Chapter 3 Camping trip to Prince Edward Island with family

Sunday morning, after the wedding, we broke camp and drove to my brother's home in Bradley, ME where we parked for the night.  Next day our camping caravan included my brother, Merrill and wife, Dottie's 5th wheel plus their dog, Pippy, my sister, Donna and her husband, Bill's GMC motor-home, our rig and my niece, Kim, driving the family SUV.  We planned to meet at 9:30 AM at a local parking lot.  We pulled out of Merrill's yard and thought Merrill would be right behind. We waited and waited but no one joined us. Finally, my niece texted and said we would meet up in another place down the road 5 miles or so.  Merrill also finally texted that they were delayed and would catch us later. All ready we were split up!  It was a "gaw jus" blue sky, warm day for traveling.  We stopped an hour later and waited for Merrill to join us which he did shortly.  He had a little memory lapse about putting up the trailer jacks before moving forward.

At last, we were all together heading off for Prince Edward Island camping. Merrill had done this trip when his boys were little.  Merrill, Donna and I had been to Fundy National Park when we were little, also.  We had 5 days to explore before returning home in time for a family reunion on Saturday afternoon.

It was quite a job keeping 4 vehicles together, especially through  cities. Reading the map, the road signs and the GPS was stressful. We lost Bill for 2 hours getting  through St John's construction zones.  I was able to communicate with Kim, thankfully and after several u turns, they caught up with us at an information center.

We're waiting for the rest of the group in front of our home church.

My brother' s rig, us, an unknown and Kim's SUV.

Billy and Donna. Their rig is a 1973 GMC that Bill has had in storage for years.Two  years ago, he got the remodel going.  He has fixed the body, re done the interior,
found spare parts on an old model that was wrecked and painted the exterior.  Kim has been sewing curtains and Bill had the cushions re  upholstered.

Lobster advertising.  $6.99 a pound in Maine

We camped in woodsy Provincial Parks.

Prince Edward Island (PEI) is 8 miles off the coast off

New Brunswick.  The island was connected by a ferry, but in 1997, the "Confederation Bridge" was completed.We paid a toll pf $64 Canadian to use it.  The weather was wet and foggy so we didn't see much on the way over.

The Spectacular Confederation Bridge

Prince Edward Island joined the Canadian Confederation in 1873 and at that time, the Federal Government promised the Islanders continuous transport between PEI and the mainland. In the early years, this was sometimes threatening to life and limb, particularly in winter when small boats were muscled over and through the ice of Northumberland Strait linking New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

By 1917, a permanent ferry service was implemented across the Northumberland Strait which lasted for more than 80 years. However, lobbying for a bridge crossing for vehicles has been a factor for many years and finally, the technology of the 90's made the construction of almost a 13 kilometer bridge possible.

In June of 1997, the Confederation Bridge, linking Cape Jourimain, New Brunswick, and Borden-Carleton, Prince Edward Island, became a reality. Just prior to the first day of vehicle traffic, thousands of people lined up for a history making walk across the bridge. An aura of excitement gripped the participants even though the walk took much longer than the 12 minute drive over the S shaped bridge which spans 12.9 kilometers. As well, the trip is now much shorter in time than the previous 3 hour ferry voyage, plus the tolls are deemed to be reasonable. The 1997 rates for cars started at $35.