July 6th - Charlo, New Brunswick

July 6^th – New Brunswick and Mario

We wake to predictions of lightening and thunder. We don’t get a show. Instead, we get repeated downpours. Once again we see water running down the dirt roads of the RV campsite, gouging trenches that will have to be filled with gravel.  The sky seems lighter all round, but the rain sneaks up and drops tons of water when I venture out to take photos. We are holed up waiting for the weather to pass. None of us wants to decamp during the rain.

We finally leave Mady and his owner, the fellow wearing the crash helmet while navigating his red viper three-wheeler ever so slowly down the trailer park roads, grinning and sometimes waving. Decidedly different.  I’m happy the axes were locked up during the night.

We are driving into dark, threatening clouds. Lightening alerts are out for Maine, a couple hundred miles to the south. It begins to rain. The drops are large. Then it really begins to rain. Sheets of torrential downpour. Cars pass us with four-way flashers on. The rain is so thick that visibility is greatly impaired. We slow to 80 on a 110 road and turn on our four-way flashers. It’s now dark as well. I slow to 60 wanting to avoid hydroplaning on these old bias-ply tires. The water is piling up on the road. We cross a concrete bridge where the water is 6” deep because it can’t run off the road quickly enough. The windshield wipers can’t keep up. Then the rain slows, thins and finally stop. The clouds are lighter.

We drive for another half hour, turning off at our secondary road to Balmoral. The intersection holds a Subways and a Tim Hortons. We stop for a bite. Once inside, the rainstorm opens the heavens once more, flooding the street in seconds. Small rivers rush down the ditches and roads. From this point forward rivers we cross are swollen and dirty from the runoff.

Crossing northern New Brunswick takes us through rolling hills and valleys. Bursts of red, white, blue, orange and yellow lupines coat the wide verges. Signs warn us to be aware of moose leaping onto the road. We keep our eyes open to possible moose leapings.  Moose kill. This is serious stuff. I like moose and don’t want to injure any.

After a total of four hours driving, we reach the Blue Heron Campground, recommended by Mario. It’s a lovely, open field with well kept outbuildings, full hook-ups at all sites and a small, sold out beer festival including a band made up from camp regulars.

One of the fields at our Blue Heron Campground.

Mario drives in from Balmoral and meets us at our campsite. We haven’t seen him since he moved from Vancouver the previous year. He’s looking good. We share stories old and new and he promises to drive us around the hot spots the following day.

We are parked right behind the stage and get to enjoy the music. Many of the tunes are ones we play in our band, Backstage Pass. The hundred-person beer fest is over at 9 PM so the gates open for the rest of the performance. We enter and stay until 11. The band is a success and we get to chat we quite a few folks.

Once the finals note fades into the night the folks disappear quickly, taking their lovely, dancing children with them. Kids are a joy to watch when they dance. Uninhibited, lacking self-conscious concerns they dance to whatever moves them. How cool.

The cities and towns of northern New Brunswick are small enough that light pollution is low. There are stars out. Billions. I can actually see the Milky Way and Saturn.  Ursa Minor is easily located and therefore, the north star. I can locate Cygnus the Swan and Draco the Dragon and a few others that remain from my nautical days. Other constellations I can’t even remember, let alone the major stars used for navigation. Thus, the passage of time.  The stars don’t know, nor do they care.

The Sun Goes Down, the Band Starts Up, 

Bruce Heading to Camp.

We live in paradise. There are no wars here. We can cross thousands of miles, through hundreds of towns, meeting all kinds of people and we are still Canadian. We still talk with each other if we wish and we don’t worry about having medical coverage. There are billions of stars holding us close. It’s a good night.