Made it safely and discovered that even B&Bs are wired. This one is called the Five Chimneys - it has two computers. We are trying to decide whether to take the ferry to Nova Scotia or the bridge to PEI tomorrow. Please see attached note, Love, P&E

Family,

We made it to St. John, New Brunswick. It was a long drive from Quebec, but the countryside was wonderful. At the northern end of the drive the trees are just shy of their peak color and they were quite stunning under a brilliant, sunny blue sky. The hills and old houses are reminiscent of western Virginia. Signs are still bilingual, but there is a lot more English here that in Quebec. All through Quebec - both province and city, the teen and twenty-something girls were all so lively - always chatting and smiling and waving their hands. They tended to dress very conservatively, but then it is beginning to get chilly. It sort of reminded me of Dublin with its very youthful population (all dressed in black, gray or navy) except that these kids seemed happy to be Quebecois and the Dubliners all seemed to want to come to America. We are in a cozy B&B run by a friendly couple named Gates. They are going to let me use their phone for about 10 minutes to send this message, so I hope everything goes through safe and sound.

Love,

Ed and Pam

From Glenora Inn and Distillery, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, 9/25/98

Beloved Family,

We seem to be having a communications blackout here in a brand new, modern Inn in Nova Scotia. Ed is currently contemplating the problem and we may yet come up with something. In the mean time, I am writing today's note anyway (it is Sept.25, 1998) and will send it as soon as conditions permit. We had thought today's drive would only be about five hours, but it ended up being closer to nine. We did, however, see some really great scenery and passed through the blueberry capital of Canada. Ed saw some blueberries from the road and threatened to stop and start picking. Maybe we need a bumper sticker that reads "I BREAK FOR BLUEBERRIES".

There is a Celtic band warming up down in the restaurant. The teenagers seem to all want to be the Chieftains or some other hot Celtic group. The famous people from here are Anne Murray (a singer) and the Rankin family (another Celtic group). They get hype at the visitor centers which sell their recordings. There are a number of roads, streams and brooks named MacLellan (the generic scottish spelling of the name) or some other variation.

We met a man here at the Inn who told us about some MacLellans (spelling unknown since they were illiterate - the son got some schooling and proceeded to spell both his first and last name differently on every document he signed). This family arrived on the Hector at Halifax in about 1773 or 74. This man is not a MacLellan of any spelling, but his boss is, and they are working on their geneology together and exchanging information. Well, enough for now. Maybe, I can get the phone to work.

See you later,

Love, Pam and Ed

[P.S. The Glenora Single Malt Distillery (between Inverness and Mabou has only been in operation for about six years. Their first 10-year single-malt will be ready in 2002. It is a beautiful frame building in natural pine with very comfortable rooms. The water for the distillery comes from MacLellan Brook over which we are standing in the picture above. They had on sale "Cape Breton Silver" which is the pure distillate from their first batch, cut 50/50 with MacLellan Brook water. In other words - 100 proof moonshine.

The entertainment group Pam mentions above is three young boys, ages 11 (on keyboard), twins 9 (on violin and guitar), and their father. It was delightful "down-home" entertainment.

Another factoid: The premier of Nova Scotia is Russell MacLellan. When Pam was having trouble finding a room in Halifax, I told her she should say she is Pamela Russell-McClelland to see if that would help. Coincidentally, my father was Russel McClelland.]

From Nova Scotia, 9/26/98

We are now in Nova Scotia, up on Cape Breton Island. We were not able to send out our regular update yesterday because we could not get out to the Internet. The staff at the Inn said that they had been hit by a bolt of lightening last year and had not been able to get on to the Internet ever since then. They tell me that I am only the second person to have a problem with that. Oh well...

