Life In the Slow Lane

We finished the Great Circle and are back in Rockport. Bye-bye, Nova Scotia We drove Blueberry 4,141 miles, towing Boma for 2,197 of that. We also drove the Tesla loaner about 400 miles. All together, we consumed about 2 MWh of electricity in 40 days. Not a fair comparison, but the wholesale cost of energy in New England was $32.59 /MWh, so about $65 for the voyage. We made six car ferry crossings. The shortest crossing, at Little Narrows on the Bras d'Or Lakes, was only about 100 yards. The longest was 47 miles from Digby to St. John.  The 400-foot long Digby ferry is about the same length as Little Narrows crossing.  Before this trip I think I've only driven on three ferries in the last 20 years.  The Little Narrows ferry The short ferries on Cape Breton are cable ferries: they are attached to an underwater cable and pull themselves across the crossing. The captain only needs to have the skills of an old fashioned elevator operator. These ferries are free and have no s...

A delightful day exploring Annapolis Royal/Port Royal at the head of the Annapolis Basin, near Digby.  In 1605, Pierre Dugua de Mons from France founded the first permanent Northern European settlement in North America at Port Royal. (For comparison, the Pilgrims founded Plymouth in 1620. Jamestown VA was founded in 1607. St. Augustine FL was founded in 1565 by the Spanish.) By all the accounts he and his colony actively engaged with the Mi'kmaq, hunted together, and cooperated with each other. A century and half of wars ensued. Port Royal was burned by  Samuel Argall , a Virginia (British) privateer in 1613. Then it gets complicated, with about thirteen assaults and almost as many turnovers between the French and British by battles and treaties signed in Europe. Thousands of Acadians were deported, thousands of American Loyalists (the losers of the American War of Independence) arrived. The British eventually defeated the Mi'kmaq and French in 1759. Propaganda The Britis...

 We uneventfully drove again over the highways we passed the day before. However, just before arriving to camp, Pemba somehow got her rear leg ensnared in the carabiner that holds her seat harness. We cut her fur and lubricated it, but still we could not get her leg out of the carabiner. The steel was too thick to cut with my wire cutters. Eventually we ended up at the Firehouse where the Chief had a bolt cutter. Success! Note the Choose Canadian Seafood stickers I guess somebody answered my question about where is the Canadian seafood. This was from the Sobey's Supermarket in Digby. We got some scallops to cook tonight. Absolutely excellent. Often scallops are watery, and do not sauté well. I think these may have been the driest, sweetest scallops I've ever cooked. Wow! Happy Trails, Krem and Barbara

Blueberry (our Tesla)  got out of the shop. Ate out downtown to celebrate.  A cute Pet Nat from Nova Scotia, with rose hips and elderflower with dinner All charged up, we left leisurely the next morning for Digby, but after 100 miles or so a worrisome message said "Service is Required". Turned around, recharged, dropped off the trailer at our campsite, and went back to the shop. By the end of day it was resolved. Went back to our campsite for the night, and binge-watched Only Murders in the Building until 2 AM. finishing Season 2,  Happy Trails, Krem and Barbara

Peggy's Cove appealed to me since I like small fishing villages, and my mother's name is Peggy. Less than an hour south of Halifax the landscape changed from heavily-wooded mixed coniferous-deciduous, like most of NS we have seen, to tundra-like: a few, small trees and mostly rugged grasses and low shrubs. No agriculture present, not even blueberries. We approached the village; a large electronic parking sign showed how many parking spots were available in each lot. The sign wasn't operating, but both lots had four character displays, so presumably parking for thousands. At the end of the road was the lighthouse, said to be the most photographed lighthouse in the world, probably an invented factoid by the Chamber of Commerce. There are over 750 lighthouses in Canada ; Peggy's Cove is number 19 on this slide show.  Ho hum, I have visited a lot of lighthouses from Iceland to Pemba Island to Matinicus Rock. In October, well after tourist season, one 1000+ spot parking lot ...

We are up in the Minas Basin, an adjunct to the Bay of Fundy. World record tides, with over 50 feet reported regularly. The tidal mud flats are over two miles wide in some places: the most powerful tidal currents in the world. It's land (mud) all the way out to the small island, several miles. Shot with a telephoto lens. Another miles-wide clam flat at Five Islands Lighthouse Park. About two hours after low tide. You might see one clam digger way out I was a great admirer of tidal power. It seemed like a powerful, free energy source with low environmental impact. I spent a lot time a decade ago researching tidal power. I looked forward to visiting, even though I knew the turbines are underwater. The Minas Basin is the largest tidal resource in the world  — more water flows faster here than anywhere else, more water moves here than all rivers in the world combined. People have dreamed of harnessing the tides forever. The first tidal plant was started in 1915, but burned down in 1920...