Fantasy RV Caravan - Day 6

Wednesday, 7 August - Day 6

This morning, we gathered at 8:30 for the guided bus tour.  Already, they set the gather time about 15 minutes before the bus is to arrive as some seem to think the designated gather time is merely a suggestion, like traffic lights in Naples, Italy.

Pretty convenient for us as the bus boarding was done right in front of Sprinty, which meant everyone gathered around Sprinty starting about 8:20.  Sprinty loved the attention.

Our organizers use a bus boarding system whereby each couple draws a large playing card from Esthermay.  If you draw a red suites card, you sit on the driver side (red = port/left facing forward on a boat), and black suites cards sit on the passenger side.  And the face value of the card designates the row you sit in.  Those who draw a face card (jack, queen, king) are particularly challenged as they have to be wearing open-toes shoes, or take their shoes off to count rows past 10.

Our tour guide was Mike, who is a science teacher in St John.  A most excellent guide.  We started with a drive through Rockwood Park which is the largest 

municipal park in Canada.  It has a number of displays, one for each Province and Territory.  There is also a Canadian maple leaf made of stone from each of the Provinces and Territories.

We then drove by Fort Howe where Mike explained some of the significance of this very small fort.  Then to the Carlton Martello Tower.  The tower is a Martello, a defensive fortification the British borrowed from North Africa, and it is located in what was once called Carlton, one of three cities that is now considered St John.  Likely because it was across the river requiring a ferry to transit back and forth in the 1700s.

We arrived before the Park officially opened, so we wandered around the hill and the Martello at the top.  Seeing well worn paths in the grass, most of us wandered down the paths providing a 360 degree experience.  Just before the Park opened, park staff came up the hill and placed out orange cones and warning tape to try and keep people from wandering the well worn paths.

Once the Park opened, we assembled in the Visitor Center to watch a 10-minute video on the Martello.  The video was exceptionally well done. Probably the best park video we have seen.  We then looked at the exhibits about the history of the Martello.

The Martello itself was closed to entry as it was undergoing a renovation.  Well, they closed it for renovation four years ago, and the renovation work has not yet begun.  Not likely to be done anytime soon is our guess.

We then went into the city of St John briefly, likely because low tide was not until 11am, so we were too early for the full effect of the Reversing Falls.  There we got off the bus briefly while our guide told us about some of the history of the buildings in downtown.  In 1877, fire destroyed two-fifths of the city of St John.  The rebuilding attracted architects from the U.S.  Mike pointed out the old Post Office (today it is condos) that was the first skyscraper in Canada.  Skyscraper in that it is a steel building with a stone cladding, of the type,of construction of the Empire State Building.

Also in front of the Old Post Office is one of 22 painted salmons on display in St John.  

By now, it was nearing 11am and low tide, so off we went to the Reversing Falls where the St John River meets the Bay of Fundy.  As the tide range in St John is typically about 24 feet, at low tide, the water falls in the normal manner you would expect - from the river towards the bay.  At high tide, the waterfall is reversed.

Some other tidbits we picked up from Mike:

• New Brunswick is only Canadian Province that is officially bi-lingual - English and French.
• New Brunswick is 85% forested - forestry is major industry 
• Irving oil - major refinery in St John, and Mike said their refinery in Nova Scotia is the second largest in the world.  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Oil
• In the days of sailing ships, St John was the 5th largest British seaport because the Bay of Fundy never freezes.  So it was the main port for eastern Canada when the St Lawrence River froze in the winter.
• Circle K - tied in with Irving.  As 97% of the refined product from St John goes to the United States, if you have gotten gas at a Circle K, it probably was Irving gasoline.
• Irving got his start in oil, and bought a tank car to bring refined product from Oklahoma.  He was one of the first to successfully do vertical & horizontal integration.

In the foreground on the photos of the city skyline in yesterday’s blog post, most of the industry in the photo, including the railroad, is an Irving company.

We then headed back downtown.  Mike led us to the city cemetery, which was filled up by 1860.  As many of the headstones have weathered, it was difficult to see that the cemetery was actually full.  The cemetery is located between two Irving buildings (one being Irving insurance) and the Old City Market where employees would walk during lunch.  The three Irving sons approached the city with a proposal to refurbish the cemetery into a nice city park.  They also erected a fountain as a tribute to their father.

Last stop was the Old City Market.  After a brief introduction, we were turned loose to explore for about 20 minutes.  For some, 20 minutes was sufficient, for others, it was not long enough.

Once back at the campground, the caravan organizer called a trip meeting in 30 minutes to go over the plans for the next two days.  Tomorrow is a travel day, and getting on the highway going north is a bit tricky.

After the meeting, we just chilled out.  Some of our caravan mates with Toads went exploring, while others chilled out.  Harlan and Anne, a couple from Tennessee with a Class B+ RV invited us to go to dinner at a restaurant overlooking the Reversing Falls.  They had eaten there last night, and had reserved the best table in the restaurant to watch the Reversing Falls at high tide, which was scheduled for about 6pm.

Although we had set a departure time of 5:15, about 4:30, Anne came by and suggested we leave earlier to look around.  Arriving at the restaurant, we were the first customers in the restaurant, and the table was by the window overlooking the Falls.  A magnificent view.

The dinner was very good, and we had a most pleasant evening with Harlem and Anne.  They are the couple who have done 16 Fantasy RV Tours.

After some frustrating WiFi experience, we decided to try the WiFi booster.  It made a definite improvement.  Still not residential quality, but good enough to watch YouTube videos at low resolution, only buffering a few times per video.  And enabling me to complete this blog post.