The day started poorly. Every once in a while things just don't go as planned. Today was one of those days. The unexpected can cause a lot of anxiety, however we humans have the ability to persevere. As we were pouring our first cup of coffee this morning we noticed that Harper's leash was no where to be found. I guessed we left it in the car. I think I remember letting Harper run into the room. I was right the leash was in the car. Carol braved the rainy weather to retrieve the lease but the car was locked, I grabbed my keys and beeped it but nothing happened! I tried again, and again. What is they say about repeating the same act over and over. . .? The battery in the car was completely dead.
Jumping the car.
It had actually died a couple of time in the past few weeks and I should have been smart enough to read the signs that were clearly written on the wall. I was smart enough however to bring along my little jump starter battery that we always carried in the Doodle. This is a handy little device about 4 inches long that carries a charge large enough to start a car and has the appropriate attachment clips. Perfect! I fished the tiny secret key out of the fob and opened the drivers door, confirmed that the car was dead, it wouldn't start. I then tried to lift the rear hatch it was locked, electrically locked and the battery was dead. My little starting device was all the way in the back. All this time it is raining, I'm still in my pajamas and Carol and I are both just a bit irritated about the situation as we have a car that won't start, we are a long way from home and heading much further to the remotest areas of the east coast - Newfoundland for goodness sake! Well I can't crawl over the seats to get the charger, so Carol volunteered. My second big mistake of today was not video taping Carol's expedition to the rear of the car. We both had a good laugh and the mission was accomplished. I jumped the car and it purred away like I knew it would.
Canadian Tire in St. Stephens
Back in the hotel room we munched some breakfast pastry and I searched the internet for a replacement battery. Canadian Tire seemed the right place, and there was one just over a mile down the road. We packed up, loaded the car (which we had to jump again to get started) checked out of the hotel and headed back down Route 170 to the Canadian Tire. I chatted with a really nice guy but, being Saturday, they did not have any service people there, and I don't have any tools in the car so there was nothing he could do to help. He did call other Canadian Tire stores along our route but to no avail - no service department has staff on Saturday. Back in the parking lot, with the car still running, I contacted AAA. AAA has always be so awesome to work with. I am coming up on my 40 year membership with AAA, I'll contact them. Even though we are in Canada my AAA app assured me that it is reciprocal and that help was on the way, they will send a text shortly. We waited. And waited. Frustration built. We waited. Ok, I'll call...the call sent me a link to get the app..frustration built. I tried everything to cancel the service call - finally I got the number and a live person at CAA and they canceled the whole thing.
Yup, it was foggy!
I figure I can always jump it again and will find a battery somewhere, and buy the right wrench, and do it my self! All this anxiety and frustration and it's only 9:30 Saint John is just over an hour down the road and we rolled out of the Canadian Tire and found Route 1 heading north. We drove in some of the thickest fog you have ever seen, thankfully the rain continued to diminish as the fog thickened - the weather report had called for mostly sunny, which I guess it was, above the fog. We finished an audio book we had been listening to, about a couple who had cruised the Great Loop in 2006/2007. It brought back many fond memories of our time on the Great Loop 1999/2000. The year that we spent on the waterways about 25 boats completed the loop, when the authors completed their loop the said that about 300 boats completed the loop. Anyway, great memories of travel on the water. As we arrived in Saint John, the fog had begun to lift and there were the beginnings of blue patches showing in the sky. Had our fortune changed?
There must have been some sort of event as we saw well over 200 motorcyclists.
We drove all through this bustling seaport of a town. The waterfront has a container port, lots of fishing craft, seagoing tugs and a couple of tankers were visible offshore. The town is built on the hills along the bay. We parked downtown and began to explore. We found the City Market. A hall that spans two city blocks and is filled with vendors of all kinds. There were artists, vegetable vendors, fish mongers and fresh meats to be had. There were several places to get something to eat and far too many t-shirt vendors, a couple of potters and a jelly vendor rounded it out. We hiked further and found several great views of the city and found a Tim Horton's just in time as the coffee meter was going off. We sat and enjoyed a bagel and coffee on a sidewalk bench looking down to the harbor in the distance.
Downtown Saint John with great coffee
Saint John is about halfway along the Bay of Fundy, know for its extreme tides. One of the big attractions here is the reversing falls. At low time there is a waterfalls spilling fresh water into the bay and at hight tide the falls are not visible at all and marine traffic can safely navigate over the falls. Amazing, and of course we had to go see. We arrived at slack rising tide and several boats made their way over where the falls lay hidden underneath the turbulent water. We met a couple from Rhode Island who are touring the area on motorcycles, on their way to Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, a very nice couple.
The couple from Rhode Island took our picture!
We made our way down to the overlook at the bottom of a couple of hundred stairs. The view was really pretty spectacular as we watched boats coming and going. I did a quick 10 minute sketch of the bridge while we chatted with other folks.
My sketch of the bridge over the reversing falls
Sketching the falls
Turbulent waters and high bridges
After the hike back up to the top of the cliff, we walked over to the bridge for another amazing view.
Looking toward the harbor from the bridge above the reversing falls.
The car started once again and I plugged in the directions to the nearest Canadian Tire here in Saint John, 1 mile away. I bought a battery and a small set of metric wrenches. I wheeled the battery out to the car in a shopping trolly and with in a few minutes it was out with the old and in with the new.
Tiny little bolts in tight places..Eddie the mechanic.
Tight quarters in there for these big hands but I got it done and without any blood, surprisingly. It all worked out just fine - I had thought I changed out the battery just a couple of years ago but it was dater 2019 - so it was time and hopefully we will not have any further battery problems.
Ultimately it all worked out.
We found our hotel and got checked in, a much more roomy place than last night. Once unpacked and we found a great dog friendly place for supper, Jungle Jim's Eatery. I had a wonderful salad - Harper helped me by eating some of the grilled chicken. Carol had a Chicken Chipotle Wrap. We had a great afternoon in the sunshine. I even got in a quick sketch as we chatted.
Carol had a Canadian and I had a radler, half beer half lemonade
After supper we made a quick stop at the next-door Walmart to pick up the few we had forgotten. And so here I sit typing away trying to express in an entertaining way how our day went, the whole time worrying that the car won't start tomorrow...
Harper liked my chicken.