Stranded in Pennsylvania

Hi everyone

It's been a while since our last blog which came to you from New Brunswick, Canada. Since then we have crossed the border into the United States and spend a wonderful time with our friends in Massachusetts. We didn't do any sight seeing since we had been there several times before and just wanted to spend some time with them, catching up. It had been way too long since we've last seen each other. So we did greatly enjoy our time with them. But all good things must come to an end and so we finally drove on on our way to Michigan where we will see more friends.

After a very long drive (somehow we did underestimate the distance when looking at the map) we stopped at a very nice campground in Pennsylvania. While talking to our host we found out that an about 2 hours drive away, in Hershey (yep, where the famous Hershey Kisses come from) the "biggest RV show in America" was opening its doors the next day. So we added a night and took a day-trip down there. It was very impressive and we got some information regarding some parts for our fifth wheel we're still looking for as well as on long-term camping in the South. After all that's where we plan on spending the winter.

Then it was on to a new destination which unfortunately we never reached. Sue needed to use the facilities and so André stopped, let her out and then drove around the parking lot to turn the rig around. Where he had stopped, there now was a puddle on the ground and getting out to investigate he found the problem: our truck was leaking cooling-fluid like a sieve! Now, it's one thing to have roadside assistance tow the truck but we could not find anybody who could haul our fifth wheel away. And the flat bed was just long enough to load our truck.

So we are stranded on a truck stop in the middle of Pennsylvania. By now we found out that the garage needs to order a part which will arrive Monday earliest. The whole thing happened on Thursday. We also got the phone number of a customer of the gas station where we broke down who has a fifth wheel himself and who might be willing to tow us to a campground in Du Bois where the garage is, some 60 km from here. He is at work right now but we will find out if he can give us a tow later today. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

André and Sue

Somewhere on the road in Canada

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A thing or two about tides

Hi everyone

as you remember from our last post, we are on our way to Massachusetts to see friends before heading back to Ontario. Along the way we came through Truro, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and we couldn't resist to go see two really interesting sights with regards to tides: the tidal bore in Truro and the world's highest tides here in Hopewell Cape.

A tidal bore is a tidal phenomenon in which the leading edge of the incoming tide forms a wave (or waves) of water that travels up a river or narrow bay against the direction of the river or bay's current. It can be just a very small wave, no more than a few inches or a bigger one. The one in Truro is not huge but big enough to clearly see it coming and what's impressive, is the speed with which it moves and fills the riverbed. In order to give you an impression of what we've seen we have included two pictures which were taken only about 20 Minutes apart. In the second picture the water is actually a few feet deep.

Our next stop was in Hopewell Cape in New Brunswick where one can witness the world's highest tides. The difference between low and high can be as much as 14 meters (46b feet). On the evening of August 31 we were down there walking on the ocean floor and the next day around noon we returned to see the same rock formations at high tide. It wasn't the highest possible that day. According to a park ranger it reached "only" 13 meters (43 feet) and left a small gap in the arch between two rocks. This can hardly be seen on our pictures but nevertheless they give an idea of the change. We were awed by this display of nature and will not forget looking down to where the night before we were walking and now there was several meters of water.

André and Sue

Somewhere on the road in Canada

PS: Don't forget to read our other blogs (listed on the side) and to follow us on facebook and our Google Map. You can also check our web site for new pictures.