August 20 2025 New Pics
- mikepearsonsafety
- Aug 24
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 24
We took the ferry from PEI to Nova Scotia (thanks Northumberland for your support!), heading towards Newfoundland.
We made a stop at Pictou Nova Scotia, where Mike’s great grandfather lived. The little town is full of old (late 1700’s) buildings, as many towns in the Maritimes are. The first YMCA building in mid 1700’s.
I went into an old stone building, mainly because I wanted to see what the inside was like. The owner was a leather maker, and it smelled wonderful! Mike was reminded of the shoemaking shop his grandfather used to have – he was the instructor of shoemaking at Vancouver Communy College for 30 years. The owner of the old shop had a lot of historical information on display, so Mike asked about how to find anything on Captain Beattie, and she directed us to a museum down the road, so off we went. Luckily the museum was on the other side of town, so we got to walk along and see all the old buildings used for new functions. Had to pop in to one to buy homemade shortbread, and another to purchase a good cooking knife (this store is the only knife store in Canada that still makes knives on site). Unfortunately we weren’t able to find anything out about Mike’s family history, but I did find a key chain with the Pearson family tartan. It’s not longer printed so finding a copy of any kind is special.
Next day it was off to Newfoundland. We arrived at the ferry terminal by the 2hr pre-departure time and were boarded soon after. Boarding takes a while as only one vehicle can board at a time. These ferries are smaller than BC Ferries, with a deep v-shaped closed bow to withstand the rough ocean crossing. We took the shorter crossing, 6 hours, versus the 17hr longer one. Cabins with beds can be booked but we just reserved seats, which recline and are quite comfy. Lots of people obviously do this crossing a lot and come prepared with blankets, food, eye masks. We’ll know for coming home, especially since we’re on the overnight crossing.
The first night in NL, our neighbour in the campsite was from Prince George, and as seems to be the pattern, his buddy has ALS. We had a long chat about it all.
(Mike) While I was fueling up on our drive the next day a Paramedic walked up to me asking what is this "Tri'ing to End ALS" I haven't heard anything about it, after telling him that the big news outlets are not apying any attention to us I told him our story. I asked him about his story...he lost his dad a couple of years ago, he started having trouble in April got diagnosed in early summer and was gone in September. The young man was clearly still struggling with his dad's passing. I thanked him for telling me his story and we went our separate ways. This was one of the hardest meeting I have had, I spent the next hour of the drive trying to figure out if I said the right things, did i show enough compassion, did i help this person in any way......
We spent the night at a Harvest Host, Bumblebee Bight Inn and Brewery, on Pilley’s Island. This was our view.
During our stay, 3 groups of people came up to us after seeing our trailer and hearing us talk to the previous group. Each group had a connection, with one fellow knowing 3 people in his small community who died of ALS, and another still battling it. One lady quietly came up to me while we were talking with another person and passed me a donation, saying her friend has ALS. We had a long discussion with another couple, with them asking lots of questions about ALS, our journey, why there is no awareness of what we’re doing, what’s happening with research, and finally, how proud my mom would be of us. Yup, no tears, nope, not at all. Good thing for sunglasses.
We have been giving more thought to what life will look like once we’re home. Beside me being back at work Oct 1st, how do we keep Tri’ing to End ALS, because it needs to end. From what people have shared with us over the past 3+ months, more awareness, media attention, collaboration, funding and research are needed. How can we help move the dial on any/all of those?
