Travels of Geo Nova: May 2015

Saturday, May 30, 2015

Voyage to the Rock

Our last day in Nova Scotia was started with the trip down from Cape Breton Park to the Ferry Terminal in North Sydney. The road down was narrow and very steep with many hairpin turns. Somewhat intimidating when you have 10,000 pounds attached to the back of your vehicle but with the help of modern technology, tow haul mode on the truck it went well. On the way, sort of, we wanted to stop at a local microbrew. After turning down the narrow country road to the brewery I quickly realized this was not the best place to be hauling a 30-foot trailer but with perseverance we got the rig turned around and stopped on the edge of the road to access the brewery. While Diana “manned the rig” to watch for passing traffic I was able to obtain a growler of the most excellent IPA. Shortly after this we joined up with our friends the Gunthers who had arrived with their trailer from Georgia the night before.

Once we got to the ferry terminal we Q ed up for the long wait to board at 9:45 PM. The ferry had 3 decks dedicated to vehicles ranging from individual cars to 18-wheeler tractor-trailer trucks. This is where we meet up with the Glantzbergs, Nancy’s parents. After a great meal at a local Bistro we finally boarded and went directly to our cabin for some sleep. We arrived at Port Aux Basque Newfoundland in thick fog at about 7AM local time (one half hour before Atlantic time). This is where our long trek to St. Johns started. Before too long we took a detour off the Trans Canada Highway, for the most part a two-lane road, with a generous number of passing lanes on the numerous hills. We took this opportunity look for some birds and stretch our legs as well. We saw our first Kittiwake a gull like bird.

The first day of travel culminated in Bishop Falls a little more than halfway to St Johns. The campground was a work in progress but offered us an opportunity for a solid nights rest. The best part of the visit was the time spent with Phil the owner and creator of the campground. As it turned out he had been to Florida the previous winter and stayed with friends at The Great Outdoors in Titusville. What a small world! Phil was a real down to earth person. We talked for quite a while and he showed us his beautiful Percheron Horses. We formed a friendship immediately and look forward to meeting up with him in Florida next winter.

After another long day of travel we parked our trailer at Pippy Park in St Johns. From here we visited the local attractions- parks for hiking, a brewery that makes beer from icebergs along with visiting different parts of the city and surrounding area. Nancy flew in from Atlanta and joined Skip and Andrew to fill out our roster.

This morning we awoke at 4AM so we could go to Cape Spear Lighthouse, the most eastern point of North America, to watch the sun rise at 5:09 We were treated to an iceberg floating offshore. Our first and hopefully not the last one we will see in Newfoundland and Labrador. We also went up to Signal Hill, a high point over looking St Johns. The hill is notable for many things including the place where Marconi sent the first transatlantic telegraphic message.

This afternoon we took a boat tour of Whittles Bay Wildlife preserve, the home of the largest colony of Atlantic Puffins, over 200,000. The sight, symphony of sounds and olfactory sensory input was nothing less than phenomenal. I can’t describe what it is like to have the privilege of witnessing such a remarkable wonder of nature. We will end this temperature roller coaster of a day with an early dinner and bedtime. This morning is was 30 degrees and now is 65 degrees.

Atlantic Puffin


the Q at ferry dock

Sunset behind Ferry

On the road in Newfoundland

A town in central Newfoundland

Small fishing Village

the rugged Coastline

Our firs iceberg

Quidi Vidi the home of Iceberg beer

First Sun in North America Today

Trying to stay warm at sunrise

Stark beautiful coastline

Cape Spear Light

St Johns from Signal Hill

Atlantic Puffins by nesting cavities

Nesting Black-leged Kittiwakes

2 Razorbills and a Common Murre

Myriad Murre

Friday, May 29, 2015

North To Canada

After only 10 days at home in Maine we departed for Canada on Thursday May 22. We pulled out of Finch Road at about 8:30 AM and made it to the Canadian boarder by 2 PM. The crossing went smooth however my wallet was lighter after the crossing. We brought a dozen bottles of our California wine and they only let you take 4 bottles into Canada. When we started out of Acton it was sunny and 70 degrees, at the crossing it was 50 degrees and raining. Our first night was spent at an old Provincial Park East of Fredericton NB. The rain stopped after diner and we witnessed a most spectacular sun set over the Lake adjacent to our campsite. The following day we continued east for Nova Scotia. Luck was on our side as the welcome center for Nova Scotia was open (the previous day New Brunswick was closed).