We traveled the famous Cabot trail around Cape Breton Island and are currently in a B&B in Sydney and we are going to rest ZZM-ZOOM (the Camry's tag) for a couple of days before going on to Newfoundland. The emphasis is on the last syllable, the first two or sort of mumbled then Land is firmly pronounced. This Inn is the Rocking Horse Inn and it is very interesting and historical. When it was a home owned by the McCurdy family, Alexander Graham Bell and Marconi visited here and discussed wireless communication with planes. The McCurdy son flew the Bell's plane, the Silver Dart, out over the Atlantic and Bell communicated with him by wireless. We are in the Alexander Graham Bell room, which has a nice sketch of the great man, himself. There is also a most unfortunate likeness of his wife, Mabel. There is a Marconi room where a few years ago, Princess Marconi stayed when she came to visit. (Princess?)

Lord Edmond and I are enjoying the comforts of home on and enclosed sun porch with comfortable sofas covered in a nice rose chintz. The Alexander Graham Bell room has dark blue and cream Aubusson style rugs and white cotton jaggard bedspreads.

Well more tomorrow and see the attached note for yesterday's activities.

Love,

Lord McClelland and Princessa Pamela

Suds and Surf, 9/27/98

Ed here... The weather yesterday and this morning has been beautiful. However, the breeze is kicking up and there are a lot of horsetails in the sky, so I think it is about to change. Tomorrow night we will be on the ferry to Newfoundland. When we got to Nova Scotia I had the most severe sinus attack I've ever had. Since all we see along the highway is spruce trees, I called it spruce fever. Coughing all night long, so neither one of us got any sleep. Much better this morning. We tried to buy a Sunday paper this morning. They don't have one here, but Pam just went to a convenience store to see if they have an out-of-town paper.

Love,

The Laundry Lady and the Chauffeur.

From Gynmill Inn, Corner Brook, NFL, 9/29/98

The real news is in the attachments. This little note is just to double check that my mailing list still wants to be my mailing list. I feel like I am part of an imaginary group, like the Canterbury Pilgrims, and that we are all sharing this journey in some way. However, I know others have other points of view and I would not want to impose junk e-mail on anyone.

We have added several addresses since we started these missives of our great escape from the escapades of the great ones in Washington DC. We started with Mom and Dad, and Charlie and Patti, and Jon Maust (Ed's nephew at U. of Texas). Then Ed remembered Carl Eichenlaub's address at NASA and added him. Virginia and Marjorie have been added since they responded to Charlie's forwarded message and Carl has sent us Zoa's address. Also, we found Joe Milke's (Ed's cousin) address at Penn State. I would have added Mary Clark at EPA, but I am afraid she would e-mail me back (bad) news of work. We had not finished transferring all the e-mail addresses from Ed's list to mine when we left, so we have depended on referrals or responses or the usefulness of University home pages to find other members of our little group. I am beginning to feel like I am writing one of those serial Christmas letters, but with more frequent sequels. On the other hand, think of this as a way to send postcards with longer messages, no pictures, and a chance to reply. Sadly, Jon Maust's messages have been returned and we had hoped we would be able to reach Ed's sister through him. If you no longer wish to receive these updates, just let us know.

Attachment: Friends, Family and other Fans,

First of all - we made the crossing from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland last night. If there was a data port on the ferry I did not find it, but fell sound asleep in our lovely cabin, complete with cute little bath and shower. A few words about Newfoundland - You emphasize the last syllable - think of saying New Finland and you will be closer than most folks from the US ever get. Those who know Ed well, will be amazed to know that the girl helping out at the Inn in Sydney (who also taught us the Finland trick) could just listen Ed's southern accent forever. (I guess southern is a relative term). Another thing about Canada - they get through the day without mentioning the Monica thing on the radio or on any of the really obvious pages of the newspaper.

Newfoundland is a lot bigger than we had imaged. (Ed just calculated the mileage from here to St. Johns - 430 miles; From St. Johns to Port-aux-Basque, our only point of departure this time of year, 565 miles.) We are in a country Inn beside Corner Brook Stream in Corner Brook on the western side of the island. Coming up from Port-aux-Basque, we saw lots of pine trees and a few glimpses of a river or the ocean, but it was pretty boring until we got near to Corner Brook and there were more deciduous trees in the process of deciding to try on their new fall wardrobes.

