Raleigh in May dodging the weather fronts. The weather was cooperating and we were generally a day before or a day after the storms until we got close to Iowa for an appointment at HWH to have the motorhome leveling jacks inspected. The winds were projected to be high and would be hitting us at a right angle, so we stayed an extra night in one campground and then drove 2 days distance the next day to keep our appointment. It was only a little less windy that day and 450 miles was alot to drive a motorhome fighting the wind -- our longest day EVER. We were glad that we stopped at HWH as the jack that was replaced in Florida had bent brackets and the valve was leaking. HWH has electric hookups in their parking lot so we can live without running the generator while staying overnight -- even ended up staying an extra night because of the continuing high winds.

Our next destination was an Iowa state park to visit with friends, Jeff and Dawn. We get to see them in Florida every winter and they often get stuck (volunteer) to watch our motorhome while we fly away from Max for a week, but they are very nice and we really enjoy time spent with them.

From there we went to visit my relatives in Rochester, Minnesota. and had a nice visit with my mom's siblings; my aunt Margaret and her husband Merlyn, my aunt Loiuse and cousin Michael. We then ventured on to Minneapolis where we had planned a flight to visit Sheila in Burlington, WA, and also to check out a indoor storage location where we would be leaving Max a month later for our trip to Iceland and Norway. Since the weather can be severe in this area, we hoped to store Max indoors. Over the internet we had found an indoor storage location with electricity so Max could be plugged in while we were gone. We are sure glad we checked the facility out in person as the electricity was not working on the steel post where we were to park. The other option was to put us next to an area with a lot of foot traffic, band saws (and their dust) and sharing an outlet with that equipment plus a big refigerator! Plan B involved leaving Max at a campground that was prone to flooding and had recently damaged our motorhome paint with their lawn mower!

Us with Uncle Merlyn and Aunt Margaret

Time for Plan C. I got on the web and found another indoor storage location but they only do in-once/out-once storage during the winter. When I explained the situtation, they made an exception could even do electricity. They just needed us to arrive after hours to drop Max off and pick him up very early on our return because they work during the summer months. It seemed too good to be true, but after a quick inspection we had our new plan and the price was much less too. Crisis averted.

With the new plan in place, back to our busy schedule.  We flew to the northwest to visit Sheila and her cat Tay. My allergy shots seem to be working well (and Tay isn't allowed in "our" bedroom or bathroom). Sheila had made plans to have close friends and family on a boat ride in Puget Sound to scatter Rick's ashes. The weather was a big concern but it turned out to be absolutely beautiful for the ceremony. Afterwards, Rick's cousins had everyone over to their house with good food and fond memories for all.

Our memorial service for Rick near Deception Pass, Washington (L to R: Rick's sister, Pat, Sheila, and Maren)

On our return to Minneapolis, we hustled down to Forest City, IA for a service appointment at Winnebago's factory service center. A short list of things were fixed under our new extended warranty (the last extended warranty paid for itself many times over) and then we offhandedly asked Winnebago to look at the back of our water heater.  We have had an ongoing issue of a slow, persistent leak which years ago had even shorted the water heater's electriral wiring. While it had seemed to be stable for many years, we were with the experts, so we asked them to double check things. It turned out our tank was actually cracked. Then the new extended warranty company got very quiet! Luckily after a day and a half they said, yes, they'll cover replacing the water heater. We are just glad our tiny leak hadn't turned into a basement flood. We then went down the street to have some paint work done at the company that does much of Winnebago's full body painting. We had used them a couple of years ago and they were great then. Several small touchups plus a medium-sized dent from some construction debris kicked up by a passing truck was repaired and one big noise nuisance with a awning topper was resolved. We are very happy and looking good too.

Back up to Minneapolis we went and into our new indoor storage facility for our big overseas trip. We dropped off Max, now all alone in a big empty horse barn with electrcity for his battery charger and we flew to Iceland. Iceland airlines will let you stop over in Iceland for up to a week for the same ticket price, so we planned a 3-day stop over to explore before heading to London for the Norway cruise. Sheila met us in Rejkavik, Iceland, and it is an interesting place. We explored around town on foot and also took the Golden Circle tour. We saw waterfalls, geysers, historical sites and beautifui landscapes. Sheila even fullfilled a dream of riding an Icelandic horse. Everything is very expensive in Iceland as much has to be imported. The sun doesn't go down for long during the summer and little darkness and some jetlag made sleep interesting. When we got up at 4am to go to the airport the streets were still crowded with young people. Turns out they were all just coming home from the bars, but in any other town all of this would just be covered by the darkness of the night.

A very friendly Icelandic horse with great hair

The 3 of us at Faxafoss (Faxi Falls)

The three of us then flew to London and bus transferred to our cruise ship, the Pacific Princess. This is the smallest ship in their fleet and with only 600 or so passengers it is very much less crowded. We had planned to do this cruise back in 2016 with Dad and Sheila but it got cancelled when he got sick. We decided to go this year in his memory. After a lumpy night/day/night at sea we got our sea legs back and arrived in our first stop in Norway.

