To PEI or not to PEI

We were up early, like before 7am, and on the road a little after 8. We had a ferry to catch from Pictou, NS to PEI (Prince Edward Island). This ferry required no reservations, as with the one to NFLD, was free, we think, and we were trying for the 11:15 crossing. We had about 100 miles from our camp at Port Hood to the ferry. Around 9:30a we were going through the largest town so far, Antigonish, just starting up from a red light, and suddenly Bill says some unprintable words.  (Actually, I think I said "Holy crap, the tires are smokin')  We look in the mirror and there is smoke coming out of the trailer tire area on the drivers side. Just ahead is a large dirt turn off the highway. We pull in, see the smoke, smell the burnt rubber, but no signs of a flat tire, my first thought. Bill gets underneath and discovers one of the leaf springs on the trailer is broken. This has caused the 2 tires to be touching, and instead of turning freely are skidding along the pavement as we tow them. Guess we aren't going to make our ferry.  

GOOD

BAD

 See Bill patiently waiting

Fortunately, we were right across the street from a shopping center with a large grocery store (Atlantic Superstore), gas station and even a Wal-Mart. At the Superstore, we found 2 very helpful young ladies, a phone book and advice to call a local diesel service business.  Within a couple of hours a repairman was at our trailer with the right equipment to take the old spring off.  He did so and even managed to find a replacement.  We were up and running again by 5:00pm but way too late to get any ferry.  Found a  campground in Antigonish and the day wasn't a total loss. We were prepared to spend the night roughing in/dry camping in the turn out. I really can't get over how friendly and helpful the people are here.  It seems that they still understand the concept of "customer service"

Waiting

On Wednesday morning we got up and were on our way again with plenty of time to get to the PEI Ferry. In fact we were there by 10:15 and were first in the RV line. There were a lot of cars and semi trucks  parked in their lines and not everyone made it on.  Oh well, it is what it is. It was a double decker ferry with cars going on the top and the taller vehicles on the lower level.  You can't stay in your vehicle so we went to the top level, found a good table in the cafeteria and enjoyed a cup of coffee while we read for the 75 minute crossing.


As we were approaching the island, we saw a large rain squall in the distance.  It turns out we ended up driving right through it on our way to the campground.  The rain had actually spent quite a bit of time at the campground and the whole place was practically a lake when we got there.   After some finagling we found a site that was suitable for a 5 day stay, right on the bay.