Tag Archives: Nova Scotia

On PEI

Day 28
I woke up to rain so I did my usual and slept in.
With not much sun I was barely motivated to get up but I was hungry and wanted something hot. The rain eased back long enough to go sit on the dock again and heat some water for oatmeal. Again talking to a couple of boaters about the day. I learned that the PEI ferry is free for everyone and everything. Only charging to get back. Same for the bridge. So after realizing this, and that the shower building is locked in the morning, I high-tailed it to the station before 11am to catch a boat. Quick stop at the market for second breakfast and again at the visitor center for a restroom and water fill up. Well water. High in iron. Not so good but I’ve drank water in a lot of places not so good.

On the ferry I mostly wifi’d it up in a cushioned seat next to a plug. Also keeping an eye on the weather channel of TV. The storm that was supposed to wreck NYC is on track for PEI. So they say.

Once on the island I had no idea where I wanted to go. So I sat and watch all the cars unload and then all the island cars load while I switched out my maps. Not till the end of the ferry road did I have three choices. I could have gone straight on the 315 and that would have me go straight thru the island toward Montague. And by a nothing (I’m certain) town named Brooklyn. West is the Trans Canada 1. Would quickly get me toward the bridge, maybe too quickly. Or East I could ride along the South coast to Cape Bear and Murray Harbour.
It wasn’t till the intersection I decided. Pedaling to the 4way I sort of thought a little “fuck it” and turned east on the 4. The long way around and opposite the bridge. And of course about 10 km along the way it begins to rain again.
The road was very quiet. I could see the water straight to my right over wheat fields and farm lands. The 4, as a road, was just like any country road in south-west Ohio. I thought that if Ohio was an island it could be the PEI of the Mid-West. But I’ve only seen a little bit so far. Staying straight the 4 became the 18. Not much else changed. The towns on the map were nothing more than a couple mail boxes. But the end of the road did take me to a cool light house. On the point, sitting on a cliff and I arrived just as the rain let up enough to take some photos and eat a lunch. I had the place all to myself. Quiet and pretty.
I followed the 18 around to the 348 to Murray River. Not anything there to make me stop.
Beyond that was a mandatory detour steering me away from the water. I had to take the 4 north. The 17 was out due to closed bridge.
So, inland on the 4 again I followed it a ways. Was gonna skip all the coast till Montague but out in the middle I hung a right on 317 and made my way back onto the 17. A few extra km’s to get to Montague but whatever.
Seemed like the numbers were my friends today. The rain was not. On and off like every 20 min. My rain jacket and rain pants hit all possible configurations today. On and off, back and forth.
In town I stopped at the first place I saw, an ESSO station for some water. One guy working there was helpful.
Outside, while I was taking some cover from the rain, he came out to chat. We talked about my impression of Canada, it’s very good, and he gave me some local info. I might have talked with him more because he was truly interested in what I am doing but I was very hungry (lucky for me this town has a store, two even!) and I felt like the gaps between rain showers where getting closer to being nothing but rain only so I left the ESSO.
My plan was buy food, find a camp spot, and make food.
That’s what I did. With some hot water from the ESSO I gave my stove gas a slight break, maybe I’ll have enough fuel for oatmeal tomorrow.
Pasta dinner. This time I tried something new, to beat the skeeters. Made dinner by just sticking my arm out the tent door to man the stove. It worked well enough.

The odd thing is that from about 10 min before I put up my tent to over an hour later there has been no rain. I like that but worry about tomorrow. Think I might spend the whole day tented up due to that storm coming this way.

As I get close to one month on the road I start to think of ways to travel even cheaper so I may do this longer. I’ll need to work again because on this schedule I’ll eat my way thru my budget before long. And that’s with me not paying to camp.

I don’t remember the last thing I bought that was not food or drink.

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To Ferry or Not To Ferry?