Our cruise itinerary

Sheila and Maren all dressy on a cruise formal night

 Norway is a very beautiful country and every stop going up and then back down the coast was amazing. The days kept getting longer and longer until the captain announced that sunset was cancelled. We had reached the arctic circle, also known as the place of the midnight sun and 24 hour daylight. The sun didn't set until 7 days later on our way back south. We traveled north all the way up the coast to the northern most point in Europe and then even further north to Svalbard, Norway. The town of Longyearbyen on the island of Spitsbergen is at 78 degrees north latitude. I don't know how much further north the ice cap was, but there isn't much earth north of where we were. We were expecting temps in the 30s, but it was 54F that day and I think everyone was overdressed except a few locals who took advantage of the day and were out in shorts.

Sheila adding even more color to the Trondheim waterfront

Me dipping my feet in very cold fjord water in Skjolden

Two Gators in Longyearben, Svalbard

The fjords of Norway are amazing. Tall cliffs, many waterfalls, scenic views of adjacent valleys and farms. The Creator really had fun with the norwegian coastline. At one point, we were over 100 miles inland from the ocean and still in a deep fjord.

Waterfall in the fjord on the way to Geiranger

Viewpoint overlooking Geiranger and the cruise ships

Jostedal Glacier near Skjolden

With the cruise finished we returned to London and flew back to Minneapolis. Sheila flew with us to Iceland where we all changed planes to our final destinations. After we picked up Max (all safe and secure) from storage, we headed back south to Forest City, IA for Winnebago's annual Grand National Rally. The rally grounds at the factory filled up over the next few days with over 900 RVs. There was great entertainment, education and social opportunities and many vendors were there to help people with issues. We saw some old friends and made some new friends too. We arrived early for a few pre-rally days and experienced several rainy days and some stormy and windy weather, again reenforcing why we opted for indoor storage while we were gone. For the actual rally week, the weather was perfect. Though it was a very hectic week, we had some time to relax and get back on our US timezone.

We are where the red arrow is pointing

We are now heading towards Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico, but first a stop in Omaha, Nebraska, so Maren could see some giraffe...

Quite a winter

Yeah, I know it has been quite awhile since I've posted. I've been putting it off and putting it off because it will be difficult this time.

In prior years our fall and winter months have been a comfortable pattern of visits through Texas and Florida seeing family and friends and doing a checklist of annual visits to doctors and dentists that we know and like. We generally also squeeze in a few week-long "fly-away" trips to hang out with my Dad and his "bride" Sheila in some interesting neutral touristy destination.

While this year was a similar itinerary, it was also goodbye to my wonderful father. Our fun trips together to new places were replaced with frequent flights directly to him so we could squeeze as much time in with him as we could, knowing his time with us was getting shorter. With the hope that we could continue these visits well into the new year we were busy planning our 2019 travels when our time with him suddenly ran out. We will greatly miss our adventures with him -- but our lives will forever be enriched by the "wanderlust" lifestyle he shared and passed on to all of us. The four us had to cancel a "bucket list" trip to Norway a few years ago when he had a health emergency and he always hoped we would get another chance to do it together. That will finally happen this summer -- with only the three of us now -- but he will definitely be with us in spirit as we explore the beautiful Norway coastline.

One of my favorite pictures of my Dad taken by dear friends of his

Having time with Jeffrey's father in Gainesville felt extra special this year. The three of us always manage to cover lots of activities together, though a bit fewer as I was dealing with a nerve issue in my neck that sidelined me from the epic puzzle projects I usually manage to drag the boys into. It also kept us from catching as many Gator sports competitions as I just wasn't up to perching on bleacher seats. Hopefully we'll make up for it next year!

Our encounters with animals also continued to lift our spirits. Once we got back to Florida in the fall, we tried a new campground for the month of December -- Lion Country Safari KOA. Good RV friends, Dawn and Jeff Marlin, had tried it out the year before and liked it quite a bit, so we decided to join them there. It was of course a HUGE bonus that there was a zoo right next door. You could even hear the lions roaring from the campground every day. Sounds a bit odd maybe, but we got used to listening to them and really missed it when we left at the end of the month.

Tower of giraffe at Lion Country Safari

Though not a BIG cat, a feline was also added as a permanent addition to our family by stepmom, Sheila. Tay (pronounced "tie") is a very sweet boy who is being a wonderful companion to her as well as providing the daily entertainment that only cats can. In addition to romping around her apartment with great abandon, he loves laying on Dad's chair, Sheila's lap, and unfortunately Sheila's open laptop computer whenever he can sneak on. We worry a little about the future tech phone calls he makes to us!

"Glamour Shot" of Tay

As we started to make our way out of Florida, we also got to tour the zoo in Jacksonville, Florida. It was a real treat, beautifully landscaped and staffed with volunteers at all of the big exhibits who did a wonderful job talking about each of the animals.

Alligator hiding in the leaf covered pond at the Jacksonville Zoo

Me feeding a giraffe a the Jacksonville Zoo

Of course, all of the wonderful family and friends we get to visit during these months in Texas, Florida, and North Carolina are big highlights too -- and we can't imagine changing our annual fall-winter plan to be a different itinerary. We feel blessed to have the time to see them and so far they haven't punted us away so they are stuck with us!

