The Dock
After looking at so many older homes and seeing how much money we would be sinking into crumbling foundations, we looked again at a well-maintained home in Pictou, Nova Scotia. We made an offer on the house on April 8th, 2019.
The sellers countered our offer. Based on the inspection report, we made another offer and that one was accepted. With a few days to spare, we had found our next home.
Our real estate agent recommended an Irish pub in New Glasgow called The Dock. We had lunch there to celebrate. I ordered bangers and mash and finished up with bread pudding. The stone walls and wooden floors definitely had a story to tell. We went to this pub another time before flying back to Vancouver Island. We got to know one of the owners like a new friend. The Dock is our favourite hangout. We went back to celebrate again at The Dock when we had the keys and title to move into the house.
That early week in April provided plenty of spring snow. The morning we were heading out from Halifax to New Glasgow and Pictou (to meet with the lawyer, the inspector, and the real estate agent), the highway was a parking lot. We skipped breakfast thinking the drive would be treacherous and slow-going. I wondered why we couldn’t reschedule. Wouldn’t they understand if we rescheduled? Jamie is very exacting when it comes to appointments.
Once we got on the road, the conditions improved the farther north we went. We arrived a half-hour early, and that gave us a chance to check out prices at Sobeys, a large grocery chain that started in 1907 when J. W. Sobey began his meat-delivery business in Stellarton, Nova Scotia. There are now over 32,000 employees and 1400 stores. We found food prices were the same as on the west coast, and enjoyed the lower price of gas at the pumps.
I felt heavy with indecision, even though we’d decided which house we wanted as our next home. I couldn’t shake the feeling of being homeless, of wanting to go home and not be in a hotel or stuck in a vehicle. I missed a routine of getting groceries, doing laundry, and preparing meals. Those activities gave me a sense of accomplishment which balanced out other aspects of our life on the road. We needed a break from decision-making and made a plan to tour more of Nova Scotia.
A few days later we woke to sunshine. The temperature was forecasted to go up to 14C. We set off for Peggy’s Cove, stopping first at the monument for Swissair Flight 111. The crash site is just outside Peggy’s Cove in Indian Harbour.
We walked around the lighthouse at Peggy’s Cove, and Jamie took lots of video and photos. We were ready for lunch so we decided to go on to Lunenburg. The town did not disappoint. Beautiful stately historic giants on every street. We had a relaxing day seeing more of the beautiful province that was soon to become our new home.
Jamie and I talked about how much money we had, plus our options for moving keepsakes from the west to the east coast. We felt more comfortable shipping our belongings than driving our truck and a U-Haul across Canada. We also talked about the Coffee House, our traveling home for ten months, and whether we should keep it or sell it.
The next day it rained in Halifax, and then we had dense fog. Going back to the sunshine in BC would be welcomed.
We spent a month in hotels, and although they offered considerably more room than our travel trailer, we were ready to go tiny again and sleep in our own bed.