We suggest you start reading at the beginning, June 2009. It's much more fun this way!

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

On the high seas

Hi everyone

It has been so much fun in Newfoundland and we really did enjoy it. André and Sue have behaved nicely and we got to go out more often than ever before in our lifes. If it continues this way, we could keep traveling forever.

We do continue our trip and after almost 5 weeks on the rock it was time to set sail for Nova Scotia. An we mean that almost literally. After a very early morning (Sue who is always the last of us to get up, got out of bed at 3 a.m.) we drove to the harbour at Port-aux-Basques where we boarded the ferry. This was our second trip on a big boat and we seem to be naturals at it. Sailing the high seas doesn't bother us at all and we seem to have what humans call sea-legs. Never once did we loose our balance on the 5 hour trip.

After we arrived in Nova Scotia, we drove to Cheticamp which is on the northeast side of the province. André and Sue know some people there and wanted to visit them. They also wanted to see the world famous Cabott Trail. So we found a nice campground and settled in for a couple of nights. We actually wanted to stay for 3 nights but they were booked for the weekend and so we had to leave after 2. The only downside of our stay at Cheticamp was that Sue didn't take us out. We don't know why but looking out the window we saw quiet a few dogs and maybe she was afraid that we would chase them away which would have upset their humans.

As we said, we had to leave after 2 nights and drove to Louisbourg which is a fantastic place to be. Here we got to go out and since the campground is literally steps from the fishing harbour we got to see the sea and smell the saltwater! Wow, we've never experienced that before and it was amazing! As far as we are concerned this place is awesome!

That's it for today. Sue will tell you all about this part of our trip in her travel blog so don't forget to check it out.

See you around
hunter and trapper

PS: don't forget to read André's and Sue's blogs (listed on the side), too and to follow our trip on Google map and on facebook. You can also check our web site for more pictures.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Traveling cats

So here we are in Corner Brook. The day we arrived it was pouring and by the time André and Sue had our fifth wheel parked and water and electricity hooked up they were wet to the bone. Don't they know that they are supposed to seek shelter in weather like this? I mean, really! We had come to the conclussion that they were pretty smart for humans but that was before they kept staying out in the rain like some dummies. At least Sue didn't try to drag us outside for an inspection of the campground. We would have told her something if she had. So we settled in for a lazy day (not too many of those when you're on the road) and I had just dozed off when I was woken by Trapper calling me.

Another trailer had parked just beside us and when the rain stopped the door opened and out came the owner: another cat with her two humands. I just had to call Hunter and have him see for himself that we are not the only traveling cats. That's so exciting and we would have loved to go out there and meet her, exchange a few road-stories and tips and of course tell her that while she was welcome here, we had been here first.

Yes, that is very important, we have to let her know that this is our campground. But no matter how much we begged and pleaded, Sue didn't hear us or pretended not to understand what we wanted. She did not let us out. That was a bit mean of her and she better watch out. We'll pay her back for this sooner or later.

It's been raining on and off since we arrived here and so we still didn't get to go out. Now we hope that the weather will be better at our next stop which will be close to Port-aux-Basques. André and Sue have been talking about that town the last few days and we can't wait to see what the fuss is all about. Meantime we hang around here and keep an eye on the trailer next to ours. Who knows, maybe we will get a chance to go meet that cat after all.


See you around
hunter and trapper

PS: don't forget to read André's and Sue's blogs (listed on the side), too and to follow our trip on Google map and on facebook. You can also check our web site for more pictures.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Well trained

Hi everyone

After a really nice and relaxing week outside of St. John's André and Sue decided to continue our trip. We had loved a longer stay without moving around and this was not the first time we did that. As much fun as it is to explore a new campground there is something to be said for longer stays too. We think we finally got through to those two and they begin to understand that the key is the right mixture. They still have a lot to learn about traveling but we do our best to train them well.

There is one thing we can't get André to understand though. This guy is up in the middle of the night when it's still dark out and there goes our beauty-sleep. He moves around, starts cooking, sometimes sets off the smoke alarm which is this annoying shrill beep that hurts our ears and worst of all, he closes the bedroom door. This of course means that Hunter can't get in there anymore until Sue finally gets out of bed. For me it's no problem at all. I just squeeze under the door and jump on Sue. She is the total opposite of André when it comes to getting up. Boy do we sometimes have a problem getting her out of bed.

