Aug 17 2025

We moved to King Neptune’s Campsite, in Peggy’s Cove last Monday. We chatted with the owner when we checked in. She was a nurse, is familiar with ALS and has worked with many people with MS. We set up, had a dinner and a nice bottle of wine (a rarity), watched the sun set. It was a travel day and gave Syd a taste of what life has been like for us for the past 97

days.

Tuesday we got up early and headed out for a day. First stop: Peggy’s Cove. Luckily, we were there early so got a prime parking spot, with our Tri’ing logo in clear view of everyone entering the parking lot. Wandered on the rocks, took pics, looked at the lighthouse.

The ocean is a powerful body and there are signs embedded in the large rocks to be aware as people have died when they misjudged waves and the tide. It would be easy to get swept away.

Second stop: Halifax boardwalk. Wandered along here for a bit. It was stinking hot and we were getting tired, sweaty and hangry, so found a cool pub for a snack and cool bevies.

Third to fifth stops: trying to find a locksmith to cut a key for the trailer. My brute strength twisted the door key. (ok, I didn’t insert the key completely before I turned to lock it, resulting in the flimsy key twisting). Third time we were lucky.

Sixth stop: grocery store for dinner fixings – and a one-day early birthday cake for Mike.

Seventh stop: home.

The ocean at our campsite is very clear, but the shore is quite rocky and seaweedy, so not easy to swim in. I stood in the water and watched three 2inch crabs nibble on my feet. Luckily their claws aren’t that strong yet and it tickled more than hurt. Then 2 of the crabs started fighting each other, their small claws raised and nipping at the other. One quickly decided it wasn’t his thing and scurried away. The winner returned to nibbling my feet. It’s amazing what you can discover when you slow down and look at the little things in life.

Sydney went home Wednesday. It was great having her here, sharing our journey and cheering us on at Race #13. It was her first time in the Maritimes, including swimming in the Atlantic Ocean! She’s always supported us, helping whenever and wherever she can. A few tears were shed at the airport, and a few more as we drove away.

Onto our next race site: New Brunswick. We stayed at Strang’s Campsite, right across the ocean from PEI. The site is windy a lot of the time, with waves crashing in. I love it! Mostly permanent RVs here with a few sites for short term rental. We visited Hopewell Rocks Park in Fundy Bay to see rocks carved out by the tides. Fundy Bay has one of the largest tide changes in the world, up to 46 ft! Nature is pretty incredible.

The sky was a little questionable that night. Luckily no rain or thunderstorms. Just the usual wind. Big wind.

Luckily I had some time for a bit of beachcombing. Crystal clear water and a crab who thought that if he didn’t look at me, I wouldn’t see him.

While here, we had about 3 people see our truck and come up to us to share their story, or ask about ours. A lot of the people at this RV park are regulars; one fellow has ALS and another has PLS.

Race #14 was in Sackville New Brunswick (not to be confused with Sackville Nova Scotia). The town is an old heritage town (as many small towns in the Maritimes seem to be), with old, well kept houses and gardens. We were up early on race day and were lucky to see a beautiful sunrise

The lake at our race site was still misty as the water was warmer than the air. It got down to about 8 degrees overnight! Pull out the woollies! 

But the water temp was great (we were two of the few swimming “naked” aka without a wetsuit). The bike and run courses were through the countryside on rolling hills. Normally this is no problem, but I had bike issues and was on my hardest gear for the first ½ of the bike! Slow cadence and standing up on all those ‘rolling’ hills that did not seem so rolling to me. But half way through my bike decided to wake up and the shifter worked, so off I went.

The race was well run, and the announcer mentioned our journey when Mike crossed the finish line.

We spoke to a few folks about our journey and they shared their ALS connections with us. It still amazes me as to how many people have been impacted by ALS. Yet there sure doesn’t seem to be much said about it, or much funding put towards finding a cure. Maybe it’s because the disease usually progresses so quickly people don’t have the time or energy to fight for more support. Maybe that’s where people like us and those supporting our journey come in. Maybe we need to be their voices.

The organizer of The Gravelman Triathlon (bike and run is on gravel roads; it’s popular in eastern Canada) was so impressed by our journey that he gave us a “Gravelman” finisher’s medal and invited us to his 2027 race which will hopefully be the Canadian Gravel Triathlon championship! 

Then it was home for a quick bite, pack up and then a short commute (30 minutes!) to our next race site, Prince Edward Island. It takes 10 minutes to cross to PEI on the Confederation Bridge.

Settled in at our new home (Summerside KOA) then it was off to the oceanside town of Summerside for some dinner and ice cream at Holman’s Ice cream parlour (a PEI star). Coolest (no pun intended) shop – it’s a large heritage house with a beautiful flower garden. So many different flavours I couldn’t even read them all. We had the Turtle Sundae – chocolate ice cream, salted caramel ice cream, whip cream and dark chocolate sauce. It was amazing! This is our hardest racing weekend – two ‘races’ back to back – so we treated ourselves to some extra calories. But they sure were yummy calories!

Sunday dawned another beautiful day, with some wind. I’m starting to think it’s always windy in the Maritimes. We met a group of about 5 others in Brackley Beach, a National Park on the east side of PEI. We were not sure how our bodies would hold up to back to back days but we were excited to get in teh ocean and find out.

Andrea from Tri PEI planned our event for us and we’re so glad she picked this spot. The park is right on the beach with a boardwalk over the sand dunes. Showers, washrooms, food kiosk, lots of parking.

Path to Brackley Beach

Lucky for us the ocean was calm, even with the wind. About 5 of us swam, with Mike and I swimming “naked” (aka without wetsuits; water temp was ~21oC). I tried not to think to much about sharks…. :o Then after a rinse off, it was onto our bikes. The multiuse path goes along the beach and sand dunes and is quite stunning in some places. Windy out and back!

Then 3 of us continued on the run, going the opposite way to see some lagoons. It was awesome to be right by the ocean.  We happily crossed the multi-coloured-crosswalk finish line to check Race #15 off our list.

 Thank you Andrea for providing us with finisher medals (from TriLobster Race a few weeks ago) and a very yummy gift basket from Anne of Green Gables Chocolates. 

PEI is a very pretty province, with proud friendly people. The countryside is a patchwork of colour from the hay – growing and baled - and crops (mostly potatoes). Old houses and churches.

We’re trying to figure how when we’ll be able to come back!