The First Day Of Many More

 Whenever we start our annual migration south, the first day is always filled with apprehension. Only when a certain routine settles in we get back to a peace-of-mind kind of state.

A last glance from the FDR bridge towards Mulholland Lighthouse and we meet US-Customs

One of the questions in our mind this morning was what the US-Customs officer would say when hearing about our destination. Well, his reply was "Happy travel!" So all is good.

Getting to Machias,ME this time of the year we were in awe about the fiery red fields. The color appears to be from the red leaves of blueberry plants. Indeed blueberry farming is a major industry in Maine, as also in New Brunswick.

Our goal today was to reach an overnight stop just south of the Maine border in New Hampshire.

Wipers just getting busy

Even though the sky turned grey we had a good ride until south of Bangor,ME. After that, a slight rain made my wipers come to life. Soon enough the light rain was succeeded by more powerful showers. Our wipers were going full speed. 

More dark clouds south of us made me feel uneasy. And then my thoughts turned into reality. A full-blown rainstorm was now hitting our windshield. The water density on the highway turned to 100%, making for bad vision ahead.

And eventually I got enough. 10 miles north of Portland we pulled off the highway into a crampy turnpike rest area. A narrow strip of parking was available and a truck which had been sitting there just left. I maneuvered our rig into place and shut it down. I think it was only around 2pm, but driving in this weather was not an option for me.

Are We Crazy?

 We definitely should know better. We have made many moves in our lives. A long time ago we both moved from Germany to Norway though due to our youth, those moves were easy. Our possessions were few and we were driven by the lust of adventures ahead.

Many years later, we moved within Norway and I recall a major workload to facilitate that move. We rented a big truck and then an even bigger truck to move all the stuff we had accumulated. Geez, it was a lot but we were still young, at least we felt like that.

The next move was dramatic. We had to get rid of most of our stuff. Cars were sold, camp trailers got sold, furniture was left behind and tools were given away. Holy cow, we moved to Canada.

Once in Canada we made a new start. Like starting accumulating stuff again. Filling the first house was easy, moving everything out of there to a place 20kms out of town took time. But at least it wasn't a long distance move. And we were still young.

That long distance move came 6 years later. All of our stuff was put into a storage and off we went in search for new adventures. 

After 13 months on the road, first with a monstrous 5th wheel, then with a large Class A motorhome, our adventures had brought us to the Canadian east coast. 

Our first motorhome

One of our last volumes had just started to unravel. Campobello Island became our new home. But hey....our stuff, accumulated and carefully collected, was still in storage 4000kms away.

After buying a large cargo trailer in Saskatchewan, I hauled all the stuff across the country to fill up our new abode with it.

Phew!

But the following peaceful years ahead never happened. I mean summers were wonderful, but when the storms of autumn arrived we remembered early winters spent in the desert south-west. So we packed up and left. Oh wait...yes we had to pack stuff again. Days of running back and forth between the house and the RV went by, but you might have guessed it....we were still feeling young, even though we were well underway in our late fifties now.

Here I have to say that we did spent 7 entire years at home, fighting with winter storms, snow events and grisly cold unpleasant days, and like a monster, it came creeping back after Covid had left millions dead. The travel itch hit us again in 2021. We got another trailer. Canada still had harsh Covid restrictions but we took off to the sandy dry desert stretches of America.

The down-size to a travel trailer limited the packing of stuff, which we had gotten so experienced with.

But I didn't like the driving with a trailer. 

So last year I was eying a motorhome again. A little longer than the last one and much older. "But it's a Beaver", I argued with Bea(ver) when she uttered protests.

So the last few days we have been packing again. Only now, we are NOT young anymore. We are not FEELING young either. My feet are hurting from running back and forth from the house to the Beaver, and my back is aching. And when I started the brawlin' Cummins in the back my wipers weren't moving.

They seemed DEAD. Checking fuse and switch didn't bring any positive results. With the disconnected switch on the floor, I crawled under the front wall, where the wiper motor lives just above the diesel generator. It is by far the most inconvenient location an engineer could have chosen. It is damn crampy and it is dark in there and the holding screws are impossible to get to. After a couple of hours I gave up. Instead, I went inside and reconnected that switch again......and I heard the motor moving the wiper blades. Now what on earth was that about?

Another day with packing went by, until I turned on the inverter to check electrical functions inside. Alas, there was no power. The fridge remained lifeless and so did the microwave. The control panel briefly showed a red light before it went dark. DC OVERLOAD it said. I didn't understand anything of this.

