I made it!! After way too much worrying about having everything I needed to make it across the border, it turned out to be a non-issue. The very nice Canadian Customs Officer looked at my passport, checked my vaccination record, matched it all against the ArriveCanada documents, asked me if I had any guns, drugs or non-grocery food stuffs. I answered all “No!” . . . and I was in Canada! It feels kind of weird though since everything in Canada looks like the stuff in the United States, just the names are changed to protect the Corporations!
I started out today in Ellsworth, Maine. Driving sort of north on Maine Highway 1 in the grey fog (again) was not bad, the road is in fairly good repair, the scenery does not change much, rural houses and farms, stacks and stacks of firewood, either in use or for sale, stacks and stacks of lobster pots waiting for the season to open, along with lots of lobster boats getting made ready for the season.
Once I crossed the border, I was in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. I have to say that I am impressed with the Canadian Road System. All of the road signs are in English and French (so I was learning a new language while driving!!), Having to be careful and not drive the posted speed in miles per hour, since they are shown in kilometers, took a bit getting used to. The real shock was when I filled the gas tank and paid $2..09 (Canadian)/liter. I am still trying to work out what I am getting in gallons per mile but all I know for certain is that it cost over $84 to fill my tank!!
The Trans-Canadian highways incredibly superb and but our road system to shame. There were very few sections of the road I would call bad, they are clean and seem to be efficient. I also noted that even though there are no parrallel frontage roads, there is a track on each side of the highway specifically built for four-wheelers. Not certain why, but there were people driving everywhere alongside the main highways. I also noted that if there is not an exit at a side road, you can pull off into the emergency lane, and then drive across the edge of the highway to get to the side road, as long as there is no deer fence or guard rail in place. This must be so that people do not need to go miles down the road to find and exit and then back track on an interior road. I doubt this will every happen in America, it would be utter chaos!! I like the system of highways so much that I may explore not going back down into Maine and then crossing Pennsylvania and Ohio to get to Michigan, I may just see if Canada’s Highway 2 is a more direct route!
When you come down out of New Brunswick to drive across the plains to get into Nova Scotia, there are signs posted along the roadway to warn of High Winds . . . and they were not kidding. I finally gave up trying to lead the way and took to following the big rigs as wind breaks. It was still a long fight all day against the wind!!
Now I am in Nova Scotia and it is great . . . except I still have not seen any Moose!! I keep looking, my head is on a swivel, but no such luck!! I have seen lots of porcupines (dead on the side of the road) but that is it for wildlife.
It is grey and rainy now, and tomorrow it is going to be grey and rainy . . . possibly grey and rainy for a few days . . . so I do not know what I will be doing! Whatever I do, I will share with you! Until then, be safe and enjoy life!!
What the Walrus said . . . 