The Glynmill Inn - where we are staying is a well-maintained Tudor style edifice from a somewhat more gracious age. The large dining room has a large semi-circular bay that looks out on a small park and is quite lovely. There several good hiking trails the leave from near the hotel and a National Park a short drive away. We will spend more time tomorrow exploring. More news then.

Love, Ed and Pam

From Corner Brook, NFL 9/30/98

We had some good experiences today and had a chance to talk to some "real people" which was even more fun than sightseeing and climbing moutains. Ed added some to the notes which are mostly written by Pam except sometimes when Ed returns an e-mail. I'm sure none of you have any trouble telling from the context who is who. Thanks for the responses - its always good to know that everyone is still there and doing ok. PR

[P.S. The picture above is huge papermill in Corner Brook. That is the biggest pile of spruce I have ever seen. They must get logs from all over Newfoundland.]

Attachment:

Outback in Blow-me-Down

Today we drove up the peninsula west of here to Blow-me-down Provincial Park, and climbed a trail up to the Captain James Cook monument. We could see a sea cave across the harbor from this point. Cook mapped the area around here while feeding vitamin C containing foods to his men — one reference says it was citrus fruit while another claims it was sour kraut which was already preserved in brine and would last longer.

It was a great trip because we had a chance to really chat with the some of the natives. We stopped at a little coffee shop called Marlaine's, which had big windows looking out on Lark Harbor. She had several good books on the area out for visitors to read. One of them had a good quote on Newfoundland by R. T. S. Lowell:

"The huge island stand with its sheer, beetling cliffs, out of the ocean a monstrous mass of rock and gravel, almost without soil, like a strange thing from the bottom of the great deep, lifted up, suddenly, into sunshine and storm, but belonging to the watery darkness out of which it reared; the eye, accustomed to richer and softer scenes, finds something of strange and almost startling beauty in its bold outlines, cut out on every side, against the sky."

The second paragraph tells a different story:

"His words capture much about Newfoundland: its primitive northern character, unpredictable climate, harsh outlines, and two of its three essential elements — rock and water. The third element is the vegetation of woodland scrub. Where Lowell lived this consisted of low-lying conifers, alders, and gorsy thicket; tough, clinging, "a stinted growth," as he wrote, "slow-growing in long years." But, gifted as he was, Lowell knew only the Avalon Peninsula. Perhaps he also saw the southern coastline a few times from a ship. He knew little or nothing of the forested interior or its west and north coasts. There are parts that do not fit his description, parts where had he visited them, he would have felt almost as if he were in another world. Many notes are sounded in Newfoundland. He heard one."

We chatted with Marlaine herself for about half and hour. Besides giving us directions to the park and the trail, she told us not to go on to St. Johns but to stick around the west coast and drive up the Northern peninsula. She talked about life in the little town there — a fishing village. Apparently, unknowing and uncouth tourists have come in and asked her if everyone was sleeping late because the town looked so empty. No, she says they've been up and done a day's work before you even got out of bed. We liked the honesty and forthrightness of her manner. Ed was telling her about a book he just finished, Cod--The Fish That Changed The World, and she told us about having dinner with the publisher. The woman and her friend were in the shop having coffee when Marlaine's husband came in with a bucket of lobster and talked them into having dinner with them. The publisher started telling them about the book and saying M. should get a copy and read it. The publisher's friend, however, straightened her out — told her that here she was eating a lobster dinner at a person's house, the least she could do was send her a copy of the book. Which she did. There it was on the counter with the other books.

Up at the top of the trail, we met another couple. We took each other's pictures, that time honored exchange of travelers everywhere. They live in Corner Brook, the town where we are staying, but she came from St. Johns. Their advice was to go to St. Johns because there is so much North American history there that people from the US don't even know about (but should) and wait to do the Northern peninsula in the summer when the weather is more reliable. It was starting to rain as he said this. He said that St. Johns had a lot you could do and see even if the weather is bad, which is good because it usually is.