The inverter, a heavy Magnum monster, turned out to be DEAD. Not even a reset brought it back to life. For a moment despair took me over.

Then, I remembered that I had a 3000W inverter in the travel trailer, and it hadn't been used since 2 winters ago.

A 3000W Renogy became the replacement

It proved to be the saving grace I had been hoping for. The fridge and the microwave came back to life, and so did all the interior outlets.

What a day!

But tonight I had to ask myself a question.

ARE WE CRAZY?

September Is Almost Over

On this almost last day of September we decided to take our favorite hike along the eastern shoreline of Campobello Island. 

The weather was at its finest, deep blue skies and a breeze from the south would be perfect.

Now, the trail has a name, it's called the SUNSWEEP TRAIL.

So what is "SUNSWEEP?"
It is a three-part art project made by David Barr and it symbolizes the sweep of the sun, rising here in the east and setting out west.

SUNSWEEP at Point Roberts, WA

All three parts are made out of the same slab of Canadian black granite. As mentioned, part #1 is located right here on Campobello on an eastern promontory right at the Bay of Fundy. Part #2 consisting of 2 wedge-formed stones, is located on American Point Island at the Lake of the Woods in Minnesota and finally Part #3 is placed at Boundary Bluff at Point Roberts,WA

Now that you know , what SUNSWEEP is all about, let's go for a hike.

The trail starts from Liberty Point, which is the southern most spot on the island. It's an easy hiking trail with small bridges, wooden stairs and planks over uneven or wet parts of the trail. And at a length of only 1km (0.6miles) it is the shortest trail in the Roosevelt Park. 

But it's the most scenic trail as well. 

The sunny afternoon brought out the wonderful scent of balsam firs mixed with the salty smell from the beach on the outside.

Dixie, often times being rather lazy, showed real interest in sniffing along the trail, sticking her nose into the grassy and mossy ground.

Reaching our destination, we sat down on flat rocks letting our gaze wander over this extremely beautiful rugged coast line. Sunsweep is a point which will make you happy. Your daily concerns will leave you for the time being. You will clear your mind and get immersed into a natural beauty so pristine and original.

The wind had picked up speed, and even though the hike had been rather warm, we were now getting cooled down. 

On our way back to the parking lot we met an American couple, and as it often is the case, we had a friendly chat with these strangers.

Of course, we have been at Sunsweep many times earlier, but it will always been a place we want to return to.

Recap Of A Summer

It's time to grab that laptop and start blogging again. 

Where to begin? Sounding stereotype, "the summer went by like a whirlwind". And it was a very dry wind, as many islanders encountered problems with their wells, ours included. "It never rains in southern California", and it hardly ever rained on Campobello. Of course the sunny days were good for tourism, for who wants to stay in the rain?

Our two RVs have been rented out most of the time with visitors from both countries. Our greenhouse produced lots of tomatoes, while the outside garden suffered a bit under the drought. 

And at one point the government restricted access to public lands and Prov. Park trails, out of fear for wildfires.

A couple of weeks ago Bea drove a neighbour to the Saint John Airport. On her way back she stopped at a gas station. After filling the tank, the van stalled and wouldn't start. So when I got her call, I jumped into the other van to rescue her. It was a very hot day with temps near or above the 90s F. She was lucky this happened at a gas station as she would have been in real danger somewhere along the road. She got inside the airconditioned station waiting for me there. On the way back from the airport she had bought a bunch of eggs which she was allowed to put in the fridge at the station. These eggs would have been cooked if remaining in the vehicle!!

The van was finally towed home. Now, we have a summer resident neighbour who runs a car repair shop at home in Ontario, and he found out what was wrong with the van. After replacing the ignition module and the coil, the 24-year old van came back to life. Meanwhile I had made the decision to buy a minivan and sell the old van for what it was worth.

After some research I found a 7-seat Toyota Sienna not too far away. 

And a few days ago the old van was sold to a fellow who is gonna use it for traveling around.

The new vehicle has already been used several times when picking up cruise passengers from Eastport,ME.

BRILLIANT LADY Virgin Voyages 

MS VOLENDAM Holland-America

SEVEN SEAS SPLENDOR Regent Cruise

Traveling we will do ourselves very soon. Our plan to go to Mexico is still standing. We have already started to pack the motorhome. Travel insurance has been purchased and so has Road Assistance through Coach Net. Btw. a premium road service package for a Class A is only $169. I would recommend that to anyone getting on a long road trip. Towing a Class A could cost you thousands of Dollars! We still need to buy Mex. Auto insurance through Banjercito.

This year's travel route