August 9, 2005
The plan: Lincolnville, ME to Hilltop Campground in Robbinston, ME.
The reality: Lincolnville, ME to Limone, ME. 58 miles. 1 1/2 hours.
US 1 North bound

We left Don's place in Lincolnville at 10:30 am. A few miles up the coast I started hearing a grinding noise when I applied the brakes. Not good, I knew it was not good, but hoped for the best. We pulled into the Ford dealer in Ellsworth, ME and asked to have the brakes looked at, and they said, "no way", we don't work on anything that big, so they sent us down the road to an RV repair shop. Bad news, they're booked and didn't have time to do the job for at least a week, but he called a friend, Clifton Bradford, who ran an RV Repair and Towing Business just down the road in Limone. We got directions, and drove to Clifton's shop. After a brief look at the rotors on all four positions, he pointed out that the right rear rotor was damaged, and the pads worn to nothing. Damn. OK, how long will it take to fix? "Most of the day" he says. OK, lets do it. So, we pull the rig into his shop, with the antennas scraping on the shop door, and he gets started. The right rear rotor is scored bad, so he has to pull the whole right axle out and take it to a truck shop to be turned. He calls the local parts stores and orders the pads for the other side, and they deliver the cheapest crap they have. He won't take it. Calls the shop, and tells them to send the top quality, or he'll buy somewhere else. Then he discovers that both of the calipers are damaged, right and left, so we have to order them, and guess what. Can't get them until tomorrow. Arrrggggg. OK, we can live with that, but lets check the fronts. Damn, we need new pads on the left front. OK do them all.

At some time in my travels, I've driven with the emergency brake on, and now I've got no emergency brake. I thought about getting it fixed when I had the oil changed in Detroit, but the Ford dealer claimed the brake system was not a serviceable part, and had to be replaced, at a cost of $900.00 plus labor. Clifton called the local Ford place and inquired about the replacement, and they quoted him $349.00. So I said, order it and replace it. They had to ship it overnight from Dearborn, but so what, we're already spending the night in the Clifton Bradford RV Park. :-) So we spend the night parked in a shop with 15 amp service. No TV. No DirecWay. No fresh air, and no sky. Puke. There are pictures on the picture page.

Next day the parts come in, and the Ford part is the wrong one. The Ford parts guy quoted, and ordered, the foot pedal assembly, not the emergency brake assembly. The emergency brake assembly is indeed, $900.00. Clifton finds out from a truck repair guy that the E brake is serviceable, but not with Fords blessing, or Ford parts, but he can't get the parts for several days, so I tell him finish up with everything else so we can move on, and we'll get the E brake done in Sept. Everything else is right, the axle is back, the rotors are turned and smooth, and Clifton works most of the day getting things fixed. Here's a dumb Ford trick. They use the same caliper on both sides of the rear axle. That means that on one side (left), the caliper is on the rear of the wheel, and it's on the front of the other (right) side. What happens is that dust and dirt collect on the rubber boots, they tear, and stick on the caliper on the right. Ford has a recall, or TSB on their small trucks, but will not do anything on the large chassis's. I'm still trying to see about getting a cover for the right side. We make an appointment for early Sept. to get the brake fixed, and finally get on the road at 4:30 pm. While Clifton is working on the rig, we did a little sight seeing, Bar Harbor, and Acadia National Park, a pretty area, but we didn't have time to spend more than a few hours here.

Total cost= $1041.65.

August 10, 2005
Limone, ME to Hilltop Campground in Robbinston, ME.
US 1 North 105 miles. 2 1/2 hours.

Hilltop Campground is a nice little park. Passport America, which means we pay 1/2 price, so it's $14.00 per night. We had planned one night here, but caged our mind and spent 2. We took time on the 11th to do a trip to Quoddy Head State Park, where the Eastern most point in the Continental United States is located. They have a monument there that proclaims it as the Eastern most point in the United States, and the ranger there said they get regular letters of complaint from Alaska. This was a rugged and pretty area, and the light house was "picture worthy". Yup, there are pictures on the picture pages. :-)

August 12, 2005
Robbinston, ME to Pine Cone Camping in Sussex, New Brunswick.
US 1 North to the International Bridge Border Crossing, then HWY 1 North. 4 hours. 140 miles

We stopped for gas in Calais, ME and paid $2.599, because we knew it would be cheaper than in Canada, and this price was before the hike after the hurricanes. We had no problem at all at the crossing. A few minutes leaning out the window of the MH, and answering a few questions, the a right turn and we're on our way. A few miles down the road I notice a blueberry stand on the side of the road, so I stop to see what they have in the way of blueberry food stuff, and they have fresh baked, wild blueberry pie, so I order a piece. One bite, and I buy a whole pie, then we're on our way again. We pull into the campground, and I know I'm in trouble with my satellite stuff as we pull in the drive. Trees everywhere, but, it's a nice clean place, with flat sites, and it's quiet. Good neighbors on all sides. $28.46 per night, and we got our first taste of Canadian TV. Hummm. Would "no comment" be good enough?

