Pine Belt Pacers Forum

Hollie and I are on an extended road trip. When we left Hattiesburg on May
25, we did not intend to end up doing the Canada part. A couple of months
ago, we did plan this trip, but when Hollie came down with shingles, we
decided to wait until Fall to do Canada. Once we got on the road, we decided
to go for it. Since I had not done adequate research and my Canada travel
books are at home, we are winging it. So far, we've done OK.

May 25 - 28 in Atlanta for visit with Chrissy and family. I managed to get
in a 5 mile hike and a couple of 4 mile runs.
May 29 - Drove to Bland, VA for visit with Ann and Elmer Beardshall
May 30 - Hiked 4.5 miles of the AT. This was very interesting in that we met
and talked to several people who had been on the trail for weeks/months as
they attempted a thru hike (over 2000 miles)
May 31 - Hiked 4 miles in the area around the Beardshall's home. Where they
live is very "isolated" but very pretty. Elmer is going to go back to work
so he can afford the feed that he is setting out each morning for all the
deer. It was really neat to wake up and look out to see 3-5 deer munching
away.
June 1 - Drove to to an area just North of Pittsburg, PA where we stayed the
night. We got there early enough to get in a 4 mile run.
June 2 - Drove North, stopping for a couple of hours at Niagara Falls,
continuing on to Toronto for the night. After fighting rush hour traffic
(not good planning), we didn't feel like doing much other than finding a
place to eat and driving around to get a general overview of the city.
June 3 - Drove to Montreal. We stayed at a downtown hotel and ran at a huge
park (don't have my info in front of me) which was about a half mile from
the hotel. There were lots of trails. Of course, I chose the one that went
up, up, up the side of the mountain. Actually, it wasn't so bad; it only
took me 26 minutes to run to the top and 24:30 to run back down. We then
spent a couple of hours walking around the city.
June 4 - We were able to get a late checkout from the hotel so we spent the
morning walking more of the city. We both really like Montreal and think
that we will return for an extended stay. In the afternoon we drove to
Quebec, arriving early enough to do a 5 mile run along the St Lawrence
River. We then drove around the city.
June 5 - Drove North and East toward New Brunswick. We stopped at Grand
Falls for a short hike and view of the falls and then continued our drive,
spending the night in Miramichi, New Brunswick. From here we will continue a
scenic drive that will take us down the coast of NB to Prince Edward Island
and Nova Scotia. After that we will head to Maine.

Hello Becky,

Sounds like a great trip. If you have the time, try to see the Cape Breton part of Nova Scotia. For us, it was very beautiful. Very remote, but awesome scenery.

Today we drove a "scenic" highway, ending up in Truro, Nova Scotia. Tomorrow we plan to do the Cabot Trail that Ginny mentioned in her reply. We arrived in Truro early enough that we were able to get in our running/walking. There was a white "red dog" surface track about a quarter mile from our motel. Hollie walked 5 miles and I started on the track but quickly moved to the streets, eventually finding a really nice hike/bike trail. In total, I ran 4 miles and walked 1 mile.

Just as Ginny suggested, we drove the full length of the Cabot Trail of Nova Scotia. It was beautiful. When we first left our motel it was raining, but that soon stopped and we had overcast in the morning and full sun in the afternoon. I'm not sure what the temperature was in Hattiesburg, but for us it was 50-55 degrees most of the day.

This drive has everything---mountains, forests, ocean, waterfalls, cliffs, wildlife, etc. We took a lot of pictures! No running or walking today.

We will head for Maine tomorrow.

Wow! This may sound funny to you, but until I met you, I never knew anyone who exercised while on vacation. Not only do ya'll exercise on vacation, you plan your vacation for your exercise. Interesting. . . . I'm already looking at doing the same thing. There's supposed to be the most beautiful Rails to Trails ride in Pennsylvania and they have a group bike ride that takes a few days but sounds like a lot of fun and beautiful scenery. What have you done to me?! Be safe and continue to enjoy yourselves.

I never did get around to posting yesterday. We are in Bar Harbor, Maine which is the nearest town to the Acadia National Park.

We arrived early enough yesterday that we were able to get in our running/walking. The desk clerk at our motel suggested a route that was really beautiful. The highlight being seeing a bald eagle. He was perched in a tree overlooking a pond. We probably would have never spotted him except that there was a crow making all kinds of noise and that got our attention. The eagle stayed there for at least 15 minutes. I was able to get pictures. After the eagle left, we then watched a beaver moving back and forth across the pond.

