The Yearly Change-Over

Yesterday was the last day of our tourist season, and it was the passengers of the cruise vessel "VIKING MARS" who visited the island. 

After a guided walk through the Roosevelt Cottage they were all headed to the "Tea w.Eleanor" (Roosevelt) after which we dropped them off at the boat ramp in Lubec, ME again. 37 Good-Byes with big smiles is a wonderful reward for a happy tour.

Then today I woke up with a song in my head. This was a day without a tour - though not without a bit of work.

The agenda for the day contained the removal of the passenger seats from our 15-seater bus.

Once we had them out, the real work started. All parts of the previous years camper van conversion had been stored in the garage. They needed to be mounted together to make a nice big bed and a little kitchen unit. Carpet is covering the floor and after 6 hrs. of hard work crawling around in the interior it all looked quite comfortable.

Next thing on the agenda was the transport of room plants to a dear friend who is gonna baby them while we are soaking up the winter sun in sunny California.

While I was relaxing after all that work the phone rang. Another inquiry for an ISLAND TOUR at the end of October. I hate to say NO to a potential guest, but this time, I had to. A week from now we'll be in Colorado picking up our new-to-us motorhome. 

And we are really looking forward to this new adventure.

We still have a couple of days until departure and we know the days will just fly by. But from Sunday evening you might find daily updates on our journey out west.

Update! Update! Update!

It is time for a major update!

And right now we have 28 more days until we will start another southern adventure. Just that there will be some changes this year.

For many years we have been pulling our Forest River Flagstaff trailer thousands of miles through the country. It has been fun, but we also had troubles. two winters ago we had to replace both trailer axles, which not only was a lot of expense, but also stress for us. Then last spring we "lost" our transmission on the way home. Another {extremely} expensive and stressful stop along the way.

Our trusty Chevrolet Express, which also is a business vehicle is now sporting close to 200K miles. If we would continue to use the van for the long haul to California we might risk other very expensive repairs, and could lose it as a business vehicle. We thought this to be too risky.

So we had two choices: 

1. giving up to travel south alltogether

2. Getting a different tow vehicle (diesel truck?)

3. leaving the trailer at home and getting a motorhome.

#1: Would be a bummer to stay home. (Life is too short)

#2: Diesel trucks are expensive and we still have to pull            the trailer

#3: A Class-A Diesel Pusher would solve our problem.It has enough power to pull up mountains, it is comfortable to drive, and we know that type of rig as we had one years ago.But isn't it too expensive?

Nobody wants to "break the bank".

So it can't be a new one. But it has to be one which can be trusted, like a brand with a top reputation for quality.

Where can we find it?

Facebook offers "Market Place" with thousands of adds all over the world. But many of these adds are plain scams, and FB doesn't do anything about it.

You probably have seen adds where newer rigs are offered for pennies on the dollar. Or they have dubious email and contact data. (the rig belongs to my aunt)....followed by a strange email address. PHISHING ALERT!!!

So it does take some scrutiny to make sure the add and the seller is real and the rig is theirs.

So when we found an add in our area we thought it would be great to take an in-person-look. And it was good we did that. While the rig wasn't too old and had low miles, it still had been sitting behind a shed in a garden and was now showing signs of decay. 

Back to square one, I restarted the search. After studying hundreds of adds I came across a Beaver Motor Home sitting 2400miles away in Colorado. 20 years old and with 120K miles it seemed too old at first, but well maintained and well-used it would be in better shape than the previous one in our area. And it wouldn't break the bank.

So we went for it and will pick it up in October.

Our trusty van will still drive us to Colorado - but without the travel trailer. Instead, it will pull an auto transport trailer, which will then carry the van behind the MH after reaching Colorado.

The car-hauler is basically ready for travel once we get our license plate in the mail.

When we got our trailer in 2020 we couldn't travel as the borders where closed because of Covid. So we started to rent out the trailer as an AirBnB. Since then the trailer has paid for itself. We now plan to do the same with the motor home, and we will keep the trailer as well.

We are very excited about the new way of travel and can't wait for the next 30 days to pass.

Until then there are still a "million" things to do.

Bea needs to put her garden to sleep, room-plants need to be brought to our friend's place, the van needs to be prepared for travel and the house for the winter.

