Day #2: Victoria

Sunday, July 26

Temperature: High 79°F / Low 55°F

Conditions: Sunny

Distance Walked: 25.6k

Evening Walk: 1.9k

Experiences of the Day

We were feeling good, left nice and early and started our walk. In fact, we were feeling so good that we walked an extra half kilometer because we ended up missing the turn off for MacEachern Road! Heather, who did this walk two years ago, told us how she got lost in this general vicinity. I completely get it now. We saw the little hiker sign and in fact I even had my picture taken with it, but there was no Island Walk sign with it and we just kept walking right on by, right up that great big hill! 

Advice: if you see a hiker sign, double check your map because it may be that the Island Walk sign is missing.

Once we got on the correct road, we had a very delightful walk through the trees. The road was quite perfect because it wasn't too dry and it wasn't too wet, making for a nice firm yet comfortable walking surface. 

Very shortly we came upon an adorable little building with a sign, New Argyle School. We saw a gentle man sitting on the front porch and recognized him as the runner we had passed earlier. Believe it or not he was a MacEachern - his grandparents had been students at the school and later his mom had taught there. We had a delightful conversation, he offered us water and presented us with raspberries! What a wonderful treat. Trail Magic!

We knew it was going to be a long walk, with not a lot around. So I had reached out to Bryson to ask him if he knew where we might be able to get water along our way. He directed us to the Free Church of Scotland and Reverend Compton. Being Sunday, we were sure to find people there. 

We arrived to find parishioners inside listening to the service. We took our shoes off and laid on the ground with our feet against the tree for a little bit of relief. Once the service was over, we introduced ourselves and the Reverend Compton invited us in for water, the washroom, and lunch! We took him up on the first two, said our goodbyes and continued on our journey. Trail Angel!

We heard barking and suddenly two Great Pyrenees showed up on the trail. They were the loveliest dogs we have ever met and escorted us for about 2 km. At one point we wondered if they were going to walk us all the way to Victoria! Eventually they disappeared down a small driveway.Trail Guides!

Our host, Susan at the Oxley House B&B told us that we just absolutely must meet Sheldon White, who is one of the people on the Island Walk board. I let him know we were going down to Richard's for some dinner and who walks up but Sheldon himself! He had all kinds of great advice for us and assured us that today's walk was one of the hardest. Phew, were we glad to hear that!

We are all pretty tired - it is our second day, the humidity was 53% (at least that's what the internet tells us), with lots of sun. That said, we met terrific people and are looking forward to continuing our walk tomorrow to Borden-Carleton.

Breakfast: Freeze dried scrambled eggs, and cheesy GF rolls from Mary's Cornwall Baker!

Snacks: Broccoli and humas; cheese

Dinner: Richard’s for fish tacos, including deep-fried haddock, roasted beets and pickled onions. Scrumptious!

Lodging: Oxley House B&B

Day #1: Dunedin

 

Saturday, July 25

Temperature: High 81°F / 61 Low °F

Conditions: Sunny

Distance Walked: 24.2k

Experiences of the Day

After months of anticipation, the day was finally here and our friend Billy led us to the trailhead. After some quick goodbyes and thank you's for hosting us, we made our way to the trail. When it was all said and done we walked for about 6 hours, which does not include the time that we spent at the grocery store, eating lunch, or wine tasting at Matos Winery.

One of the most interesting things we saw was a big stump that was covered with shoes! There was a gentleman doing some work out in the yard so we stopped by to ask him the story. As it turns out, his mother saved shoes of various family members that they had worn on vacations and decided to attach them to the tree as a remembrance of the trips. A walk down memory lane if you will.

The two really fun things that happened along the walk: 

We pleasantly surprised to be greeted by a friendly couple of honks and a wave only to discover that it was Billy who was on his way back from dropping off our friends' packs!

As we were leaving Cornwall, a very nice lady on a bicycle approached us and asked us if we were doing the Island Walk! It turns out it was Verna Lynn Weeks from the tourism association out on a bike ride. People here are so friendly!

