"Today is a Good Day to Drive!" .....Van-Go

July 28, 2007 Jayne is doing so well we have to look at the 30 staples across her chest and the two plastic bottles hanging from tubing coming out of her chest to realize she just had major surgery. She has had visits from several neighbors and friends. She really appreciates all the cards and well wishes. Kathy's sister, Maria, stopped over after work. Kathy was sure excited to see her. After visiting with Jayne and eating dinner the two sisters sat out on the porch gabbing away.We do the domestic routines of dust and sweep. We make meals and check on Jayne's needs. Kathy is doing a craft project and reading a book; Will is doing yard maintenance and playing Fate. The best time of the day is early mornings when we sit out on the front porch with our coffee watching the birds. There are three squirrels that like to come over; Will keeps them away from the birdfeeders with his bb-gun. We put a cement squirrel down under the bird feeder, but they still come. It is not so bad to s...

July 25, 2007 Forbes Hospital has joined with many others around the country with adding pay parking to its lots. It is $2 to pay to park in a spacious lot out in the country and $5 to have an attendant park your car for you. The first day we thought we could beat the cheat and parked in the employee free parking lot. That got us a $10 citation! So we have a new approach for today. Kathy dropped Will off at the main entrance, the only way to get in free to the hospital campus other than the emergency entrance. Will brought his Mom bright happy flowers and a balloon with a picture of an ocean lighthouse. He stayed for about four hours; he had a book to read and a kukuo puzzle book to work on. Meanwhile, Kathy stopped at Target. What a difference when you are use to Wal-Mart. The prices were all a little higher on items she recognized. They had some sale items on foods and she picked up a variety for a surprise mailing to Justin. She came for birdseed and left with three bags and 25lbs o...

July 24, 2007 Jayne did some laundry and kept busy doing her word search books and reading the paper. Kathy made some yummy meals. Will worked in the yard, mowing, trimming and then played lots of Fate. We had visits from the neighbors; all wishing Jayne well on her upcoming surgery; she has breast cancer at 90 years old. We got up at 4am and prepared for the trip to Forbes Hospital, about fifteen minutes away. We left the house at 5am and arrived on time. After registering and waiting she was taken to the preparation rooms and readied for the surgery. We joined her when the nurses got all their doings done. Jayne was in good spirits and joking with the nurses. A team of doctors and students came in to give her a check over; reminded us of hospital scenes on the Soaps. Dr. John put a purple smile face on the left breast so they would know in surgery, which was which. The doctor came in when she got up to use the bathroom so missed her, but greeted us. He is the same doctor who remove...

July 21, 2007 We arrived at Jayne’s in the evening and had a nice visit. We were able to talk in normal voices as she is wearing her new hearing aid. What a difference it makes! The house and yard look okay. We spent the first day here doing yard work, laundry and housework. Justin sent us a package, actually two packages full of Hawaiian treats. . . pineapple, mango and guava teas, honey covered and plain macadamia nuts, coconut and pineapple syrup, strange dried fruit from China, Soy rice snacks, wasabee macadamia nuts, chocolate covered Kona coffee beans and lots of little chocolates. Will was watching TV and Bret, the boy from across the street was waiting to use the tractor when Kathy came in and asked if they wanted a dried fruit to which they both put out their hands, took one and popped it into their mouths. Their mouths puckered. Their faces twisted. Kathy asked how they liked the dried fruit from China to which they just looked at each other and nodded. The fruits are covered...

July 20, 2007 Waited for the sun to come up over the mountain, but the clouds rushing by overtook the sun. We packed up and headed southwest. The bright red flowers caught our eye. The road SR3001 is gravel. We are glad it is damp so that the dust doesn’t kick up. We drove through Cedar Run;. The General store was closed; seven years ago when we were here we went in for an ice-cream. The Inn looked full and people were enjoying breakfast on the glass enclosed porch. There is a bike trail on the old railroad bed that runs through the little town. We climbed to 2400 feet going through the Appalachian Mountains. We drove the back roads of PA, windy, narrow and lots less traffic than the main roads. We saw a few deer along the roadsides. There are lots of neat little burgs, town and villages along the way. At Prince Gallitzin State Park we stopped and drove around; we got out and walked down to the water, but was smelly and looked like raw sewage had been dumped into it. We left. At Saltsb...

