Welcome to New Brunswick

July 21, 2007
Saint John, New Brunswick

After clearing the border, we had a nice ride up to Saint John. The weather was still generally gray, but the sun started peeking out here and there. We followed NB-1 along the coast, being careful to convert mileposts and speed limits to their metric equivalents (are they still mileposts if they’re measured in kilometers?) along the way. We changed our clocks to the Atlantic Time Zone (adding an hour to Eastern Time) as well. We exited NB-1 just west of Saint John and headed north on NB-7 and NB-177 through the little town of Grand Bay.

Imagine Geri’s surprise when we turned right and headed directly for the Saint John River. I thought I’d mentioned that the only way to get to the campground we’re staying at was to cross the river on a ferry. Well, she didn’t care for that at all! There are two ferries alternating back and forth at this crossing, and it’s free each way. “After hours” (I’m not sure exactly what the hours are), you ring a bell for the ferry to come and get you. Each boat holds about 15 cars (three columns of five cars each), so we took up quite a bit of room! No worries, though, since it wasn’t too crowded and nobody got left behind because of us. We pulled right into the center lane and the deckhand parked everyone else around us for the 3-4 minute crossing. The ferries are cable-driven, pulling themselves across on a 1+” cable that sags under the water and allows boat traffic to cross the ferry’s path.

We exited the ferry on the other side and checked into the very rustic park. We had an escort to our site (a guy on a quad registered in Texas of all places – I’ll have to find out more about that tomorrow) and it was a good thing since the route took us about ¾ of a mile from the office in a big loop to the top of a bluff overlooking the river. We’re probably only 200 meters from the office, just 100 meters higher! We had our choice of spots from among the 5 or so that were open in this little section. Since I still had the inverter on from lunch, I quickly raised the satellite dish to get a bearing on things before I parked. Unfortunately, after parking, there’s just enough tree interference to keep us from getting a signal. Tomorrow, I’ll play with it more to see if I can get online, otherwise we’ll be offline for the whole time we’re here. Ouch!

We’d used up all the food before the border crossing, so we took the ferry back to Grand Bay and hit the Sobey’s grocery store for rations. Geri made a terrific sautéed chicken breast with mashed potatoes and carrots, which we had with the last of the wine we bought in McKinney, Texas. The Langdon Unfiltered Cabernet was nice, with a lot of cherry fruit. It’s labeled “American” wine, which means that the majority of the grapes came from anywhere in the US! It’s not bad, though, for a regional wine.

As we finished dinner, I could see that the skies were clearing a little, so we went outside to watch the sunset. I ended up running for my camera, because it was quite nice, showcasing the river and the hills behind it to the west. The sun emerged below the primary cloud layer and added some nice colour (in Canada, get it?) to the skies. Our next door neighbour was out snapping a few shots as well; he’s shooting a D-70 so we compared notes for a few minutes. He’s from Vancouver Island, and used to sunsets over the Pacific.

As it got dark, we decided to walk the pups one last time for the evening, and ran into a couple who have a seasonal rental here. They have a super spot, with a good sized travel trailer that is built in with a large deck, lots of yard toys for their kids, and great views. Al would like their deck, complete with fire pit. They’re from Grand Manan Island here in New Brunswick, which is right near where we were on Campobello during the week. They own a hardware store there and are building a furniture store this summer, so it’s apparently good for Mom and the kids to get away during the summer. They’re quite nice and friendly, as we’ve found most people to be here in New Brunswick, so we’re off to a good start on our Maritime tour!