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As winter tapered off, it was time to put the Kitty Kitty back together with the Bang Bang and hit the road once more. And because this is vanlife, we blew our serpentine belt within 10 minutes of being freshly on the road. Luckily, Shane anticipated that we would be needing a new belt and we had one in the back. We pulled over and together we got the new belt on. Aaaaaaand then that one also blew out ten minutes later, stranding us with just ten minutes more to go to get to Charlottetown.
By this point, it was Sunday on the island and all of the garages were closed. We pulled off of the main road and pulled over down a residential street, where at least it was safer to be parked on the side of the road. Shane called a place for parts and got someone to set a new belt aside. Then we called a cab and Shane made a round trip to town to pick up the belt. Unfortunately, and despite multiple attempts on our part, that belt seemed determined to keep slipping off when we started the engine. Luckily, a couple who were driving by stopped to check on us. And wouldn’t you know, the guy was a mechanic. He gave Shane some insight (something to do with the power steering) and Shane had enough of a bright idea to do a quick fix the next morning so that we could at least get to town.
Once there, we decided to stay put in Charlottetown for a tiny bit while we readjusted to road life and sorted out our engine. We lucked out with some free parking with a view of the waterfront, along with a wifi signal and a place to (unofficially) plug in.
There were even horses there on the weekend:
And it was also the perfect place to sit tight when the last of the winter snowstorms hit, since it’s the designated city parking spot when the streets needed to be cleared for snow plowing.
There were a couple of days where it hit minus 10 with a windchill. Even though our heating kept us cozy inside the truck, we still wanted a break and came up with a vanlife hack of booking 30 minutes in the infrared sauna at a nearby spa. It’s the least expensive service on the menu, we got a sauna, and we also each got a locker room and shower booked to ourselves for an hour due to covid guidelines. So we had saunas and long, hot showers all around. That was a really good day!
We also mixed it up a little and took in a couple of sunsets at nearby Victoria Park. We’d park along the boardwalk, cook up salmon dinner, pour the vino, and enjoy the view.
And we made a side trip to nearby Cornwall for a visit to the bakery and the brewery:
Our engine got sorted (we had to stop the serpentine belt from skipping by replacing the idler pulley and fixing the support on the power steering pump). Shane sourced the new idler pulley and tensioner for us. And the mechanic found the right-sized serpentine belt and welded and supported our power steering pump to prevent it from flexing. All in all, it didn’t break the bank and was done quickly. Thank you, Dave’s Auto Electric!
Soon it was already mid-March and St. Patrick’s Day. Shane and I walked up to Charlottetown's oldest Irish pub because they were having a St. Patty's party with live music. Still social distancing and all, so people couldn't get up and dance like they normally do, but a good crowd nonetheless. We chatted with a lovely Irish lady sitting by herself at the table next to us. And she was such a riot. Then this 80-something year-old lady was also sitting near us and kept wandering around, even though you weren't supposed to. But nobody wanted to tell the old lady to park it. Turned out our Irish friend and this lady both are good friends with the woman who was performing. And then this old lady ends up having the filthiest mouth. AND she was with her husband, who sat quietly in the corner the whole time with his tie tucked in his shirt. Turns out he was a doctor and she worked for him many moons ago. Then they got married 40 years ago. She said that he was very controlling and made her life miserable, but I guess she stayed because back then that's what you did in these parts. But when he retired and was home all the time, she started playing a long revenge con of acting senile just to piss him off, and of course he can't really say or do much because senility, right? So here we all were observing her dawdle around acting loopy and we thought she was losing her marbles until she sat next to our Irish friend and started giving her the tea and making dirty, raunchy jokes and comments. And our Irish friend goes to us, "She's sharp as a tack, and she's fuckin' playing her husband!" I swear, you can’t make this stuff up.
Shortly after that, it was time to pack ‘er up and hit the road. We wanted to do some sightseeing and tour the western part of the island before leaving the province. Our lovely and kind Irish friend dropped by the truck to send us of with a care package (thank you, Martina!):
And then we were off! First up, Prince Edward Island National Park. I honestly never expected the beaches to look as beautiful in winter as they do in summer, but they sure had this otherworldly, quiet beauty to them.
Then we made a pit stop at Covehead Lighthouse:
We wrapped up that day in Cavendish, parking by the beach just in time for sunset:
We stayed parked so that we could watch the sunrise:
We took a stroll after breakfast and took the Dunelands Trail to the other side of the beach:
After we packed up and headed out, we pulled over to get a glimpse of MacKenzie Rock:
And then it was onward to Thunder Cove, which had all of these really cool rock formations:
Teacup Rock:
It was quite the journey out, the roads were turned into a mud pit:
After a full day of exploring, we ventured on to Summerside in the middle of the island. This was our place to park and regroup before a new day of exploring.
And a good time to whip up some shakshuka. (Got to up our skillet game when we can’t plug in and use the electronic appliances).
We headed west and up the coast the next day so that we could hit up this brewery we’d heard about. Moth Lane Brewing us right on the water, at the end of a dirt road. Every single beer we tasted was top notch made with love by a brewer named Kevin Brewer, I kid you not. Plus, we were the only ones there and it was warm enough to sit on the deck and gaze at the sea. Heaven!
Of course, we couldn’t possible leave PEI without visiting the Canadian Potato Museum. Even though the museum was closed for the winter, it didn’t matter. We wanted a photo op with that potato!
Our resident vanlife IG supermeowdel:
What’s completely random about this museum is that it’s smack in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Someone even jokingly shouted out from the house across the street, “Hey, leave that potato alone!”
It was getting late in the day, so we looked for another prime parking spot in time for sunset. We ended up at Cedar Dunes Provincial Park, on the southwestern tip of the island. We had to take a backroad because the main road in was blocked by snow. But it proved to be well worth the effort. We had prime parking next to a lighthouse (that even had a free wifi signal!) and a 5-star view of the beach. It’s also apparently THE spot for locals to come hang and smoke pot in their cars, lol. It was pretty busy for the dead of winter.
Sunrise was just as lovely the next day. We were able to wake up and do some work the next day thanks to the wifi, and then I whipped up some salsa and guacamole for a snack:
And then got to exploring and taking in the solar power:
Afterwards, it was back to Summerside once more. Summerside is only about 20 minutes away from the Confederation Bridge, so a perfect place to park it before our island exit the next day. Shane scouted the area and found us a place to surreptitiously plug in, we had Wifi from Wendy’s, and a view of a beautiful sunset over the water.
And then the next day we made our exit. But not before stopping by the bridge for a pint atLone Oak Brewing:
And then we were off! We’d spent 5 months on the island, so leaving was a little bittersweet. At the same time, our spring/summer destination of Nova Scotia awaited. But that’s a story for another time.
Catlife:
