August 18, 1999
We started the day with homemade pancakes, and after a quick cleanup drove over to Ben's the Bakery Man - truck repair shop. In 30 minutes we were back on our way with a jim dandy repair to an airline and everything was again tickity boo.
We were now headed north to Cape Breton Island and before long crossed the Canso Causeway. Our first real stop was late in the afternoon, at Wreck's Cove, a lookout over the ocean on the east side of the trail. The kids seemed right at home, walking in the ocean and collecting bits of traps, crabs and interesting rocks.
The ocean is So cool!
Moments after pulling out, and looking out the back window, we realized that Niki's towel was still hung out to dry on the back of the RV. It took a while before we could find a spot to pull over and save it. Niki's sense of humour was not the best for those 5 minutes until we rescued it.
On top of Old Smokey.
We made it up Mt. Smokey, only a mear 902 feet, but I spent most of my time watching the gauges. It seemed like the road went straight up. And many of the turns were in blind corners, with potholes. After the airline problems the day before, I was being more than careful now.
A Class C RV that we had seen at Wreck's Cove was again pulled in at the lookout on Mt. Smokey. This time the driver had on overalls and was working underneath. It seemed his breaklines all blew right where he stopped. So his son jumped on the cell phone and called up CAA, and we all nerously joked about the situation. I could imagine the conversation.
"Yes we need a tow truck. Our brakes don't work."
"Ah huh, we're parked at a scenic lookout."
"On top of Old Smokey."
"Hello...Hello...."
(head now out the window to us) "They hung up."
Knowing we had new brakes on the RV, my biggest concern was the transmission. But it seemed to be doing better and going through less fluid once we started the climb.
We pulled into Cape Breton Highlands National Park. And this time early enough to even have 'steak and taters', on the BBQ.
Our new neighbours pulled in a little after us, a family from Guelph. With 3 boys and a little girl, this was their first time out with the new pop-up camper. Didn't take long for all our kids to start playing all together. It amazes me how well any family can get along in those little campers, especially with all the wet cool weather.
A friendly campfire latter that night, everyone gathered around and talked while the kids played. After sharing a few beers with our new friends, I realized that this traveling thing seemed like the way life was supposed to be.