I’ll start with the fact that I’m doing well and am comfortable in a hotel room with power and running water in Nova Scotia tonight (Sunday). While I was in Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island, the storm began in earnest around 9:30 p.m. and the power went out at 1:30 a.m. Despite not having power or water, they managed to have a few breakfast items available for anyone daring enough to run across the parking lot to get it.
I’d been due to check out Saturday morning, but the storm was still raging and there was no way off the island, so I needed to make arrangements to stay. The manager insisted that was the only reasonable option - the only complication was that we assumed my key card would stop working at 11 a.m., and their system was down, so they couldn’t do anything to change that. I was able to use the deadbolt to keep the door from closing while I took the dog out, and was able to stay comfortable in the room.
I was on the best side of the building - the most protected from the winds. Still, there was a good deal of stuff flying around. My pickup, parked just outside my room, has a number of scrapes and scratches, and was covered in shredded leaves and bits of what looked like seaweed, even though I wasn’t particularly close to the water.
The bridge opened late Saturday night, and I was able to go online early this morning to see that the highway was clear, so I headed out. It was clear that the area will be without power for several more days. Rows and rows of power lines were snapped and down. I saw houses and buildings with trees down on them and a house with a roof that had lifted and doubled back onto itself. So many trees snapped and many just totally uprooted and blown over. The cornfields looked so sad - all the stalks slanted over at the same angle from the wind, stripped of all their foliage.
A couple days ago I was sad that I didn’t visit at a low enough tide to see Teacup Rock. Today I learned the storm destroyed it - it’s gone now, eroded off its base and washed away. I also learned that a couple of the small bridges I had driven over on my lighthouse tour have been washed out.
Once I got to Nova Scotia, I started looking for a place with running water, a cup of coffee, and thought I should fill my gas tank. However, the first few communities I got to still did not have power, so none of that was available. I used my Gas Buddy app to figure out where there were stations currently selling gas, only to find super long lines (so long there were cops controlling street traffic to keep people from cutting in). Priority at that point seemed to be finding a bathroom, so I found that, a coffee and breakfast sandwich, and gen got in the gas line. Just over 3 hours later, I was able to fill up. In that meantime, I learned the hotel I had reserved for tonight was without power, and realized from what I was hearing on the radio that my plan to drive the Cabot Trail on Cape Breton Island just wasn’t a wise idea at this time. Even though the road had just opened, except for one spot that was expected to open this afternoon, I was concerned about whether I could get stranded without being able to get gas. Fuel stations are few and far between during regular times, and there were still widespread power outages, especially on Cape Breton, with no estimate of restoration time.
So, when things get tough, why not go to wine country? When planning my trip, I wanted to spend time here, but didn’t have time to do everything I wanted before the dates of my reservations in Maine. But this agricultural area on the west side of.Nova Scotia wasn’t hit as hard by the storm, so here I am now. Another nice thing is that a popular lobster restaurant is a short drive from here so I had a great lobster supper (a real treat compared to the Clif Bar dipped in peanut butter and some pistachios that was dinner the night before).
Halls Harbour Lobster Pound
No comments:
Post a Comment