I arose a bit before 7h¹ to a grey day with raw wind and a cool +8 (46), less considering the wind chill. I packed up the car and went off to breakfast at Sandeannies. I had an errand to tend to in Port Hawkesbury, but had to wait until 10h to do so, so took a final slow drive down the Shore Road with stops at Michaels Landing and Christy’s Look-Off. The further south I went, the brighter it got, with some sun breaking through as I returned to the car after completing the errand. I got gas in Port Hastings and crossed the Canso Causeway Bridge at 10h29. So, sadly, my time in Cape Breton came to its end.
with the distinctive profile of Cape George across St Georges Bay
The winds of the past few days removed many of the remaining colours along highway 19 in Cape Breton and along the route I travelled in mainland Nova Scotia, in New Brunswick, and in Maine. Except in low-lying, relatively protected areas, where the yellows and oranges often remain, it is now the grey/black branches of the stripped trees that colour most views, commingling with the dark greens of the evergreens and the yellows of the tamaracks. Considerable sun was out in mainland Nova Scotia and much of New Brunswick east of Fredericton, but was mostly in hiding beneath thick black clouds, peeping out only sporadically west of Fredericton. Temperatures were all over, reaching +12 (54) in mainland Nova Scotia and dropping to +4 (39) during a brief shower north of Fredericton.
I drove for the first time the newly opened stretch of the Antigonish bypass, which removes the slow-down in Lower South River. Except for a construction stop on the Canso Causeway, where traffic was reduced to a single lane, and to pay the toll at the Cobequid Pass, I drove straight through to Salisbury (New Brunswick), where I stopped for a sub, half of which I ate there. An inquiry of Google Maps there told me it was only nine minutes longer to Bangor by Houlton than by Calais. Because I hadn’t been to Houlton since my cousin and I passed through there returning from a trip to the Gaspé Peninsula many, many years ago (so long, in fact, that most of I-95 from Houlton to Bangor was then two-lane/untwinned/single carriageway (what in Nova Scotia is called a “super-two” highway, like highways 104 and 105 in Cape Breton), I opted to check out that route to vary this trip home. This route follows highway 2 in New Brunswick to Woodstock, where highway 95 leads to the American border near Houlton, both four-lane/twinned/dual carriageway highways in excellent condition, as is I-95 itself now. The distance from Salisbury to Bangor is 459 km (285 mi) via Houlton vs. 395 km (245 mi) via Calais; the driving times are so much closer (4h10 via Houlton vs. 4h01 via Calais) because the Airline is posted for 90 km/h (55 mph) in the east and 80 km/h (50 mph) in the west and even lower in villages, whereas I-95 is posted for 120 km/h (75 mph) from the border near Houlton straight through to the outskirts of Bangor. The Houlton route also lacks the vigorous ups and downs and twists and turns of the Calais route in Maine and is roughly a wash in terms of climbing in New Brunswick. And you can’t get stuck behind slow-moving traffic on the I-95, as sometimes happens on the Airline. Even though the driving times are close, the Houlton route still felt considerably longer, probably because it’s not as scenic as the Airline, which latter also compels one to pay attention to one’s driving more closely, making the time seem to pass more quickly. I’m not sure which route I'll pick in the future, but am glad I now am better informed about the Houlton route.
I stopped for gas in Oromocto; crossed customs in Houlton very amicably (where today’s concern was green peppers of Canadian origin and red apples were just fine, wherever they came from—I have to believe a reïncarnated Kafka dreams up these arbitrary regulations!), and chatted with the border guard about the merits of I-95 vs. the Airline in winter (he hadn’t driven the Airline, but assured me I-95 was faster then and in all seasons). I stopped at the rest area just south of the Penobscot River, where I swapped telephone SIM cards and currencies, and arrived in Bangor at 19h05, where, since it was dusk and quickly getting dark, I decided to stop for the night.
I would like to extend my sincerest thanks to all those who made this trip such a special one: to my hosts and hostesses at the places I stayed; to my friends who shared the fantastic music with me, spent time with me, and invited me to dinner at their homes; to the myriad volunteers and movers and shakers without whom this festival would not exist; to the musicians both in Celtic Colours concerts and at the dances and cèilidhs and concerts outside of Celtic Colours, whose world class music so vivifies my soul and those of my like-minded fellow listeners; and to the weather gods who blessed us with fantastic weather for much of my stay and produced a spectacular display of fall colours, even if the reds weren’t quite as plentiful as I’d have liked. What a memorable trip!
¹ All times are in ADT, even those in the US.↩