The Day of the New Starter

We got all ready to leave today, dog and her equipment packed in the jeep, and when the key was turned, all we heard was "click click click". Assuming the battery was dead....and not a clue why it would be....Glenn got a neighboring camper to jump the battery. Nope, didn't help. Next thing was to try to pop the clutch and get it started...which involved pushing. Oh yeah, pushing. Of course at that moment it decided to start misting again. So we pushed and tried to start it a few times...finally it was ME pushing and HIM starting but yep, we got 'er. So we headed to the camp office, had to leave the jeep running of course so we didn't have to push again, and Glenn got some info about a place to have it looked at. We headed to a service station on this very remote island and the peeps were as nice as could be. It was determined that it wasn't the battery, but the starter. The started had to come from Charlottown and oops, the mechanic had a dr. appointment, so we were told to come back in a couple hours. So the mechanic and the wife of the owner came out and pushed us to a hill so that we could pop the clutch again and get it started....and then we rode around touring stuff we wanted to see for a couple hours but couldn't turn the engine off...or ONE of us would have to push again! It worked out fine. We went back and hung out in the station with the locals there, learning stuff about the island. It was kind of like Mayberry. One hour and 300 bucks later and we were on our way. We saw as much as we could and plan to take the ferry to Nova Scotia tomorrow morning.
Things that we observed about the island: The colors change later than they do in Maine surprisingly
Dirt roads are quite common here
The dirt and sand are red
Most of the land consists of rolling hills of farmland that end at the sea
The people are all nice, friendly, helpful, and most have accents of some kind
The woodsy areas smell wonderful- a mixture of the varying kinds of pines and something that smells minty
A fishing village consists of a couple house, a few shanties, maybe a restaurant, and some boats
Most often when you come to a named town, it is difficult to tell where exactly it is. Sometimes you see the sign and not much else.
There are tons of lighthouses on the island, many of them still working.
Trying to follow a map is next to impossible here. Nothing seems to be to scale, all the roads are tiny, many dirt, and the roads and names of the towns are so small on the map you need a magnifying glass to see them.
Apparently July and August are the main tourist months. There is virtually no one here right now and many restaurants and stores are closed for the winter.
Winter seems to be qualified as anything that is not July and August!
The bridge to get here is the longest bridge in the world over ice.
It seems like most of the farmland might be devoted to growing potatoes.
Overall, this island is a very remote, serene, downhome place. "Lobster suppers" are advertised many places including churches, restaurants, etc.

Stay tuned for notes from Nova Scotia.