It was a bit better when we first started traveling but now we are lucky if she shows up before 8. Why does that bother us? Well she is the one giving us treats when she finally comes crawling out of there. Treats are important to us, like walks outside and getting pet and brushed. We work hard to get as many as possible and we can say we have been very successful in training Sue about that. We got her to give us treats not only for doing something nice or well but also to reward us for what she and André achieve! That's so cool. Imagine getting treats for no other reason than her getting up in the morning for example.

And that's not all. We have both of them at the point where they are happy grooming or petting us or simply because we go to them. We don't have to anything but be there and let ourselves be pampered and then we get those treats as a reward. Then again, we allow them the company of cats and not just any cats, the two bests cats there are. Humans are so funny this way.

Well, we got Sue to type our blog. Her work is done and I bet you she'll reward us for that :-)


See you around
hunter and trapper

PS: don't forget to read André's and Sue's blogs (listed on the side), too and to follow our trip on Google map and on facebook. You can also check our web site for more pictures.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Names and faces

Hi everyone


It has been in the works for a little while but our fifth wheel now has its own name and face! André's mother Alice first came up with the idea writing "vous me faites penser a des escargots avec la maison sur le dos" in an e-mail. After André had worked on it for a bit he and Sue finally found a signs place to print the decals for us in Gander. They have put them up and we think it looks pretty cool. Though nobody has faces as gorgeous and names as powerful as ours we think it looks cute and approve of André's design for our logo as well as what it says: 
Escargot
@Home on the road
a la maison sur la route.

As we said, the design is André's. He is good with stuff like that and had already designed the logo for the camp after he and Sue bought it. He found the drawing of an escargot on the internet. Then they came across a ceramic escargot in a store in Baie-Comeau and bought it. André then took the colours of that escargot and used it on the drawing, added the wording and voila, our fifth wheel had a face and name. What do you think of it? Let us know and if you ever see us on the road and happen to have CB radio, call us (calling fifth wheel "Escargot". Do you read me?). We would love to hear from you and see how many of you will see us.

Are you sure about that? I mean we do have CB radio but since we travel in the comfort of the fifth wheel and not in the car where the radio is, how are we going to answer calls? You didn't think that through, buddy.

That's what we have André and Sue for. Let them work a little bit. After all, they are allowed to stay and travel with us. They will let us know when somebody contacts us.

See you around
hunter and trapper

PS: don't forget to read André's and Sue's blogs (listed on the side), too and to follow our trip on Google map and on facebook. You can also check our web site for more pictures.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

On the ferry

Hi everyone

In our last blog we told you about our ordeals. Things have improved drastically since then and we are back to loving traveling. As a matter of fact we love it a little more every day. This mostly for three reasons: first we get to go outside more than we ever did before we started exploring the world. Second we found out (after that horrible trip across Labrador) that the rides in our fifth wheel are not all that bad after all. We are getting used to it and it doesn't bother us much anymore which is great. And third we get to see and explore new stuff at every stop we make.

When we drove across Labrador Hunter here was really scared and went to hide in the litter box as soon as we hit the road. Sue didn't like that at all. She felt sorry for Hunter and wished she could do something to make his fear go away. First she offered him another place to hide and then he found out, that the traveling is not actually scary. He now feels comfortable enough to not hide at all but even stay on the moving part of the fifth wheel when Sue or André open or close the slides. This is fantastic news. Congratulations, Hunter, for overcoming your fear! I'm proud of you, buddy.

Thanks, Trapper. I really didn't like it there for a while but now I'm fine and enjoy the trip. This includes the new stuff we get to experience. Like the ride from Labrador to Newfoundland on the ferry. First we drove a very short distance and it became dark and smelled a bit funny. Like in a big city with lots of cars if you know what I mean. Then a rumble started and a bit of vibration but nothing bad happened. After a few minutes, the rumbling became louder and then everything started to gently roll a little. As seasoned world travelers we know this is what happens when one goes to sea. It was actually lulling us into a snooze and we only got woken up about an hour and a half later when we arrived in Newfoundland and rolled off the ferry again.

Then we drove to St. Anthony where we stayed a whole week. This was very nice and Sue took us out for a walk twice! One of these two times we found out that in the next trailer there also was a four-legged occupant: a small dog. To Sue's astonishment Hunter headed straight for that little dog when he saw him! She had expected him to back off but no, curiosity got the better of Hunter and if Sue hadn't stopped him, he would have walked right up to him! I'm not as brave and kept my distance.

Anyhow we are having a great time and can't wait to see what the next campground has to offer.

See you around
hunter and trapper

PS: don't forget to read André's and Sue's blogs (listed on the side), too and to follow our trip on Google map and on facebook. You can also check our web site for more pictures.