Time for apologies.  I think for the first time in nearly a year and a half I missed a week publishing “Hovering Over Send”.  I hate to make excuses, but I’m going to make one anyway.  Eight days ago Peg and I embarked on something very rare in our 33 years of marriage, a vacation.  Most of the time, when I take time off, it’s been to work around the house.  Rarely did we go anywhere unless it was somehow connected to an official TDY.  I told Peg, and myself, that once I retired we would begin to go places we had never been before.  It’s been over seven months, and still no retirement check for those who are wondering, so I figured it was about time.  To that end, a week ago Saturday, we hopped in the truck with my sister Jody, niece Maddie, and a cargo bed full of tools and headed northeast.

For those that don’t know, Jody and family live in the smallest Canadian Province, Prince Edward Island.  Before she moved there, all I knew about Prince Edward Island, or PEI, was that it was way out east but not as far out as Newfoundland and the novel “Ann of Green Gables” was written about the place.  That was about it.  So when Jody flew to Pittsburgh for my nephew Ben’s wedding I told her that Peg and I would save her the airfare back and drive her instead.  So began our “vacation”.

Now my sister-in-law Ruth lives in Pierre, SD and after looking at a map I realized that Pittsburgh to Pierre was almost the exact same distance as Pittsburgh to Montague, PEI, give or take a few miles, somewhere around 20 hours of driving.  The first day we went as far as Manchester, NH which is exactly half way and I thought, “Piece of cake”.  Nice scenery, some traffic to dodge around NYC and Boston, but it keeps you on your toes.  The second day was a little different.  I’d been to Maine before, but it was for a conference in Portland and I flew there.  I didn’t realize how quickly civilization disappeared in Maine as you drive north.

Mile after endless mile of trees and rocks and not much else.  We hit Bangor, left I-95, and turned east on route 7 and headed for the thriving town of Calais, ME (pronounced callus).  Two hours of two lanes of nothing.  My only thought was, “If it’s this barren this far north and we five more hours of driving after we hit the border, PEI must be like Nome, Alaska.”  We stopped at a Walmart on the US side of the border, topped the tank off with relatively cheap fuel, bought some frozen chicken (it costs three times as much in PEI) and headed for the little two lane bridge which crosses the border into Canada. 

We cleared customs and a few miles west of the border I was surprised when the two lane opened up into a brand new four lane interstate.  We went through St John, New Brunswick and headed for Moncton and as we drove further northeast the landscape opened up to farms and fields which looked more like central Ohio than the cold tundra.  The highway returned to a two lane as we approached Moncton and as we turned north we were met with a “High moose crossing area next 24 kilometers” warning sign.  Luckily, no moose, and at the end of the 24 kilometers there was the only way to drive to PEI, the 8 mile Confederation Bridge.  I thought for sure that PEI would be like Newfoundland, a little rough around the edges and ramshackle.  In need of a coat of paint and a little TLC.  But, at the end of the bridge, I felt like I had crossed a 2,000 mile bridge and crossed into the UK.  Gently rolling hills, neatly plowed fields and picturesque villages seemed to be the central theme of the island.  Tourism is huge, at least for the 10 weeks or so during the summer when it’s not snowing, and the lobster, mussels and scallops are cheap and fantastic.

Right now I’m sitting in a cottage, kindly loaned to us by the Knox family, watching the sun set over the Cardigan Bay which is only 20 yards away on three sides.  There’s no television, wifi, or cell phone coverage and I could care less! Those of you who are my age will remember the Paul Simon song “One Man’s Ceiling is Another Man’s Floor” I guess it works the same if you were to say “One Man’s North is Another Man’s South”

So there’s my excuse.  You would think that I have all the time in the world to write, but so far I’ve built a deck on Jody’s house and gutted/hung drywall in her guest room.  I guess my idea of a vacation is a little different than most!