We had a really nice time at the winery, where we met the owner. We lounged out front in the shade, fought off a multitude of spiders, and chatted with some people from Montreal. From there, we had just 500m.to go!

Tomorrow we head to Victoria.

Breakfast: Bananas, oranges, apples, yogurt, blueberries, oats, GF muffins and Tim Horton's coffee. Thank you, Billy!

Lunch: Cornwall Independent Grocery.

Dinner: Made dinner at the house. 

Lodging: Airbnb

Charlottetown Here We Come!

 

Friday, July 24

Temperature: High 75°F / Low 60°F

Conditions: Sunny

Distance Walked:  3k

Experiences of the Day: Billy & Brenda

We knew before we ever arrived here that the people of PEI were wonderful based on the interactions we have had with folks both through the Island Walk FB group and by phone. The four of us (two Oregonians, one Californian and one from Thailand) have been planning our trip since last November.

How lucky were we to have Billy host us on our inaugural visit to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. I had posted our trip to the Island Walk FB group and fortunately Billy happened to see it. He reached out and has been a wonderful ambassador - answering questions, making suggestions, picking us up from the airport, helping us with some errands and touring around downtown!

We ordered Island Walk swag from All Star Cresting at the end of June, but shipping to Oregon would mean that we wouldn't receive it prior to departure. Brenda at All Star was so kind - she suggested holding on to the items for us to check out once we arrived. She even sent us her number in case our plane was delayed and we arrived after they closed!

Dinner: Haddock, beet salad and sweet potato and bacon poutine at John Brown.

2026 PEI Grand Adventure: The Big Walk

The countdown is on! 

In 10 days, our little group of 60 somethings will start the big walk around Prince Edward Island on July 25th.

A couple of fun things:

1. We get to travel with our long time travel partners, Linda and Kate! I have known Linda for just over 40 years. 
2. When we arrive in Charlottetown on the 24th, we will be greeted and hosted by a random stranger, Billy. It has been fun having him as a resource as we plan our trip.
3. After the big walk, we will do a driving tour of Nova Scotia for five days.
4. We will finish out the trip with a wedding in Waukesha, WI. Of course, the wedding is the whole reason we are doing the walk.

Here's how the conversation started back in Oregon last fall...

"Let's see, if we have to go to Wisconsin, what else could we do in the area..." and then out comes the maps and on goes the computer we found Bryson Guptill and the Island Walk and somehow this becomes the most expensive wedding we have ever attended! 

Career Change

During a hike at Great Basin National Park, we ran into a gentleman who had retired early. People would ask him what he was going to do with the rest of his life. When he replied that he would be hiking, camping, and being in the outdoors, he said people would just look at him with a blank stare. "Why would you want to do that?" He finally decided to change his answer to something people could understand..."sleep in and go out for coffee."

We talked a bit more about the irony that the word "retire" actually means to go to bed and get some rest when in our reality, to retire means to have unlimited time to adventure. After saying our goodbyes, we continued the discussion ourselves and decided that we would never "retire," but that we would be making a career change to "adventurers @ large." This blog documents our adventures during this new career.

Our strategy for almost every adventure is to find a challenge, learn about what we need to do to prepare, study up on the area we will be visiting, and go for it! That said, it's important for you, the reader, to know that we are middle aged women of average physical ability who have a lot of determination and passion for adventure.

Lynn is a full-time adventurer @ large and recently retired from her gig as a school district administrator overseeing instructional technology and library services.

Therese is a full-time adventurer @ large having transitioned from her most recent career as a massage therapist.

Hot Logic Mini-Mac Personal Portable Oven

When Therese was diagnosed with Celiac, stopping at restaurants while traveling suddenly came to a halt. We needed a strategy in place so that she felt good about her food options, while at the same time, I could stop for a meal...after all, I didn't want to miss out on regional food opportunities!

