2 Old Hippies

November 17, 2017
by jeannekeller Leave a comment

Two Old Hippies and the Refrigerator, and the Truck

Our godsend of an auto mechanic, who’s taken care of our vehicles for over 25 years, just helped Craig’s 1996 truck stay out of the Intensive Care repair bay for maybe another year. As long as the repairs cost less than one or two months of a car payment, we tell him “go ahead.” This time a new gasket or something is all it needed. One day at a time.

And today, I called Sears because the fridge seems to be running a lot. (It’s a Kenmore from when we remodeled back … when?) Wonderful guy showed up, took a look at the tags on it and said “1999. You guys don’t throw anything away, do you?” He said any fridge we buy now might last 7 to 10 years, so of course we said “go ahead,” fix the compressor and fan. “They’re carrying us outta this house feet first,” I told him. “Probably in this refrigerator,” Craig added.

August 8, 2015
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BTV to Park Frontenac

The trip starts in very familiar territory -Franklin County and the Eastern Townships of Quebec. We stop in Sutton at a wonderful little cheese and charcuterie shop for our lunch fare — Tomme from Kamarouska, and a Brebis made by the good Brothers of the abbey on the lake. A dried sausage from St Jean Port Jolie, and a baguette.

On the way to Parc Frontenac we run into thunderstorms, but this trip we don’t have to set up a tent in the rain, a big improvement over our honeymoon trip. We learn on arrival that there’s no electricity in the park, but that means better dark sky viewing once the clouds clear out. This part of Quebec is an internationally designated “Dark Sky Reserve,” where the municipalities have instituted controls over lighting, to keep the night sky intensely star-filled. We’ll have to wait for the moon to wane to get a good look….on the way back in a week.

Rain stops long enough to make dinner outdoors. Then loons on Lac St Francis, reading by lanternlight, and a comfy sleep in a dry bed, scattering of rain on the roof.

July 29, 2015
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So far, so good

Noah from the beloved VW repair shop just called, and the auxiliary battery checks out, so we should be able to keep the christmas lights lit at night, (We use them to read by, and generally to create nice atmosphere.)

I was worried we’d have another trip interruption, like last year’s failed “All the way West on US Rt 2” plans. But, the Westy checks out. For now.

And props and a shout out to Noah, our youngish hippie mechanic – here’s a link to a story about his band, Waylon Speed. We’re afraid he’s going to get really famous and quit working on VWs…. (Noah is the guy with major beard happening) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRRHG1J54v4

Preparation is well underway, as Craig gathers the gear together. Here’s what the staging area (formerly the living room of our house) looks like today. That giant yellow blob is the tempurpedic foam topper we unroll every night for the bed..I sewed up a big case for it, using two really cheap bed sheets from Sears. Unroll, throw on the pillows and blanket and voila, bedtime. Yeah, this is not going to be like the camping trip 30 years ago, not at all!)

July 27, 2015
by jeannekeller 7 Comments

Honeymoon Reboot

Next Monday we’ll leave for two weeks to celebrate our thirtieth wedding anniversary. We’re returning to the Gaspe Peninsula, the southern shore of the Saint Lawrence River, where it widens to become the Gulf of St. Lawrence. I’m calling the trip the Honeymoon Reboot. But that time, we camped out of a small station wagon, canoe on top, with dome tent and air mattresses. We took a shortwave radio with us and listened to Radio Moscow. This time, we have the Westfalia, and the provincial park campgrounds all have WIFI. Times certainly have changed.

One of our fondest memories from that trip is the morning fog pouring over the cliffs at Forillon. Hope the weather is this good when we get there.

March 7, 2015
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Top this, you other Old Hippies

As I rummaged in the linen closest for towels for recent guests, I came across one of the better examples of the frugality of 2oldhippies: a bath towel from a set given to us as a wedding gift by Craig’s sister 30 (yes, thirty) years ago this August.

Coincidentally, another long-serving wedding gift is a pair of colanders from my own sister. One has lost its base, but still drains four servings of boiled pasta with ease.

Less successfully surviving married bliss is a lovely bowl that some Montpelier friends picked out for us at Artisan’s Hand, most likely. It can no longer serve pasta from the colander, but it’s great for popcorn.

“C’mon, guys,” you might say. “Enough is enough! Why not just get fully functional replacements?”

To which I’ll just reply that these items are one year younger than our 1985 Westy camper. Well, at least we’re consistent.

October 25, 2014
by jeannekeller 3 Comments

Those Damn Socialists

Some of us living in Vermont feel really comfortable when we’re visiting Canada, more comfortable than we do visiting, say, the Midwest of the USA. Actually, some of us toy with the idea of Vermont (yes, by seceding) joining the Maritimes and Quebec and forming a more perfect union. (Is is a coincidence that the only two states that were independent nations prior to US statehood – Vermont and Texas – are the states where current citizens talk openly about secession?)

