Tuesday, July 16 – Shubie Campground – Halifax

We overnight and head up to the shop for 8:30. ‘Leave it with us ‘til 1:30’. OK. We head back to the Inn and sit in chairs outside the entrance for four hours. Sven works on his book. I contemplate. We walk back to the shop. They’ve blown out the fuel line. Great. We pick up a cork gasket for the leaking transmission pan, pay the shop and head off for Shubie Campground in Dartmouth after stopping at a few different shops to gather tubing for a fuel tank drop.

We and The Ceilidh stumble in to three locations, sputtering a few times while on the way. Finally, we head for Shubie. She loses power and all the ‘feathering’ of the accelerator pedal fails to bring her back to life. At least we’re not on a freeway. Wait ten minutes, turn her over, and drive off toward the campsite. A half dozen hesitations and splutters later we once again lose power despite my desperate attempts to tickle her into running. This time we block a bike lane on a secondary highway but there’s enough room for cars to pass around us and still allow opposing traffic to pass. Ten minutes later she runs, we run and make it to the gates to the campsite. She stalls once more. Sven heads in to register for two nights. I sit with The Ceilidh. Crank. Engaged. Die. Crank. Engage. Die. On a whim I get out and loosen the gas cap. Get in. Crank, we’re running. Gather Sven, head to our assigned spot, back into the site. Safe!

This running on roads and having the RV stall out is very stressful. It can’t continue. We cannot return cross Canada with a vehicle that dies every few miles.

I go for a nice long walk exploring the history and nature in the area. Shubie park was created to preserve a portion of the Shubenacadie Canal, which passes through the park and from which the park takes its name. The park was part of the ‘King’s’ woodland in the 1720’s and provided masts for the Royal Navy. In 1783 King George III, the mad king, granted land to mast maker Samuel Greenwood. The paths follow the abandoned canal and form part of the Trans-Canada Trail.

A Portion of the Abandoned Canal.

There are lots of curious red squirrels and chipmunks waiting for handouts. A mourning dove sits on a feeder. He doesn’t seem to be mourning at this time. The canal is shallow. The water is lazy, moving ever so slowly between Lake Charles and Micmac Lake. It’s hard to imagine canal boats or logs making their way through this big ditch. Perhaps it’s filled in since being abandoned.

Red Squirrel Trying to Look Cute.

That’s if for the night. Time to turn in. Tomorrow we’ll drop the fuel tank and re-seal the transmission pan.