Day 27
Continuing on the 2 was a good road. Making good time for once in this part of the country. I feel like a never made any real stops, just snack breaks on the road side. There were towns where the map said they were also a first for NS. I did stop in Truro. Asked about good roads to get to the PEI ferry. And stopped at The Hub bike shop to double check the tourist info I got from the welcome center teenage girls. I doubted they bike on the road they told me to take. But the way they told me was backed up at the shop. And there they were nice enough to let me use their wifi password. The woman behind the counter was pretty and lots of smiles. There was sort of leads into a camping spot but I sometimes don’t want to be too much of a scrub when I should take the one in a million offers from attractive females. Stupid me. She even said she had a pump track in her yard. After I left I told myself she had to have a boyfriend so why fool myself.
Truro was surprisingly ok in the day time. But after a few photos of the 6 sections of the Berlin Wall on public display and on what might be permanent loan to the city from “some guy” (welcome center info for ya) I then stopped at the store for provisions. I bought pasta and a big bottle of water thinking I’d be camping in the sticks somewhere between Truro and Pictou. But today was an easy 128km and I made it to Pictou in time to ride around and make dinner before sun down. Watched the sunset over the water. Scored a second outdoor iPod charge on the dock while I made dinner at a table. A family unpacking from a boat trip chatted me up and gave me a grip of watermelon, some cookies and a couple cold beverages. Real nice people also chatted about camping and they pointed to a spot right near by, super close to the water and I’m guessing will get morning light. I’m tented up in that same spot right now.
As I was walking off the dock I found a place to dispose my garbage and inside the building there was the a couple things of interest (besides a restroom and water faucet). Inside there was a shower that seemed to be open for use. I plan on testing it out in the morning. And second, I noticed a schedule and fare sheet for the PEI ferry. $16 for me and another $20 for my bike. That’s a lot!

So now my thought is this. Maybe bike up the coast to the bridge (I hear it’s free to go to PEI and only has a fare to come back to NB) do a true loop on the island back to the bridge and then try to hitch back into NB to skip paying the toll.

One cool thing that happened to day was I met another fully loaded touring cyclist. He was on his way to Halifax and started in Vancouver. It was the last day of his trip. His name was Tyler Valiquette and his site is www.crossingcanada.ca we met at a funny ramp interchange thing in Shubenacadie aka “Shube”. We exchanged info and traded brief stories. Compared bikes and I helped guide him to the way I rode out of HFX for a nice ride along the lakes and river into Dartmouth. He said he was with a friend, who was somewhere else I didn’t recall, they had raised $10,000 to help end hunger. He was nice enough to let me take his photo.

Now that I think about it the riding to the bridge idea might add a half day or full day to my trip but on the good side it’ll eliminate Truro from being the only city I visit twice.

It’s getting to be close to one month in. About that time that I do a re-sort and ditch or mail some things back to lighten the load. I already know I could lose a couple pounds without even trying.