Newfoundland Retriever

Ed here... We just met our first Newfie (Newfoundland Retriever). The owner was showing him to a tour group on the veranda of the inn where we are staying. His name is Bullet and weighs about 170 pounds. They have big litters. Bullet is eight years old. They normally live to about 12 years. Bullet has sired a couple of males that now weigh 210 pounds (each, that is). They have a leash law here, but it doesn't apply to Newfie's. They can roam wherever they want. Of course, who is to say no to a 200 pound dog. They are very gentle, and, of course, have a reputation for saving people from drowning. It is unlikely that you would see one running around loose because they sell for $600 or $700 US. They have beautiful black coats. The owner said that Bullet was just beginning to get his winter coat, and he already looked like a bear rug. I asked if they eat fish. Mackerel is one of the choice feeds because they are so oily and give the dogs a very black, shiny coat.

When Pam took her nap this afternoon I went reconnoitering on foot for a drug store and a likely place to eat supper. I stopped in the only nice looking bar I could find for use of the men's room and to have a Molson's Canadian. A good looking blond haired fellow sat down beside me and said, "you're a long way from Virginia." Since I had walked downtown, I joked with the bartender that his chances for getting it right were 1 out of 50. Finally, I said, "all right, how do you know I'm from Virginia." He said he was in the vehicle right behind us on the ferry from North Sydney [Nova Scotia] to Port aux Basque [Newfoundland].

Port aux Basque is about 130 miles south of Corner Brook. Newfoundland is a small island people-wise (about 600,000), but huge in area. This fellow has a fish and eel smoking business in Toronto, so he comes to the Maritime Provinces (or as the Canadians prefer to say, Atlantic Canada) frequently to buy herring and mackerel. He said his source for eels was in the Tidewater Virginia area.

Pam and I ended up eating supper here again - the Glynmill Inn. It came highly recommended by the guidebooks and locals. We had delicious steak dinners, dessert, one glass of wine, tea and coffee for $60 Canadian, or about $40 US. This is their big convention hotel. There is a group here now planning the 1999 Canadian Winter Games to be held here in Corner Brook. Tomorrow we're off to St. Johns - a 7 or 8 hour drive. Three days later, back to Port aux Basque - about a 12 hour drive. There is a lot of Newfoundland we won't see, but you can't do it all in four or five days.

From Banberry Cross Inn, St. John's, NFL, 10/1/98

In our tireless quest for North American beauty and history, we have come to St. Johns, Newfoundland. It is the closest place to Europe on the American continent and the first place to see the sun rise. I read some place that the eastern part of the island is actually part of the European geological plate that got left behind when the two continents went their separate ways eons ago. It is in a different time zone than Nova Scotia - the time is different by only one half hour. More news in the attachment. [In case you can't read it, the post says Ireland 3200 KM and Victoria, B.C. 7775 KM.]

Corner Brook, where we stayed last night, is going to be the sight of the 1999 Canada Winter Games. It was all the buzz in town. The planning committee was meeting in the hotel and I heard all about it — it will be on TSB, Canada's sports network, they do have a home page and they don't know if it will be shown in the US. Most important — they will have figure skating.

We left Corner Brook at 7:00 a.m. and drove to St. Johns, arriving at 3:30. The lady at Lark Harbor was right about being boring — I think I had more pine trees on my side of the road than Ed did on his, but it was very close. A recount may be required.

We have settled into another great B&B (we've been very lucky). Our room is oak paneled with four poster bed and stained glass windows. It also has a wonderful oak wardrobe tucked in one of the corners and a brick fireplace (that is blocked up but still looks good). Well, the bed looks so comfortable I can hardly wait to fall into it. Tomorrow, we will be trying to learn some of that North American History which has been so highly touted. Hope all is well with all of you.

Love,

Ed and Pam

Banberry Cross Inn, St. John's, Newfoundland, 10/2/98

Dear Family and other fellow travelers,

We had a busy day in St. John's. We went down to the Museum of Natural History and looked at all the exhibits. It is very well done, as if the Smithsonian had done a very special exhibit just on Newfoundland. In the afternoon, we took one of the little bus tours of the city. In the museum, there are some extinct species - a wonderful looking Newfoundland wolf was on exhibit as the last of its kind. I wonder if there aren't still some up there in the wilderness, just smart enough to avoid people.