August 13, 2005
Sussex, NB to Hidden Hilltop Campground at Glenholme, NS.
HWY 1 North to TC 2, then East to the CG. 138 miles. 3 hrs 5 min.

The Hidden Hilltop Campground is a large, family oriented place. A petting zoo, lots of stuff going on for kids and families. I had requested 50 amp service, and when we got parked it was obvious I would never see the DirecWay satellite. I got TV, but no Internet. There were some good, and some bad neighbors here. The bad one had a German Shepherd that barked, and barked, and barked, and barked, and crapped all over the lot where the folks had their RV parked. The CG managers gave them a choice. Leave, or take the dog somewhere else. They took the dog back home. Cost for the night was $30.02.

August 14, 2005
Glenholme, NS to Woodhaven RV Park at Hammonds Plains, NS
TC 2 to East to HWY 102 South to Hammonds Plains Road to the CG. 71 miles. 1 hr. 20 mins.

We left the CG at 11:45, and stopped for gas just before we got to Woodhaven RV Park. This was my first sticker shock in Canada. The gas was 1.129 per liter. There are 3.785 liters per US Gallon. That makes the cost per gallon $4.273 CN. Convert this to US dollars at .82 cents per dollar and the cost is $3.50 per gallon. WOW. Cost to fill the MH was $229.51 CN.

We got into the park at about 1:00 pm, and I told the office that I "must" have a site that had clear view to the Southwest. They put me on a large, pull thru site back of the office. Full hookups, 50 amp service, but low water pressure. No problem, I fill the fresh water tank, and we use the onboard water system. We enjoyed the folks that ran the park, and met a lot of fine folks while we were here. This was a week long stop, and we did a lot of sight seeing from this location.

A day trip into downtown Halifax where we visited the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, and the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. It was in the Museum of the Atlantic that we learned about the Explosion of 1917, an event I'd never heard of. An ammunition ship sitting in Halifax Harbor blew up on December 6 at about 9:05 am, and destroyed most of Halifax. Over 1900 dead, 1,630 homes completely destroyed and 12,000 housed damaged. The pictures were graphic, and captivating. More info here.

We took one day at Peggy's Cove, a must stop if you go to Nova Scotia. A tiny little town set on a shore line of huge rounded rocks. Rugged, right on the Atlantic with lots of little stores and places to eat. Just down the road there is a memorial to Swiss Air Flight 111, and some pictures on the picture pages. Back toward Halifax there's a lobster pound on the left side of the road where you can buy fresh lobster. Boiled or live. They want you to pre-order it if you want it cooked, so on the way into Peggy's Cove we ordered 2, 2 1/2 lb lobsters, and picked them up on the way back to the MH. We ate lobster till we couldn't stuff anymore in. Yuuuummmmmm.

We took another trip to Lunenburg. This place is a visual joy. All the buildings painted different, and bright colors. Tourist trap shops all over the place.

Our stay in Halifax was fun, and relaxing, but after 7 days we were ready to be on our way. The weeks stay at Woodhaven was $186.00 CN

August 21, 2005
Hammonds Plains, NS Hyclass CG at Havre Boucher, NS
HWY 102 North to TC HWY 104 to The Hyclass CG. 156 miles. 3 hours.

One night here. Water and 30 amp electric, but a site that was pure eye candy. A wide view of St. George's Bay, and on out to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Due to a hillside in the way, no satellite, but it's one night, so we looked at the scenery. $29.75 per night.

August 22, 2005
Hyclass CG to Baddeck Cabot Trail CG in Baddeck, NS.
HWY 102 North to HWY 105 North to Baddeck. 58 miles. 1 hr. 25 min.

The Baddeck Cabot Trail CG is a KOA that dropped out of the franchise, it's a nice park, good electric and water. We were up on top of a hill with a clear view of the Southwest, but, we were out of the footprint of the DirecTV signal. We could get DirecWay, even though the signal was weak, and we got knocked off with the slightest rain. From here we explored Cape Breton Island. A visit to the Alexander Graham Bell Museum, a full circle drive of the Cabot Trail driving up the East side, around the tip through Cape Breton Highlands National Park, and then down the West side. We took another day to drive up to Sydney Mines and visited 2 more museums there. Another day up the West side of the Cabot Trail to Cheticamp to meet a new friend, Mark Terault. He and his wife Diane, have a great house up there on the shore, with a totally stunning view of the Gulf.

