Maritimes, Part 7

As we traveled through Nova Scotia, our route took us through Cape Breton.  Cape Breton is actually an island, within Nova Scotia.  The land mass is separated by rivers and ocean bays from the mainland of Nova Scotia.  Our reason for traveling to Cape Breton was to visit the Alexander Graham Bell museum located in Baddeck, NS.  Bell was from Nova Scotia and was an inventor extraordinaire.  He had many inventions in aviation and built the first aircraft to experience powered flight in Canada.  He lived a relaxed life in Baddeck and consistently worked on his inventions.  The museum was well worth the visit.  Plus the route lead us through the center of Nova Scotia and the scenery was beautiful.

I found this video on YouTube that is a nice intro of the Baddeck area and Bell.

The exit sign for Baddeck.

Baddeck is a small coastal town.  Very scenic.

We made it to the Alexander Graham Bell museum.  A very well-layed out facility.

Views as we were leaving Baddeck.  The channel lead out to the ocean.

We stayed for a couple of days at the KOA RV park in Cape Breton.  It was within 10 miles of the ferry loading ramp. While at the KOA park, bad luck struck.  The night before, I was checking on an air system on the coach. It required me to twist my body next to the generator to access the center bay of the coach.  That act resulted in me experiencing muscle spasms in my lower back.  The next morning, Lee and I proceeded to the emergency room in the North Sidney Hospital.  This was my first experience with Canadian medical care.  Canadians have a medical card that is used to obtain health care.  Well, the emergency room did not accept American insurance.  We had to pay $400.00 CA for the right to wait five hours in the emergency room.  This situation ended well, with me receiving a shot that relaxed the muscle spasms in my back.  Within a few hours, I was back to normal.  Wow, what an experience.

We drove to the ferry loading area after lunch.  The attendants parked us tight as we aligned for the ferry landing.

We finally were able to load on the ferry, but it was late in the evening.  As you can see in the photo, the RVs were traveling in the staging line to enter the ferry.  This ferry was huge.  It had two levels to park cars and trucks on.

We stayed in a cabin on the ship.  The ferry rooms were sparse, but manageable.  I remembered hearing a thump, thump, thump all night.  It sounded like the propeller shaft was out of alignment.  But we made the trip uneventful.

Here is a group of Trackers waiting to get the message to head to the car decks to begin departure.

It was crowded in the car deck.  The RVs were within inches of each other.  We all made it out, with no scraped paint.