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Exiting Halifax Slowly

Day 26
I woke up to the sound of rain on my tent. So I went back to sleep.
Later I woke up to the sound of Collin saying good morning. He brought me a plate of eggs and veggies as he was off to work. In all my days of touring I’ve never had breakfast served to me as I lay in my tent.
A little later the rain moved away and Halifax was covered in sunshine. A truly beautiful day. On my way to downtown I saw a messenger I’d seen yesterday and said what’s up. Got to chatting with him for a min. His name was Philip and I took a few pictures of him on the street. Has 2 kids and said he’d get 90 runs in a day sometimes. That seems crazy to me. The most I ever did in NYC was 41.
I rode to the same cafe as yesterday for coffee and a muffin. Post a bunch of “tent tweets” from last night as I tried to sleep. Also catching up on my notes in my notebook. Watching my bike just on the other side of the window, two white guys on minimally loaded road bikes lean theirs near mine and walk in. I was at a booth alone. So I walk over and say if they would like to sit with me that would be fine. Really they were just asking the barista for some info but they did sit for a min. Then both ordered coffees. Their names were Michael and Joel and they were riding from Vancouver to Saint John, Newfoundland for ALS. I will have to look up their site als100daybiketour.blogspot.com they only had 14 days left on their tour. It’s so cool to see and talk to other tourist.
Said bye to the guys in Ideal Bikes. Too bad I’m sticking to this schedule of not staying in one place for more that 24 hours. But by the sounds of it, not much was going on tonight. I did see Christopher messengering and stopped him for a chat as well. We played pol0 together last night but I did not realize he was a messenger also. Got a couple photos and then he was back to the streets.
Walking around I saw the same recycler, scout, can-man, I’d met outside the bike shop yesterday. Talked with him a min. Gave me directions to a water fountain and bathroom. Finally got a bit of a wash/scrub in. So very dirty. Also thought to do laundry. Nah. Boring.
And walking around more (lots of girls to smile at in Halifax) I saw a homeless guy I talked to yesterday. We chatted more. Something about living off the bike. And having a three week beard and washing only in a sink for the last two, I guess we have stuff to talk about.
I thought I might meet a love in this city but my desire to carry on steered me away from her, if she is even there. I made tracks for the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge. Kind of one of those things. Very simple but now I can say I’ve biked over the bridge in Halifax. From there I went straight to Two If By Sea a coffee shop on Octerloney Street. Which conveniently becomes the 318 which becomes the 2 North. That will take me to Truro. Again. WTF.
On the road again I had a very pleasant stroll along a big river or maybe a string of lakes. Pretty. And basically flat.
I just did 42 km the whole day and that counts the walking around I did. Never even put on my road shoes. Still need to swap the wasted cleat for the new one also.
I thought about tenting up at a church in Grand Lake but opted out and pressed my luck to see what was up the road as it was getting dark. Riding at sunset is very beautiful at times. The sun setting over wooded lake areas along slightly curved 2-lanes. Its good. But not having a tent spot after sun down is not so good.
But up the road just 5 more min was an Irving 24 truck stop. Right where the state route 2 crosses over the 102 Highway (exit 7) from here north the highway will be West of me.
Tented up over on the side near an on-ramp. In the tall grass. Within a swarm of skeeters. The trick is to only unzip the lower length of the tent door. Not up the side were it’ll flap over and make a big opening for them to get in. With just the bottom open I sneak all my bags and such in, then I slither in real low to the ground. Of course I do a little de-bugging dance before I make my entry. Seeing 50 or more bugs blanketing the netting and trying to get in makes me thankful my tent is as good as it is.
The sound of many highway vehicles fills the air. Could be lots of jets up in the sky doing loops and flips and fly bys.
My bike is in the tall weeds keeping the mosquitos company.
I ate homemade banana bread(half a loaf) and cheese for dinner.
I think the sun will hit the tent in the morn. Hoping no rain. But seeing evacuation tweets about Red Hook, BK. Mandatory. Saying sat and sun will be the worst.

I have thought that if this trip continues past my return to NYC. I might make a little stamp with the PB&J URL and actually start telling people about it. Up to now there are only a handful of people I’ve mentioned it to.
Also need to permanently turn off all comments. On tour I like twitter and email only. No phone, hate texting, too many event invites I’m totally not going to make of facebook. And comments on a blog is just more time online. Reminds me of the debate I was having about doing any online presence. But with no phone, twitter is an easy was to let friends know I’m alive.
And doing a blog that effectively no one knows about makes it easy to have my mind think of it as a digital notebook and double that because all this is written in the Notes app on my iPod.
An equivalent would be changing cash money for chips at the casino.
It’s different when the medium is tipped to a less direct to online form.
The next step is to copy and paste in a cafe somewhere down the road. Where or when that is, I don’t know.
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Halifax