So we looked around to see how we might heat up a frozen gluten-free meal while driving. We read some crazy things, like people baking potatoes or preparing meals using their car engines while on road trips (Google it, it's fascinating...Car-B-Que). But that wasn't for us. We ended up finding and buying the Hot Logic 16801060003 Mini-Mac Personal Portable Oven, which has worked nicely.

Here are our take aways:

1. We purchased the one version with the AC power cable in the event that we ever wanted to use it when staying overnight in a microwave-less hotel or Airbnb and plug it into our car power inverter.
2. If a meal is frozen solid, plan on 2.5 to 3 hrs. 
3. If a meal is partially frozen, plan on around 2 hours. 
4. Frozen burritos, especially small ones that are partially defrosted should be checked after 1.5 hrs.
5. Do NOT puncture or break the seal of the meal container. We had one experience where the cellophane had come away from the edge of the container...this did not turn out well...

Keep in mind that this is a small unit and is appropriate for heating up one or two meals at a time.

Knox Electric Cooler (and Warmer)

I cannot say enough about this Knox Cooler  (model KN-CCW27QB). It is amazing and does the job.

We needed a cooler for a road trip, and since we were flying in and getting a rental car, our first thought was to get a cheap styrofoam cooler and toss it at the end of the trip. But that was inconsistent with our reuse/recycle beliefs.

After a lot of research, I settled on this cooler. Here's why:

1. It included two power cables: one for the car and one for indoors.
2. We would be able to take it home with us on the airplane as carry on luggage. It measures 13 x 17.2 x 18.4 inches and the airlines carryon limits are 9 inches x 14 inches x 22 inches.
3. The reviews were good. There were some negative, but that most likely had to do with people not reading the directions.
4. We could have it delivered to our hotel and the price was right.

A couple of notes...

• We used this cooler during a 10-day road trip and not once did we did not eat out (pandemic + Celiac = self food prep).
• Food was kept nicely cold. Some of the items we stored included 1/2 gallon of milk, 1/2 gallon of orange juice, a giant tub of yogurt (which we used all 10 days), almond milk, frozen dinners/burritos, bagged salad, boiled eggs, and so forth. For two people, it was the perfect size!
• Before loading it up with food, we would pre-chill it for 20 minutes or so. For example, when staying in a hotel for the night, we would put the food into the refrigerator overnight; the next morning, we turned on the cooler prior to loading up our food. 
• The fan is very quiet. But, I am a person who doesn't like to hear any noise at night, so I opted to use the hotel refrigerator. We did leave the food in the cooler plugged in one night and it worked great.
• Since the cooler shuts off when the car is off, we had brought a quart sized freezer bag, filled it half way up and froze it each night so that we had a little piece of ice for the cooler. I don't know that this was necessary, but I liked not worrying about the food when we stopped to do something for a few hours. We also had one frozen meal in the cooler just about every day (more on this in our "oven" post)
• Our experiences are based on a road trip in mid March, and the high temperatures were in the mid-70s. If it had been summer time, I would have moved the cooler to the trunk when we made stops, just to keep it out of a hot car.
• The lid is heavy, so when it is empty, it is helpful to position it so that the lid is against a wall so that it doesn't accidentally get tipped over. 
• We did not use the warming feature on this cooler.

Going Home

There was no breakfast at the hotel. Not even coffee. Unlike any other place we had stayed in the last 10 nights, this place was packed and I'm assuming there were a lot of hungry people.

Remember that cooler we were toting around back in Dallas on the way to retrieve our rental car? That thing rocks! We actually had a nice amount of food with us the whole way and everything was nicely chilled. And we have this little food warmer for our car, so we were able to have hot meals on the road...you just had to plan ahead because it takes 2-3 hours to "cook" a frozen meal.

As for our trip home...the Governor had closed everything down the previous day, so things were pretty quiet. Even the wind wasn't blowing in the Columbia Gorge.

Notice the flat water of the Columbia River.

We had left our hotel and were determined that we would not stop or be around any people until we got home...so we found this facility in The Dalles.

