Fantasy RV Caravan - Day 7

Thursday, 8 August - Day 7

Today was a travel day of 107 miles with no other caravan activities planned.  Seemed like a good day to play golf on the way to our next destination.

As we were finishing up our morning routine, we saw a couple with a Coach,an Class B camper van (like Sprinty, only on the Ford chassis) at the dump station.  He was on his hands and knees and she is standing by the sewer hose holding it with her feet.  And holding a wine bottle in each hand.  A sight to see, describing it in words just is not as good as a photo would have been.

In planning the day, the 18-hole course just north of St John was booked up for the day.  We picked an 18-hole course that was just over an hour away, about 15 miles off the planned route for the day, the Peritcodiac Valley Golf & Country Club in Petitcodiac, NB.  The on-line tee time system indicated a pretty open day, with some tee times taken.  That is a good sign as it indicated the on-line system is connected to their computer.  

We were first one on the road (again), headed out about 8am.  We arrived at the course and saw a few cars, but not as many as the other day.  Checking in, we found the range was closed until 10am, but the tee sheet wa s virtually wide open.  So we loaded up and headed out.  Darrell hooked his first tee shot to the left, while Kris hit hers 190 yards to the middle of the fairway.  Darrell scrambles or make a par to Kris’ bogey.  Darrell held his one-shot lead for four holes, then Kris tied it up, and made the turn one stroke ahead.

On the 10th hole, Darrell hit a nice drive, downwind and downhill for 284 yards to make par and regain the lead.  A few holes later, Kris tie dit up, then Darrell got in tree trouble and Kris briefly took the lead.  After the last putt had dropped, we were tied for the day.

We both thought the course was in good condition - probably the best we have played in Canada so far.  And their 2 golfers with a cart special was quite reasonable - $84 Canadian.  The greens were pretty decent, and were pretty consistent.  We played at our pace - we finally bumped into the group in front of us on the 18th hole, and the single playing behind us never caught us.  We played in 2 hours 45 minutes.

On our way back to the main highway, New Brunswick 1, we stopped off for diesel and an Iced Capp at Tim Hortons.  Then on with the journey.  The route for the day had us drive on Highway 114 through the Fundy National Park.

We stopped to check out the golf course in Fundy National Park.  It is a nine-hole course and does not seem to get much use.  They only had five golf carts out, and no pull carts.  Just in case we decided to play there tomorrow, we inquired about tee times and found they only had about 4 tee times reserved for the day, otherwise, they were wide open.

At the Bay of Fundy, we turned north and went through the town of Alma.  Alma is a small fishing village that mostly caters to tourists with bed and breakfasts, restaurants, lodge, etc.  As we entered town, we saw the fishing boats tied up to the pier, but sitting on the bottom as the tide was out.  

We parked along the street right next to the “No RV Parking” sign as Sprinty declared he was really a camper van and the sign did not apply to him.  The sign did say there was parking for RVs about 3 blocks down (in a seven block town).  We walked the town, and at the gift store, we got to see out first full-sized moose of the trip.

We arrived at the campground about 3pm, and once again, Sprinty was the straggler of the group.  We got checked in, then headed right out to the Hopewell Rocks.  It is located only a couple miles further up the road, and our admission had already been arranged as it is on tomorrow’s itinerary.  Based on the tide information for tomorrow, we knew it would be low tide for another 1-1/2 hours.  The ocean floor is open to wander around three hours before low tide and three hours after low tide.

We got Sprinty all settled in the RV parking, which was fairly close to the entrance for a change - we have become accustomed that RV parking is at the far end of parking.  We hiked down the 0.8 mile trail to the stairs leading to the ocean floor at Flowerpot Rocks. 

Just fascinating to take in a place where the tidal range is typically 48 feet every ride cycle.  The Bay of Fundy has the latest tide range in the world, but Hopewell Rocks is not where it is the highest - it is at another location on the Bay of Fundy.

We enjoyed walking on the ocean floor (aka beach) around the rocks.  We asked one of the park staff about the rate of the tide coming in.  She said it was coming in at the rate of one foot horizontally per minute/one foot vertically every 5 minutes.  After walking around the rocks, we watched the beach get smaller and smaller, and the park staff starting the sweep to ensure no one ignored the rising tide and got caught.

We finally left about 4:45.  We considered hanging around until high tide to watch the tide come up, but that was not for another two hours and we thought there might be a group going out to dinner.

When we got back to the campground, almost all our caravan mates were sitting outside visiting in groups.  They seem in awe (and envious) of our excursions for the day.  Going to play golf, being able to stop at will in Alma (there was no place to park a Class A, especially with a Toad), and then going for a 3-mile hike on the beach.

The rain started about 7:30pm, which put a damper on sitting around the campfires, so people retreated inside.