Me with nephew Isaac -- plus a giraffe statue at a local Raleigh eatery

Me with doggee cousin, Toby

Us wearing shirts I ordered from Animal Adventure -- the park where giraffe "April" lives in NY.
We got to visit her in person last summer. Jeffrey is a good sport to wear it with me!

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Happy Holidays 2018!

At the bottom of this blog post is our annual holiday letter, written by Jeffrey. It covers a basic review of our year, but not the nitty-gritty specifics of our last few months on the road. This fall has been much like the last few -- swinging through Texas for doctor visits and catching up with local friends before our trek across the gulf states to Florida for the winter months.

Given there isn't much new that isn't already covered by Jeffrey's letter, I'll instead share a bit more about the good and bad "living in an RV" side of things. Happily, 99% of this lifestyle is AWESOME. We have categorized the other 1% as mostly annoyance and sometimes "Oh CRAP, what just happened!".

As I write this, we are enjoying the 99% part -- living for the month in a KOA near Lion Country Safari in Loxahatchee where we hear the gibbons and lions every day from our campsite (very cool). We scored a Groupon to visit the park (which is right next door to the RV park) and spent a day doing the safari drive and the walking part too. Very well done, lots of animals in big spaces, and of course I got to feed the giraffe and some neat birds too :-) The KOA is a new RV park for us, but we have some great RV friends staying here too that we have known for years and always meet new people as we travel around too, so we never feel alone or lacking in social opportunities.

Our trip from Texas over to Florida this year fell into some of the 1%. First we had our motorized entry steps stick "out" as we were leaving the Texas RV park. They had stuck "in" a few months earlier but then started magically working so we really weren't too surprised they acted up again. This incident was especially poor timing --  you can drive with them stuck "in", but certainly not "out". An hour and a bunch of tools and cursing later, Jeffrey had removed them entirely, so we stopped at a Camping World near Houston to pick up a folding step we could deploy at campgrounds until we could figure out the problem (the height from Max's door to the ground is about 2 feet). On the bright side, I took the opportunity to give the entire step assembly a good cleaning to get rid of some minor surface rust and then applied a fresh coat of paint -- much easier to do while they were off of Max!

Our next "Crap" moment happened on i10 as we were driving in Louisiana. A semi-truck passed by in the left lane and kicked some construction debris in front of us -- most notably a 6x6" block of concrete. We heard a loud bang and lamented what damage the thing had done under Max and then possibly to the car we tow. The RV gauges were all reading normal conditions, so we waited until we got to a rest area to assess the damage. Lucky for us, the block went under the front fiberglass cap (so no damage on it), bounced off a steel support beam (also undamaged), and flew out the gap to the side where the motorized steps would have been installed (if we hadn't removed them). Hooray for us! Well, until we noticed that it then apparently bounced on the road once more and hit an exterior basement door, leaving a small dent and bad mark in the paint. Darn it. But not even worth claiming on our insurance -- we'll instead get it fixed up where Winnebago is located in Iowa the next time we visit. Unfortunately the dash-cam was "confused" and didn't capture the incident so we could go after the trucking company.

After seeing RV friends in Pensacola and catching a Gator football game with them at the local Gator Club (we lost to the husband's alma mater), we proceeded to Lazydays in Tampa for our annual "needs fixing" list of RV items. No surprise this included the motorized steps! It also included replacing a leaking valve behind the water heater, re-gluing a slide seal, replacing one of our 7-yr old roof A/Cs, replacing a misbehaving water pump, and replacing one of our leveling jacks. Our extended warranty picked up all of these items at a cost (to them) of over $4000. Our out of pocket cost was only the $100 deductible. That warranty expired shortly after our service appointment and Jeffrey convinced me to let him buy another one. The first one paid for itself 3 times over, so it seems like a wise investment. That said, these warranties are never cheap so purchasing one is a big decision but, like any insurance product, if it helps you sleep better at night it can be worth it!

Lastly, here is an idea of the U.S. states and Canadian provinces we have visited since we started RVing over 6 years ago. If we don't at least explore a little, we don't count it. Clearly we need to consider going west!

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HOLIDAY LETTER FROM JEFFREY

Maren and I had our biggest year yet in the RV we call home. 10,000 miles! This fall we are starting year 7 on the road and are convinced that we might be on to something here.

Our big RV destination this year was the Canadian Atlantic maritime provinces. Because this trip would involve remote and distant roads and RV parks, we joined up with a professional RV tour group so that they, with their years of expertise, would organize a trip with the questions already answered for questions we haven't even come up with. Because this trip was so involved, we can't begin to describe the adventure here. The entire tale of our Canadian adventure can be found in our previous blog posts, along with pictures. Hints: fabulous trip with new friends and looking for puffins/moose, Vikings, seeing icebergs, whales, ferries, getting “screeched-in”!

This year we celebrated my dad's 90th birthday. All of my brothers and families gathered a little early, taking advantage of the fact that he goes to Ormond Beach every year to watch a handball tournament over the Memorial Day weekend. That gave us a long weekend in Daytona Beach to  celebrate with him and enjoy the beach. Too bad the weather didn't cooperate as it was pretty rainy.

Along our RV travels we found a few more presidential sites including Adams (x2), Kennedy, Coolidge and G.H.W. Bush. By plane, we got close to some California presidential properties, but decided that family time was better than hours of driving in California traffic. Next time...

