Ken and Turners One Stop

Before we took care of the tent this morning, we had coffee and toast – Yes, we also have a toaster for our camping cooker 🙂 – We can’t complain about the weather. It’s brilliant: The sun is shining, the birds are singing and the sea is rushing.
So we were are in a good mood to start the tent action number 2. The decision, that I climb up the roof and help, was very good. It worked easy and we were done in 10 minutes, this time without cursing.

An older man, who worked on the house all morning came to us.
He wanted to know what we do, where we go and he told us some stories of his life with the army. He was also based in Germany once and travelled around Europe with his friends whenever they had some time. He sounded happy and proud. We supposed that he enjoyed these days. Especially cause the raved of some highlights.
The friendly man is Ken Snowdon and 84 years old. We can’t believe his age cause he acts very fit still. We realized quickly, that he loves the museum.
Despite his 84 years, he tackles where ever he can. As we met him in the morning he was just repairing some boards of the porch.

Ottowa House in Parrsborro

He said that we have to know where we slept and offers a tour inside. The Ottawa House is the onliest, still existing house of the old village Parrsboro.
He shows us pictures of former times very enthusiastic.

Inside, the floor crunches, the walls don’t really look stable, not to mention the stairs and every room smells old. Before we went in, we put the flash on the camera because we expected dark rooms, but the house is very, very bright.
It’s a lot to do here still. In two weeks the season will start but tools are still everywhere, as well as paint buckets or things which do not really belong in here.

The museum is not only used as museum. It’s also a meeting point for the people of the village who meet here for tea time to chat and investigate on their family history.
In the cellar is a big archive. “You will find everything here”, explained Ken.

Delighted of his friendliness, openness and ambition, we get back on the road.

On the highway we recognized a Campground Sign. “We could ask them if we can have a shower”, I said and directly turned in. I explained that we are Germans who are on a big road trip, traveling from North- to South America and asked the lady, if we can take a shower here. “Sure you can. The Washrooms are over there, you need one Quarter for 5 minutes.” she replied.
“Wow. That was easy!” I thought.

“Fresh as a daisy” we go on and get hungry. We are still on the coast road and can’t find a grocery store or anything else. Then, Jan can see a sign “Turners One Stop”.
“Maybe this is a supermarket?”, he asked and answered himself. “Let’s see what it is.”
It’s actually a gas station. I have never seen a gas station like that before. In the middle of a big graveled place is a big gas tank. Next to it, is a small flat roof house with bars before window and door. Well, it’s strange but we decide to go in to buy some water.

I am only one step inside and I can smells cinnamon and fresh baked cake.
The Shop is interesting: The kitchen is next to the checkout and a fluffy pancake bakes on the big hotplate. Besides it’s also a corner shop. They sell drinks, fruits, vegetables, fresh baked cake, sweets, bathroom stuff and also tools and consumables for the car.

They have a kitchen, so they must also have lunch? Correct! Next to the shop, there is a small restaurant in a typical american style. We assume that the food is good cause one side of the restaurant is taken by truck drivers who have their lunch.

Actually we do not really fit in here, next to the strong truck drivers in their muscle shirts. But we stay > maybe just because of that.
It was a good decision, our lunch is delicious and we are again amazed of the friendliness.

Everybody is laughing and talking happily. Also the ladies who work here seem to have fun and seem to like the job.

Outside on the parking, I recognized that we have WiFi access > in the middle of nowhere. Who would have thought it?
We directly check our Mails, the weather, our route and so on. One hour goes by quickly if we once have a connection to the rest of the world.
It’s getting hot. 24 degrees, the sun is shining bright and we decide to drive on, even we could spent another hour in the internet.

Tonight we will stay in Fredericton, the capital of New Brunswick. As the market is supposed to be very nice, we like to go there tomorrow.
The weather forecast has announced rain this night so we will sleep in the car for the first time. Jan puts all our 1000 things -which are still on the drawer rack- on the front seats. “It looks horrible. Nobody will mug us, as this looks everybody will get scared of us.”, I said and laughed.

Our bed looks cosy. We blow up our camping mat, put in the sleeping bags and our nest is done. There is just one problem: Mosquitos.

We actually don’t have a plan to prevent the mosquitos if we sleep in the car.
We do have a net but no fixing points in the car.
Somehow, Jan found a solution: He tied the net on the tailgate. Now, only we have to get in carefully, otherwise the net will fall off.

It’s my benefit to be small because I have enough space, it’s comfortable and warm. It’s not that easy for Jan because he has to put his legs between the two front seats to be able to sleep.

Now, back to the mosquito protection which directly fell off as we were both in the car.
In the beginning this was still funny and we laughed cause our 30-minute work to get this net fixed was to no purpose.
After another 15 minutes of trying to get this done, Jan gets angry. “Crap! Why doesn’t that work?”

I still needed to laugh but tried to stop it. Otherwise Jan gets more and more angry.
I am lucky cause mostly, the mosquitos like Jan more than me. That’s why is is very concerned and needs to have a solution. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way!”
Clothespins on the handholds keep the net up and Jan is happy for now but for the future, we need to find a practical solution therefor.