Today we visited Acadia National Park, driving the park loop road and taking some short hikes. Some of you suggested that we not miss Cadillac mountain. We did spend some time there and the view was fantastic. The temperature was about 50-55 degrees with a brisk wind. There is a beach located within the park and there were quite a few fools who were actually in the water.

We made it back to our motel in time to return to our same running route as last night and sure enough, the bald eagle was there in its usual spot. Last night and tonight we ate lobster. I also had the smallest and most expensive bowl of clam chowder that I have ever purchased and it really wasn't that good. but the corn on the cob was very tasty. Tomorrow I will take Ginny's advice and eat the lobster rolls.

Sounds like ya'll are having a great time! I just returned from Newport, RI and Marblehead, Mass. and had a great time. Speaking of clam chowder - I went to a chowder cook off in Newport last Sat. - awesome! Besides walking all day everyday, we did a 6 mile run in Newport which included the "cliff walk". It was my "rave run" for the week. Anyway - I can't believe we were in New England area at the same time.

Sounds like you've been on another adventure! See ya when you get back.

Today is Friday and we are in the Dayton, OH area. We had planned on staying another day in Bar Harbor, but the weather was terrible---rain and cold. So, we decided to hit the road.

On Wednesday, we had rain the entire drive. We stayed in Springfield, MA. The motel where we stayed was a dump, although it was a Quality Inn which is usually fairly good. This property had three floors and I think the entire third floor was being used for "long-term" rentals such as were available to people who were displaced by Katrina. It did have a fitness room so we were able to get our workout. I ran 4 miles on the TM.

On Thursday the weather was much better and the scenery was very nice as we drove to Erie, PA. Once again, it was raining when we arrived. The Comfort Inn where we stayed was among the best. Since we are Gold Choice members, we were given an upgrade to a suite with a jacuzzi. They also had a fitness room and I ran 3 miles on the TM.

Today was another scenic drive. We first visited Tiffin, OH which is where Hollie went to undergrad school at Heidelberg College (now Univerisity). He showed me all the sites from those days. We then drove to the Dayton/Kettering, OH area which is where Hollie is from. Once again, he showed me the sites, including the three homes where he had lived. We then checked into our hotel (another very nice upgrade) followed by a trip to a Skyline Chili restaurant where I had the chili 5 ways and a chili/cheese hot dog.

As soon as I post this I'm going to search for a race in the area. If I can find a 5K-10K scheduled for tomorrow, I may try to do that.

We are now in Bowling Green, KY. On the drive from Dayton, we stopped at the Keenland horse racing facility. We also spent some time in Lexington checking out the University of KY.

Once we arrived in BG and checked into our motel, we headed for Western KY University campus thinking that we would run/walk on their track and campus. Before we started our workout, we were not able to find the track so we ran/walked around the campus and to the historic downtown area. Hollie walked 5 miles and I ran 5 miles and walked 1 mile. Just as I was finishing my run, I spotted the track. It was as isolated as the Southern Miss track---across the railroad track and about two blocks from the main campus.

Once I get back to Hattiesburg on Monday or Tuesday, I am going to have big-time problems with the heat/humitity. We've been gone for 3 weeks and 2 of those weeks we spent in temperatures of 50-60 degrees. Here in BG, it was 87 degrees when I ran and I was miserable for the last two miles and for quite some time after finishing. I have to get my heat training so I can tolerate the extremely high temps that I'll face in the Grand Canyon in three weeks.

Tomorrow we are scheduled to do a four and a half hour tour of Mammoth Cave. The distance is supposed to be about four miles.

This should be the last night of our three week road trip. Today we took a four mile walk on a four and a half hour tour of Mammoth Cave. It was nice, but in no way compares to the beauty of Blanchard Springs Caverens in Northern Arkansas. Tonight we are in Franklin, TN arriving just in time to watch most of the Southern Miss vs Texas BB game (still in progress).

I'm looking forward to being home, but I'm really worried about how I'll cope with the heat and humidity of Hattiesburg after being in 50-55 degrees for much of the trip. Oh well, I need to get used to it so I can make the Grand Canyon hike.