Thanksgiving and other things in Indiantown

Wednesday 18th to Wednesday 25th November
Time spent settling into life at the marina. Beautiful weather - not to hot – at least not compared to last May when we were putting the boat away.

Opened up the boat and set about tidying things up a little, designing and starting work on a shelf to hold our auxiliary batteries in one of the lockers.

Lots going on in and around the marina. We’re heading up to the US Thanksgiving and there’s free food and live entertainment every night outside on the patio which was (and still is for Xmas) decked out with lights.


Thursday 26th November
It’s Thanksgiving and Ira and Ann made the trip from West Palm Beach for the big meal with pot luck stuff plus free smoked turkey and hams – not for us alas – we brought some cold salmon to the feast.

Great live music with a jazz guitarist.


The food people brought was very good and we ended up pretty stuffed.

(photo copyright I. Russianoff)

And Carol made a new friend.

Friday 27th November
A relaxed day with Carol and Ann playing cards while Ira and I went cycling around Indiantown. The free food was over so it was BBQ time for supper.

Saturday 28th November
An early start for me but not our guests.

We had breakfast in town at Crackers – THE breakfast place in Indiantown. We took a walk to the Seminole Inn which is a very nice hotel in a very poor town. Carol found another feathered friend.

Ira and Ann headed back to their place in West Palm to continue preparing to leave their place with a renter while they spend the winter in Sydney, Oz.

Sunday 29th November
Carol must have eaten something she shouldn’t have at the Thanksgiving meal and is in pain. Since we know what this means (diverticulitis) it’s off to the hospital at night. So we packed up the RV for travel. We didn’t get too far because as soon as we got up to speed there was this horrible thumping coming from the rear passenger side. Inspection of the underneath revealed that the outer rear tire had blown out on its inside and the only thing stopping it from blowing completely was the fact that it was pushing against the inner tire. So we bumped our way back to the campsite and called for a taxi to take us to Stuart, 20 odd miles away.

$70 later, (for the taxi), Carol was being treated in a hospital. After 2-1/2 hours of tests and antibiotics the bill came to $3,000 but oddly enough it was reduced to $1,000 because we were ‘from out of country’ – go figure.

We got home before midnight – a long day.

Monday 30th November
We had had originally planned to drive the RV into Stuart for some shopping but the RV was going nowhere until we got a new tire and Carol wasn’t exactly feeling top notch. Fortunately Indiantown does have a tire store so we ordered a couple of new tires.

Tuesday 1st December
Up early and off to the tire store (very very slowly).
Afterwards we headed off for a day of shopping in Stuart. Groceries, epoxy resin, boat parts, all the things you can’t get in Indiantown.

Wednesday 2nd December to Thursday 12th December
A bleak time for Carol living on Jello and veggie bouillon for several days and no alcohol while the antibiotics do their work.

I spent my time doing odd boat projects and working on glassing in my battery shelf, punctuated by trips into Indiantown on my bicycle.

As we mentioned back in May, the bugs here are something to be reckoned with. From our constant battle with invading ants, flying cockroaches, mosquitoes, no-seeums (very very small mosquitoes - or at least they bite like them) and then less annoying things like this one which I thought was leaf on top of our BBQ.

Down to the sun

Thursday 29th October to Monday 2nd November
The last few days in New Brunswick fly by with more suburban deer sightings:

Here relaxing in Jean & Tim’s back garden:

We did one more trip to the Irving Nature Park, this time there were no fox sightings.

Halloween we went to see Michael Jackson at the movies (love that Orianthi Panagaris) while Jean stayed at the house to dispense the candy. Here she is with baby Nathan, dressed in her costume:

On the Monday we did some last minute provisioning and put our Subaru in storage (in a church yet).

Tuesday 3rd November
At the crack of noon we finally rumble out of Quispamsis, stop by the car storage place and get a view of the Queen Mary 2 in Saint John's Harbour. Apparently Saint John is a very popular cruise-ship destination - who'd a thunk it?



Then it's down the highway to the US border at St. Stephen in Canada, Calais in the US.

After November 1st all campsites in the north are closed so we ended up parking in a Flying J truck stop for the night (in Maine) amongst all the big rigs:


Wednesday 4th November
After a good breakfast in the Flying J restaurant it was back on I-95 and down through the rest of Maine, a little bit of New Hampshire and then into Massachusetts, around Boston and down to the Connecticut coast and an overnight stay in a Wal-Mart parking lot.