Day 25
I sort of tried but could not find the vantage point I had seen in an old photo. It was of the bridge. I still need to get a good look at the thing.
This morning I rode 25km into the city. I stopped at the first bike shop I saw and asked about bike pol0. No info. Was about to buy new SPD-SL cleats but at the check out after hearing the price I changed my mind. Figured I’d shop around. Roaming I found another smaller shop with younger less uniformed employees. No cleats but good pol0 info. Sent me to the shop that houses most of the players. Ideal Bikes. Got there and asked if they play pol0. His response was “Doug! I’m Michael”
Oh cool I found the spot. Met the dudes. Hung out a bit. Some local info. The shop was all used bikes and parts. So I didn’t figure to ask about road racing cleats. But I gave it a shot anyway. No. Chatting some more. And another guy, Mike, holds up a cleat and says “like this one?”. Perfect. And no charge. Looked for the pair in the bottoms of the bin he found the first but no. One was all I need anyway.
Rode around the point. Chilled. Didn’t do much just looked at the city. The little I could going as slow as I was. Back to the shop a little before pol0. Rode over on a pol0 bike. My touring bike was taking a nap in the shop while I played bike pol0 in the eastern most pol0 city in North America. Great group, court, and lights. Night games are nice but I had yet to eat dinner and it was way past the time I’d gone to bed for the last week. Didn’t care.
Michael, Mike, Collin, Christopher, Will, Roscoe, and one more I regretfully can’t recall his name.
Collin offered his back yard for a camp spot. So that’s where I’m camped. Made the last of my pasta from last night out my tent door and typed this up as well as a few loopy sounding tweets I’ll send tomorrow at the coffee shop next to Ideal Bikes.
Also went into MEC store here. No service to speak of wanted to ask about solar chargers. They had about 4 options. Did not bother to ask. Wasn’t buying. On my exit a girl getting off her bike to go in spoke to me a little after I said hi. We talked about touring. In there she introduced herself properly. I liked that. She wished me well on my travels.
They say a hurricane is on the way. Irene. For some tweets from today looks like NYC is getting some soon or now.

Eat like a King. Ride solo

Day 24
In the morning there was a teenager doing side work around the fire dept. As I was getting up we had a conversation. After he walked back to the FD i decided to bike down to The Deck to go to the restroom. He saw me from the bay doors and said I could go right there.
After, we both walked up to where he was doing some clearing and my tent was. He gave me a bottled water and a couple electrolyte powder packs. Blue stuff, drank one right away. He also told me to go a spot called The Diner for breakfast. It was on the way out for me and he said they had a bigger menu. When asked if they made good pancakes he said “i don’t know, I always get the burgers”. I should have known.
I rode there, 3.5km from where I started. I walk in and it’s just like an unfurnished house. Just tables in a side room I think was meant to be living room. I asked the waitress if I could plug in my phone? She said, with a pause, “sure I guess it’d be alright” but it sounded like “well arent you just a pain in the ass”. I looked at the menu for all of ten seconds and she asked me for my order. I looked and didn’t see pancakes. “no sorry, we dont do them”. I was polite as I could be but I knew I’d get a better meal and much better service back at The Deck. I didn’t mind back tracking, so i did. At The Deck I spent over an hour and $23 on breakfast. Meaning I talked with the cook and ate a lot. And two coffees plus one for the road. And plugged in my iPod. And took a photo of the two cooks, nice people. They invited me back.
Around about noon I took off to the road again feeling really good.
The rest of the 329 was incredible. Very nice views.
Made it back onto the 3 East way too soon. But only as long as it too to get to the 333. That would take me by Peggy’s Cove I’d heard about.
One thing is my cleat on my left shoe wore down to nothing. I put that foot down the most and pivot on my left to get my right leg over the saddle getting on the bike so it sees much more wear. Gotta get a new cleat set in Halifax. But I have a spare set sitting right there back in BK. Damn. Money I don’t want to spend.
Also need to get a water bottle. But like a spare fuel tank to hold the water more than to drink out of.
Also at the end of my ride, past the near servicelessness of the entire length of the 333, at least up to the road side church I’m camping at right now, uh, oh yeah I had to buy a full-size can of pasta sauce. I usually get a jar and use half and lid it up till the next night for the other half. Not so easy with a can. But the lucky part is that even though I’d completely run out of PB(a first on this tour) I still kept the jar, not wanting to litter and seeing no trash cans. I made pasta on the steps of the church. And as I usually do, I used bread to sponge the extra sauce off the pan after I eat. Well I took another slice and sponged out the last residue of PB out that jar and then poured the remaining pasta sauce into something I can tote around for a day. I’d almost poured it into my stainless coffee mug but would have been bummed to not have it for tomorrow in Halifax. I’m sure I’ll get a morning coffee there.
Did 101 km today and ate dinner and set up my tent before dark. Not bad for a 12:15 start.
Peggy’s Cove was pretty, on the way there a part of the 333 is so close to the Atlantic that I spit into it.
Also found wild black berries on the roadside just past there. Oh and I found wild raspberries on the last bit of the 329.
One good thing was I stopped at a bike/coffee shop on the 3. I was looking for cleats. None. But the guy let me have his Halifax map. I think it was his only one. Very generous. But it seems like he was never gonna need it for himself. I’m glad to have a map of town before I get to town.

