Part One-Arm of Gold Campground

Sept 6th, 2019/Arm of Gold Campground

  I rode back into town for more groceries and lunch. I also dropped into the Marine Atlantic Ferry Terminal. Sunday’s sailing has been cancelled and all those that were booked on it are moved to Wednesday’s sailing, they also said they are not taking any bookings. There are at times perks when your on a bicycle, they called the reservation office and I was allowed to purchase my ticket for the Wednesday sailing. This will still allow for plenty of time to get to St Johns, deal with business and see some of the sights. I seam sealed the tent this afternoon, seem a little late for that. It was a blue sky day today and warm, that would soon change.

Sept 7th, 2019/Arm of Gold Campground

  Today’s mission was to repair my Thermorest, funny how the simple things become entertaining. One of the buildings has a Jacuzzi, it's perfect for finding the leak. I made the repair, all was good, it was holding air until I sat on it. The glued pillowed perforations are giving away, when they do it develops leaks. I now have two more spots that are leaking. I bought it new for the trip and they’re not cheap, it's the four season model. Back to MEC on that one!
  The winds started to pick up early this morning, Hurricane Dorian was on route. By 3 PM the wind gusts of 85 kilometers per hour were being recorded on the weather app. I've re-located, I’m somewhat tucked under a gazebo out here in the field-I feel like a Hermit Crab that needs a bigger shell. I secured the tent as best I could, I used all the four tie outs. At this point the winds were coming from behind the gazebo which provided shelter, that would change.
  I went to bed around 10 PM, there were bands of rain passing through, winds at the moment were the bigger issue. The weather app was recording 100 kilometer plus gusts, it was getting noisy out there. I woke at around 1 AM, the winds had shifted direction as the storm moved through, they were now blowing directly on me with nothing to shelter. It was difficult to sleep with all the racket. The tent was bouncing about pretty good. I could feel the floor shifting under the Thermarest. I thought of Dorothy In the Wizard of Oz, she was in a house and hers flew, I was hoping mine wouldn’t.
At around 3 AM I heard a big “Pop” the tent lit up blue, it was quickly followed by the sound of current arcing.  Then another “Pop” and a flash of blue light, again the unmistakable sound of current shorting to ground. I was aware of the Hydro Lines, not above but a short distance away from the tent. I heard no trees breaking so I assumed the lines shorted against a still standing tree, I stayed put. The winds continued through the night and morning. Lots of debris on the ground, broken tree limbs, I could now clearly see the road and houses, my hedge was flattened and the trees got a haircut. The power was out, I assume last nights light show was the culprit. The winds continued for a better part of the day, we received little rain.

Sept 8th, 2019/Arm of Gold Campground

I stayed in the tent for most of the day, it was a long one. The wind slowly abated as the day went on. There’s a trailer on the property that serves up burgers, fries etc. It was up and running under generator power, I was in. I stealthed back to the tent with a big bag of fries, a cheese burger with real bacon, that was the highlight of the day.

Sept 9th, 2019/Arm of Gold Campground

  I woke this morning to blue skies and calm winds. There was a couple of gals a few gazebo over that came in last night. They greeted me with a fresh cup of brewed coffee, how nice was that. We chatted while they packed for the boat to Argentia. They were on a two week holiday from Quebec. Their travel plans were also disrupted by the past storm.
I made a second cup once the girls were gone and you’ll never guess, oatmeal for breakfast! Yum! Yum!
I did a bit of house keeping, hauled everything out of the tent, cleaned the leaves and debris up from the tent floor, aired out the sleeping bag, hung a new air freshener up. Then I rode into town for lunch and a stop in at Canadian Tire, picked up a repair kit for my Thermarest. Time I got back the power was back on, I recharged all my devices, showered etc then made supper.

Sept 10th, 2019/Arm of Gold Campground

Today was uneventful, I did laundry, showered and puttered about. I went for a walk around the campground, there’s an old rail bed over the hill that I walked along, then looped back to home base. I jumped on the bike and rode to Tim Horton's for coffee in the afternoon. I was getting bored!