2026 EAST COAST CANADA
*Coddiwomple: “to travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination."
WELL we're off on another adventure.
We have a rough plan to leave June 1 and head East and spend time in areas we missed the last two times we were there. We will stop and visit some friends and relatives along the way and have the ferry to Newfoundland booked. We will explore Nova Scotia and Cape Breton more and have a few National parks booked. All in all it should be another exciting adventure for Elizabeth, Jerry, Mia, Miss Adventure Too and Clifford The Big RED Truck.
Yes we know...what about gas $? No comment. Well, one rant. (Jerry) We have not been able to travel south in the winter for two seasons due to fill in the blank , so we'll spend our tourist dollars at home. There. That's that. Done with it. I hope. If you need more explanation, see this short 1:29 Youtube by Rick Mercer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Smjpw5MSPM I guess that's two rants if you include Rick.
So we'll start (and finish?) slow and easy with a few days at a Lake Belwood camp so we can de-winterize and make sure everything works. From there we'll head east and we'll keep you posted along the way. Most of our travel will be short driving days (200-300km), with stays of more than one night so we can explore the areas, relax and try to ride our bikes when possible.
You know people start asking us in January where we plan to travel that year. Often we tell them we haven't decided yet. Once the decision is made though, we begin our plans. This year we started planning in February. You may think that's pretty early for a summer trip but there is a lot to think about when taking 5 months to see part of the world. We thought it would be good to visit Newfoundland first so we could catch the icebergs and see the puffins so our first reservation was going to be the ferry from Nova Scotia to NFLD. You'd think that in February we'd have a good chance right? Wrong. After 1/2 a day and finally a phone call to Marine Atlantic we finally were able to get a reservation for August 19th. Lots of folks are travelling in Canada this year and the government reduced the ferry fees to half the normal charges.
Now our original travel plan had to change. We'd be visiting the lower part of Nova Scotia first and then going to NFLD. As previously stated, there are lots of things to consider. The next few months we planned our route and made many reservations in campgrounds because we'd be camping in the busy months of June, July and August. Other things to consider were who would be available to house sit for us; arranging all of doctor, dentist, eye, hair cut appointments etc. to happen before we leave; calculating how much cat food Mia will need (because of course she won't eat just any old cat food) and buying it. Then Jerry has to figure out where to store it all. We also needed to get Mia's annual check-up and vaccinations in before June 1st. We needed to get our own spring COVID boosters too.
Prescriptions are a big deal when you're going away for many months. OK maybe if you only have one or two it's not bad; but I have more than I ever wanted. In fact, I have a spreadsheet listing them all and outlining how much I have on-hand, how many refills there are, how many days we're gone and which refills I need to get from the doctor. It's complicated. This year just to complicate things more, I will need an injection the week of June 15th when we will be in Quebec. (I checked with the doctor to see if I could get it two weeks early but the answer was no). I had to find a pharmacist in Quebec who would be willing to give me the injection at the appropriate time. I checked with my friend who lives in Les Cedres and she gave me a few suggestions. After three calls with no luck, I was finally able to book an appointment.
There are numerous decisions to make - Are one or two guitars going? How often will we do laundry? Do we need the hammocks? the canoe? which chairs? which bikes? which art projects/supplies? Space is a limiting factor and so are our physical abilities. Oh ya and what clothes for all kinds of weather...hot, cold, rain, (snow?? hope not).
Of course, Jerry has many things to do the ensure the trailer is ready to go, things like checking tire pressure and wheel bearings/brakes.
It's all done now, everything has been purchased and picked-up and we're ready to put it all in the trailer. Our son Chris, who will be house sitting for us, will help with the loading in. When it comes to loading there's as much work to do for 5 months as there is for a weekend trip.
Come Monday though all the planning and packing will be behind us and we'll be on the road again.
Memories
Some of these blogs will be created by Jerry and some by Elizabeth depending on who feels like blogging. Both contributed to this one.
So on with the load in. 🍁
So long for now.
Take care all.
Love from,
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