After getting the tire repaired in Sydney at the northeastern end of Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton Island, Moose set my GPS for the small town of Liscombe which is on the seaside southern Atlantic Coast of this lovely province.

We set off, passing by the large Bras D’Or Lake in the center of Cape Breton Island (map provides visual reference).

The drive was…

… pleasant with little traffic. The scenery of water, both the lake and eventually the ocean, was a nice view for the entire trip.

My destination was a quiet rural inn called the Liscombe Lodge. It is on a lake and is a lovely respite that I called “the Outback” but is really just rural countryside.

I realize how lucky I was that the tire problem happened in a city where tire services were available. If it happened “out here,” I’d be in much worse shape.

I slept well last night once the elephant in the room above me stopped dancing. This morning, I meditated at dawn on the balcony of my room which overlooks the lake. I am at peace.

I wanted to determine just how far I drove on this trip; however, I could not find the odometer on the BMW X3 vehicle I have. I thought I just did not know what button to push, so I googled it. I saw reference to a sillyphone app to get that info, but not how to find it in the car.

That convinces me — not that I was thinking about it — that I will never get a BMW vehicle (too pretentious for me anyway), or any vehicle that requires a sillyphone app to operate or get information from. I remain a truly committed dinosaur. (And if all future vehicles will require a sillyphone, then I’ll just keep my 2015 Jeep operating until I die. Christa, Steve, Mike, Margie, Gae: hear that?)

Update from the Halifax airport: when the Avis agent checked me in, he pushed this-and-that buttons on the dash, and showed me that I drove 3,622 kilometers, or 2,251 miles. That is a lot for eight days of driving. Twice as much as Steve and I rode on our motorcycle trips in the desert southwest.

Being a nice friendly dinosaur who is a visual thinker, I created a crude visualization of a map of my trip below. Red lines are a rough outline of my travels. Blue lines indicate ferries. Arrows show direction of travel (roughly clockwise).

To recap:

Day 1: Arrival Halifax where I stayed the night
Day 2: Yarmouth, Nova Scotia west coast via Peggy’s Cove, Mahone Bay, Lunenberg, and Port Medway
Day 3: Saint John, New Brunswick, via ferry across the Bay of Fundy from Port Digby
Day 4: Moncton, New Brunswick, via Hopewell Rocks and Bay of Fundy tidal range
Day 5: Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, via the north coast and rural island interior
Day 6: Baddeck, Cape Breton Island, via ferry from Wood Islands, PEI, to Caribou, Nova Scotia
Day 7: Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, via the Cabot Trail
Day 8: Liscombe, Nova Scotia, south Atlantic rural coast
Day 9: Halifax, Nova Scotia, heading home
I have been asked — how did I figure out this trip? I first began with the travel plan for an organized tour that I had signed up for that was canceled. I also consulted a travel plan that Chuck painstakingly worked out when he was sick. He wrote about destinations he wanted to visit as far as Saint John.

I also consulted Tourism Nova Scotia for suggestions of “must-see” sights. Finally, I asked friends who have been there. My friend/biker brother Steve, and five emergency managers who live in Canada with whom I have worked, also provided advice.

Having planned several travel holidays in the past, including most recently on a motorcycle trip with Steve in Arizona & Utah, I think I have some skill with trip planning. It worked beautifully for me. Right amount of time, right amount of driving between destinations, and I hit ALL of the sights I wanted to see, plus more!

Life is short: find adventure and enjoy the ride!