We were here when the first news of hurricane Katrina started hitting the news, and news of gas price increases, and gas shortages started hitting the news. Think back, this hurricane hit just South of Miami on August 25th as a category 1, and we were getting news of gas price increases at that time. We were watching the storm track, and news via our Internet connection, and helped a couple of folks in the park contact relatives in Florida. We felt it was time to move back toward the US. We had planned on a couple of days on Prince Edward Island, but changed our minds, so, we head back home.

August 26, 2005
Baddeck to Gateway Parklands CG in Amherst, NS
HWY 105 South to TC 104 West to Gateway Parklands CG. 223 miles. 4 1/2 hours.

This was a Passport America park, and most all of them in Nova Scotia did not give the PA discount in July or August, but, tourism was down so far, that when I started calling the PA parks, they were all honoring the discount, so the fee here was $16.10 CN, per night. The listing for this park also said "Cash Only", but when we pulled in and asked if they would take a credit card, they said "Oh yes." It was a park with about 100 or so spaces, and there were only 10 rigs in the whole park. We had a good view to the satellites, so we had both Internet and TV. We spent 2 nights here, and drove several miles to see a "bore tide", that turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. We made it down to Joggins, where we got to see a low tide, then went back later to see the same place at high tide. All in all a good stay, and there are pictures available.

August 28, 2005.
Amherst, NS to Oak Bay CG in Oak Bay, NB
TC 2 West to HWY 1 South to the CG. 203 Miles. 4 hrs. 5 min.

OK, I'm trying to avoid buying any more gas than I need to in Canada. I'd filled up the tank in Baddeck at 1.119 per liter. I knew I didn't have enough gas to get me to to US so I stopped in Moncton and put 66 liters in, for a total of $75.00 CN. (1.129 per liter). I also had to stop at the blueberry stand, buy another pie, and a basket of wild blueberries that we froze. I now get wild blueberry pancakes when I want. We spent our last night in Canada at the Oak Bay CG at $28.81 a night. We took a walk down to the shore and took a couple of pictures, drove into town and got our currency exchange done. The gas tank on the car is running on empty, and the MH isn't much better. Canada was a nice visit, but we were looking forward to being back in the US.

August 29, 2005.
Oak Bay, NB to the Pumpkin Patch RV Park in Hermon, ME.
HWY 1 across the International Bridge, then ME-9 to Hermon, ME. 116 miles. 2 1/4 hrs.

We stopped at an Irving station in Calais, ME and added a bit of gas the the MH. $2.699, which is close to a dollar per gallon cheaper than in Canada. I only bought $50.00 worth, to make sure I got to Hermon, where I paid $2.539 per gallon. I filled the car an the MH, and it took 78.188 gallons. The MH holds 75, and the car 15, so I didn't have a lot of fuel left in the rigs.

Pumpkin Patch is a nice park. Big, level sites, with a grass are for each rig. Clear view of the SW, with wireless at $1.00 per day and cable TV. It's a Passport America park that only limits the discount price to exclude holidays. We had planned to be here for 10 days, but extended until Sept. 15. During that time we got the leftovers from Katrina, wind gusts to 50 mph or so. We drove back down to Clifton Bradford's and had new shoes put on the emergency brake, for a cost of $307.84. While we were in Canada our rear AC went kaput, so we drove the MH over to a Winnebago repair place, and they ordered a new AC for us to be replaced on 9/15. We took trips to several places in the area, met lots of folks and had fun just sitting. We met a guy who was under 62, and had retired, based on his income from rental property in Biloxi, MS, it was all gone, and the insurance said they wouldn't pay to rebuild because it was "raising water" that destroyed his property, not a hurricane. He didn't know what he was going to do. We met several folks who knew they had property that was damaged, but not how bad. Anyway, we were there until the 15th, and then moved on.

Sept 15, 2005
Hermon, ME to Bethel Outdoor Adventure in Bethel ME
Back over to the repair place to get the AC installed, then I-95 to Newport, ME to US-2 to Bethel, ME

This was another PA park that changed the rules because the vacancy was high. When we pulled into this park our plan was for one week, and we stayed until Oct. 3rd. It was an OK park, with 30 amp service, water and sewer, and strategically located for day trips, and had a front window view of the Androscoggin River. The drive here took us through some awesome country, and broke my image of the Northeast. Lots of hills and rivers, and rugged country. We visited ski areas in New Hampshire, and rode up to the top of Wildcat Mountain. Did a full day trip up to the Rangley Lakes area, another up through Grafton Notch State Park. We visited the Fair at Fryeburg, and ate some of the best pizza we've found in a little bar in Bethel. This is an area I'd recommend for anyone. Quiet and small town feel, and super friendly folks. When we left Bethel we considered ourselves on the way to Florida, another, and the last trip segment for 2005.

Total Miles for this segment = 1712.5
Total Gas used for this segment = 280.57 gallons
Total Cost of Gas for this segment = $815.14
Average MPG, after generator use of 26.7 hours is subtracted = 7.08

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Pictures of the Trip