July 17-18-19, 2007 Leetonia Road south off route 6 has so many butterflies! It is the road to take for seeing lots of them. It has been many years since we were here, but we remembered our old camping spot as soon as we came to it. It is just at the bend in the road before the bridge over the stream. There is a grassy spot where we parked. The stream makes a sweeping s curve here. Water rushes down over the rocks into a deep pool of green water then continues to flow into a narrow channel and widens as it continues. There is a constant sound of running bubbling water. The rock shelf steps down to the water on the grassy side about eight feet. On the roadside rock shelf there is a drop of 10 feet into the deepest part of the water. There are at least three big fish in the pond and lots of little minnows. The trees all around are mostly hardwoods with a few pines. Milkweed, queen Ann’s lace, daisies and lots of greenery fill in all the spaces. We set up a camp bringing out our tables an...

July 16, 2007 The birds chirped to welcome the day. Two little bunnies played tag in the grass. We woke to a new sunny day. We drove 12 miles on Pa362, a typical Forest road in PA with daisies, buttercups, golden road, Orange tiger lily, Queen Anne’s Lace and clover being the wildflowers that fill the banks of the roadways and fields. Pennsylvania’s Grand Canyon, a gorge is as impressive as the Grand Canyon of the west. At the east rim we looked down to the riverbed, and walked to Otter overlook. That little walk was mostly downhill on a gravel trail; try doing that in flip-flops! We stopped at the Animal Land Gift store for a patch. Then we went over to the west rim and walked out to several overlooks. We met Mary and Randy from Harrisburg. He is a counter of hawks at Hawk Mountain near there. He pointed out a kettle of Broadwing hawks soaring with some vultures. Then we found a nice parking area where we made some dinner and sat out at the overlook in the picnic area and played some ...

July 15, 2007 Unadilla is home to the Boy Scouts of America Troup One; they are so proud they put that on their town banners. Binghamton Ross Park Zoo no longer a member of our zoo so we didn’t go in Traveled south west and arrived in Pennsylvania and followed the scenic route 6 west. Stopped at a rest area and relaxed a bit and had some dinner. We continued on route 6 west. We found that the Tioga Central Railroad in Wellsboro, Pa only runs on weekends so continued. We pulled in to Pine Creek along the Pennsylvania Scenic Rivers System and parked for the night.

July 14, 2007 We woke to a beautiful sunny day. Frogs sounded like out of tune banjos playing. Birds chirped and pecked at trees, a rooster crowed off in the distance. We walked back the wide gravel road a ways enjoying the quiet. The drive through Vermont is beautiful; mountains blanketed with trees, ski slopes, tourist towns with massive B&B’s, shops and fancy restaurants. We spent the rest of the day at the Iroquois Indian Museum. The main building is a longhouse with exhibits, and shop. Outside in the Amphitheater we watched the Tyendinaga Dancers led by Alan Brant, they are a family from the Mohawk Nation in Onterio. Tom Wadsworth and Ed Lowman, local musicians played some bluegrass; love those fiddles and ukuleles. We pulled in to the Unadilla Drive In Movie and waited about an hour or so til it was dark. We watched Harry Potter and 1408, a scary movie about a guy who goes to hotels with ghosts and writes books about the experience. Room 1408 of the Dolphin Hotel in NY was di...

July 13, 2007 We woke to some peeks of blue sky, but mostly gray. Fate started in 6th generation of Fate. We drove out of our clearing into traffic on route 302. In Bridgton we drove into Highland Park and got a picture of their pretty lake. There must have been a mill here because we found holding ponds. The town looked interesting with shops and eateries waiting for the tourist to arrive. There are big homes here we have called Maine Monstrosities. They are like three or four homes connected together and the attached garage is also part of the house and sometimes even the barn. These people don’t like to have to walk outside to get somewhere in the house with their cold winters. We crossed into New Hampshire and came to the mountains. We went a little out of the way to see the Durgin Covered Bridge. There are lots of covered bridges in NH. In Ashland the Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad Station still stands. We stopped in Bristol and walked around the town square. We continued...