Maren's love of giraffes was satisfied by visiting the famous April (and Oliver and Tajiri) at Animal Adventure near Harpursville, New York where we also saw Tim Tebow play some baseball for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies minor league baseball team. We then met the near-famous 'Alf ' in Tennessee, and other un-famous towers of giraffe in Santa Barbara and Lion Country Safari near West Palm Beach.  We also toured the American Eagle Foundation in Pigeon Forge, TN and found a 'top ten' rated aquarium in Gatlinburg. Who knew, so far from the coast, in the mountains!

We got several visits in with Maren's parents, Rick and Sheila. We met up in Feb, Aug, and Dec in Burlington, WA and in Mexico in March. They joined us in Daytona Beach in May for my dad's 90th. In October we met them in the cute Danish-themed town of Solvang, California for fudge, food, wine (and Micheal the giraffe). Thankfully our experience was a little different than the same places (roads, restaurants, vineyards, ostriches) that you'll see in the movie Sideways. Maren even joined her father in Washington, DC for his veteran's 'Honor Flight'. Because our “house” keeps moving we flew out of 6 (7 for Maren) different airports this year. Maybe we should have gotten a plane instead of an RV! Surprisingly there were also 4 visits in 3 different states with Maren's cousin Sarah. Her travels and ours kept happily intersecting!

Sarah, Dad, Sheila, me and Jeffrey -- enjoying a winery near Solvang

As usual, we are ending the year in Florida enjoying the weather and visiting family and friends across the state. Wherever your travels take you in the new year, we wish you the very best and hope you are spending the holidays making memories with family and friends.

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2100 miles to go

Canadian Maritimes behind us, it was time to complete our loop. We always consider central TX as the start and end of our annual trekking since that is where we first started 6 years ago.

We began by heading to Scarborough near Maine's coast and found it to be a typical beach vacation spot. Temperatures were still very warm and the local beach was PACKED as school hadn't yet started for the local kids. The campground we had picked was a destination in itself and even had an "adults only" pool due to the large number of families. There was also daily live music, games, karaoke -- you name it. We got in some nice long walks as the place was huge -- over 700 camp sites.

The next stop was Springfield, Massachusetts, and there is a lot to do in this area. A friend tipped us off that Volleyball was invented in nearby city Holyoke and there is a small Volleyball Hall of Fame there that was first on our list to see. Just north of that was Northampton and the home of President Calvin Coolidge's museum/library. There is also an impressive museum collection in downtown Springfield that included one dedicated to Dr. Suess (and yes, we may have been the oldest visitors there).

Jeffrey horsing around with a mural at the Volleyball Hall of Fame

Jeffrey with the Cat in the Hat

What we thought would be simply a Labor Day weekend stop in Jonestown, Pennsylvania actually put us within an hour of Lancaster, home of President James Buchanan (called Wheatland). His Presidency occurred right before the Civil War and he failed to prevent it because he felt that secession was illegal but also that going to war to stop it was illegal. He was our only lifelong bachelor President.

We were now skirting along the west edge of Virginia, enjoying a brief stop near the town of Natural Bridge, home of a small zoo where I could feed carrots to a few giraffes. Just over the border into Tennessee we stopped for a few days in Baileyton, which put us within easy visits by car to Brights Zoo in Limestone and President Andrew Johnson's complex in Greeneville. I was especially excited about this zoo because it is the home of Alf. He had a rough start in life and had to be bottle raised. Instead of seeing him moved to a different zoo as he grew up, his Facebook supporters raised over $150,000 so the zoo could expand their giraffe barn and keep him.

Natural Bridge Zoo Giraffes getting carrots from Maren

The famous Alf at Brights Zoo

Enjoying a break on one of the #TeamAlf benches purchased by Alf supporters

I say "complex" for Andrew Johnson because it is probably the best collection of original places and artifacts we have seen for a President. In addition to a museum, they had both of his family homes, one of which had mostly original furniture. They also had a reproduction of his Raleigh, NC, birthplace (a simple room above a tavern). Of course his grave was also nearby. As the VP to Abraham Lincoln, he became President when Lincoln was assassinated, so much of his Presidency was filled with reuniting the former confederate states back into the Union.

A short drive to the next campground put us in Sevierville, TN. Only 20 minutes away by car is the American Eagle Foundation where we had an appointment for a tour of their headquarters. We were surprised to find it was just the two of us that day, and we really loved meeting all of the amazing raptors who call AEF home. Sadly, they are all non-releasable, but they are very well cared for and in many cases are able to be ambassadors for their species through local education programs. Some are even able to pick lifelong mates and raise young that can be released into the wild.

Maren and Bald Eagle "Mr. Lincoln"

With most of the day still ahead of us, we enjoyed lunch in Gatlinburg and enjoyed their local aquarium -- ranked as one of the best in the United States. It was also air-conditioned -- BONUS! (it was a hot day).

