Sept 22 + 23, 2019
The trailer will be sitting in the ferry for about 18 hours without power or propane. I didn’t want the fridge to be draining the battery. We have cleaned out a lot of the perishables, so we went out for breakfast. It was also an opportunity to catch up with some of the blog posts and photos. We finally were ready to leave St. John’s by 11:00. The drive was uneventful and we talked about where we want to go in Nova Scotia as well plan our schedule. We want to also go to the Isle de La Madeline.
We drove down to Placentia, a small fishing village, at the end of the peninsula. This little place had a very important place in history. During the World War 2, Prime Minister Churchill and President Roosevelt, met on a naval ship in Ship Harbor, (a few miles from Placentia) and developed the Atlantic Charter. This Charter set out the war aims of the governments of the USA and Britain.
We were an hour earlier than necessary to be at the Argentia ferry so we went into Placentia, drove through the village and stopped for a coffee at the local Tim Horton’s. We finally arrived at the ferry and got in the line up. This would be the ninth ferry ride that we have been on, on this trip, and we were beginning to become experts on ferry rides. The difference with this ride is that we were unable to secure a cabin for the night ride and we would be sleeping in the chairs. We had packed some personal belongings in our backpacks and were confident that we would be reasonably comfortable.
The Atlantic Vision is a large ferry that was on its last run for the season. Once it arrives at Sydney, Nova Scotia it will be out of service until early next year. We went to the quiet room on Deck 8 of the ferry and secured two of the reclining chairs that would be our bed for the night. We then went into the lounge and had a beer before dinner. We enjoyed a buffet dinner in the comfortable dining room. We sat in the lounge and read until we were tired enough to go to bed. To say that we had a great night and a good sleep would be the ultimate lie.
There were about eight other people in the room. Some were sleeping in sleeping bags on the floor. I could not find a comfortable position in the chair and every time that I looked at Debbie I could see that she was not sleeping either. Throughout the night various people were getting up to use the bathroom. One lady, who we had seen drinking at the bar, was in the washroom and retching loudly. Sometime in the night two young ladies came in and sat in the chairs in front of us. One then slept on the floor, the other one in the seat. They then got up every two hours and went outside to smoke. The clincher came when both of their cell phone alarms went off at 6:15 and they were both out smoking! One of the alarms sounded like a fire alarm and woke up everyone in the room. Just as I was shutting off their phone alarms, they came back into the room. That is when I lost it and yelled at them, telling them how rude and inconsiderate they were.
We then got up, cleaned up, and went for breakfast, tired and grumpy. As we approached Sydney, we sat in the lounge with our blanket and pillow and watched the shoreline approach. The two young ladies were sitting in the other side of the lounge, and would not look at me. The hung over lady and her boyfriend were stinking up the seat a few seats away.
Our short drive to our friend Ann’s house was an interesting event. Debbie had dialed in the GPS for directions to Ann’s address and after driving through Sydney, it directed us to a small dirt road approach off of the highway. I argued and said that it was wrong and went drove to the next intersection. After 2 kms, Debbie said that we were going in the wrong direction and so we returned to the dirt road. We drove slowly down the dirt road and ended up in a turnip patch! The GPS was saying that we were close to Ann’s house. We decided to call her, and we explained where we were and she laughed and said go back to the highway and take the intersection and turn left, go past the turnip farmer and turn left into her driveway. It turned out that we were about 100 yards away from her house! The turnip field is right on the edge of her land. I later walked past her garage at the end of her driveway and walked to the edge of the turnip field and I could see where we had turned around! Miss Taken had done it again. It is no wonder why I don’t trust her. Debbie tells me that I’m too harsh. Ann greeted and brought us into her house.
Ann worked with me in Prince George and we have stayed in touch with each other over the many years since then. Right now she is suffering from a sciatic nerve issue and is not very mobile. We decided that we would stay with her a few days and help her around the house.
Debbie and I enjoyed warm showers, after we had settled in. We talked and visited for the rest of the day, catching up with all of the news. We ordered pizza and Debbie maintained a steady stream of hot and cold compresses for Ann’s back. At one time Ann remarked, “I didn’t know that you married a Sargent–major!” We all went to bed early, as we all needed a good sleep. We slept in our trailer just because it was the easiest thing to do and the least amount of work for Ann.
Quilting in a Kayak 