Just a few things about the national and provincial parks in Canada that have us shaking our heads and saying “Oh, those damn socialists!” (Quick: what’s the emoticon that means “sarcasm!”)

Free hot showers! Yes, in the campground there’s no assumption you’ll be in a gigantic Mobile Home, complete with hot running water and shower stall. No assumption you’ll carry a roll of quarters to feed the hot water tank.
At Fundy, at Anchorage Provincial Park on Grand Manan Island, and at Forrilon National Park of Canada (where we spent our honeymoon 29 years ago) we found communal “kitchen buildings” for indoor cooking in inclement weather, and big sinks with hot water for washing dishes.
Don’t have a big enough tent for your family reunion at Fundy National Park? Well, how about this one, available for rent, fully furnished and with a great view of Owls Head?

Or try one of Parks Canada’s yurts?And the best views in the park? They belong to the people who have tents, not motor homes:

Our own spot includes water and electricity, the kitchen sinks, showers and free WIFI, for $25/night.
Not that Canada is heaven on earth, but when the motto of the purpose of government is “Peace, Order and Good Government,” it does produce different outcomes. For one thing, a basic acceptance that government has a role, and a job to do for its citizens. Here in the USA, we have citizens (certain lawmakers and the people who vote for them) who think their job is to stop government from doing anything constructive at all.

Some of us in the USA are dumbfounded by this dumbing down of citizenship, by the voters who are voting to re-elect the do-nothingest Congress in our history, specifically because they are doing nothing. Meanwhile, here’s what Canada is doing: http://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/index-eng.html. Yes, Canada has a federal agency called “Infrastructure Canada,” whose charge is instigating, partnering for, and funding projects to make Canada a world-class nation. Can you even imagine this happening in the USA ever again? The agency’s current program, The New Building Canada Fund, is based on this philosophy:

“World-class infrastructure is the backbone of our country’s economic productivity. Our Government is committed to investing in Canada’s infrastructure to reduce commuting times for families, enhance economic competitiveness, encourage job creation and strengthen trade corridors. We understand the vital importance of infrastructure to help get goods to market, to connect people and businesses with the world, and to reduce gridlock on our roads and highways. The New Building Canada Plan will continue to support infrastructure projects that foster economic growth, job creation and long-term prosperity.”

And you can see the difference this makes, even in a national or provincial campground.

October 18, 2014
by jeannekeller 1 Comment

Fundy National Park – Where Even Superlatives Fail Me

Continuing north, and at the end of a road that goes nowhere else, is Fundy National Park of Canada, where the Caledonia Highlands Plateau (the uppermost reaches of the Appalachian Mountains) meets the Bay of Fundy.

There are sloping, meadow-like highlands

and rainforest jungles (accessible by cantilevered board walkways and stairs – it strikes me that this spot is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever visited, as deep and rich and wet as anything I’ve seen in Washington state or British Columbia).

And of course, all-hell-broke-loose (well, it took 1 billion years, but still … ) geology everywhere.

Herewith, illustrations with text provided by Parks Canada’s Fundy Park guide.

“Around Alma and Herring Cove the story is one of rivers and jungles. The grey and beige rocks forming the impressive cliffs of Owls Head are made of sandstone.This rock used to be sand and mud which a vast and ancient river lay down during the Carboniferous era (about 325 million years ago). Along this river there was a lush, tropical jungle. The rock has a fine sandy look to it and contains many black plant fossils and thin seams of coal.

“The story is considerably older at Point Wolfe where volcanoes and the movement of the continents have formed the oldest rocks in the park. Walk down the steps to Point Wolfe beach

and as soon as you reach the beach you will notice some grey, green rocks forming a low cliff along the right side of this inlet. The rock has been smoothed by the tides but the story can still be deciphered.Volcanoes erupting ash and lava created off-shore islands during the Pre-Cambrian era (one billion years ago). Afterwards, during a collision between the continents of Europe and North America, these volcanic islands were bulldozed into the mainland. Look for the white quartz veins, swirling folds and criss-crossing fractures in the rock, which tell of this transformation. Rocks, which have undergone changes due to the heat and pressure of continental collisions, are called metamorphic rocks.

Point Wolfe is a geologist’s paradise. Opposite the grey rocks, you will notice rusty, maroon coloured cliffs towering above you. (JK note: yes, visit at low tide…..)The rusty red cliffs tell a tale of crumbling mountains. These mountains were created by the ancient Pre-Cambrian volcanoes and by the collision of Europe and North America. At one time they rivaled the Rockies in massive splendour. But they were worn down, or eroded, by the passage of time. Water and gravity piled all of the debris at their feet. These boulders and pebbles were later cemented together to form a new rock which we call the Hopewell conglomerate.

