Cabot Trail, Drive & Lost Keys!

SEPT 3 MONDAY 184 MILES today Touring without the trailer.
http://www.cabottrail.com/history/    cabot trail history
We drove up the East side of  the Cabot Trail ,  including White Point, and down the  Westside.
( driving not hiking. "trail" makes it sound like a hike, doesn't it? ) 

The counter clockwise route was suggested by campers we'd met on the Gaspe Peninsula a week ago in Quebec.

You can see in the lower left, Baddeck.
 That's where we camped & took day trips from there.

The idea for going counter clockwise is to start out early & by the time we get to the west-side we'd be able to see the setting sun on the way back to camp. Sounded like a great idea.

We saw a great no-hook-up campground  in the Cape Breton National Park part of the island named Corney Brook. We got there just at sunset & the campers were at their picnic table eating dinner , drinking & watching the sunset.
 It was lovely & if we hadn't been paid up at our camp site back in Baddeck we would have loved to camp here....no electric...and worth it.
Corney Brook Campground is at the end of the video below.

Sept 4 Tuesday 230 miles today. Touring without the trailer.

This 2nd day we went up AND down  the same WEST side of the Cabot Trail 

We thought the west side more beautiful than the east side so decided today to just do a round trip only on the west side today. 

We got off of the Cabot Trail to see Meat Cove & Capstick (which I kept reading as Chapstick ) via Bay St Lawrence village.

Meat Cove is at the most northern point on Cape Breton Island. I one needs to travel about 8 miles on a winding, dirt road to get to it.
We were so excited, even though we no longer have a 4wheel drive vehicle....such adventurers we thought we were....until we saw campers there with RV's !!!
I could NOT imagine towing anything on that road....but there they were; a fairly long Airstream trailer and at least one class C's along with several tenters. The tent campers were no big deal, eh? ..... but the RVer'S....yikes!

I've decided to make only one movie of all of the things I'm mentioning here for the two all-day-trips on The Cabot Trail. It's posted at the very end.

We stopped at the Larch Wood Factory in East Margaree & bought a beautiful larch-wood cutting board. 
We'd never heard of  Larch wood before & they sell these cutting boards at Williams Sonoma where we rarely shop; probably why we'd never heard of this type of wood. 
From Wikipedia: Larch are among the dominant plants in the immense boreal forests of Russia and Canada.
http://www.larchwoodcanada.com/

It was a lovely "happening" that we stumbled upon during our all day drive.

We DO like factories....any kind. Always interesting & fascinating.

I'll mention it here about my "laundry shots". I'm crazy for laundry blowing in the wind & have LOTS of  them. 
It seems everyone in Canada likes to hang in the wind.
I will be including them in my blog from time to time...It's my "thing".
You have no idea how many times Joey or I would yell out "LAUNDRY" & needed to turn around to get another laundry shot. 
A fun quest that satisfied the soul....don't ask me why, just does.

  

Ge got back to trailer @9pm & couldn't find the key for the trailer!!!

It was very dark. Great for viewing the Milky Way but not for trying to find keys.
We tore the car apart looking for the extra key that we always keep in the center consul compartment…..not there….OMG…I needed to pee….I've been waiting to do so for the last, slow 50 miles!

How COULD this have happened?
Our routine after locking up the trailer is the always the same.

As we get into the car we put the key in a special cup in the center cup-holder between us. 
WHY wasn't it there????

After tearing the car apart in all of the logical places Joey found the strong, LED flashlight so he could look on the ground around the area where we park, thinking it might have fallen out of his pocket at the very beginning….NOPE…not around there…

OMG OMG OMG…..WHERE are we going to sleep ….in the car???? It's been getting down to 37 ish at night….I still need to PEE & was getting ready to have him at least drive me up to the camp's john which was not close to our site this time.

We gave up on trying in and around the car.
Next he decided to check in the grass near our trailer steps…

not there…

......he tried opening the trailer's door just for the  heck of it; VOILA! 

The door opened! Heaven forbid!... but thanking god at the same time.
It had been unlocked ALL day….laptop, iPad, Canadian cash….my oh my….all there.

We just looked at each other & broke out in laughter. (luckily, THAT didn't make me pee before I got to our bathroom)

For a change I freaked quietly. 
Joey stayed calm as he almost always does.

I thought & thought & finally realized how the unlocked trailer happened.

We had needed to change our routine a bit because we had only paid for 3 nights in advance & we needed to pay for more nights.

I had gone into the small camp office which was almost in front of our trailer as Joey was getting ready to lock up the trailer when I, in the office, realized I'd forgotten my iPhone in the trailer.

 I hollered back to him telling him not to lock the trailer saying that I wanted to get something. He heard me & complied. 
Yup, MY fault!

I ran back to the trailer & got my iPhone & needed to hurry back to the office to finish the transaction of paying for 3 more nights. I did NOT lock the trailer thinking that he would then do so when I was back in the office. So the trailer key was still inside on the hook where we keep it.

Oh well, we're now comfortably drinking some Tequila in our little "Shoe Box". The really good stuff….Thanks Paul…it's the good Tequila that you gave us from one of your left over catering parties.

Are we lucky or what?
Here's the video for the two days. 
It's 11 minutes...hey, it's got Music & effects!