We receive some good suggestions as to what we might see on our journey east through Nova Scotia to the ferry dock. We took the Sunshine trail (however no sunshine cold cloudy and blustery). The scenery was superb and we managed to visit two microbrews and one farmers market. As in our last visit to Nova Scotia all the people we ran into were more than nice. The second Micro brew, Uncle Leo’s was a bit off our path but that didn’t stop us. We managed to pull over in the parking lot of a restaurant that was just down the road from Uncle Leo’s that wasn’t open yet. When we got out of the truck they came out to help us. We said we were just using their parking lot so we could visit down the road they were more then welcoming. Once in the brewery we talked to the wife of the brew master about the microbrews in Maine. We went back to the truck and got some of our Maine beers to give them. When we returned they traded their beers for ours. We were all very ecstatic.

Today we spent exploring the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. The drive along the Cabot Trail was nothing but spectacular. The scenery reminded us of Down East Maine but with the grandness of the Big Sur coast of California. We manage to hike about 8 miles today. Tonight we are in a Nat. Park campground and are the only people camped here. Doesn’t get any better then this!

We are now in Newfoundland, arrived 2 days ago. Will do update ASAP

Sunset at campground first night in New Brunswick canada

River empties int Atlantic on cape Brenton Island

Taking it all in

Our home

Breath taking view from Cape Breton Highlands NP

Hike Along River

Leg bone

That 4 letter s word

Yellow warbler

View from Skyline Trail at CB NP

The Atlanti

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Back Home for a short time

We arrive in Maine a week ago and hit the ground running. But lets catch up with the end of the trip home first.

The bird festival at Maumee Bay Ohio was a resounding success, however a whirlwind experience. In three days we were able to see 133 separate species of birds of which 24 were new to us. This part of Ohio is on the south shore of Lake Erie and in the path of a major migratory path for a host of birds. One of the more notable birds is the Bobolink. This bird migrates from Argentina to the tundra of Canada where they breed. We saw a host of birds we have observed in the south but with a new twist. They now sport their breeding plumage. A perfect example is the Black Bellied Plover that does not have a black belly all winter but lives up to its name this time of the year.

The journey home from Ohio was done over a two-day period of time with a stop in Rome New York. The final leg of the trip was done on back roads through Southern Vermont and New Hampshire winding up and down the mountains. The scenery was far better than what we would have seen if we took the standard rout through Massachusetts.

This past week has been busy with doctor appointments, visiting with friends that we haven’t seen in some time, cleaning the trailer and repacking for another trip.

Good news for Diana. She got an all clear from her Doctors at Dana Farber Cancer in Boston.

We are almost packed and ready to head out again. This time we are going north to Canada. We leave on Friday for Nova Scotia so we can catch a ferry to Newfoundland, then another ferry to Labrador and then Quebec.

The trip to Newfoundland and Labrador will take us through some very remote territory. This will make communication difficult. When available we should be able to receive and send emails and text messages. We are looking forward to joining up with our friends the Gunthers for this adventure. Some of the expected high lights are ice burgs and lots of nature and hopefully great birding opportunities.

Just as I was finishing up this entry we lost power and a PBS special on the Sage Grouse was to air in 10 minutes. The Airstream along with its generator came to the rescue. We got the generator hooked up to the Airstream, put the TV antenna up and the station came in. We only missed the first few minutes. Now we want to plan another trip to the high desert to see the sage grouse and other wild life. We’ll save that for another trip.