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Big Shortcut Back to the Atlantic Ocean

Day 23
Slow getting on the road by dealing with what was wet and finding ways to dry it all. The weather was great. Sun on my tent door to wake me up. Had oatmeal for breakfast and other things too. Like half a large bag of doritos.
I was already at the 14. The station was on the intersection. The 14 cut across to the Atlantic much like the 12 the 10 and the most western one the 8. The 8 goes from Digby area through the park and hits the coast at Liverpool. A route I had planned on taking. But by taking the 14 South I shortcut about 6 days of riding off my trip.
Totally cool with that. After the 215 yesterday. I dont want to go West along the northern coast anymore than I have too. And this gets me to Halifax sooner.
I rode the ride. In the first few I didn’t feel too good, slow. But after a second breakfast in Walton I was good to go. Had done 50 before I knew it.
After more hills and quiet roads and lots of sun i hit the coast at Chester. A ship town. Lots of old pretty houses. Looked around but there was really not much there for me so I hit the road. The 3 East. Of course I forget to fill up water. Wasn’t till another 25km later I get to Blandford. Stopped at the first place I see,The Deck, and I end up spending 20 bucks on dinner. “hodge-podge” soup with brown bread and a local beverage. After that a vege pizza.
Charged the iPod and emailed back to Halifax BP guys while eating. The sun was setting as I paid my bill so i rode back up the road a min to get a better view. Was good.
Camping in the town ball fields with permission from the ladys at The Deck.
Feels good to set up my tent before dark for once. But holy shit were there a ton of mosquitos.
Tomorrow I ride east to Halifax.

Leaving Truro was no better than Truro

Day 22 (I should have been doing this from the start)

In the more newly commercialized end of Truro is where I woke. Behind a dumpster belonging to Canadian Tire. With a Soybes? Grocery next door and a mcDs across the street for some quick wifi. After breakfast I was already on the 236 so I started West for the first time of this trip.
Hit the country soon and that’s where the hills and wind started. None of it was to my liking. After a few miles I came to the 215. I heard the 215 was better. Rather that the 236 hot really bad with the road conditions and traffic. It was a longer way around, along the bay to a small town of Brooklyn where the 236, that cuts straight the country, and 215 meet again but I figured it could be as nice at the 2 was on the North side of the Cobequid Bay.
215 it is then. Maybe there will be less hills.

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Still heading West the wind did not change. And instead of going on and on. The wind was hellish. The hills were shitty and about 45km in it started pissing rain.

There were almost no place with services or shelter. The towns on the map were likely to NOT be a town at all. Instead a sign by the road with a name, like Moose Brook, and absolutely nothing else.