One of my favorite aquarium residents

Our next significant stop was Birmingham, Alabama. At this point we were closely watching the development of hurricane Florence as it was wobbling its way to the SE states. Thankfully Alabama looked to be in a safe zone. That said, one of our big goals for getting to Birmingham was for me to catch a flight to Baltimore to join my wonderful dad as his volunteer guardian for his Honor Flight from Puget Sound (Washington state). My flight was originally scheduled to fly through Charlotte, NC, but American Airlines was gladly swapping travelers to other flights to avoid the storm path. Even better was that the Honor Flight organizers were willing to take a chance that Washington D.C. would be spared enough that the trip was still given a green light.

Three days later dad and daughter each successfully caught flights to Baltimore and met up for an amazing 2-day experience together! The Honor Flight volunteers handled absolutely EVERYTHING, including all transportation, meals -- even arranging for dad to have an oxygen concentrator in our hotel room. It was very exciting and moving to be with the WWII, Korean, and Vietnam veterans as we were transported into D.C. to see all of their war and service branch memorials, the FDR and Lincoln memorials, the Women in Military Service for America and Navy museums, and the changing of the guard at Arlington National Cemetery. At several of these locations there was a special ceremony or recognition of the veterans, including numerous members of the public thanking them for their service. One even asked me to take a picture of him with my dad :-)

The special Alaska Airlines plane that brought the veterans to Baltimore

Dad and daughter hanging with FDR

One of my favorite pictures of the trip!

Sadly I had to fly back to Birmingham by myself and wasn't able to accompany dad on the Honor Flight plane back to Seattle. Not only did I miss the wonderful welcome his flight received by family and active service members at the Seattle airport, but I also missed the "mail call" of touching letters and cards from friends and family that had been collected for each veteran. Though I didn't need my newly-purchased raincoat in D.C., I surely would have needed it on that plane. Apparently Alaska Airlines made an announcement that the plane was riding with the nose tipped up a little because of the puddle of tears collecting at the rear.

Dad being welcomed back home and escorted by an active duty sericeman

Our remaining RV trek west included a quick stop in Vicksburg, MS, to see its Civil War Military Park -- one of the main locations of huge Civil War campaigns that eventually led to the capture of Vicksburg by the Union and control of the Mississippi river. We also enjoyed a weekend in College Station, TX, so we could add George H Bush's Museum to our list of visited Presidential sites. This is our third attempt to visit this one because plans changed in prior years and we kept skipping it. FINALLY able to check it off!

The restored remains of the USS Cairo, which was used to clear mines as part of the battle of Vicksburg

As I finish this post, we have stopped briefly in central Texas to do our cycle of doctor/dentist visits and trying to catch up on the never-ending list of car and RV maintenance items that exist with "life on the road". We are actually getting pretty good at fixing little (and some not-so-little) things ourselves -- in addition to the big efforts of washing, waxing, sealing and polishing our 40 foot home. All that said, our RV extended warranty expires this November, so we are also focusing hard on making the final list of items for that service appointment in Florida!  It is most definitely the only extended warranty we've owned that MORE than paid for itself.

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Canadian Maritime Province 4 of 4! Prince Edward Island (& Nova Scotia Part 2)

Our overnight ferry from Newfoundland was uneventful and delivered us back to the North Sydney, Nova Scotia, area the next morning. Rumor had it that the ferry crew would be giving our rigs an under-carriage wash before we boarded the ferry (there is great concern about contaminated soil being brought back to Nova Scotia), but to our disappointment it didn't happen. RVer are always happy to get a free wash!

The biggest Adirondack chair we saw at first campground back in Nova Scotia

What you do when you find a huge picture frame in a field

Anyhow, our final Canadian province is Prince Edward Island, but we had a few more stops in Nova Scotia on the way there, starting with the Cape Breton's North Sydney area we hadn't toured before taking the ferry over 3 weeks earlier. The next day a bus collected us all and took us over to the Fortress of Louisbourg (French fishing and trade settlement founded in 1713 and fortified against British invasion before being destroyed in the 1760s). It was in foundation-only ruins but has been restored and opened for public viewing, complete with period-costumed staff and activities to give you a real idea what life was like there. As part of the experience we enjoyed a wonderful lunch of the typical fare for this culture -- beef, salmon, hardy vegetable soup, rice, and an apple tart for dessert.

Fortress of Louisbourg

 Our next RV park was less than 40 miles away near the town of Baddeck. Besides being a lovely town with a strong Scottish Celtic community, it is the home of the Alexander Graham Bell Historical Site. There was a neat museum that highlighted many of his inventions -- and he was quite prolific in his interests! He dabbled in everything from communications to flight to sea travel and this site has wonderful exhibits and programs that highlight his work.

Our group also attended a local fiddle/piano performance and we learned about jigs and reels -- along with the difference between a fiddle and a violin. You can apparently spill whiskey on a fiddle! I also doubt a violinist would be stomping their feet to the beat at the same time they are playing :-) Another big draw to this area is the famous Cabot Trail. It is a 4+ hour drive if you don't stop along the way and the road is currently undergoing a lot of construction, so we opted to just drive the first third, see some of the pretty Cape Breton coastline, and have a nice lunch.

On our final transit to Prince Edward Island the group (minus Jeffrey who worried about the strong smells) parked the rigs at a Walmart, unhooked half the cars, and drove for a special tour at a Lavender farm in Seafoam. The owner gave us a very educational presentation about the lavender varieties he grows, how they harvest the lavender, and how it is used in various products. We were also treated to lavender infused lemonade, ice cream, and shortbread. YUM! We then attacked their gift shop :-) I held myself back from buying anything as we live in a small space and Jeffrey doesn't tolerate perfumy smells. We lead an "unscented" life!