We also have to finish the Tourist season. Tours are still going on and October will see the arrival of three Cruise ships. The first one came on September 3. It was huge and had 3600 passengers. The "Enchanted Princess" has been starring as the "Love Boat". It was too big to use the Eastport, ME breakwater, so it anchored midways in the bay.

The Green Thumb Garden

 I mentioned that Bea has a "Green Thumb".

Without a whole lot of words, this is her work and the results of it.

When returning from California on April 18, we were afraid that it could be too late to get all the seeds and plants going in time to get a harvest. Possibly this warm summer with enough of rain has helped, but also Bea didn't waste no time to get everything going.

But what am I talking? Take a look.

The FLOWERS

The VEGGIES

CORN

Squash

Dill and Parsil

Carrots

Beans

Tomatoes

Basil

Also in the greenhouse: Peppers, lettuce squash

Not Bea's work

After 3 Months

Hello there, I am back to blogging world!

And with that comes an update over the last three months.

So we got back home on April 18 and after we made our house our home again for the next 6 months, we noticed that spring wasn't here yet. It stayed cold and we used quite a bit of our firewood supplies. 

Bea started her various garden projects. Putting seeds of various vegetables in the soil - so far in small containers, then with the help of growing lights and some heating nursing them to real plants in our front entrance. Bea is really good at this. People say she has green thumbs, and I have to agree. After the weather got warmer she readied our greenhouse and then her plant babies found a new home there. By that time is was the middle of May and our thoughts went towards the coming tourist season. A few tour guests came early and by the end of the month we had AirBnB renters in our trailer. 

View of Lubec, ME

Beach Art

The return to coastal climate was nice and underlines that a change in surroundings can be very inspiring. So far the beaches were empty and open for walking with the dog.

But I noticed that Dixie was growing older now. Her excitement over doing doggy walks was showing its limits. She has never been a long-hike-dog. It's just not in her breed. As a livestock guardian dog she sees her primary work as chasing intruders off of the property, for then to return to her herd. This is exactly what we appreciate. Whether it is a stray dog, cat or a deer, everything is run off of the ground - sometimes even some pesky two-legged visitors. 

June brought more of the Sightseeing tours and a few more AirBnB guests. The grass started growing like crazy, there was enough rain but also sun.  

The garden was showing results - things were growing making Bea happy. Daytime highs were comfortable. We were still looking forward to a full summer.

I had to see the doc because of my recent Arthritis diagnosis. The local doctor comes to the island twice a week, and I wasn't overly impressed  with him. But he got me some more medication, especially some pills which would prevent me from having stomach pain from the pills I had to take. 

CANADA DAY  at the Head Harbour Kiosk

Waiting for the fireworks....

July 1 was Canada Day and I had to work as a guide on a motor coach full of Americans. I had gotten a bunch of small Canada flags and with the help of the coach driver we managed to play OH CANADA through the coach sound system. And everyone was singing along. 

Happy Bus Group at Herring Cove Beach

The tour was finished on Herring Cove Beach where many of the seniors got barefoot to stick their feet into the Bay of Fundy. It was the absolute highlight of the tour.

July 4 Independence Day rolled around. But the mood was depressed. Too many crazy things were going on in the US. Would America really turn into an authoritarian country? It would influence Canada in a bad way. Could the clown really become president again? It worried everyone. Not even the fireworks on the American side could change that.

The last winter brought some very powerful storms to the island. The Head Harbour Lightstation on the northern edge of Campobello sustained a lot of damage. To help I went out there and started repairs. The big boat shed had lost both doors and fixing this required to gather leftover materials and make new doors out of it. There is more damage on the buildings. So whenever I have extra time I will continue to do some repairs.

Repairs to be made....

Coast Guard on the water....

.....and in the air

And now July is almost gone. The big highlight of the month was the recent 60-year anniversary of the Roosevelt Campobello International Park.

Celebration Grounds

No party without the Mounties...

New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs

US-Senator Angus King

 

Ambassador David L. Cohen

The celebration started Saturday at 11am with a gathering of the general public and dignitaries from both countries.

Bagpipe music made for some great entertainment and afterwards it was lunchtime!

A great celebration indeed!

Soon we will be in August and my thoughts are wandering ahead to October. We think, this time, we will be heading south somewhat earlier than last year. That might make it possible to head up the I-40 from Albuquerque to see the Arizona Nat'l Parks along the I-40 before it gets too cold.

Flagg Day at home

The Flagg for Kamala

Home...Sweet Home