There are also some new species of birds that have begun to breed in Newfoundland over the last couple of years. There used to be a tribe of indigenous people called the Dorsets who disappeared after the Inuits came. Then there were the B-? Indians who were here until the Europeans came, but have all died out, mostly of tuberculosis. So there were artifacts of all these people. We also learned that Newfoundland provided 8000 troops to the British Empire during World War II - in spite of the fact that several of the first regiments that went over were almost completely wiped out, the ranks of the Newfoundland regiments were entirely filled by volunteers during the War. (There was conscription right at the end, but the war ended before any of the draftees could go overseas.) I can only imagine what the population of Newfoundland was in 1914, but 8,000 must have been a fairly large fraction. The museum had a display dedicated to them, and the Newfoundland doctor who invented the gas mask.

Then the tour, we learned that during World War II, and even afterwards, there were a lot of Americans here - and 25,000 Newfoundland women married Americans and went down south. That must have been quite a chunk of the population, too.

Meanwhile, between the wars, the first transatlantic radio transmissions was taking place up on Signal Hill when Marconi came here to send it, the first transatlantic flight from here to Ireland and the first transatlantic wireless phone call. The Atlantic cable came ashore here. Of course there is the usual eastern Canada history of the English versus the French and the land went back and forth a couple of times.

When John Cabot came here to claim the land for England there were already Basque fishing boats in the harbor. Apparently this was their secret fishing hole for cod. There was a Basque settlement over on Labrador, but apparently it was not a year round thing. In 1992 or 3, the Canadian government closed the cod fishing industry and put 40,000 people out of work. Most people we talk to are fairly supportive of that move, though. I wonder how the government managed to pull that off. I understand that the government provided them with a severance package of sorts, I guess that many of them left. There is still a small "experimental" fishing industry, and the port and natural gas has been discovered off shore and that is being developed. The newspapers talk of a possible "fixed link" (this could be a bridge or causeway) for the island of Newfoundland - but who knows.

The little B&B where we are staying is called Banberry Cross and is run by two young men and a dog named Pepper. Scott greets the clients and shows them around, Ivan does the cooking and Pepper lies around and gives the place a nice ambiance. They also let me use one of their computer lines to hook up my PC. I highly recommend it.

A little tired of driving we checked with the Air Canada office for the fare back to Washington: $1200. Now you could fly round trip to London for $418, Canadian. If you could get half the round trip fare for one way, and you can usually get a British Air ticket to Washington for about $175-200,US, one way. So that would be about $320 US to fly St. Johns to London to Washington and $800 US to fly directly to Washington from St. John's. Now if we can just get someone to drive the car home.

The other thing we have discovered in our travels is that so many of the Canadian history majors are just fascinated by the US Civil War. We had a long talk with one of the guides at the Commissariat's House - turns out that he is really a military history scholar. (The commissariat or commissary officer was a civil servant with the Treasury Department who was seconded over the military to handle the pay and "victuling" of of the soldiers and sailors in the area.) He was quite interested in the Civil War and knew a lot about it. Also, there was the girl that worked in the B&B at Sydney, NS. She is still in college and majoring in history, she said that the US had such interesting history, with the Civil War and all. All they get is Lord Cornwallis (uncle of the man who surrendered to the Americans at Yorktown. Well, enough for now. Take care - and no fighting, OK. Peaceably yours, Pam and Ed

From St. John's, 10/3/98

We are now at the apogee of our journey, we will be working our way back home starting tomorrow. We did not make it to Europe, but we did get to within 3200km.

A Windy Day at Cape Spear

First thing today we went down to Industrial Marine Products where they sell serious outdoor gear. We acquired two nice new wind/waterproof jackets to get us through the serious weather up here. It was a good thing, too, because the next thing we did was to drive out to Cape Spear — eastern most point in North America. We tramped around the trails and hiked up to the lighthouse. I think the winds were trying to get a really good running start before they flew off the cliffs, hoping to make it to Ireland before they slowed down. They were not particularly cold winds, but they were pretty stiff. The Silver Dart airplane left from here for Ireland — Alexander Graham Bell was one of its backers/designers — if it had a wind like today, it could just glide over. There was a lighthouse that had been reconstructed by the Canadian Parks Service that looked like it had at least been cozy.

