Saturday August 13, 2016 Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, Canada

With 330 miles to drive today we wanted to get an early start.  We were up at 7 and on the road before 8.  Quite a few of our party had left, but we weren't the last to pull out.  I had hooked up the Jeep and drained the tanks last night..  We drank our coffee on the road.

The original plan had been to take a ferry to PEI.  One of the ferry ships was out of service and there was no guarantee we all could get on the one.  16 motor homes towing cars plus one 5th wheel takes up a lot of room.  One couple left the group yesterday,  Caroline Ormsby had been feeling ill with a hiatal hernia acting up.  She wanted to be nearer her family and doctor, so it was off for Arkansas.  Brad and Susan Schlager had also left the group, only temporarily.  They wanted to ride the ferry to PEI so they left yesterday.  It turns out they had no problem getting on and they were in Cavendish before us.

A bridge over the Bras d'Or

I set the GPS for the coordinates we had been given for the Marco Polo Land RV park.  I have it set for the shortest route.  Of course the shortest route was via the ferry.  We had to listen to the GPS telling us to turn around for the next three exits.

A one sided gravel "Pit"
by the causeway off Cape Breton

This little boat held us up
 for nearly an hour when it went
 through the locks on the causeway

We made one stop for fuel, it was 90.2 cents (Canadian) per liter.  About 25 cents cheaper per liter than in Newfoundland.  This price works out to be about $2.73 per gallon (American.)





















The Confederation Bridge from mainland New Brunswick to PEI is a dramatic curved structure that is 8 miles long.  It took about 10 minutes to cross.  In one area the bridge is 196.8 feet high to accommodate ship traffic.

Confederation Bridge over
 the Northumberland Strait

Potato Fields

 On PEI the landscape changed from that in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.  Here there are more rolling hills and farmland versus hills and forest.  We saw a lot of potato fields and warehouses, corn, alfalfa and clover.  The top soil in the area we traveled is red, much like that we have seen in Hawaii.

Large storage buildings

A few turns on small country roads made us start worrying about the coordinates we had been given. The last turn took us on a small road.  We hadn't seen a sign for the RV park.  The GPS told us to turn right at a place there was no road.  Fortunately after going a short distance we saw Nancy's small red car on the left side of the road.  We had made it.  We were assigned a spot.  It was pull through with full hookups, including 50 amp electrical service.  There were still three units not arrived when we got here.  We had seen two of them turn off at a rest area near the road to the ferry.  There was a time of concern that they had gone the wrong way.  Even if they had gone all the way to the ferry terminal they would only be 60 miles off course.  It turned out they had just made a couple of stops but had stayed on course.  The third unit we knew had gotten a late start waiting for some parts to be delivered in North Sydney or their motor home.  Comparing notes on the drive it turns out almost everyone's GPS gave them a different route over the last few miles of the drive.

This is a very large RV park, over 100 acres.  There are a lot of families with children in other sections of the park.  Since they have a limited season they celebrate traditional winter holidays during the weeks of summer.  This week is Halloween, complete with costumes and trick or treating.

We had dinner at one of the park buildings, prepared by the wagon masters.  They served a hearty Beef Barley soup with a side of pasta salad and rolls followed by banana splits.  The president of SOI, the organizers of this caravan.  made a presentation on future caravans.  We are considering the Rose Bowl trip.  They also plan a South Africa caravan in 2017.

It was sunny but cool today.  The forecast for tomorrow is rain.