Thursday 5th November
After breakfast in the Wal-Mart McDonalds we’re back on the road and heading for New York. Heavy, heavy traffic as we pass through the Bronx, across the George Washington Bridge and into New Jersey.

We were still not far south enough to get a campsite, so that night was spent in a Camping World parking lot – another free source of overnight parking for RVers.

Friday 6th November
Up and off in still cool weather and one of our less pleasant day's travel into Maryland and past Baltimore and Washington – always a trying experience with multiple lanes of very heavy traffic that stops and starts.

However, before too long the traffic thinned out and we crossed from Virginia into North Carolina.

On the way up we stayed at a place near Roanoke Rapids which gave us a 50% discount with our Passport America membership. So we stayed there again.

Saturday 7th November
After 4 days of travel we decided to have a day of rest, so we stayed a second night in North Carolina. The friendly folks at the RV Campsite at Carolina Crossroads lent us a car so we could go do some shopping. Still it isn’t that warm.

Sunday 8th November
Our next stop was to be Edisto Beach in South Carolina, over 300 miles away so we started early. However, by the time we got down to southern South Carolina it was getting late so we parked in another Wal-Mart just off the I-95, this time with many more RVs. And finally it’s warm.


Monday 9th November
We did the last 40m to Edisto first thing in the morning and got ourselves a site in the beach area where we couldn’t even get in last time we went there.


It’s a beautiful spot that we’ve even booked in for a week on our way back next May.

Tuesday 10th November
An early start again to make a long trek to Vero Beach in Florida. Friends Geoff and Bunkey are presently staying there on their boat Party of Two, waiting for guests before heading over to the Bahamas.

We arrived just in time for a pot luck (organized by Bunkey naturally) so got a free meal.

Wednesday 11th November
We spent about 6 weeks in Vero Beach aboard Incognita in the spring but never heard about the CLOD’s breakfast that they have in a restaurant every Wednesday. CLODs are Cruisers Living On Dirt. These are people who have given up the cruising life and bought a place in Vero Beach. It was a lively do and good value. Here’s Bunkey holding forth.


After breakfast we took Buddy for a grooming – he was getting quite warm. Carol got her hair done, we picked Buddy up and took him to the vet for shots etc. and then drove him up the coast to kennels to leave him there for a few days.
Then it was back on the I-95 and a couple of hours down to West Palm Beach to park the RV at Ira and Ann’s.


Thursday 12th November
A day of shopping around West Palm Beach but at night we took a trip down to Clematis Street which is one of two places where there is street entertainment. It was a little cool for hanging around.

Friday 13th November
The original plan was to go cycling but the high winds put the kibosh on that one so we went geocaching instead, in the Apoxee Wilderness Preserve local wetlands area.


Carol and I each got to find our first geocache (practically unaided).


It’s a beautiful spot and with no bugs and gorgeous weather it was a lot of fun.


Saturday 14th November
The wind had dropped to make cycling an option so we packed Ira and Ann’s bikes onto the back of the RV with ours and trundled the RV down through West Palm Beach to Palm Beach on the other side of the Intracoastal.


Our first trip was up the side of the Intracoastal to the north end of the barrier island that is Palm Beach in time to see this container ship go out through the inlet.


Next attraction was a walk round the Four Arts garden complex with its Asian gardens.


and statuary.


On to the bikes again and over to the ocean side to go visit the famous Breakers Hotel.


The ocean was demonstrating the behaviour that we guess gave the place its name.


We took a rest in the shaded courtyard for some munchies pretending we had the bucks to stay there.


Back to the RV, loaded up the bikes and then back to Century Village after another wonderful day in the sun. If only Florida could be like this 12 months a year.

Sunday 15th November
Time for a visit to the beach while the weather is still so good.
Ira and I went ‘swimming’ while the girls sat on the beach. The waves and the current running along the shore were fierce. I’ve never been in surf like that.


Monday 16th November
Geoff and Bunkey had invited us to their 40th wedding anniversary way back in summer when we were at their place in Tobermory. They were still on their boat in Vero Beach and so we needed to get the 90 miles back up the highway, a job for Ira and Ann’s car rather than the RV.

We got there in plenty time for the lunch at an excellent Chinese Buffet.
Here is the happy couple.


We all had good time with all the boaters.



Buddy had been on a vacation at a kennels in Sebastian just north of Vero, so before heading back to West Palm Beach we picked him up.

Tuesday 17th November
Time for us to head to the boat and start work on the many outstanding projects.

