Putting the wood in (for the winter in PEI)

The first true town, and I use the word town lightly because it's size could not have been more than a few hundred residents, we came to was Hunter Valley. Nothing more than a gas station, post office, church and bakery/restaurant where we ate for breakfast. Yum. Prince Edward Island is fairly pricey and this was extremely reasonable and the food was delicious. Ryan and I both opted for the special: 2 eggs, 2 huge sausages, potatoes and homemade raisin toast. What a way to start our day! By the time we left the restaurant it was actually afternoon because we once again enjoyed the Prince Edward locals, sharing our stories and learning about the lobster and hand line cod fishing. We would both love the opportunity to give a hand at fishing by hand line, but I guess that will come sometime later in life.

We rode our way along a bike path the entire way to Charlottetown, the "big city" for the 150,000 occupant island. There were a surprising number of big box stores, allowing us to resupply and get out of the intense heat and sunshine. Ryan had been in email contact with a the boat builder of Norseboats, a type of "swiss army knife" of boats he has had his eyes on for a good 8 years. This guy lived on the island and we thought we could stop by his place to meet him and Ryan could check out one of his boats. Before deciding to bike tour in 2009, we talked of sailing one of these 17 foot sailboats that are capable of sailing, rowing and camping aboard for a trip from Nova Scotia to the Caribbean. Maybe that will be a future trip of ours? Who knows.

Ryan had emailed that we would be showing up one of two days, not giving a specific time and did not have a way to call since we no longer own a cell phone. We showed up and they were out for the night. Bummer. We carried on down the country road to the lighthouse at the end of the point, hoping to find a space for our tent near the water without being shooed away by the locals. A family was in the front yard of a house playing croucette (a Gladstone favorite that was often played throughout my childhood). One of us made a comment and that started a short chat and found out the family would be stacking wood in the barn for the winter and jokingly suggested we come help tomorrow morning between 8-12. Great! A way for us to pay forward a bit of the kindness we have received forward.
Camping by the lighthouse was no problem and the lapping of the waves and cool breeze made for nice nights sleep. A gross first attempt at a new type of breakfast that advertised no sugar and extra fiber, we begrudgingly ate and dumped the uncooked grains in the garbage before riding to the house where they were stacking wood. The entire family, ranging in age from 13-70, were all lined up, passing log after log down the chain to be stacked in the barn. Ryan and I found a spot and started twisting to take and give logs. This went on until noon when we were offered showers, laundry and lunch.

The family could not have been nicer, constant joking with one another, us included. Moments like these definitely make me miss my family. I wonder when the next time will be that all my siblings and parents are in one room doing just the same. Sitting back and observing I took notice of the kindness and affection given throughout the family members. The dad/grandfather sat down beside his 44 year daughter, swung an arm around her and said, "Have I told you how much I love you today?" She responded with, "Yes." I smiled from inside to out and was reminded yet again of the importance of keeping in contact with family and friends. Life is all about human interaction and nothing beats family, whether that means blood or the family you make.

We ended up spending the entire day with them and camped out back before leaving fairly early. While passing logs through the basement window of the 80 year old neighbor's house , a rather large log was dropped right on Ryan's ankle. Because of the swelling and the inevitable aches with all the pedaling along, we only rode 60 kilometers before finding shelter in the town of Cardigan. We planned on riding from the bridge to the ferry and then over to Nova Scotia, but the island is simply too beautiful to only explore for 3 days. We will extend our travels and make a figure 8 on the eastern portion before making our way to Nova Scotia.