One good thing was in Noel I met a kid who saw me walking my bike to a table to rest. He yelled out “hey you got peanut butter, that’s cool, peanut butter is awesome” he and his buddy came over and asked some questions. They both had bikes too. Told me about biking to school in the winter on the hills. Liked my fenders and rang my bell. Told me about the hills if I took 354 South and the hills if I stayed on 215 West. The buddy asked my name. When I answered the first kid goes “no way! That’s my name too!”. He told me about his soccer finals matches. I think he said he got second. There seemed to be nothing in the area. I’d guess that every kid around would have to play to get a soccer game going. I wish I could have seen some soccer. I miss watching soccer in the park in Brooklyn. Before I left he showed me his neckless with soccer placing and team name. I don’t know why I didn’t take a photo. Because I didn’t now I’m sure it would have been the best photo of my trip.

On the road I had a short break from the rain. But not long. Then about , I don’t even know, 50, 60km more of hurricane rains. No place to stop. Out of water. All food under bags. Felt like shit and the hills and wind were still making me look weak.

I made to a gas station. I didn’t know where I was just riding till I got somewhere. Anywhere.
I wasn’t going anywhere else. Fortunately the owner was inside. Older man named Geery. Or maybe Gary and I heard him wrong. Said it’d be fine. So I did. My best luck came to me at the end of my day. I got to that store 10 before it closed. Very important for the gallon of water I bought. First time of trip. Made pasta before bed. But it also had stopped raining. I set up the tent on wet grass but under dry skies.

One funny thing on my way in the rain. On one little pull out and under a few trees was a man holding an umbrella. He wave me over and said “come take a break” I said what good will that do me? ( I’m creeping up a hill and soaked in pouring rain), “it’ll let up here in a bit” he said. All I could do was blurt out a “Ha” and shake my head. My thought was “I’ll do another 30km before it let’s up”
Now I’m not sure if that guy was real.
I did do another 30 before it let up. But in the end I ate well and slept well.

Truro has many creepers

Woke up at the church and not a soul was in sight. Strange. Hit the road pretty quick, just rolled out to the road, I was already on the 2. Followed that till it hit the Minas Basin at Parrsboro. Glad I bought bread there bc not many options after. Of course I filled up on water and took a lunch break to make oatmeal. Inside the visitor center where I got water I asked the girl if I could put a pin in the where-in-the-world-are-you-from map. NYC didn’t have a pin yet. It does now.
The 2 turned along the water in my direction and was nice. Green, smooth, nice drivers, little traffic. I stopped at Five Islands because it was a short ride down a level dirt packed lane to a light house and good vista of a cluster of islands. One has a natural arch. Worth the stop. Also spoke to a family while there. They like that I didn’t know for sure what day it was. I knew it was Sunday but kept second guessing myself because I had not seen any people or cars at any of the churches I’d passed. Thought that was strange.
On the road just ticking away the miles to Truro. It seemed like I’d get there before dark but not have much time to go further.
In Masstown I stopped at a big and popular market. After 2 pb and j stops I needed something else for dinner. Bough stuff for pasta and banana chips, an apple and a 32 oz gatoraid. Outside looking at a bad storm cloud over the direction to Truro I waited and ate B chips. A couple exiting asked about my bike. We talked a bit, it was good, he had toured Vancouver to Halifax doing about 200km a day. Wow. Really I talked their ears off. But she was laughing and I felt like I could be more honest, a little more personal. I kind of went into what was on my mind. Talked way too much really but their response was a good one. Too bad I didn’t ask for there contact. I think they said they live in HFX. Oh well.
Back on the road. A few clicks further I was on a wet road but under dry skies. Works for me. I rolled over one little hill and saw another solo touring cyclist coming towards me. I stopped and as she got close I waved and said “want to chat?”. She gave what sounded like a stock reply “I’m actually meeting some people” while not slowing a bit. I just said “have a good ride” and clipped back in.
I thought about how useless the word actually is in most cases it’s used. And about how I’m excited to see others touring or talk to others who have toured. But then thought why would she stop on an uphill to talk to me, I’m nobody and it was getting late. Too bad, she looked cute, might have made a good portrait. The light was no good anyway. It’s all a wash.
Into Truro not much further I found a place to make pasta. Good to eat pasta, need to more often.
I rolled town looking for a camp spot. No luck. Bad luck. Kept seeing creepers walking all over the place. Making good spots bad. I did see 6 sections of the Berlin Wall in the middle of a block in what has to be the downtown.
Did about 8 loops around, found nothing. Could not even find the right way out of town.
Asked a gas station attendant direction and I gave up and rode away.
After a quick wifi break outside a McD’s further away to get my mind off the stress of needing but not finding a free and safe place to camp. I like towns. Being close to breakfast in the morning is good. But this one has way too many creepers walking around for any cover to be easy to think it’ll last the night. Leave me alone while I sleep please. Not asleep yet but I think I found a good place a cross from McD behind a Canadian Tire. In the back of the lot behind a permanent looking temporary fence. I can hear the highway. And I’m a little bit away from the foot traffic of the other side of town.
No wonder that female tourist didn’t want to stop, she had just broken free of this creeper of a town.
Tomorrow I’ll do the same.

