Journey Notes

Today, I (Rochelle) will be writing our blog post because Geoff's computer's WiFi decided to die this evening - UGH! (We knew there was a reason we brought along a 3rd laptop :-) Needless to say, Geoff is now in the throes of getting our 7-year-old laptop in shape to be used and I offered to write up tongiht's post...

This morning, Geoff got a late start because there was a problem one of our ArtSites customers was experiencing and he couldn't seem to track down the cause. However, not to be defeated, Geoff finally did figure out the issue even though it took him most of the morning. He finally left around 11:30 AM, which was much later than he wanted. On the plus side, the rain was dying down and the skies seemed to be clearing. For most of the day, the rain was on and off, often with a heavy mist (much like Vancouver :-).

After Geoff left, I went to the supermarket to stock up on food and gas for the coming days. When I walked into the store, I saw another one of VanGo's younger siblings! It was a white VW Westfalia with much less rust, but in essence, another VanGo. I looked around to see if the owners were nearby and saw no one. So, I went shopping and got my gas. After I got gas, I was writing down our mileage (we're trying to get a better handle on our mileage these days) and the other Westy drove up beside me! Driving it was a lovely couple from San Diego - Alan and Mary Ann - who are also driving across the continent to St. John's, Newfoundland. They have been on the road for 4 weeks and we swapped stories and visited for almost an hour! At which point, I realized I really needed to go and catch up with Geoff for lunch ;-) We swapped contact information and wished each other well.

As agreed with Geoff, I took the backroad alternative and was hoping that I would catch up with him before it merged with the main highway and before a major bridge crossing. We weren't completely sure Geoff would be able to cross the bridge on the bike. I could see from my phone that I was getting close to Geoff, but as I got closer and closer to the birdge he still seemed to be ahead of me. I, eventually, did catch up with him, pretty much ON the bridge (which marked our "departure" from continental North America). We drove over to the Island of Cape Breton and had our lunch at the Visitors's Information Centre. Well, guess who was also there...yup, Alan, Mary Ann, and "Belinda" (named after the San Diego Zoo Beluga Whale :-). They were all thrilled to actually MEET Geoff and once again we took some pictures and visited for a little bit.

After lunch, Geoff and I took the Transcanada Highway (105) to the Glenview Campground in Whycocomagh, NS. (I'm still not quite sure how to pronounce this town's name ;-) There were some long hills, but Geoff seemed to take them all in stride and VanGo did his best :-) When I arrived at the campground, it was very quiet; it's amazing how quiet campgrounds are once again. Tomorrow, we're off to North Sydney, where we will camp for the night before catching the ferry to Newfoundland on Saturday morning. Here's hoping the weather continues to improve and Geoff is able to get a computer working for him...if you know Geoff, that's REALLY important!