Someone, who will remain nameless, thought it would be a good idea to mosey along the New Brunswick coast via the Fundy Shore Drive. He wasn't quite right on this one. It would have been a great ride on the motorcycles, but it wasn't a great drive pulling them in a trailer along narrow lumpy back roads. Much of the drive is well away from the shore and there was pea soup fog on the Bay of Fundy, so there was no view when it did follow the shore.
The drive through Fundy National Park was nice, except maybe the switchbacks coming down to the bay (the brakes were quite warm and fragrant when we got to the visitor center at the bottom). Unless we are riding, I think we'll save a hundred miles next time and just stick to Highway 1 to Nova Scotia.
After lunch in Alma, just beyond d the park, we had our first problem.
A bit of background--about two weeks ago, I left my ATM card in the machine at Pilgrim Bank in Cohasset (The first time I've done this in the 35 years that I've had ATM cards). I didn't notice until last week just before the trip. I called the bank to find out that, yes, they did get the card, but since I didn't come back for it within 24 hours--they shredded it. I called my bank and they said it would take 5-7 business days to get a replacement--after we were planning to leave. I asked if it would affect Ellen's card and I was assured that it would not. No problem, we could still get cash on the trip.
It's obvious where this is heading.
After lunch, we realized that we didn't have much Canadian cash, so a stop at the next bank was called for. We stopped at a nice Scotia Bank in one of the small towns along the way. Ellen puts her card in the machine. It eats the card saying that it was invalid. We went into the bank, but they couldn't retrieve it, because the machine automatically destroys it if it is supposedly invalid.
At least the bank was open and we were able to convert the modest amount of US cash into Canadian Dollars.
Beyond this we had a problem. Do we use credit cards to get cash, incurring usurious interest rates and lousy foreign exchange rates? I had my Pilgrim Bank ATM card, but there was little in that account. Although I have online access to both accounts, there is no simple, fast, inexpensive way to transfer funds from one account to another.
After a flurry of calls and an additional day, we finally were able to get money sent from our main bank account to the Pilgrim Bank account. I haven't tried it yet.
After all of that, we abandoned the Fundy Drive at Moncton and took the most direct route to Nova Scotia and headed north to the Northumberland Shore and pulled into Amherst Shores Provincial park. We scored another pull-through site. It was another woodsy park, with the beach across the road. The showers were great, but the moose flies, less so. We decided to only stay a single night.
The motorcycles are still in the trailer.
Today's Travel:
View New River Beach To Amherst Shores in a larger map
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