Olivia (L), Davide and Dad Todd Gillis, hosts of the sleepover for Insight Canada 1
Last night I had a sleepover in my new drivers’ cozy garage, but not before I was able to meet their kids and a darn big dog who had a good sniff of my right rear tire. Luckily it was just a sniff!
My first duty this morning is to transport those kids and the dog to their grandparents’ just up the road so my drivers can take me on the second-last leg of my cross-Canada tour today from Dartmouth to Sydney.
Uh oh, my driver just gave her co-pilot heck for putting the green bin so close to the garage door. Those green bins are a common sight around these parts.
My new friends tell me that Nova Scotia is, in fact, a world leader in recycling and that it was the first province in Canada to actually divert more than 50 per cent of its solid waste from landfills. Wow! That’s good stuff!
Woo hoo, we’re finally on our way! I think my drivers are almost as excited as I am! We are taking the twisty #7 Highway up the Eastern Shore then we’re gonna knife through the middle of the province on up to Antigonish.
My driver’s are looking pretty relaxed. I’m tickled that they’ve chosen to celebrate their nine-year wedding anniversary with me.
This province has a lot of trees! And there are beautiful lakes everywhere. They look nice blanketed in the fog. Fog in Nova Scotia. Go figure.
There’s a lot of signs on the roadside here, too. My driver’s tell me there’s a provincial election coming in June. I hope all the candidates have the environment high on their platforms.
My navigation system is showing me all kinds of cool names that are coming up, like: Head of Jeddore, Popes Harbour, East Quoddy, Moosehead, Necum Teuch, Ecum Secum…
I’m an hour into my ride it’s 10:30 a.m. — and Great Big Sea is belting out Sea of No Cares through my speakers (how appropriate). My real-time fuel gauge is showing that we’re averaging 4.8 litres/100km on these bendy, hilly roads and my driver’s not all that soft on my throttle. Not to brag or anything, but that’s darn good fuel economy on these roads.
My drivers spotted a place called 522 Gourmet Coffee in Aspen. Ummm… it smells good here. Owners Ingrid and Manfred Schiefer have the coffee bean roaster fired up inside and they roast and sell Fair Trade and organic coffee.
Cape Breton here we are! Hmmm, raining here too I see. In the beautiful little village of Baddeck, we stop at the Bras d’Or Lakes and Watershed Interpretive Centre. The centre, my drivers tell me, is sponsored by the Bras d’Or Preservation Foundation which assists private landowners and communities to meet threats to the well-being of these breath-taking lakes, really a large inland sea in the heart of Cape Breton, surrounded by magnificent forested mountains.
Off to Sydney we go. My drivers are very happy with the smooth ride I’m providing in this awful weather. At least it’s warm and not windy.
My gas needle just barely went under the half-tank mark a few minutes ago. I guess we’ll make it – 30 km to Sydney. I’ll pat myself on the roof now.
Next stop… Newfoundland!