July 12, 2007 The day started to clear and we walked about looking at the bridge across the Penobscot River, longest river in Maine. We walked the water front stopping to read the exhibits and learned that The Roosevelt, schooner that sailed to he north pole, was built here. After some shopping we drove across the new bridge and around to Fort Knox for different perspective on the bridge. The old bridge is to be torn down someday when the state gets money for that. Belfast is a neat little town. We stopped and played BuzzTime at Rollies, sat at the harbor and watched the ships and walked about town a bit before heading inland on route 3. Augusta, capital of Maine. We walked around the capitol building exploring all the nooks and cranies. Outside is the Liberty Bell of Maine; Will rang the bell while Kathy talked on the cell phone to Maria. Crossed the Annascoggin River from Lewiston to Auburn. We stopped at the Great Falls Park and made dinner. Driving into the sunset we continued west...

July 11, 2007 A very foggy morning. The foghorn sounded all night every few minutes. This is the eastern most point of land in the US. The black rocks are gabbro formed millions of years when liquid rock, magma, rose up from under the ocean floor. This magma cooled and formed this coarse dark rock called gabbro. We got into Lubec to find nothing open so drove on. In Jonesboro we stopped at a post office. We decided to cook up some eggs and have breakfast. Will cooked inside! We stopped at Wild Blueberry, a giant blueberry building with huge metal blueberries all around, and picked up a homemade pie. It was still gray when we got into Bucksport. We parked down near the gazebo in River Park and spent the rest of the day hangin’ out.

July 10, 2007 We got up shortly before Wayne arrived to open the garage door and start business for the day. We rolled out of bed; we had been sleeping on a bit of a hill, had a cup of coffee and he finished up a few jobs then it was our turn. They snowplowed us into the garage with a tire between the snowplow and us. We had to take everything from the front console for them to get into that compartment to test the pressure of the fuel pump. It was about 15 and was suppose to be about 65 so we definitely needed a new one. They got the old one out to check the number on it; Chevy makes three different ones for its vehicles. We left the Roadtrek in good hands and walked to town. We strolled through the little mall and walked down to the fish ladder constructed in 1950 in the gorge. The signs around town say Gorgeous St. George….get it gorge-ous. We sampled blueberry jelly in a little farm shop, and found a bar where we met two interesting guys-one who talked of trips to Hong Kong and Thi...

July 9, 2007 Left the ferry terminal and drove through St. John. Stopped at Reversing Falls and spent the morning watching the tide come in pushing against the outgoing and reverse itself and rush out pushing against the incoming. The reverse flow of the water causes rapids. Birds love the churned up waters. Cormorants come in groups of 20-50 to feed. We stayed a bit longer to watch a man kayak the rapids. He sure seemed to have fun going back into the white water again and again. Most of the lower rocks were exposed when we left just after noon. Watched an otter kill a seagull. A bus stopped with many people from Pittsburgh. Kathy said we were from Plum, but had family in north hills, west deer and Bethel Park. John, one of the guys we were talking to said he was from Mt. Lebonon. Kathy said, well do you know the Watson’s? To which he surprised her and said they were neighbors with a Watson, he past away…how was Sueann doing? He brought his wife over and we had a little chat before th...

July 8, 2007 The Day has begun with gray skies. Rains came. We found a wifi, did some map figuring and decided to head cross-country to catch the Digby ferry over to NB. One of our favorite cities here is Annapolis Royal, the colonial capital before the founding of Halifax. There are beautifully kept old homes now B&Bs. Shops and eateries are along the main street. We drove out on the Warf and tried to imagine the terminal of 1869 offering passenger and freight services. Fort Anne was first home to the Mi’kmaq who traveled here for thousands of years. The Order of Good Cheer, started by Champlain in 1605 to bring some fun to the long winters, continues today at the Habitation. This is one of America’s oldest communities. The fort is the oldest national historic site in Canada. Annapolis Tidal Generating Station is the only one like it in North America. This site was selected because the Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world and the causeway was equipped already with sluic...