Field of Lavendar

The 8-mile long, 130-to-190 foot high Confederation Bridge is the official entry onto Prince Edward Island. Jeffrey isn't fond of heights so he couldn't appreciate the wonder of this bridge span like I could. We were glad there wasn't much wind or he would have been even more "white knuckled" getting across it. Once settled in the RV park in Cavendish, we stuffed ourselves at the buffet at the Fisherman's Wharf restaurant. You pick a main entree item like lobster or steak -- and pair it with 60 feet of salad bar and dessert items. If you like mussels, you can also eat as many buckets of them as you want.

After a night of digesting this huge meal, we boarded a bus with a tour guide and saw the lovely red seaside cliffs, famous nearby sandy beach, a lobster fishing trap demonstration, and a quick bus spin through Charlottetown, the largest city on the island. We also made a stop at the Anne of Green Gables Village, a recreation of the home and farm Anne lived in. Though she was a fictional character, she is much beloved by the readers of the books. The author, Lucy Maud Montgomery, actually lived in Cavendish and modeled her books after the lovely local area.

Red Cliffs in Prince Edward Island

Reproduction of the fictional House of Green Gables

To keep us well fed, we were treated to lunch at the PEI Preserve Company. The meal was spectacular and we enjoyed a live performance from another talented local musician. Even though we ended the meal with a healthy slice of delicious blueberry pie it didn't stop us from wrapping up the day with a stop at Cow's, a PEI-famous ice cream establishment. Unfortunately/Fortunately there are Cow's shops all over the province so YOU CAN'T AVOID THEM! Our tour leaders treated us all to a our first experience with their yummy product. I loved that their "standard" cone is a waffle version (which I love) -- and you can watch them make the cones fresh right at the counter. I will definitely need to sugar "detox" once this trip ends.

Us enjoying normal-sized Adirondack chairs at the Preserve Company

Most of the next day was ours to explore (or just be lazy) until another bus pickup and delivery to the Confederation Centre of the Arts musical theater to see the Anne of Green Gables show. The show was great, even for those of us who hadn't read the books. This show has been running for over 50 years and is recognized as the longest running annual musical theater production in the world.

Our final trip events were a "farewell" dinner and "goodbye" breakfast. Both were catered in our RV park's private restaurant space and greatly enjoyed. The park gifted us each Tshirt and beer glass souvenirs -- and our tour leaders gifted us the pass that would let us leave the island. It was over $60 Canadian dollars for our rig towing the car. It was bittersweet when we all said our goodbyes to each other -- such a wonderful trip and we'll have many fond memories of both the places and the people, especially our tour-mates. In fact, half a dozen of us have already signed up to do another Fantasy RV tour together in the summer of 2020!

A pair of wild foxes near Canvendish PEI

With the official tour over, Jeffrey and I hung out a few extra days and returned to the theater to see a production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Most of the cast was the same as the Anne of Green Gables show and they were terrific in these roles too. We finally left P.E.I. and drove back across the big bridge and made our way back into the U.S., settling Max in Bangor, Maine, for a few weeks. We had appointments there to get Jeffrey allergy shots and get Max's chassis inspected. Lucky for us, the chassis was fine, but they pressure-tested our radiator due to some recent "low coolant" alarms and discovered that our radiator cap wasn't holding the pressure it should. This causes coolant to bubble up in the reservoir when things heat up and then exit out an overflow drain (thus making our operating coolant level lower and lower).At a cost of $9.50, it might have been one of the cheapest RV replacement parts we've ever bought.

As I finish this post, Max is taking a nice break in Maine while Jeffrey and I flew across the country to Washington to spend a week visiting with my Dad and Sheila. Hopefully the hot weather covering most of the U.S. will start to cool off a little before we return to Maine and start driving south!

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Canada Province 3 of 4! Newfoundland

Well, I'll just apologize now for the length of this post. I had no idea that Newfoundland would have so much for us to enjoy!

We kicked off day 20 of the trip (of 49 total) with a 6-hour ferry ride from North Sydney, Nova Scotia, to Port Aux Basques, Newfoundland (pronounced new-fund-LAND by the residents). After arrival at the RV park in Codroy Valley, we attended a Newfie "Screech In" ceremony. I don't want to spoil this experience for any potential visitors by giving away the specifics, but let's just say it was "memorable" and involved alcohol!

One part of our "Screech-in" ceremony

We spent the next day on a guided bus tour to see the local Wetland Center (an estuary that features the largest variety of birds in this province), Chaps Garage (a privately owned amazing memorabilia collection), Precious Blood Church (100 year old Catholoc church), the Rose Blanche restored lighthouse, and the Railway Heritage Center (features railway cars and the history of the now-defunct Newfoundland Railroad). Interestingly enough, "we" are considered "CFAs" here -- Come From Away people -- and this is also the name of a broadway show that covers the 9/11 event when inbound US planes were rerouted to the city of Gander.

