Another Country

Sunday morning, Jane & I packed up and left Hadley Point Campground around 10 am. The drive through upper Maine was beautiful and although some of the roads were a bit rough, uneventful. Our entry into Canada went smoothly, no one else was at the entry point, we presented our passports, we were asked a few questions, and then we proceeded into another country. We also entered a new time zone, Atlantic Day Light Time (ADT) and set out clocks forward an hour.

The Canadian roads were markedly superior to those we had traveled in Maine. We took the Funday Coastal Drive which had limited access similar to U.S. interstates and the speed limit was usually 110 kph (68 mph). After awhile on the freeway, Jane routed us to a frontage road where we visited a blueberry farm store. We bought a cartoon of freshly picked blueberries (handpicked, first of the season) and a homemade blueberry pie. Jane ate a slice of the pie and fed me a few bites as I drove.

The only city we passed through was St. John, New Brunswick, where the speed limit decreased, traffic increased, we crossed over a river, and soon were back into rural countryside. 

We eventually exited the freeway, and after about 45 minutes of driving, entered Fundy National Park. When we tried to check into site 107 at the Chignecto Campground, we found out that we were booked for site 107 in the Headquarters Campground. So, we continued another 15 km down the park’s main road. The views were spectacular as we descended down toward Fundy Bay. We checked in and set up at site 107 with no problems. The travel time was 5.5 hours and the distance was 262 miles. 

We were fortunate to be booked into the Headquarters Campground as it is just a short walk from the coast of Fundy Bay and the scenic town of Alma. We walked from our site to an overlook of the bay. We sat on a bench near a couple from Prince Edward Island and enjoyed talking with them about our trip, North Carolina and things Canadian. The view was beautiful but the tide had not yet returned so that the docks were surrounded by sloping mud flats and the few boats docked were sitting on ground. We walked back and had a light dinner with wine sitting outside our RV and enjoyed the cool New Brunswick air.

To end the evening, we walked to Alma via stairs (119, Jane counted them both directions) down the hillside through the forest and along Fundy Bay. The tide had come in and the mud flats were now covered with water that floated many docked boats. We caroused town scoping out the shoppes and lobster restaurants. We settled down on a bench near the docks overlooking Fundy Bay as darkness fell and watched Jupiter, Saturn, and a few bright stars became visible. A crew was busy unloading crates of freshly caught lobsters from a boat and transporting them to a nearby facility for distribution to local restaurants. Commercial boats here must carefully schedule their work around the tides. 

We wearily returned to the RV via the 119 steps and promptly went to bed in a peaceful campground.