We said our goodbyes and headed on up the I-95 to Stuart for some shopping and I got to Harbor Freight for the first time. What a place, wish we had them in Canada. After some food shopping for things we would definitely not be able to get in Indiantown where the boat is, we travelled the 20 miles to Indiantown Marina and got the better of two remaining spots in the RV park.


After quick check that the boat (and our friend’s boat Bilbo) was still there and nothing bad had happened over the summer we settled in for the night.

Wedesday 18th November to Monday 23rd November
Boat stuff plus the occasional cycle into Indiantown.

Around Saint John and Shediac

Saturday 26th September to Thursday 8th October
Just hanging out in Quispamsis for a couple of weeks with visits to see baby Nathan, seen here with dad Teddy:


and grandad Tim:


The deer as so plentiful and tame here it's not the least bit unusual to see them grazing in gardens:


Friday 9th October
Tim became very friendly with his parish priest Richard McConnell who subsequently moved from Rothesay to Shediac.

Richard and his wife Gwen had invited Tim and Jean plus Tim's cousin (twice removed), Richard and wife Heather, to stay with them for Thanksgiving. We were to just 'tag along' with The Big Easy so we would have somewhere to sleep.

So, early in the afternoon we set out north, initially to make a Costco stop (the one in Saint John isn't open yet) and then on to Shediac. We kind of ruined the aspect of the rectory when we parked right in front:


We got a warm welcome and before too long we were celebrating thanksgiving with food and drink and a house full of people.

Saturday 10th October
The men were up and out for a 'religious' breakfast - a new one for yours truly. The ladies had a more leisurely start to the day and had a trip to Frenchys (another version of Value Village) - a maritime tradition.

When all were assembled, we piled into a couple of cars and headed to Bouctouche up the coast to do some touristy stuff.

One of the highlights was a stop at this antique store.


The building you see actually houses a wood carver who created the strange structure. He also has created many quirky and odd carvings such as his future casket:


He seems to specialize in friezes, one of which portrays Chris DeBurgh's Spanish Train song and many more including this one showing Pierre Elliot Trudeau (click on it for more detail):


Back at the rectory we had a a terrific meal and much wine:


Sunday 11th October
Sunday morning and it's off across the road to church for some hymn singing.


It's quite a beautiful well-maintained church - a wealthy parish.

After church we had lunch at a Shediac restaurant where Richard and Gwen's daughter intends to learn the proctical side of being a chef.

After stuffing oursleves at the buffet, it was decided a walk onthe beach was in order so with dogs, Buddy and Tiny (Richard and Gwen's goofy Doberman) we walked down and along the beach a little.


As you can see the beach was pretty much deserted unlike the summer months when hoards of tourists (mostly from Quebec) descend on Shediac and cover every square inch.

After a brisk walk it was back to home base for happy hour and supper.

Monday 12th October
Richard is an avid sailor and keeps his daysailer at the weekend place they have built up in Bay du Vin where Gwen grew up. Monday was the day we were to all take a drive up to see it and have lunch there.

On the way we took the opportunity to take the road which goes through a federal park where we stopped for a walk out into the wet lands.


and down to the beach. Here's Tiny (with metal bracket on broken leg) with wind-swept owners (and Carol).


Back in the car and off to the end of the trip at Bay du Vin (nothing to do with wine).

Their weekend retreat and eventual retirement spot is very remote and quiet.


Quite beautiful. Richard never wants to leave once he gets there.


That's an Irish flag in the background.

Once lunch was over we headed back to Shediac, said our goodbyes and thankyous, picked up the RV and then trundled our way back to Quispamsis. A very enjoyable and memorable Thanksgiving all in all.

Tuesday 13th October to Wednesday 28th October
More hanging about in Quispamsis as various weather fronts roll through with one that caused serious flooding in Saint John.

Highlights included a trip to The Irving Nature Park with Buddy - a 'must do' whenever we are here.


There are birds to be hand-fed.


And new to the area since we last came there are foxes.


People are feeding them (a bad idea) which is making them way too tame. That fellow above walked right up to me.

Thursday 29th October
Our time in New Brunswick is coming to a close. Once the car is put into winter storage after the 1st November we will be able to go south and get to warmer climes. The RV is not winterized and the nights are getting much colder.

Before we went we wanted to see Peter and Carolyn LeBlanc, friends of Jean and Tim who had invited us over to their beautiful place on the river several times before. So we decided to invite them over to Jean and Tim's with Carol making her world famous bouillabaisse. With extra invites for Teddy and Kim (and of course baby Nathan) we had a full table. No pics though - forgot.