Rose Blanche lighthouse

The next stop for our RV caravan was Port Au Choix along the "Viking Trail". This was our longest driving day (286 miles) and we hit nasty windy rainy weather en route. The campground was right on the shore of the Gulf of St Lawrence, which added a lovely salty spray to everything and everyone. Thankfully the rain let up but it stayed windy, so the option to ferry by car over to Labrador the next day was scrapped. Instead, many of us used the day to check out the Port au Choix National Historic Site and enjoy fresh buns made in an outdoor french stone oven.

French stone oven

Jeffrey and I also did some light hiking to see the Phillip's Garden excavation site (Dorset Palaeoeskimo dwellings that are over 3000 years old) and saw a large hare along the way. There really wasn't much to see the excavation area, but we still had a nice view of the ocean (see the picture below). We capped the day by enjoying some live Newfie music and watching a Screech-in ceremony for some French tourists at a local hotel lounge and then driving out to the nearby lighthouse where we saw a moose (from a distance) and two humpback whales.

Enjoying the view near Phillips Garden excavation site. Chairs like this are placed all over these Canadian provinces to invite you to stop and enjoy the sights.

We were thrilled when the next travel day was only a short 130 miles up to the St. Anthony area (RV park was in nearby Saint Lunaire-Griquet). That joy was short lived when we discovered it was the WORST road we have ever driven. If the awful potholes weren't bad enough, the "frost heaves" that cause unexpected dips across the road were even worse. Thankfully the traffic is light and we were able to swerve into the oncoming lane many times to try to avoid as much as we could. It helped to have another vehicle in front of us as we could see how badly they bounced around the road and adjust our own speed or angle if needed.

A nice benefit of our new RV park is that they allowed us to wash our rigs -- a very welcome option as we were all covered with dirt and salt from the recent rainy seaside weather. This took most of the afternoon as the water pressure was pretty low, but we ended the day on a fun note by attending the Great Viking Feast Celebration. No surprise from the name that we got a wonderful viking-style meal (which included fried cod tongues as an appetizer), but we also experienced a viking "court" complete with viking king and townspeople. One of the court cases was Jeffrey being brought up on charges of using sorcery (the "Google") to predict weather, tides, etc. He was good sport about it put on a nice show for the crowd, even offering to use an "app" to locate nearby icebergs (no joke, there really is an app for that!). He was found guilty and his sentence was to be tied up and forced to sing a song (he chose a local Newfie song we had learned as a group).

Jeffrey being accused of sorcery by one of our tour leaders

The next day was spent extending our viking knowledge (they lived in this area between 790-1066 AD and disappeared after the Battle of Hastings) and visiting Norstead Village and Viking Port of Trade (a reproduction of a typical viking settlement) as well as L'Anse Aux Meadows Historic Site (an actual archaeological site of a former viking village). Lunch was at the quaint Norseman Gallery Cafe.

Our second day there included a whale and iceberg watching boat tour which was AWESOME! After enjoying four humpback whales, we set up to see a large iceberg floating in the distance. As we got close, it became enshrouded in fog and was quite dramatic as it emerged for our viewing pleasure. The boat guide told us that polar bears will ride the iceflows south from Labrador and eat seals along the way. The bears then swim ashore to Newfoundland and wander around the towns before finally swimming back to Labrador by late May. Residents have to be very careful of them and children especially are not allowed to wander around freely until they leave.

Huge iceberg off of St. Anthony

Same iceberg, different view

On a side note from the formal itinerary of this trip, Jeffrey and I went out to a restaurant where I ate locally caught snow crab -- one of the things that has replaced the massive commercial cod fishery since a moratorium was instituted on cod in the 90s. After dinner we went for a scenic drive around the peninsula and picked up 3 hitchhikers I'd seen at the restaurant earlier. They were from Sweden & Norway and leaving on a sailboat the next morning to go to Greenland. They were actually on their way to our RV Park to shower & buy pies (owner is a great cook and had cooked us moose burgers the night before). We brought them over with us and took them back to their boat when they were done. They were fascinated to see Max and we gave them a tour. They gifted us a homemade apple pie and we gave them a giant bag of pre-popped popcorn from Costco for their trip north.

Still with me? Told you this post would be a long one!

It was time to head back south-ish and we suffered having to repeat the same bumpy road for part of the way. We actually got quite the RV butt wobble going at one point after hitting a series of heaves/holes and had to pull over to make sure we hadn't broken anything. Couldn't find anything amiss thank goodness. The town of Rocky Harbor was our destination and we enjoyed exploring the Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse as well as the Marine Center in nearby Norris Point. As a group we took the Bonne Bay Boat Tour and it was a lovely trip, punctuated by some live Newfoundland music and rum-spiked hot chocolate. We had wonderful views of the Tablelands World Heritage Site and some of Gros Morne National Park.

View from boat tour showing the Tablelands in the distance -- with spots snow still!

It seems typical in these parts for Newfies to have a variety of jobs, especially during the summer tourism months. On this day our boat tour guides were also the entertainers at the evening "Anchors Away" show, labeled as a "Taste of Newfoundland Humor". The lead vocalist is also a teacher during the school year. This show has been performed for over 20 years now and the 4 guys on stage are a riot in addition to being talented musicians and singers. They are so popular that you have to buy tickets months in advance and our group was advised to arrive over 2 hours early to get good seats. Thankfully you can get dinner and enjoy cocktails while you wait.

