TransCanada2012

woohoo

Monday 7 January 2013

Nov. 20 - 24 Halifax to Bangor, Maine (USA)

We weren't overly excited about retracing our steps all the way to Moncton, NB, but we had no choice unless we wanted to miss our plane in Boston two weeks from now. In Moncton we were to meet up with Scott and Claudia (see post from Wolfville) who said they will give us and the bikes a ride across the border and as far as Bangor. Our first stop after leaving Halifax was at Paul and Meredith's place Shubenacadie, where we stayed on our way to Halifax a few weeks earlier. 

Paul and Meredith live a bit out of town so we decided to take a short snack break on a sun lit bench along the main drag of "Shubie". We sat there, squinting into the sun, munching half an apple each, when a friendly lady approached us. She introduced herself as Jo and showed great interest in our trip. She said she works at the local funeral home and asked us if we would like to come in to warm up and have something hot to drink. Aah that's what this building is we were sitting in front. Sure, we are always up for trying new things... so how about snack time in a funeral home.
We got to meet all the (living) staff, who welcomed us warmly and served us cookies, muffins and as much hot tea as we could drink. Between bites we shared some of our most memorable experiences and answered their questions about our adventure.
THANKS JO AND DAVE ETC. WE REALLY APPRECIATED THIS WARM BREAK!

A few km down the road we arrived at Paul and Meredith's, which was so cool!! I was sad to leave their house last time because they were just so nice and we felt right at home; no awkward intruding feeling or anything like that. Meredith said we could sleep on the pull-out couch in the living room instead of camping.YES! Thank you! We spent most of the evening sipping various drinks and watching Dancing With the Stars. I must say I really enjoyed the show. These dancers are just amazing!
Thick fog and frost greeted us next morning...ride hard, stay warm.

SO GREAT TO SEE YOU AGAIN? MEREDITH, PAUL, MEL AND LINDEN. ALL THE BEST AND THANKS AGAIN!


Many more km later, Jean-Marc and Melanie kindly let us stay in their tool shed again. They even invited us again for dinner and, of course, a nice cup of tea from Melanie's selection.
THANKS SO MUCH YOU TWO!

The following day we arrived in Moncton where Hannah and Christopher (from the UBC Farm, appeared on the blog at the beginning of of my trip) just moved to. They kindly made room for us and our fat bikes in their little student apartment. With the two little kids running around, there was never a dull moment. Hannah once took us along with her kids to see a farmer friend of her's. Nice little get away.
THANKS HANNAH AND CHRIS FOR THE WARM PLACE TO STAY. IT WAS GREAT TO SEE YOU AGAIN! GOOD LUCK WITH THE HOUSE SEARCH!

Scott and Claudia stayed at a hotel just a few km's from Hannah and Chris' so we had no problem finding them. Here we are trying to make all our stuff fit into Scott's car. As chaotic as it looks, the task was nonetheless successfully completed.  


Can you guess what James may be up to in the pic below? I bet you can't. 
Well, not too long ago, a friend of ours had most kindly given us three bottles of home made moonshine, some of which we had already consumed (best with Tropicana Berry Fruit Punch) and we hoped to take the rest with us to France, for some happy hour time by the fire place. When Scott heard that we had moonshine in the car he almost flipped because it is highly illegal in the States. Okay, that's good to know, we had no idea. Hm...what to do now with this precious load? Since none of us felt too keen on exploring a US jail from the inside, it was clear we had to leave the shine north of the border....preferably without it going to waste. 
We decided to hide the bottles in a green shopping bag at a designated location where Scott and Claudia could easily find it again on their way back home. Said...DONE! 
USA here we come! 

Scott and Claudia got us a room at the Country Inn in Bangor. It was a very lovely place with free cookies at the reception (= happy Linda)

  After the long drive, we went for a short walk through the bog at a nearby park. Scott and Claudia posing nicely.....but not for long....
 ...haha got you! ( these two were endless entertainment)

Fantastic dinner at Ruby Tuesday

After dinner it was shopping time...at Walmart! I am not overly proud to confess this but it was right across from the Inn so there you go. Because of the cheap prices, Scott made such a huge shop we thought he was stocking up for the next 12 months or the end of the world. While we waited for him, James and I raced the electric shopping carts around the huge foyer. My goodness was that fun, especially because these things go super slow so your are in racing mode and try to overtake the other driver while you are really not going much more than a brisk walking pace. I laughed tears.


No comments:

Post a Comment