[While were were getting dusted off at Cape Spear we noticed a couple of people wandering among the rocks and scrub picking something. I had to check it out so I approached a man who seemed to be looking under every leaf of the scrub that was only 6 to 12 inches high. Then I noticed he had about two dozen red berries in the bottom of his pail. When I inquired he said they were marsh berries. When I said they look like cranberries he gruffly retorted: "That's what some people call 'em." --Ed]

St. John's must be a fairly popular tourist destination. The other four people at the Inn and several people on the tour yesterday had taken advantage of an Air Canada Seat Sale to come here right at the tail end of the season. Most of the sights close October 15. No one seems to mind the weather. It is actually warmer here than in Quebec or Montreal — average winter temperature is 0 C here, but —7 or —8 C there. I keep reading about the iced in capes, maybe that is another part of the Island (we are at the southern end). Looking at the map, it seems that the more northern part of the island is not that far from Greenland. I think that we have pretty much done what there is to do in St. John's, although one could mill around the Avalon peninsula for a while, checking on things.

Joseph Smallwood, first primier of Newfoundland

We start back to Port-aux-Basque tomorrow. We'll do a recount of the pine trees, just to be sure. Then back to Nova Scotia, to see the western and southern part of it. Then we'll take the ferry to Maine and head for home. We expect to be home by the 10th of October, if not before.

Take care, Windblown and Weary (a/k/a Ed and Pam)

Comfort Inn, Sydney, Nova Scotia 10/5/98

Ferried Across the Water. [The MV Caribou (pictured above) and the MV Clara and Joseph Smallwood (which we went to Newfoundland on) carry up to 350 automobiles. They have two vehicle decks and there are many trucks on board too. They lash all the truck axels to the deck with chains.]

Today we crossed the passage between Port-aux-Basque, Newfoundland to North Sydney, Nova Scotia. The water was a deep blue-green color with swells. Squalls of rain would pass over periodically and then the sun would come out again. It was only six hours to cross.

Tomorrow we go on to Halifax, the next day we cross to Maine and then the long drive home. Actually, I am ready to be home.

See you all soon.

Love, Ed and Pam

From Bangor, ME, 10/7/98

We left Halifax this morning and took the ferry, The Cat (catamaran) from Yarmouth to Bar Harbor. The Cat travels at 40 mph. We were supposed to arrive about 4:30 Eastern Time, but due to numerous delays did not get in until 6:30 and then had to go through customs. Since we were good diligent passangers, we arrived two hours early and were among the first to check in, hence the first on the ferry and nearly the last off. Naturally we were behind a car full of people that the US Customs Service decided to search from boot to bonnet. They did keep moving us over as the other lanes cleared, but except for the suspect car, we were the last to leave the ferry premises. I had made reservations in Bangor thinking that we could easily drive it and still arrive in daylight. Not so, but we managed to find the place without difficulty. I think ZZM-ZOOM (the Camry's tag) is the brains of this outfit.

Attached is the note I wrote day before yesterday, but did not get to send - technical difficulties, don't ask. Halifax was completely filled up with multiple conventions. I had to call the provincial tourist service to finally find a room in something that turned out looking not quite as good as the place we stayed in Portugal (after we moved out of the really bad place). Anyway, I did not want to take my PC inside there. We might have stayed in Halifax another day - we really liked the town - but not the room.

Tomorrow we head down the coast for home. We may be in late - or if we get too tired we will stop someplace and get in about midday Friday. Look forward to being home.

Love, Pam, Ed and ZZM-ZOOM

McClelland's Bed and Breakfast,

Lunch, Dinner and everything else.

Made it Home!

From Bangor to Mass State Line to 90 West to 84 to 91 till Hartford, then through NYC and 95 South all the way home. Pouring rain nearly the whole way. We can't complain, though; we had good weather the whole trip.

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