Day 30 of the 49-day trip kicked off with us driving 264 miles east to Twillingate. While there, our group attended a nice dinner theater where the show cast starts the evening by being the servers of your meal before they get on stage and serve up a good dose of humorous skits and Newfie songs. We also went to a Newfie "shed party" which, no surprise, is in a garage type shed and involves live entertainment and lots of audience participation with hats and all of us playing Newfie instruments (ugly sticks, spoons). We felt a bit "Newfie-partied-out" after the last week, but nobody could say they failed to experience the culture of Newfoundland!

Our group all dressed up at the shed party

Sunset as we were leaving the shed party

Our final full group activity was going to the Prime Berth Fishing Museum -- a fascinating little fishing business highlighting the fishing industry from the view of the locals (not the big commercial industry). For those that wanted to watch, we also got a lesson in cleaning an Atlantic Cod. The best part though was getting a chance to actually go cod fishing. Half of us opted to go out -- 6 per boat -- and try our hand at jig fishing. You don't actually use a rod, just a spindle of very heavy grade line with a weight and lures/hook on the end. You drop it in the water (~130 feet) until you hit the bottom and then grab the line with your bare hand and twitch it up and down a few feet until you feel a bite. You then haul up the line as fast you can with both bare hands (letting the line pool at your feet) and bring the cod up. Limits on the cod fishery only allow this fishing on the weekends for a short time in the summer and there is a limit of 15 cod per boat. No joke -- all three boats of six RVers each caught their limit in less than half an hour each! The other 30 minutes was riding the boat to/from the fishing grounds. It was an amazing experience! My granddaddy would have been so proud of me!

Prime Berth Fishing Museum

Maren catching an Atlantic Cod

On our own we checked out the local Long Point Lighthouse which housed one of the best Titanic exhibits we've seen in addition to having fabulous sunsets. They even let you walk up to the top of the lighthouse to see the fantastic 360-degree view.

Long Point Lighthouse near sunset

Panorama view from the top of the lighthouse

Cute fox along the road to the lighthouse.

The target for our next RV drive was further east to Bonavista. Along the way we all stopped at a Walmart (yup, they are up here too!), disconnected our cars, and went to see the Atlantic Aviation Museum in Gander. This town and its airport played a giant role during the world wars as a refueling stop for troops and airplanes crossing the Atlantic ocean. It also became the safe haven for 38 U.S.-bound planes who were diverted from landing in the "states" during the September 11th terrorist attacks, almost doubling Gander's population with the addition of 6700 passengers. Gander pulled out all the stops to get everyone fed and housed safely for most of a week until they could continue home. Also nearby is the Silent Witness Memorial at the location where 256 U.S. servicemen from the 101st Airborne division died in plane crash shortly after takeoff at Gander's airport in 1985. The cause of the crash was never confirmed.

Silent Witness Memorial

After returning to Walmart and reconnecting the car, we completed the journey to Bonavista. Our visit there included seeing the Ryan Premises (national historic site of a preserved large scale merchant operation), the Matthew Legacy (a reproduction of the ship that was sailed here in 1497 by John Cabot), the Dungeon Rocks (an amazing formation of rocks from sea erosion), and the Puffin Sanctuary. As much as I love bald eagles, I gotta say that Puffins are pretty darn cute. We were lucky we got to get within 15 feet of a nesting pair. While at the campground near Bonavista our tour leaders treated us to a grilled cod dinner from some of the cod we all caught. Yum!

Puffin pair

Same pair, whispering about us looking at them

Dungeon Rocks (much larger in person than this picture implies)

Our final stop was St. John's on the eastern-most point of Newfoundland. We were treated to a guided bus tour of Cabot Tower Historical Park on Signal Hill (site of the first transatlantic wireless transmission), the Cape Spear Lighthouse (eastern most point in North America) and the active waterfront. We also enjoyed a group lunch and a Puffin and whale watching boat tour. We saw two humpback whales (mom and calf) and many more in the distance in different directions. The Puffins on nearby Gull Island are the largest Atlantic Puffin colony -- this year estimated at over 300,000 breeding pairs. We couldn't get as close as we did in Bonavista, but it was still fun to watch them fly and swim around us. We closed our visit in St. Johns by walking/shopping the downtown area and having a beer tasting at the local Quidi Vidi brewery. Had we realized that you can only get this crafted beer on the island, we would have bought some to bring back!

Us at the eastern-most point in North America

Cabot Tower

Our Newfoundland visit drew to a close as we all drove to Argentia to board the overnight ferry back to Nova Scotia. It was another nail-biting loading/unloading experience as the vehicles are so close together. We were not permitted to stay in our RVs, so we were each assigned a sleeping cabin aboard the ship and treated to a nice dinner buffet once underway. We docked the next morning and were off the ship and situated in the Nova Scotia campground by 10am.

Ta da! All done!

Well, almost... On the "RV Lifestyle" front, we have already made an appointment at the Frieghtliner facility in Bangor, Maine, to have the chassis inspected and look for suspension damage from the rough roads we drove on. We haven't found anything broken in the "house" part of Max yet, but we sure are glad we upgraded his shocks a few years back!

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