July 7, 2007 Kathy got up and journaled. The day was sunny and breezy. Will got up as others were starting to walk about. After our morning routine we walked down past the few craft booths, the information center, to the bridge and back to the Roadtrek in time to sit out on the street and watch the Privateers Grand Street Parade. After lunch we sat enjoying the sun and goings on at the main stage area then walked up town to the Wood Pile, a coffee shop where the husband brings the drinks and the wife is the carver. We listened to the music of Ardyth and Jennifer, two harp players. Kathy joined the ladies around the cook fire at the Historic Encampment; they were making the days meal of roast and potatoes. The Point Lighthouse is located out on a little point of land near Liverpool Bay. We climbed up to the light and Will blew the foghorn. On our way back we found the Mersey House and spent the rest of the day and night there listening to music of all sorts starting with Ardyth and Jenn...

July 6, 2007 We woke up at the LaHave River home of the Blue Nose III Construction site near Bridgewater, NS. Construction is to begin the summer of 2008 and our friend Vern we hope will be part of that project. We stopped at the Bridgewater Atlantic Store, made phone calls to let everyone know we were okay and picked up bananas and sushi. We ate the sushi as soon as we got to the Roadtrek, yum. Across the bridge and down the road a short way is the Shipyards Landing with lighthouse and survey ships docked across the LaHave River. We could see across the LaHave River to Snyder Shipyard where they will build the Blue Nose III in 2008; it would be a great spot for a B&B where visitors could watch the construction. Fog rolled in. We paused at the LaHave Ferry landing remembering when we took every road in Nova Scotia including this ferry. The old train station in Brooklyn, NS was turned into the Hank Snow Museum. Here is The Hank Snow Story by RE Joudrey: “There’s a place in Nova Scot...

July 5, 2007 Light from the moon was bright. Bart said, what are those four lights ahead. Will said there was only one; Bart could not see and gave the helm over to Will. We did not have charts for the Pictou harbor so they had to wing it. Will followed the buoys and used his knowledge from our times of sitting at the cemetery watching ships enter the harbor, and his experience navigating navy ships in the Pacific harbors. Kathy peeked her eyes open and could see large ships pass. We wove through the boats and ships, buoys and channel markers to Pier B. Will parked the boat at about 3am. He came below, helped clear the bunks and crawled in with Kathy. Paul went for a walk on dry land then came back and helped Bart. Bart tidied up the sails. Then they too crawled into a bunk. After a few hours sleep Bart got up and went to his sisters for a shower. Paul got up and went for breakfast at Sharon’s Café. When we got up there was cold coffee waiting. We cleaned up and went ashore. Will put u...

July 4, 2007 Will and Captain Bart pulled an all nighter taking turns at the helm. Kathy got up at sunrise. The sky was golden. We arrived at the Canso Lock around 9am. A big cargo ship appeared behind us; we circled letting him go in front of us. While he locked through we docked at huge round cement thingies near by. Our lines got crossed high in the main mast and Bart and Paul climbed up on the cement thingie and using drift wood boards duck taped together they managed to rearrange the twisted lines. Kathy occupied herself watching the red jellyfish in the water. They would bop up to the top of the water taking in or letting out a bubble of water. Their long tentacles floated on the current. We were in communication with the lockmaster and were told that when the pilot ship exited the lock we could enter. The walls of the lock are tall, maybe fifteen feet. We didn’t tie up; we just held on to the ladder. The tide was not very much and rose only a few inches. In just minutes we were ...

