Day Seventeen - 166 miles
Kind of a slow, but relaxing, day around Nova Scotia.
I woke up in the morning at 7:30AM, to a BOILING tent, and the sun beating down. The people I was worried about disturbing the night before, had already left. The owner was a nice lady from Quebec, and as soon as I walked up said, "Oh, you must be Number 3?" She had no problem with me taking the spot, and we settled up for a reasonable fee, and she gave me a great tip for breakfast - Josie's Place (no photo, unfortunately).
I decided to drive through the middle of Nova Scotia via Kejimkujik National Park (or "Keji" for short), where I had a swim in Kejimkujik Lake - a deep and dark lake with deep brown semi-orange sediment. Very refreshing, but as you dive down, very dark. Kind of scary!
It's funny how you notice things in different places. Almost every house in the middle of Nova Scotia seems to have a MASSIVE pile of firewood outside, often chopped neatly into handy pieces. I presume this is for heating.
Another thing people do around here, is leave cars parked facing outwards at the front of their driveways, almost on the road. I don't know if it's deliberate, but it has the effect of slowing you down a bit, as it looks like someone is about to pull out onto the road. It's not until you get very close that you see no one is inside.
After Keji, in quite a remote spot, I just stumbled across this little "wishing well" park kind of area. I cannot say how lovely it was. I wished I had a picnic with me! (And someone to share it with!). I was really a lovely spot. "Kejimkujik Drive" it was called. Apparently an old gold mining area.
The big thing you notice here compared to the U.S., is lack of people. There is nobody here! A little picnic area like Kejimkujik Drive would have been packed on a day like this across the border. I think literally ONE car passed by in the entire twenty or so minutes I spent there.
This is perfect motorcycling weather too. There has been no rain, and it's cool enough that I wear a couple of layers, but it's nice. Mid 70's. Maybe a little 80's at times. Just perfect.
I got to the far (south) side of Nova Scotia, to the town of Liverpool, where I had to stop at a petrol station and do some work. Yes, WORK. So goes "vacation' when you work for yourself.
I hooked up my jailbroken iPhone to Rogers Wireless EDGE service, through their roaming agreement with T-Mobile, who are charging me $10 per MB. That can add up REALLY fast. A thousand dollars no bother, if you're not careful.
Anyway, I "tethered" my phone to my laptop, and was able to take care of a couple of items at a couple of different clients, in about half-an-hour.
This was in between talking to some VERY chatty locals. Boy, Nova Scotian's can talk! The accent in parts kind of sounds like a cross between Scottish and Irish, with a bit of Faeroe Islands and French thrown in. Very unusual. At first, they kind of sound like Irish people.
I detoured along the coast road, but only for an hour around sunset. I felt I missed a few of the coves around the coast today, but I had to get to Halifax. Nice as it was, if I were doing it again, I'd probably skip Keji.
The tourist office back at Digby had helped me book a room for the night in Halifax. When I arrived at the Lord Nelson Hotel, I immediately made it two nights. This is a nice - and plush - place. A good place to rest my bones for a couple of days, and recharge the ol' batteries, get a bit of laundry done, and generally kick back. Rain is forecast for Tuesday, so this will work well.
Hopefully, the rain will clear up, then it'll be over to Cape Breton.
Onwards!
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