Great riverside location.

The drive through Portland was uneventful aside from a heavy rainstorm and a LOT of semi-trucks. The closer we got to Eugene, the fewer cars were on the road.

Our intended vacation was a civil rights tour of the south but we ended up on an unintended road trip across America. Why did we go? At the time, things were worse in Oregon than they were in the south. How bad could it be? 

The night before we left.

We watched the New York Time's Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count and routed ourselves home as safely as possible. If we had to drive through an infected region, we kept on driving — gas and food were obtained 100 miles out, just to be on the safe side.

The day after we returned.

We got to see how different people in many different places reacted to a pandemic. A couple of reflections on this...In Arkansas, we saw a total disregard for others, at least in Hot Springs. As we drove north, we were mainly in small, uncrowded towns. People were polite and it was easy to navigate if you needed groceries. 

When we got to Ogden, and again our only stop was at the botanical garden, people were everywhere and paid absolutely no attention. Maybe that's what you get when too many people living together in a large urban area. Who knows. I just know that it wasn't comfortable.

Would we do it again? Probably not. 

Did we enjoy our trip? Absolutely. 

Did was see awesome things? For sure.

Were we glad to get home? YES! 

Ordered to stay home by the governor...no problem!

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Read other posts about our unintended drive across America.

Day 1: Coffee & Robots!

Day 2: A Trip to Target

Day 3: Hoping for Diamonds

Day 4: It's All OK

Day 5: In Search of...

Day 6/7: Dr. Deb

Day 8: 80 on the 80

Day 9: Don't Step in It...

Day 10: Botanics @ the Pen

Day 11: Going Home

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Botanics @ the Pen

Next stop: Idaho Botanical Garden located adjacent to the old penitentiary. Now these people know how to do a pandemic the right way! We had called ahead to verify that they were open and could use our Mt. Pisgah Arboretum membership card for reciprocal entry. When we arrived, the kiosk was gated off to ensure safety of the ticket taker. She just had us show our card from afar and off we went.

Oh, and first stop was the bathroom...they had a stand of paper towels out front so that you could use one to open the door. So thoughtful!

The arboretum was AMAZING. It was very large with a variety of art pieces. We took the self-guided tour of the Garden’s features and sculptures and listened to information at each stop using their online site, idgarden.oncell.com.

Sculpture made of found items.

Tree made of scrap lumber.

We were on the last leg of our trip and had planned to drive home via Burns, Oregon. As we were getting ready to leave Boise, a friend texted us that a storm was due to hit the Cascades. Ugh. We were in a rental car, had no chains, and did not want to take any chances when it came to snow and ice. Our trip was rerouted and we headed off to Pendleton, Oregon for our last night on the road.

A walk along the Umatilla River

The Governor had just closed all parks.

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Route

Read other posts about our unintended drive across America.

Day 1: Coffee & Robots!

Day 2: A Trip to Target

Day 3: Hoping for Diamonds

Day 4: It's All OK

Day 5: In Search of...

Day 6/7: Dr. Deb

Day 8: 80 on the 80

Day 9: Don't Step in It...

Day 10: Botanics @ the Pen

Day 11: Going Home

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Don't Step In It...

This is what we saw in state after state...

CORONOVIRUS
GET THE REAL FACTS
HEALTH.WYO.GOV

Interesting that they included "REAL" in the wording...I suppose were were driving through red states, so maybe there are more people who believe that Covid-19 is hoax. Who knows.

Anyhow...as you can see, we had some great skies and very empty highways.

Being on a cross-country arboretum tour, we were headed for a quick stop to see the Ogden Botanical Gardens. So far, all of the other gardens we had stopped at were relatively quiet and had lots of space for maneuvering around the Covid-19 disbelievers. Well...this was a tiny arboretum and it was nice, but it was right near the river path, so we thought we would take a walk. OH MY GOODNESS. Given that the path was not wide enough for the proper 6' of space between people, we kept moving onto the grass. I've never seen that much dog poop in my life. I don't think that anyone picked up after their dog! Note to self...no more visits to Ogden. Sigh.