July 3, 2007 Kathy woke feeling so much better. Captain Bart made her a gruel of oatmeal. It was warm and stayed down. Captain Bart made some hot water and put it in the two small thermoses so we could have hot coffee through out the day.The sun came out and the day turned bright and cheery, but still no wind to speak of so we had the motor running. Kathy checked the chart and we continued along the coast of Nova Scotia through the Atlantic Ocean. One calm time about noon we stopped the motor and Captain Bart and Kathy made us pasta with pesto sauce served with fried chicken breast pieces and salad. It felt good to have a hot meal. Paul swished the dishes in the ocean and Will wiped them with a Clorox wipe. Two o’clock we crossed the 45th parallel. We had past Sambro Island, Halifax Approaches and sailed the open ocean. Kathy checked our position from time to time, pushed the switch to pump the bilge, and enjoyed the view from the cockpit. Captain Bart and Will checked our position fre...

July 2, 2007 We were up early. Bart had coffee brewing and was frying bacon. Fran joined us for breakfast then we all began to prepare for the trip. Will helped to carry supplies down to the boat. He came back up and asked Fran if she had any real food in the house. Bart’s supplies were mostly quick open and eat stuff. She gave us some frozen meats, shrimp, potatoes, cheese, pepperoni sausage, and greens. We brought along our hard-boiled eggs, bran cereal, chocolate, nuts, mints and fruit. Bart had a welding project for Peter so took off to have that done. Meanwhile we pulled together the items on our list. What do you take for a four-day sail? Fran said not to even try to change clothes, just layer. So we brought socks, a change of clothes for when we reached dry land, an extra shirt, shorts, sweater, vest, fleece jacket, weather pants and jacket (Thanks, Jen they were a “God Sent”), Teddy Bear and a warm blanket. Toothbrush and personal items including sunscreen, pills, and bonomine ...

Noon Cannon at Citadel in Halifax July1, 2007 Happy Canada Day! The bridge into the city was decorated with flags. As were the ships in the shipyard where we parked. Two submarines were in states of repair or building. We walked up past the Town Clock where a military band was assembling. The Halifax Citadel, once the command post and landward bastion of Halifax’s defenses, had free admission today. We received free Canada flags and pins as we entered. An officer dressed in 78th Highlanders uniform posed with Kathy. Everyone was adorned in red and white, Canada colors, celebrating the day. Set up in the center of the main grounds was the opening ceremony for Halifax Canada Day Celebrations complete with cake. We stood up on the wall and watched the speakers below. At noon the local tradition of firing the Noon Gun was reenacted by the Royal Artillery of 1869. Down in the main courtyard we watched the historic regiments of the British Army and the musicians of the Highlanders perform. C...

June 30, 2007 Will woke to the voice of the crows calling with the first signs of light. We headed into Pictou. In town we picked up Tidbits from Tom Horton’s, that is doughnut holes to the rest of the world. Coffee at Carver’s. Vern came in and comfirmed that we were going to sail with his brother from Lunnenburg to Pictou. After doing a little shopping at the Community Market we said goodbye to the ship and we are off to Halifax. Truro has a tidal bore, a wall of water anywhere from a few inches to many feet that travel up the waterways with the incoming tides. Around town are lots of wooden carvings done on the trunks of the many dead trees killed off by some disease. We stopped to watch the tidal bore, but had just missed it by several minutes. We watched the muddy waters recede with the outgoing tide instead. All that remain are mudflats until the tide returns filling the waterways with muddy water once again. We drove through Stewaicke, half way between the North Pole and the Equ...

June 29, 2007 Sinda was the manager of the Quay when we were here last; we went to visit with her and her husband, Fred, and their dog, BoBo. Crystal, their daughter, stopped by with her husband, John. We had a nice visit. The shards of wood splintered off the main mast from a hit of lightning will either be the start of renewed interest in the ship or the end of her. Kathy and Anne’s mother, Grace went to Saltwater Café for tea then we drove over to her house which is right beside Anne and Keith’s. She had a few hummingbirds visit her feeder. Reminded us of the hummingbirds we would get in TX. Grace is from BC. In her younger days she was a rock hound and has many unique ones. She would slice and polish ones that she found a natural picture in and then frame them. She attended many rock shows with her collection. Her husband would make eggs from the rocks. He would start by cutting a rectangle the size he wanted the egg to be and then continue cutting making facets around the rock and...