Of Lobster and Poutine. A 1986 Tour of the Maritimes.

Wilbah

Adventurer
Really great write up. Not sure I am ready for all that new technology but really cool seeing what the future will look like!
 

Christian P.

Expedition Leader
Staff member
thanks guys. sorry I have been a bit slow in my updates but it took me a while to receive the pictures after I sent the last rolls of film to the local Kodak center. Apparently they got sent to the head office in Montreal for printing just as the union workers went on strike.

Here is an image from the newspaper:

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I should have something for you shortly.
 

spd2918

Observer
When traveling, it is always interesting to observe the local population and learn from what they do.

In New-Brunswick, we noticed that many households keep their old cars scattered around and near the house.

That's why ideally you put the cars up on blocks, without wheels, unlike this one which lays flat on the grass.

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Something is wrong here.....
 

p1michaud

Expedition Leader
Christian,
My only regret is that I did not hear about this trip before you started. Having been born in New Brunswick and explored the Maritimes, I could have pointed you to a few must visit attractions such as the "big potato" or "large lobster". I'm sure if you sent a message via pigeon courier, I could have replied in time...;)

If you are still in the area, you must stop in to Pennfield for the best blueberry pie I've ever had or down the road to Ossie's Lunch in Saint Andrews for some of Canada's best fried clams.

Safe travel.
 

Bushcoat

one trail at a time
You sir, are amazing! Thanks for the laughs, I needed that after a tough day at work. Gonna have to try and build the K.D poutine!
 

Christian P.

Expedition Leader
Staff member
I can't believe it's been over 6 months since the last update. Hopefully you all know that this winter has been really harsh in Quebec, and the few phone lines we have did not work for most of the season.

But with spring coming, we finally got the rest of our pictures from the lab. You may notice an improvement as they have apparently updated their printing machine.

So after an amazing time, albeit too short, on PEI - we were excited to discover Nova Scotia. Our third province on this grand tour.

Our first sight was the recent boat that was acquired by the Nova Scotia Navy.
I am not an expert on boat but apparently this is the best you can get for your Canadian dollar. Our taxes at work in other words.

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We spent the night in a nice village called "Pictou". This is where the ferry takes you from PEI.

The downtown area was relatively quiet on this spring night.
Persephone spotted this 1973 Impala - a classic model which still looked pretty decent after 13 years on the road.

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This is a picture of the local bank. Getting cash is always a challenge on the road. We have some traveler's checks however it's not always easy to get the local people to accept them. Apparently there has been an fraud issue with travelers from Nigeria before.

I wish someone would invent some sort of automatic cash dispenser that would not require us to talk to a human being.

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There were very few restaurants open that night and after several days surviving on poutine only, we decided to go crazy and try the local Chinese restaurant.

The meal was good but the fortune message in the cookie left us a bit perplexed.

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Christian P.

Expedition Leader
Staff member
The next morning we hit the road again, right after admiring another great house.

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We had just started driving when we spotted this contraption on the road. Apparently this is a new machine they just got to paint the lines.
I am not sure if they were testing it or were just learning but the whole operation seems a bit strange to me.

There was a guy on the roof waving at us to pass over but by doing so we were running right over the fresh painted line, which to me kind of defeated the whole purpose.
Not even talking about the paint spraying back on our car. We sort of waited for a while but then many cars were lining up behind us.

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Eventually we understood that he wanted us to pass on the right, which we did admirably thanks to the great traction of the Motomaster tires.
The factory mud guards also helped stopping most of the paint from spraying over our great automobile.

To this day though, I am still thinking they could be some improvements done on this system.

We reached Inverness later that day and spent the evening watching a local band. I found someone with a camcorder and we managed to do a little video of the band.
They were really good and I am hoping they become successful one day. The local youngsters really seem to be enjoying them and the party lasted very late!

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[video=vimeo;93579273]https://vimeo.com/93579273[/video]

The next morning, we finally entered Cape Breton. Stay tuned for more adventures!!!

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NHrunner

New member
Looks like you guys are having a good time. If you want an easy solution to your money situation, I would suggest getting a TD bank account. I live in NB for half the year and use my TD debit card as a credit card anywhere. You may have noticed that cash isnt as popular as debit in NB. There is no fee of any sort for me to use my american card in canada. Its possible that other american banks offer something similar, but I doubt it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk
 

Christian P.

Expedition Leader
Staff member
Before we hit the road again, I had to stop for a moment and take a picture of my wife posing in front of this great mural.

However as you will notice, I may have been distracted a bit when I spotted the new Pontiac 6000LE and put it on the foreground of the picture.
Such a sexy automobile, although I am not sure that the front wheel drive system is going to catch on. Just don't tell my wife.

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We finally hit the Cabot Trail and enjoyed extraordinary scenery.

This is me posing proudly on the back of the car.
At this point we have covered perhaps 30 km of the entire 300 km of the complete route.

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There is not much traffic on the Cabot Trail, so we were happy when we spotted this Impala in front of yet another building painted in the same great burgundy color as our Chrysler.

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We eventually reach the office for the Whale Watching Tour but unfortunately it was the wrong season. Notice the color again.

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Christian P.

Expedition Leader
Staff member
As you know by now, the Cabot trail is extremely remote and rugged. Not a place to break down.

So if you do experience mechanical problem on the road, you must be skilled enough to fix it and get yourself out of trouble.

Unbeknownst to us, the magnificent Chrysler had developed a fuel leak over the gas tank which was causing the fuel pump to malfunction and the engine to sputter a little bit...

This is me trying to find the root cause of the problem.

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We were shocked that such issue would developed on a new car.

After evaluating our options, we decided to press on and tried to make it to the next village that had proper supplies available - namely a Canadian Tire.

In case you are not familiar with this establishment, here is their latest commercial:


We managed to complete the tour of the Cabot Trail and reach a hotel for the night - again in compliance with the color scheme.

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Christian P.

Expedition Leader
Staff member
The next morning we hit the famous Canadian Tire. However, because our Chrysler is so new, they did not stock any fuel pump yet. In addition, being on Sunday everything was closed.

So we decided to try our luck and drive back as fast as possible using all the horsepowers available.

However we only made it about half way through New-Brunswick before the car totally died on us. With time constraint descending on us, we had to choice to abandon the car to the local mechanic and take the bus back home.

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Despite having been able to complete the infamous Cabot trail, we were obviously extremely disappointed by the mechanical failure of our otherwise extremely enjoyable expedition vehicle.

Waiting for the bus, we had ample time to reflect on our latest great adventure.

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But the story has a happy ending. A few weeks later, my own sister was able to go back and retrieve the Chrysler.
Here she is posing next to her current Ford Galaxy 500.

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thank you everyone for following our trip. Hopefully there will be more of these in the future!
 

takesiteasy

Adventurer
Just saw your report today- missed the earlier installments. Thoroughly enjoyed reading it- very creative and made me laugh. Thanks!
 

kpredator

Adventurer
thank you for the report and laughs
brings back memories of my road trips to alaska in the 80's
when spenard ave was happening
 

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