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See you in 6 months Canada

Leanne Haughian
Nov 18, 2017
4 min read

We spent Halloween in a Walmart parking lot. We got off the 6 hour ferry from Port au Basque Nfld to North Sydney Nova Scotia just after supper. We try to not travel at night, so this worked well. We unloaded Dravis’ bike and said our goodbyes. At this point the weather is still favorable for us, but we can feel the chill of winter in the air. We are giving ourselves 2-3 days to get to Saint Stephens New Brunswick where we will cross over into the states.

We decided to take a different highway than when we came across. Our 2 options are the TransCanada or highway 4. Highway 4 it is! Also we wanted to see the Bay of Fundy from the north point, as we travelled the south tip with Mary earlier in October. If you didn’t know the Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world. With a 6 hour turn around from high to low tide and a drastic tide at that! It rises the equivalent of 4 city building stories. When the tide is coming in it looks as if someone is filling a bath tub.

Hope Well Rocks

We unintentionally timed our Bay of Fundy experience with the tide. Arriving at Hope Well Rocks when the tide is out so we can walk on the beach and take an up close look at the formations in the rock from this drastic tide. This last 2 pictures are a break in our day for art time. Its clay Paul, Leanne and Benny.

Continuing along this old windy coastal highway passing tiny community and old homesteads. This section of highway was probably one of the poorest quality roads we have travelled. Carting the bike on the back has added a lot of extra weight. Pot hole studded highway makes for a tricky drive, slower is definitely better. We styed one night in Alma New Brunswick, which is actually known for having the highest tide. Alma being a tiny lobster fishing community. Just outside of Alma is the Bay of Fundy National Park where we took in the Fundy Coastal Trail. We did 14km total. This trail was beautiful, steep hiking paths through dense pine trees and large moss beds with cliff style opening to views of the bay. After our hike we freshened up in the very crisp river feeding into the bay and then continued down the road.

We stayed one night in Hampton NB. At this point we are getting very close the Saint Stephen border crossing. We found a quiet parking lot by the river to sleep for the night. In the morning stopping at a Tim’s to prepare breakfast and use their facilities. This is where we meet Logan. A random guy is outside of our van taking pictures of Morrie. I roll down the window to chat and offer him the remainder of our garlic(we can’t cross with fresh garlic) We invite him in to show him around and chat all this time he is continuing to take our picture. Pictures of the van and us and Benny. Turns out he is an amazing photographer and we just had our first impromptu photo shoot. Unfortunately I was still in my pjs, had not brushed my teeth, probably had sleep in my eyes and messy hair but still kinda cool! I guess you could say we are defying the laws of vanity! The picture on the left is how we spend many nights, all 3 of us are pretty chilly. But we are enjoying it! The map is our route thus far.

Saint Stephens Border crossing. I’m not going to lie, authority makes my knees knock a little. When you tell border security you are planning to stay in their country for 6 months and you are as young as we are they rightfully have some questions for you. So we didn’t cross super easy, but could have been a lot worse. They had us come inside to discuss our plans. At first both officers where very stern and had a no bullshit attitude. But we softened and warmed their hearts with our Canadian-ness…ha! We had good answers for all their questions and seemed to have things organized and figured. They did want to look in the van while we waited outside with Benny. He called Paul inside to go over our renovations….he was more interested in our trip and our van than anything in it! Welcome to the USA!! Instantly our surroundings felt different. We opted to stay in a Walmart for the night. This was our first time we actually took the time to look around. Usually we are not huge Walmart supporters. A 30pack of Coors Banquet cost $17USD. A box of wine $10! What!! So we picked up a few groceries and that 30 pack, not to be drank all that evening of course. Rockland Maine We had a recommendation to stop in Rockland. We ended up spending 3 nights there. Rockland is an artistic community focused on sustaining the local economy. Lots of eclectic types, musicians and yogis! We spent our days walking the streets of downtown, window shopping, we attended a donation based yoga class, an open mic at a local coffee shop. We stayed at the marina and chatted with the harbor master and he set us up with hot showers and a bathroom to use for our time there.

Our plan from here was to continue south, it is still chilly during the day and especially at night. We have now experienced the interstate and have decided it is actually a nice way to travel. Salem Massachusetts.

We pulled into Salem at night during rush hour… never our favorite thing. Traffic is fast and the roads are rough! Kind of like a whirl wind we pulled into the first available parking lot in the downtown. This happened to be the House of the Seven Gables. Which we thought was haunted, turns out it isn't. But we slept well. We spent the day walking the streets of Salem, seeing some sites. However once again its pretty chilly and windy, just above freezing. They have created a historical walk through the city by creating a red streak of paint on the sidewalk. This took us to historical downtown, the memorial for the 19 people killed for witchcraft, either hung or crushed to death! There is an original witch home. We toured some of the shops and around the harbor.