A new Airstream in the Making

The shell with wiring in place

Each new Airstream gets leak Tested

1937 and 1954 Airstream

Baltimore Oriole

Lark Sparrow

Yellow -Throated Vireo Singing Away

Black -Throated Blue Warbler

Bobolink on the Fence Thinking about the next phase of its Journey

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Culture Shock

Driving to the very end of the Natchez Trace Parkway dumps you out into everything that modern day suburbia has to offer. Nashville is a growing city of over 1 million people. Strip mall after strip mall with a more than generous smattering of traffic lights not to mention bumper-to-bumper stop and go traffic was almost more than we could bear. We made our way to our new home; Two Rivers Campground located just 3 miles from the Grand Old Opry. The stay in Nashville was designed to not only see Nashville but also afford us an airport so we could fly to New York. We went for Aunt Ellie’s 90^th birthday party and our niece Meg’s wedding shower.

The trip to NY was great and not to be missed but it paved the way for an incredibly busy week. Our first day was spent visiting Franklin Tennessee the site of a very bloody battle during the Civil War. Over 5000 Americans died in a 5-hour battle. We visited 3 homes that were very much involved in that horrible days activity. The stories were not the soldiers but the civilians impacted by that day’s horrible battle. We saw the blood stained floors of the confederate field hospital along with the bullet-riddled walls of a home on the front lines. The experience was bone chilling to say the least. The night before our flight to New York we went to downtown Nashville to hear a concert at historic Ryman Auditorium. This place just oozed with history. I was lucky enough to have seen the Grand Old Opry show here some 40+ years. The venue is now used for concerts since the Grand Old Opry Show has moved to its new location. No trip to Nashville would be complete without a trip to the Grand Old Opry. It was a fantastic show with 7 different performers including the Gatlin Brothers and Brad Paisley. The new venue was constructed in 1975 and incorporates some features from the Ryman. On our last day we visited the Hermitage the home of Andrew Jackson.

With the marvels of modern air transportation in just a few short hours we were on Long Island to celebrate Aunt Ellie’s 90^th birthday. This was a major family affair so most members of the family were there including Zach and Abe. The first time we had our immediate family together in two years. On Sunday Diana was able to take part in a bridal shower for our niece Mary.

Even though Nashville was fun it was great to put it in our rear view mirror and get back to a more settled rural environment. Mammoth Cave National Park is only about 100 miles north of Nashville. Fortunately it is very close to Bowling Green Kentucky where our friend Bonnie lives. Bonnie cooked us a phenomenal dinner of roast pork. We had a great evening of fellowship with Bonnie. The next day Bonnie showed us around the area.

Mammoth Cave is not surprisingly designated a world heritage site. The park covers 49 square miles above ground but below much more. The cave consists of at least 400 miles of passages that have been mapped. Who knows how many more miles are there to be discovered. The national park does a great job of designing tours to help show many of the varied aspects of the Cave. The park also proved to provide phenomenal bird watching. We were able to identify 3 new species on a bird walk. Then we did a wild flower walk. Following spring north has some great rewards.

Yesterday we continued our northern journey with one of the longer legs to Jackson Center Ohio where The Airstream factory is located. Jackson Center is a beautiful classic Midwestern town. Airstream provides trailer parking free for it’s service customers. There were a few issues that needed to be addressed and we wanted to make a few upgrades. Replacing the tires was high on our list, especially since we will be traveling to Newfoundland and Labrador next month. While at Airstream we had a fascinating factory tour. The technicians were so efficient we were done in one day. The next morning we got in a walk in a preserve to do some birding before hitching up the trailer. Just as we were pulling out of the Airstream Campground several Airstreamers who helped us participate in the Habitat For Humanity project during the Sarasota visit greeted us. What a small world and what a treat to catch up with them.

We then headed up to Maumee Bay State Park, just east of Toledo, a day earlier than planned. It was just a couple of hours north so we had a great day biking and hiking around the park. We did a 2-mile walk along a boardwalk and saw another 2 new birds for us. It is beautiful here. We have another day to explore the area before the birding festival starts. We have plans to attend field trips for 2 days.

We will be heading east soon. Diana has her first of several doctor appointments starting on May 14^th. We hope everyone is enjoying spring