And we were off, headed to Twin Falls, Idaho for the night. It had been both an great adventure and a very stressful trip: sanitizing rooms, finding restrooms along our route, avoiding people in nature. That was all about to change...

We have stayed in many different places, but I do believe that Artdoorsy UnCommons in Twin Falls is our all-time favorite Airbnb. Every single detail has been attended to...when we arrived, the outdoor fire pit was lit and soft flute music was playing in the background. What a lovely welcome...all of our stresses just melted away. 

The Artdoorsy UnCommons

The other thing that we really enjoyed about our stay was the design and layout of the space. We felt like we could just stay there looking at everything for a couple of days. And the donuts...wow.

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Route

Read other posts about our unintended drive across America.

Day 1: Coffee & Robots!

Day 2: A Trip to Target

Day 3: Hoping for Diamonds

Day 4: It's All OK

Day 5: In Search of...

Day 6/7: Dr. Deb

Day 8: 80 on the 80

Day 9: Don't Step in It...

Day 10: Botanics @ the Pen

Day 11: Going Home

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Dr. Deb

We had enjoyed the tiny house and all of its amenities, but it was time to move on. I noticed a really dry patch on my face, which was odd and Therese had gone to bed not feeling well. She woke up with a good case of congestion. As the morning progressed, she felt worse and worse. I kept asking, do you have a fever? Do you have sore throat? No. Just congestion.

We headed north. Temps were nice, hitting 75 degrees in north central Kansas, and we were loving the fresh air streaming through the windows.

We passed Minneapolis, Kansas which according to the sign was the home of George W. Carver...he had gone to high school there.

We drove some more. And then, we weren't in Kansas anymore.

And the temperatures were dropping...in fact, they dropped about 40 degrees in an hour!

North Platte was to be our home for the next two nights. Therese really needed to rest and there was a BLIZZARD that shut down I-80. We checked into the Holiday Inn Express, which was one exit away from the gate that was closed across the interstate. Oh, and there would be no hot breakfast.

The next day, we woke up to about 15 degrees. It was cold, but after lunch I headed out for a trip to the park and some Geocaching. Or at least photo caching because I was not touching a container much less signing a log. Can you see the caches in these photos? Look carefully.

Remember the Halt spray from Amazon that was waiting for us in Dallas? That stuff, or just the threat of it, is pretty great. Seeing a pitbull type of dog charging me, I pulled out the spray and pointed at the dog. Turns out, someone was "running" their dog while driving their car through the park and when they saw what I was going to do, they got their dog under control. Great stuff.

I arrived back at the hotel and talked to Therese about that dry patch on my face. It was now hot and inflamed and was the size of a silver dollar. It did not look good and it was Friday at 4pm in a small town in Nebraska where there had been no reported cases of Covid-19. This was my chance to see a doctor! 

Fortunately for me, Dr. Deb was in. Before she or the receptionist could get within 6' of me, I was clear about where I had travelled just to ensure that they were aware of any potential exposure. Dr. Deb was not too concerned and finally asked if I'd like her to wear a mask. Well, yes. I would feel terrible if I was the one who brought this virus to North Platte. She obliged somewhat grudgingly it seemed, took a look and said infection due to insect bite and prescribed antibiotics. Phew. Across the street to the Depot Drug Store I went for my prescription -- the door was locked and they came outside to serve you, where I waited with an old farmer for service.

Let the healing begin!

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Route

Read other posts about our unintended drive across America.

Day 1: Coffee & Robots!

Day 2: A Trip to Target

Day 3: Hoping for Diamonds

Day 4: It's All OK

Day 5: In Search of...

Day 6/7: Dr. Deb

Day 8: 80 on the 80

Day 9: Don't Step in It...

Day 10: Botanics @ the Pen

Day 11: Going Home

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