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Day 44 – Chasing the Moon into Nova Scotia

After I posted from Summerside yesterday I was sitting watching a movie and noticed I could see the stars. I looked up and the moon was overhead, almost full and shining. I decided to see if I could find something to shoot in the moonlight. I wandered on the back roads South of Summerside and slowly slinking towards the Confederation Bridge. I found one abandoned house but wasn’t that enthusiastic about it, it simply wasn’t a great shot. Found a couple other houses, one had a barking dog for a neighbor, (the last thing I need at 2am) and the other had a big sodium vapor street lamp in front of it so it was out.

I found myself at the base of the bridge and made the executive decision to cross back to the mainland. I wandered slowly on the other side until at about 4am I was tired, pulling into a turn-out in Port Elgin New Brunswick for the night.

Upon waking I kept wandering, looking for a few more daylight shots before hitting Springhill, Nova Scotia where my sister lives. It was slim pickins so far in Nova Scotia. I arrived in Springhill at around noon and here I will be for awhile during the holidays.

The Cost of Getting to The Rock

To really show how impromptu this whole trip was here’s something I didn’t consider until recently.

Newfoundland is an island, (really I did already know this). What I didn’t even think to consider when leaving home is that there would be costs for ferries. I’ve taken two so far. One was a free short 10 minute trip in Quebec and another was $46.00 from Baie-Comeau, Quebec to Matane Quebec as I was anxious to get to the Gaspe Peninsula and Perce Rock.

Now after that one I started looking into the ferry to Newfoundland as it won’t be a cross Canada trip if I can’t get there. The problem is the combined vehicle and driver price for a one way trip is $110.25. Whoa, that’s $220.50 there and back. I know it’s dumb on my part but I didn’t think it would be this much. What I also didn’t know is that it can take from 4.5 to 6 hours. Not a big deal as I’m not in a hurry but the price is a bit of an issue.

I’ll be seeing what I can do as I really was looking forward to standing as East as one can get in North America and to be able to say that I DID completely cross Canada. Not to mention that people have been telling me about the photo opportunities there. I may just have to bite the bullet and fore go Tim Hortons for awhile.

A New Resource – Couch Surfing

Another travel blogger Jen made a comment on one of my recent posts. I checked out her blog. Included in her writings was a link to this site: Couch Surfing.org. I will definitely be perusing this more in depth when I head out on the road again after my Christmas stay with my sister. This looks awesome and has over 30,000 Canadian couches listed!

Day 43 – As West as I’ll be for Awhile.

Waking up in West Point after a night of watching movies on the laptop and keeping an eye for an appearance by the moon (I got a glimpse but then he was gone), I took a walk along the beach of West Point and took a few shots of the lighthouse against yet another cloudy sky.

After about twenty minutes the sky did start to break up a little and soon I found myself in a different location, shooting a rotting boat in a field with almost completely clear skies. This however, didn’t last long. As I drove and explored I found more cool things. Some old lobster traps retired to a field, another old fishing boat called the Marilyn Ann that was literally rotting back into the earth. I checked out the North Point lighthouse and beach and then proceeded back Southeast as it got dark.

Returning to the Earth Marilyn Ann

Returning to the Earth Marilyn Ann


I’m back in Summerside tonight. Using the free internet “hotspot” in a depressingly semi vacant strip mall while a female jazzerfit class works it up across the food court from me with the hip-hop/dance music blaring, a great addition to the high pitched Christmas music that is germinating from the mall speakers. This has to be someone’s hell. Aside from the elderly gentleman that seems to be waiting for his wife I am the only one here in this food court, maybe it’s mine.

I figure I’ll hang around here in Summerside tonight. I noticed a Walmart nightlight on my way in so once I get kicked out of here or go insane (whichever comes first), I’ll head over there.

Day 42 – Unexpected Errands and a Lot of Rain

Arriving at the CIBC bank in Souris twenty minutes after they opened to see if I could get my bank card back proved to be fruitless. It seems staying overnight was just a waste of time as the cards that an ATM machine eats get destroyed the next morning and even if I had been there waiting at the door they wouldn’t have given it to me as they can’t verify that it belongs to me. I guess they get many angry guys with multitudes of valid ID standing around the doors waiting to get their RBC bank card from their machine on a regular basis. Had I really needed the cash that I was trying to get from the ATM the night before or my card back this morning to get gas I would have been totally fucked. Luckily I had enough gas in the tank to get to Charlottetown where I was able to get a new (temporary) card from the Royal Bank there.

Oh well. One small glitch in a pretty smooth trip so far. As far as “problems” go I can’t complain. It was only a waste of time, which really didn’t matter anyway as it was pouring rain all day. Pouring!

So after the bank fiasco I just drove. I stopped in Summerside and used the internet briefly to kill some time, chatted with my young niece who I’ll see when I arrive at my sister’s place and was informed that I have a ticket for her school Christmas concert on Monday. So I told her I wouldn’t miss it and will be in Springhill N.S. sometime over the coming weekend.

After Summerside I drove up to the West Cape and found myself at the West Point Lighthouse just after dark. Knowing the moon is full and that the skies are to possibly clear I parked here for the night, hoping for a clearing where I might take some moonlight shots of the lighthouse and the beach.