Leaving Sackville and into Nova Scotia

Ok right now I’m tented up at another church. This time in grass and on a Saturday night, that part is a first, trying my luck and hoping to be up early an get some distance tomorrow.

After laundry in Sackville I really had to pee so I went back to the cafe. And why not another coffee? Not long after I packed it up, getting it all buttoned down right in front of the cafe I over heard two ladies talking about touring, stuff about their own experienced. I just minded my own. Just as I grabbed my bike to roll then one started to talk to me. Basic things but two parts that stood out were after saying I was not going to do the Cabbot Trail because of the hill she said she had just done it and something like it would be a shame to miss it. I wasn’t real sure what she meant by how she said it. But the other thing was telling me to watch out for coyotes. Uh. She said some girl backpacking on a trail with food in her bag and maybe talking on her phone was attacked by a hungry coyote so watch out, have something to swing at one. This whole thing was holding me back from making tracks. Glad to get out of there. On the highway to Nova Scotia I started to bonk. Too much coffee and not enough oatmeal. I’d been putting off making oatmeal all day. I took the last N.B. exit, found a table in the sun, didn’t care, and made 3 pb and j on flour torts, soft taco style. And 3 more on the last of my Ancient Grains wheat bread. The last of my big bag of Sunchips, and last block of cheese from yesterday’s vege burgers.
While there I briefly met Ray a backpacker and hitchhikeing traveler. Offered him some food but he was good and walked away. Before he left I did ask for a photo and he was ok with that. I need go ask more people because I can think of at least ten photos of people I met I really wish I would have taken.
Refilled the H2O and on the road again to Nova Scotia. The first town was big enough and saw many “I’d camp right there” type places. But had to press on another 22km to Springhill, NS. Was going to make oatmeal so I stopped at a gas station on the outskirts for water but ended up buying a double scoop of blueberry-vanilla ice cream cone and a big thing of homemade strawberry-rhubarb jam. I don’t even need jelly right now but it looked so good. I should have bought a whole pie too, they were homemade and only $7. By time I rode up the hill into Springhill I just wanted to get to bed. Tented up. Wrote in notebook. Typed this to post later and that’s that. Just a 75km day. Tomorrow I’ll shoot for Truro, NS and hopefully go beyond that.
Today was the second time I did laundry in 20 days.
Things I wish I had: good but light long-sleeve (for when hoodie is too much to add to when not enough) not just yet but might want later thin long-johns (maybe not but I own some that are light and small when not on) and for sure two pair of merino underwear. Cotton ones are not that good for touring especially with my washing schedule. But I was forced to buy a 6 load zip-lock bag of laundry soap so I won’t want to carry that around very long, a week max.
Other things if I had money. New iPod w better camera, better looking images. And a solar charger so I could take more photos more often.

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