A NICE SEND-OFF!
Day 11 – Rob really enjoyed his time out on the cliff this morning. It was low tide & quite active, as low tide usually is. Sea Gulls were flying over looking for breakfast, One landed across the Harbor. He’d caught an Eel (the Eel got away), but Rob got pictures. Then there was noise from Ravens above, so he swung the camera around hoping to get some good Raven shots. Surprise! They were chasing a Bald Eagle and he had the camera ready & got great pictures. What a nice send-off as we prepare to leave our land for the summer. Grin. It was 41 degrees at 7:15 a.m. this morning, sunny with a few clouds and breezy.
79 miles, (2:30), 38452-38531
Click any picture below to see a slideshow.
We packed up, dumped tanks, and left our land at 11:30 a.m., a little apprehensive about what we’d encounter at the border crossing based on what we’d heard from various sources. It was 49 degrees with increasing clouds and breezy. The adventure begins.
We drove north on Route 1, stopping at a scenic viewpoint in Calais, ME for lunch, not far from the border crossing. As we got closer to Calais, the view over the water included the Atlantic Canada coastline in New Brunswick, with the St. Croix River between the two land masses, the Passamaquoddy Bay at the mouth of the St. Croix River. After lunch, we packed the girls in cages, preparing for the border crossing into Canada. They were not too thrilled, but kept the complaining down to a few beeps & squeaks. Such good girls!
As we approached Customs, we had our fingers crossed that they didn’t rip apart the RV searching for illegal contraband. Well, LOL, we were worried for nothing! The Customs Agent was super-nice, asked us some questions about what food, alcohol, tobacco, and firearm items we had on board, and waved us through. Huge sigh of relief. As we crossed over into New Brunswick (NB), Canada, we drove into the Atlantic Standard Time Zone, making it one hour later than what our clocks were telling us.
Earlier today I had looked at “Iceburg Alley” on Google. There is actually a map that tracks the Iceburgs as they travel around Labrador & Newfoundland: https://icebergfinder.com/ Now that we see we may really make it to Newfoundland, we are getting increasingly more excited. This map will come in handy! Happy face!
Now we need to adjust to the time change, but more importantly to kilometers vs. miles (when we saw signs for the speed limit being 110, we realized we had some adjusting to do), celsius vs. farenheit temperature-wise, Canadian dollars vs. U.S. dollars, litres vs. gallons, etc. Sure would be easier if we all used the same systems.
We arrived at our campground, the Kiwanis Oceanfront Campground in St. Andrews, NB at 3 p.m. (Atlantic Time). Their machines were down temporarily so we don’t know the price yet. We got an oceanfront campsite, #21 with full hook-ups, overlooking Maine on Passamaquoddy Bay. Soon after we got there, it began raining. It was 55 degrees and windy. The high today was 68 degrees, cloudy & humid.
After unpacking and letting the kitties out of their cages – these cats really don’t liked to be in cages, we drove into St. Andrews and got some Canadian money at an ATM at a bank and went to the NB Liquor store to look for some wine for me. (Border crossing rules only allow for a limited amount of alcohol. Once we got through and Rob’s beer was okay, we had to get me some wine. Tomorrow we will buy some fresh, organic produce. We couldn’t bring that across the border either. At least they let the kitties through!)
I’d thought I would be drinking Canadian wine in Canada, but I was surprised to find my current favorite wine (which I’d left at home) at the New Brunswick store. A happy camper, I am. The Canadian/U.S. exchange rate is in our favor, so we ordered a case from them, to be picked up tomorrow. I am set for months. Grin.
Back to the RV, we found the girls already sleeping in their favorite nooks & crannies. All is well. Leftover soup for dinner. We researched the area on the internet and watched the Bay of Fundy tides (28 feet) go out, leaving the oceanfront, once deep in water, to sand & seaweed, only to be replaced again by the ocean when the tide comes back in.