Fantasy RV Caravan - Day 8

Friday, 9 August - Day 8

So where in the world is Sprinty.  Sprinty is spending a couple of nights near Hopewell Cape, which is on the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick.  Not quite to Nova Scotia, but getting close.

This morning was a lazy morning.  The first scheduled event is not u til 1:30pm, which is dictated by the tides.  We used some of the morning to do some house cleaning - defrost the refrigerator, vacuum, and spiffy up Sprinty.

Sprinty and his 23 new friends have the block of sites closest to the ocean.  Interestingly, they parked all of the rigs on the left front in, as the power pedestal and water hooks ups are on the left side.  Handy for Sprinty as the site has a slight slope towards the water, which is preferred for sleeping.

At 1:30pm, everyone gathered in their Toads to convoy to Hopewell Rocks as a group.  Harlem and Anne asked us to ride with them, so Sprinty could spend the afternoon basking in the sun.  The group drove back to Hopewell Rocks, only this time, we entered the gated entrance used for buses and groups like ours.

Once everyone was assembled, Tom, our Wagonmaster introduced our guide whose name was Jonathan Seagull.  Jonathan said he comes from a long line of proud seagulls.  But he said here at the Bay of Fundy, they call them baygulls.

Jonathan took us on a walking tour from the access ramp which was north of where we accessed the ocean floor by the steps yesterday.  He was a college student at the University of St John, and guided tours in the summer.  He was knowledgable and humerous.  We pointed out various features and told us the names of the various Flowerpot Rocks, which got their name from Robert L. Ripley, creator of Ripleys Believe or Not.  In addition to facts about why the Bay of Fundy has the large tide range, and the volume of water that moves in and out of the Bay every tide cycle, he said the weight of high tide combined with the fault in the Bay of Fundy causes Nova Scotia tilt 1/16 of an inch at high tide.  Our guide said it would be something we needed to remember that if we play golf in Nova Scotia.

We also learned that some of the short videos that we saw in the Visitor Center yesterday are on YouTube in the Hopewell Rocks channel.  Two we thought were interesting are:

Time lapse of tide cycle:  https://youtu.be/EnDJ6_XpGfo

Rising tides demonstration:  https://youtu.be/hbU0c9798sY

After our guided tour, we made our way back down the beach/ocean floor to the ramp.  Anne wanted to visit the gift shop to get a pin, so we guided them to the Visitor Center.

Once back at the campground, people relaxed awaiting the Trip meeting at 5:45. At the Trip meeting, Tom, our Wagonmaster, went over the travel (119 miles) for tomorrow to Elm River in Nova Scotia.

After the meeting, we went back to Sprinty to start dinner.  Before Kris could fire up the stove, Jan stopped by to invite us to go to dinner with them at the Log Cabin Restaurant just down the road.  It not a real log cabin, that is just the name of the restaurant.  And it seems to be owned and operated by a Chinese lady.  So Doug and Jan, and Bill and Lyn, and the two of us all piled into Doug’s Jeep to go to dinner.  When we got there, there was a large group from the caravan there already.  Then more folks came in.  All-in-all, 32 of 48 of the folks in the caravan descended on this restaurant for dinner.  A very fun evening.

Most of our caravan mates are pretty experienced RVers, even if this is their first Fantasy RV Caravan.  And it seems they have all been to Alaska.  All you have to do is mention you are going to Alaska, and they get going and going about places to see, places to stay, and tips about going to Alaska.  Jan even said she has enjoyed Alaska so much (and she and Doug have done it 4 times already), she would do it every year.  But she does not want to take their nice 40-foot Tiffin up there.  Her idea is flying in and renting an RV.