RVing With a Purpose

Tuesday, July 25, 2023

After resupplying a few items because we didn’t know what would be available, we left Sydney, NS and headed for the world-famous Cabot Trail.  The Cabot Trail is what draws many of the visitors to Nova Scotia.  We had heard about it and read about it but still didn’t really know what to expect.  It was about an hour’s drive from Sidney when we joined the trail and began our loop.  Thankfully it was another beautiful day.  We had thought the Cabot would be similar to the Natchez Trace or maybe the Blue Ridge Parkway.  To our surprise the first part was pretty much just a normal road.  There was a lot of beauty in the woods, and glimpses of rivers and ocean but there were also businesses and commercial vehicles.  Our first stop was at the Clucking Hen, a local bakery and café.  We purchased a cinnamon roll (of course) and blueberry scone and sat outside at a picnic table enjoying the beautiful and peaceful view of the ocean.  With some reluctance we pulled ourselves back to the Trail and headed on toward the Cape Breton Highlands National Park.  There were many curves in the road (like the Blue Ridge) and around each one was another spectacular view.  It just seemed to get better and better.  We stopped at many of the pull offs and took a lot of pictures.  We entered the national park and did one short hike – with many steps up and back down.  It was a very hot day – BB was reading 90 degrees when we began the hike.  Average temperatures for today on Cape Breton – high of 71 degrees and low of 56 degrees.  That’s what we were expecting.  Forecast says it will be back to normal levels by Sunday.  We sure hope they are correct.  Inside the National Park, the Cabot did seem more like we expected.  However, the road weaves in and out of the park multiple times.  At one of the pull outs in the park, we walked out on some gorgeous rocks and while we were enjoying the ocean views we began to see seals.  So much fun.  Tonight, we are in a campground just off the Cabot.  We have already met some other van owners and made new friends.  It was another wonderful day with many beautiful sights.  Feeling very blessed to be here.

And a few other observations from the day:

Monday, July 24, 2023

First things first today, we left our parking lot for the past two nights and headed to Louisdale, a few miles down the road. (Non-rvers may just want to skip this paragraph.)   Richmond county does a great service for us RVers by providing a free dump and fill station just off the main highway.  It was very clean and set up correctly for ease of use. Sure wish every county would provide this service.

From LouisDALE, we drove a couple of hours to LouisBOURG to the Fortress of Louisbourg, National Historic Site.  We first stopped at the Welcome Center, paid our entry fee and boarded a bus to take us to the fortress – about 1 mile down the road to an area with little parking. The National Historic Site is operated by Parks Canada as a living history museum.  It is the largest reconstruction project in North America.    We were greeted at the fortress by people in period costumes and speaking as the people who actually lived in the fortress.  Do you know the difference in a Fortress and a Fort?  Some of us never really gave it much thought but our first interpreter this morning was intent on us learning something today and that something was the difference.  A fort usually means a structure with walls and other defensive measures made to withstand an attack by an enemy. It’s usually built by and for the military.  In Alabama, think Fort Morgan built to protect Mobile.  A fortress can be much the same but usually means a much larger area like a city built inside a fortified area.  The fortress probably has some military personnel on premise but there are usually many civilians as well.  The original settlement was founded in 1713 by the French.  The small fishing village grew into a major commercial cod fishing port and a strongly defended fortress.  The British invaded and took the fortress in 1745 but it was given back to France 3 years later in a land trade.  The British took the fortress again in 1758 and this time they demolished the fortress walls to prevent it from ever again becoming a fortified French base.  Over the years there were smaller reclamation efforts at the fortress but in 1961 the government of Canada began a $25 million project aimed at reconstructing approximately one-quarter of the original town and fortifications.  The project was begun for several reasons but probably the most important was to provide work for the surrounding citizens facing severe unemployment.  Most of the buildings are reconstructions of the originals build on the original foundations.  We had a great visit at the fortress and learned many more things.  There is lots of information online if you are interested.

Sunday, July 23, 2023

It rained all night.  The storms were predicted to be out of our area by morning.  NOT.  Some of the strongest winds and rain occurred around 8:00am.  We decided to just stay where we are for the day.  We are comfortable, safe, dry and have plenty of food.  We haven’t heard of any current road closures around us but we also don’t get any local TV channels so…it’s a little more difficult.  We decided to just have a quiet day, let some of the water recede and Anne caught up our map for states where we have spent at least one night in the RV and caught up on some business items.  It’s been a restful day.

Saturday, July 22, 2023

It did not rain overnight as was predicted.  We even stowed our Starlink after posting the blog last night because we didn’t want to have to do that in the rain this morning but it wasn’t raining when we got up.  It wasn’t raining when we left our Boondocker’s Welcome site either. Those are the only two times it hasn’t rained in the past 36 hours.  Checking the news tonight we found there are reports of flooding in a number of areas of Nova Scotia. Also, a report of four missing persons after cars were swept away. Over 150 homes reported damaged due to high water in Halifax.  Please be praying for the people of Nova Scotia.  They have already endured horrible wildfires this summer and now this.

We decided last night, based on the forecast, that we would drive to the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site in Baddeck, Nova Scotia on Cape Breton Island.  A good rainy-day activity.  All of you probably immediately think of the invention of the telephone when you think of A.G. Bell and you would be correct.  He also was a pioneer in the field of deaf education. This was a real passion for him.  He worked on flight much like the Wright Brothers and they even worked together on some things.  Bell also did a lot of work with kites and transferred what was learned, to the airplane.  He also worked with hydrofoils.  It was a very interesting morning and we learned a lot.

After spending about 3 hours in the museum, we headed back to BB.  It had stopped raining and we thought we might do some additional driving on the island.  Before we could walk to the RV parking lot, there was another deluge.  We were dripping water all over the floor when we got back in BB.  Oh well, at least we had dry clothes to change into.  While driving back to our Boondockers Welcome site from last night we started seeing areas of water almost over the road and lots of water on the road.  We decided we would be better off to seek some high ground and just get off the road.  We contacted our hosts and told them we were not returning and they replied “I don’t blame you, just stay safe.” We were never in any danger but just decided we didn’t like the driving conditions.  It’s one of the benefits of traveling the way we do.  We pulled off the road, prepared supper and we will be spending the night tonight in a parking lot, high and dry.  We will be checking on roads before we decide which direction to travel tomorrow.  Even though it was a really wet day, it was still a good day.  Don’t forget to pray for the people of Nova Scotia and your pastor’s as they prepare for the services tomorrow.