Life In the Slow Lane

Changes of Plan The little bit of the Highlands we got to see of Cape Breton were magnificent.  There is a very new gondola which provided great vistas. From the Top of the Gondola We have aborted our trip to Cape Breton National Park due to disconcerting noises from the car. The nearest Tesla service center is in Halifax. Fortunately there were appointments available. We dropped off the car and got a loaner Model 3. The rear power drive, covered by warrantee, needs to be replaced. Turns out the nearest part is in Quebec, so we will be in this area for a few more days. No problemo. New adventures. Now, for the history quiz. Two very famous maritime incidents involved Halifax. Any guesses?  BOOM! During WW I before the US entered the war, Halifax was important in shipping supplies to Europe. Two ships collided in the harbor. One ship was for humanitarian aid, the other ship was transporting munitions and fuel for the war. The fuel caught fire, the crew abandoned ship, and then ...

This blog post may be boring/too technical unless you are an EV geek. Towing with a Tesla sometimes has it challenges. While Tesla has lots of Superchargers in most of the US  (they just installed their 50,000th charger), Tesla  does not have much charging infrastructure ("Superchargers") in the Maritimes. A few days ago was my first "must charge" adventure without a Tesla SC. Tesla Superchargers are great. They always work. Plug in the car and walk away - no credit card or app failures, no buttons to push, they just work. The charger knows the VIN and therefore the owner, and I have a credit card with Tesla. In 80,000 miles, 25 states and five provinces, I have never had to wait for a charge. Certainly in some areas, such as California, people complain about waiting to charge, but I haven't hit one yet. A few years ago I bought a CHAdeMo dongle (charge adapter). Weirdest camel-case name for a consumer product ever, usually spelled now as Chademo. It supposedly ...

Among the delights of this trip has been the weather and cleanliness of the beaches. One of the delights/surprises has been the beaches. Maine does not have much in the sandy beach department, and I'm not really a beach kinda guy. Bothwell Beach  on PEI  was empty as far as we could see (10 miles?) in both directions. Super clean, no fishing detritus or junk food packaging. I went skinny dipping. Perfectly clean. Well, OK, after a mile of walking and back, we found a one bait bag, two rubber bands, one bottle, etc. We scoured pretty hard. Now, the beach is actually really clean.  This lack of trash was true for the other beaches we went on, too. We are now on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, walking on an isolated beach. You can see our Tesla X, and the road to the beach. Not much of a road, off the beaten path. These are the only traps we have seen on any shore in Canada. Two things are unusual here. First, these traps are not wood, they are metal, like the traps used...

We had a marvelous adventure in rural PEI at a “culinary farm” – a four+ hour feast starting at 4pm. I thought, with most of PEI shutting down for the winter despite the beautiful weather, we might be the only ones going. The feast began with introductory chat (with local effervescent wine - can’t say champagne!) describing the meal for the nearly sold out group of some 40 guests. They explained how they grow everything “with intent” to make maximum use for “flavor and texture” for the entire life of the plant.  Kevin, the farmer, explained there were two guiding principles: choose plants varieties based on their flavor and texture, and use the plants at all stages of their life cycle.  He used cilantro as an example: the earliest “microgreens” leaves that pop up at germination are quite different than the later leaves. The later leaves are what are usually seen in the markets. The stems can make an interesting flavor for steeping. The flowers are used in some of their complex...

We’re doing the “Great Circle Route” to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Our first stop was to Darien CT for a few nights to visit with “the world’s cutest grandson”™, then onwards to Morristown NJ to visit my mother. Highlight of the visit was a surprisingly good Korean BBQ in Morris Plains. What a relief in the suburban desert of boring eateries. Woodam Korean BBQ https://woodamnj.smartonlineorder.com/ Peggy and Barbara at Korean BBQ. Note the gas BBQ in the center of the table We headed up to Lakeville in the NW corner of Connecticut to attend my 50th high school reunion. (Really? It doesn’t seem THAT long ago …) A classmate was also camping in the parking lot with us. One of the pressing issues facing the school was cell phones. Effective the Monday after our reunion, new rules banned cell phones in classroom buildings and the dining hall. They want the kids to interact face to face, not text to each other while eating. Bravo! Fifteen years after the iPhone was invented -- a good move...

Pulling into Baxter State Park in northern Maine, the ranger looks a little horrified. “Do you have reservations?” in a polite tone that sounded like she was sure we didn’t. Unspoken was “OMG, that’s HUGE!!!” Traveling in the South, the most common comment on our trailer was “cute”. A few campgrounds refused to let us make reservations, since our 21 feet was too small. (Camp sites are charged by the site, not per foot, so it shouldn’t make any difference what size we were). “Did you make reservations on-line?” the ranger asked. “Yes,” I replied. “But did you talk to somebody in the office?” Again, “Yes.” Her eyes got ever bigger, "Are you sure?" “We have to measure your trailer.” Pizza maestro Tony, fresh off Criehaven, had his even smaller trailer behind us. “And his, too.” The ranger station had measuring sticks for height and width. We were both OK, she confirmed our paper reservation slip. Yes, paper : there is zero connectivity up north, so the park insists you bring a p...

We enjoy Ukrainian borsch with deruny (potato pancakes). Notice the little Ukrainian flag. Much of the Internet claims borsch (without a “t”) was invented in Ukraine and became popular in all the Slavic countries, including Russia. There appear to be at least 1000 recipes, with the only common element being beets, with sour cream on top. Hot/cold, beef/pork/vegetarian, and choose from garlic | onions | tomatoes | potatoes | cabbage | carrots | dill | etc. My recipe claimed to be truly Ukrainian, but who knows?   The last time I had borsch was when my daughter Anna, who had just came back from a semester abroad in Russia about 15 years ago, cooked it for us. Yumm. I am so glad to be back in my home kitchen, which I think is somewhat larger than the entire Boma trailer. Chicken Kyiv is on the menu in a few days. We “celebrated” the sinking of the flagship Moscow. Ukraine claims the ship was hit by their missiles;   USA military confirms the ship was hit by two Ukrainian Neptune ...