Day 20, May 26, 2011 Just before Moncton to Coal Branch NB 45km
26 May
We left Duncan and Heather’s house early and set out for Moncton. I started on the highway for the first 9km before turning off onto Route 126, my road for the next few days. It looked like a quiet road, with two lanes, a small gravel shoulder, lined with houses, but there was tons of traffic on it. Not just cars, but big trucks too. It was a lot busier than I would have thought.
I felt good after having two days off and the two morning runs went quickly. It was hot and sunny (27C) for the first time this trip. I think I had about four litres of fluid during my second run.
Our propane was less than a quarter full and we had been trying to find a place to fill up for a few days now but no one seemed to fill RVs, only small propane canisters. So we decided before we got too far away from Moncton that we would try again. We ended up on a tour of Moncton, with each stop directing us to another with no success. We did manage to get more blister supplies and food but no one seemed to know where to get propane. Actually, people we asked thought they knew where to get it but each time we went to where they suggested we were turned away.
We did manage to stumble across Magnetic Hill, where you drive to the bottom of a hill, put your car in neutral, and your car rolls back up the hill. The hill was just a small part of the area, which was more like an amusement park. I had been to a similar hill in Ireland and it had worked quite well. We had stopped in the middle of a hill, put the car in neutral, and we rolled back up the hill. So Mike and I drove to what was supposed to be the bottom of the hill, but looked more like the top of a hill. Clearly it didn’t work that well. Maybe it was because we were high up in the RV. We tried it again facing forwards and it worked a little better.
It was getting pretty late and I still had another 15km left to run, but we still had no propane. There was also a prostate cancer fundraiser at a motorcycle dealership in Moncton, Toys for Big Boys, that Carol from Prostate Cancer Canada in Halifax had told us about that we were hoping to go to. Add in the fact that I wanted to see if I could get physio in Moncton and it became clear that we were running out of time.
In the end we found propane at one of the Home Hardware stores, but by then it was 7:30pm. We were already late for the fundraiser, and I wanted to get back and try to finish my last run.
We filled up with gas at what looked like a gas station but turned out to be Lyons Hunting & Fishing Country Store. We handed out some buttons and the Steps to Action and talked about route 126. The girl behind the cash register told us about pulling teeth out of dead black bears and how there are people that live along the 126 that they won’t sell bullets to because they think they’re crazy. Great, the road I’m running is full of bears and psychos.
By the time we got to the start point it was 8:30pm and the sun was starting to set so we parked, had dinner, and went to bed.
So much for 60, I’ll try again tomorrow.