Think about that for a moment: “The collision of Europe and North America…” “rivaled the Rockies in massive splendour…” , and not only that, but the highest tides in the world. (Yep, in the photo below, that’s a kelp bed on the right …)Words do fail me, and that’s saying a lot.

September 26, 2014
by jeannekeller 4 Comments

Behold the Road Cut

2oldhippies love fresh bread, the smell of fresh laundry from the clothes line, and as you might guess if you’ve been reading the blog, fresh road cuts.

We are old enough to remember when the interstate highway system was built. One of us cannot remember the new roadcuts created then back in Tennesee, but in Montana where I grew up, the road had to blow through (literally, with a lot of dynamite) a canyon of the Missouri River between Great Falls and Helena. (near the stretch of the Missouri River that Lewis and Clark named “Gates of the Mountains.”) Those fresh road cuts were so awesome, so beautiful, and so revealing that my brother, who had just selected geophysics as his university major and was quickly turning into a rockhead, made us all take a field trip on the new highway just to pull over and look at the fresh road cuts. I’ve loved them ever since, and my reaction is pretty much the one with the snapped head and the word “Squirrel!” only I say “Roadcut!”

Here in Vermont, the Interstate construction did much the same service, opening up the inside of the earth for closer inspection, and Vermont is very interesting, geologically speaking. Periodically, our beloved rockheads at the Agency of Transportation decide to widen the cuts, clean up after rock slides and such, and we are treated to fresh roadcuts (thus increasing my driving time between Burlington to Montpelier, rather the decreasing it, I might add.)

Our original 2014 adventure travel plan — US 2 West, then down the Rockies through Wyoming to Boulder/Denver, included following the Interstate route through Wyoming that got another roadcut fiend, John McPhee, all excited, and which he wrote about in detail in Rising from the Plains, a great read about the geologic history of the Northern Rockies. We were all set to marvel at those road cuts. It was the geologic wonders of New Brunswick and the Bay of Fundy that gave us our alternative destination once our plans had to change, but we didn’t know that the relatively new Fundy Trail Parkway was waiting for us with dozens of fresh “Roadcuts!” Wow. As everywhere along this coastline, bending, folding, piling on, intrusion, uplifts, hundreds of millions of years of “all hell breaking loose” on display. And in case you can’t get here soon enough to see them in their fresh state, before mosses, lichens, mineral leaching and other aging processes dull them, we are pleased to offer you our views.

Behold the Road Cut!

September 22, 2014
by jeannekeller 6 Comments

Rules for Rummagers

When 2oldhippies were growing up, the term our parents used for searching for, digging around for, otherwise searching high and low for something, was called”rummaging.” Rummaging is sometimes unavoidable, sometimes pointless, sometimes a total waste of time.

We learned on our honeymoon camping trip to the Gaspe Peninsula nearly 30 years ago that to make rummaging as productive as possible, certain rules had to be set down and agreed to by all parties. On such an extended camping trip, absent said rules, we’d be spending a lot of time rummaging and not enough time enjoying it all. We bought a small blank booklet and developed “Rules for Rummagers.” (Actually, because we were in Quebec, we included the alternative title “Les Regles des Rummageurs.”)

We’ve added to the Rules over time as we’ve continued to live out of small places for extended periods: camping out of a car or canoe, navigating a French river in a small power boat, and now in the Westy. And frankly, the Rules apply pretty well when any two people live under the same roof in a small house and need to find/use the same household equipment.The rules do seem obvious, common-sensical even. The imporance is the agreement – this can reduce annoyance and aggravation, as well as the use of language that would make a sailor blush (as in: Where the @#%^ did you put the *()@%(#& ‘ing !%*#*^ ??????

(Of course, as 2oldhippies get older, we do forget the rules, just as we often forget what we were looking for in the first place. The Rules cannot help you with that problem … Be patient with each other, is our only advice there.)

So, herewith, a few Rules for Rummagers:

1. Once there is agreement on where something is going to be stored, don’t move it. If you use something, put it back where you found it.

2. Rule #1 applies even if you later believe you have “found” a better place to put it.

3. When something new is acquired along the way that will be used frequently, decide and agree right away where it will be stored, and following #1.

4. Looking for something just to confirm that it’s still there is not legitimate rummaging; it’s either the aging process, or a touch of OCD or paranoia (take your pick). So cut it out; you are making ME nervous.

5. Do not rummage in other people’s stuff, no matter how interesting it looks. A corollary to this rule is keep your eyes on the road when you are behind a full pickup truck, because you’ll never get to rummage in that stuff anyway, even if you follow them home.

2oldhippies came up with some hacks to help enforce the rules and minimize some kinds of rummaging — such as, crocheting a lot of little bags to gather together stuff that belongs together, to keep it together and make retrieving it easier. One of our little bags contains everything necessary to make the coffee in the morning: filters, a miraculous collapsible silicon filter holder (the red thing to the left of the carafe in picture below), ground coffee, sugar, spoon, and coffee cups. No rummaging required early in the morning – everything needed is already in one place.

Another kit is my “going to the shower house” bag: small bottles of shampoo, body wash, face wash, razor and a poof in a net bag that can hang in the campground’s shower and then hang back in the Westy to dry out.

While we technically have room for suitcases or backpacks, getting in and out of them is a drag, and after a couple of days, there’s a lot of rummaging involved within those containers. I pack instead in small zipper packs (sometimes called packing cubes), and then stack them in the closet – one for underwear and socks, one for shirts, one for pants. Roll items up to make them easy to pick out. A separate one serves as a “dop kit” for toiletries. (Limiting yourself to a small amount of space for your stuff is a very good way to limit rummaging anyway….)

What are your Rules?

September 21, 2014
by jeannekeller 8 Comments

The Fundy Coast: St. Martins

A short drive north of Saint John is St. Martins. Look at a map of the NB coast and you’d think only Anglicans and Roman Catholics settled this area for all the saints memorialized here. And while I’m on the saint thing: inquiring minds want to know why Saint John is always presented with “Saint” spelled out, but St. Martins, St. George and St. Stephen use the abbreviation. And while we are at it, why is St. Martins plural or did they forget the apostrophe? I’m sure there are stories behind all this; there usually are. I just forgot to ask.

St Martins is formerly a sleepy fishing village and now a sleepy (in the off season) village of inns , B&Bs, and campgrounds, along with lovely beaches, spectacular sea caves, and the crazy tide lands. It sits on a small bay of the great Bay, between some striking headlands, and is the gateway to the Fundy Trail, a relatively new provincially developed parkway, bike and hiking route that eventually will connect Saint Martins to Fundy National Park. We try to bike the parkway bikepaths, but they are for youngerhippies or oldhippies with better knees. Steep up and downs hugging the coastline; great for those we think of as “mountain bikers”, so the 2oldhippies Westy ourselves around and hike instead. Everywhere extraordinary coastline views and,oh yeah, more rock love – a lot more.

The coastal views are similar to Mt. Desert/Acadia, except that there are a lot fewer people, huge tide flats twice a day, few sandy beaches, and it’s hard to find a motel or gift shop anywhere.

When the tide goes out, it goes to where the color of this water changes. Yeah, that far out.

When the tide goes out, it goes out to where the color of this water changes. Yeah, that far out.

The Fundy Trail astonished us at the scale and scope of this public investment in a roadway, bike and hiking path network that is not a through route to anywhere, and whose only purpose is recreation and sightseeing. At one of the great view-sheds, this tiered group of picnic sites, for example …

This is a view from the end of Phase I to the beginnings of Phase II of the Fundy Trail Parkway. Eventually, it will extend from St Martin's all the way to Fundy National Park. The land in between is currently wilderness. Yeah, that's different from Acadia, too...

This is a view from the end of Phase I to the clearing and construction of Phase II of the Fundy Trail Parkway. Eventually, it will extend from St Martin’s all the way to Fundy National Park. The land in between is currently wilderness. Yeah, that’s different from Acadia, too…

St. Martins is a Stonehammer Geoparc site.

Just left of the sea caves that all tourists can see and enjoy is an important “contact” of two different geologic formations — the light colored Quaco, and the red Honeycomb Point formation. The shrubs and foliage growing along the diagonal contact disguise it during warm months…

Sea caves and formation contact at St. Martin’s, low tide.

“The Sphinx” at the St Martin sea caves formation

Nope, not a painting by someone from the St. Martin artist colony - a freshwater stream flowing from a spring near the sea cave passes beside the seaweed deposited when the tide covers this area. The red-orange above is the Honeycomb Point Formation sandstone. A really lovely sunset scene.

Nope, not a painting by someone from the St. Martins artist colony – just a mossy freshwater stream flowing from a spring near the sea cave passing beside the brown-green seaweed deposited when the tide covers this area. The red-orange above is the Honeycomb Point Formation sandstone. A really lovely sunset scene, but only visible at low tide, when the stream is not inundated by the sea.

Sunset view from our campsite. Still low tide.

Sunrise the next morning.

We are inspired to keep moving farther up the Bay. Next stop Fundy National Park.